Discrimination towards Pagans mainly started with the rise of Christianity. Christians believed the practice of witchcraft was devil worshiping and associated Pagan deities with the antichrist (the Celtic deity Cernunnos is a major reason Satan and demons are often portrayed with stag antlers)
They turned things like Pentacles and Pentagrams that represented balance to things that represented evil. Deities like Cernunnos that represented nature and wild things to representing devils. The whole practice of witchcraft was turned into devil worshiping when we didn't even believe in their devils.
By demonizing witchcraft, society's views of witches have been very deluded. Usually people picture cranky old women with warts and hooked noses (which is racist btw) instead of the actual witches just trying to practice their beliefs.
A lot of it is also very misogynistic, as Pagan cultures valued both their women and men equally and women could hold positions of power.
And during the witch trials, more women were accused and executed because they were "more likely to be tempted by the devil." Especially widows and outspoken or activist women.
In Europe, an estimated 50,000 people were killed for suspected witchcraft. How many of these were actual Pagans is irrelevant because it's impossible to know, but the goal was still to eliminate witches.
To this day, there's still stigma around witchcraft and witches are frequently misrepresented in media.
It'd be bad if that was it, but it's not.
There's still plenty of stealing our holidays and traditions.
Christian holidays were placed around the time of Pagan holidays to make conversion easier. Christmas is during Yule and took a lot of Yule traditions, St. Brigid is based on an Irish god and her feast is during Imbolc, All Saints Day and now Halloween is during Samhain, etc.
St. Patrick's day isn't based on any Pagan holiday, but it still manages to erase Pagans. St. Patrick is famous for converting Ireland to Christianity, and driving away the "snakes" (which were a metaphor for Pagans).
What's even funnier is that today we associate the day with images of Leprechauns, which are a type of Celtic fae (Pagan creatures from another realm). But of course that isn't recognized.
Many types of fae have been separated from faeries (elves, dwarves, and many others). But I could talk about that for hours, let's save that for another post.
Christians managed to demonize Pagan symbols, deities, and traditions they didn't like, and take the ones they did for their own religion. Effectively erasing people's idea of Paganism and Pagan traditions and practices.
This is why it's so important to spread awareness. To share Pagan traditions and practices so people know what it really is. And to spread awareness as to how Christians buried us. Please reblog if you care about Pagans.
