Bro, I don't wanna be one of those "Demon behind every rock" kind of Christians, but are we all on board with these pagan rituals?
The Olympic Games is channeling their Greek origins by paying homage to one of the false Greek gods, Zeus.
Watch this bizarre video:
Preceding the torch lighting, the priestess will read a poem.
Then we get a minute of praise and prayer in Greek to Apollo and Zeus and the pantheon of Greek gods.
Maybe I'm ignorant, but does this happen every Olympics? Is this a new thing? It's just so bizarre.
I'm all for celebrating Greek culture, but praying to Zeus? Open paganism? Is that what the Olympic GAMES are about?
The broadcaster called her a "priestess," but according to the AP, this is an actress pretending to be a priestess.
An actor playing an ancient Greek priestess holds a silver torch containing highly combustible materials over a concave mirror. The sun's rays bounce off every inch of the burnished metal half-globe and come together at one extremely hot point, which ignites the torch.
This happens inside the archaeological site at Olympia, before the ancient temple of Hera — wife of Zeus, king of the Greek gods, whose own ruined temple lies close by.
I mean, can't we just play the games, keep the pageantry, keep the torch, and lose the pagan prayers to false gods?
This pagan ceremony apparently has its origins not in ancient Greece but in Nazi Germany of all places.
Flames and sandals make for an impressive spectacle, and while the priestess' largely tongue-in-cheek prayer to Apollo might not be answered, the parabolic mirror works well.
The idea was the result of Greek-German cooperation ahead of the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany, which were heavy on fanfare — and swastikas. It was based on a mechanism mentioned by ancient writers in a non-Olympic context, and served the desire to blend the games of antiquity with the modern revival.
The 1936 innovations included a torch relay all the way to Berlin, and have been followed, with modifications, ever since.
We've got "ironic" paganism inspired by Nazi Germany happening here, and I guess we're all cool with it.
In today's world with paganism becoming less and less ironic, this ceremony is striking a different chord.
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
