As we have seen in recent times, history is malleable, and this even applies to recent historical events that we lived through. If even the history we lived through is open to misinterpretation, how much more open to error is the history that we were not alive to see?
In this article, I will point out five alternative interpretations of the history of Northern Europe that fly in the face of current scholarship. While this is an overview article, I plan to delve deeper into each of these possibilities in future articles.
The motivation for this is research that I have conducted over the past two decades as I tried to unravel inconsistencies in official stories. However, I have also noticed too many neat coincidences that always paint Christianity in a good light while simultaneously painting all Pagan cultures in the light of evil.
Advanced Civilization in Northern Europe
I have already written about the Celtic Mathematical Mount and how it displays a mastery of mathematics long before the Greeks, but what if there were more evidence of an advanced civilization in Northern Europe long before the Indo-Mediterraneans?
We tend to look at the stone circles such as Stonehenge through modern eyes looking at something in the state of ruin. However, there is nothing to indicate that Stonehenge, or any other stone structure looked the same in the past as it does today. Wood, metal, fabric, etc. that were part of these structures would have vanished long ago. Considering that the intention of the war propaganda of the Romans (both pre-Christian and Christian) was to paint the Northern Europeans as barbarians, it is easy to see that evidence of an advanced civilization in Northern Europe could easily be suppressed.
The Druids Wrote Things Down
This one entered my consciousness when I saw a video on YouTube claiming a recipe for bread that was around 3000 years old and found written in Ogham script. A single extant recipe written in Ogham well before the Christian era throws the entire narrative of the Druids never writing anything down into question.
A more logical explanation would be that the Romans and Christians destroyed the writings of the Druids. The fact of a written recipe also throws into question the idea that the Celtic Irish and Celtic Britons were illiterate. This is a particularly interesting rabbit hole to explore.
The Northern Europe and East Asia Connection
The predominant theory at the moment in both academia and folkish Paganism is that all European civilization stems from the influence of South Asia through the Greeks and the Romans. While this may be true of Southern Europe this makes little sense in Northern Europe, particularly considering the two possibilities discussed above.
Christianity is notorious for twisting facts and history to suit its agenda.
While there are too many issues to discuss here (in fact this will take many articles to fully investigate) one glaring example is how Northern European and Southern European deities differ.
It is easy to make connections between the Greco-Roman deities and Hindu deities. However, trying to make these same connections between Northern European deities and Hindu deities always seems forced. In short, Northern European deities share characteristics with Taoist deities from East Asia rather than Hindu deities from South Asia.
These connections go far beyond religion and, as we will see in future articles, include all aspects of culture.
The Northern European Diet
The food that is generally considered “Western food” in particular Northern European food is often unhealthy, and in many ways disgusting. Our pre-Christian ancestors would have eaten a diet much closer to nature. They would have eaten dairy and eggs rather than beef or chicken as once the animal is killed it can no longer provide milk and eggs. This doesn’t mean that I think our ancestors were vegetarian. They would likely have eaten a lot of fish, dairy, eggs, vegetables, berries, and nuts. Grains were obviously grown and made into bread and ale.
I call this one an alternative history because too many (especially modern Norse Pagans) have a twisted view of what our pre-Christian ancestors ate.
Counterattacks Not Invasions
This may be one of the most controversial ideas that I have come upon. We learn in school, and by popular media, that the Vikings invaded Britain and Ireland to rape, pillage, and plunder. Likewise, we learn in school that the Mongolians invaded Europe for the same reason, to rape, pillage, and plunder.
What if this is just the Christian interpretation of these events? What if there is evidence to suggest that the Vikings were conducting counterattacks against the Christians to aid fellow European Pagans whom the Christians were murdering and exploiting? What if we can further expand this argument to the Mongolian counterattack against Christian armies coming in aid of fellow Pagans?
Conclusion
Not only is it fascinating to consider these possibilities, it also gives another side to the story. Christianity is notorious for twisting facts and history to suit its agenda. I, for one, think it is time to stop playing into their game and start exploring other interpretations of history.