There's organised religion and there's unorganised religion. A lot of unorganised religion is of the animist variety. Animism is still around in many parts of the world. It's basically the observation that everything on Planet Earth has a spiritual essence. Animists commune with nature and draw lessons from it. They sing and chant, just like everyone else, so for the sake of argument, let's call animist music hymns, too.

Bring on the didgeridoos

Enjoy this kangaroo dance. It seems to be a way to honour the kangaroo by imitating its movements. The music is contagious. I'm impressed by the amount of close observation that's required to perform this dance.

This dance shows us the kangaroo and the emu. The performers helpfully explain the 'moral' behind these animals: they only move forward. People should learn from them.

Of Prussians and Lithuanian Neo-Pagans

All of our ancestors used to be animists. It's a question of how far back you have to go. For Lithuanians, it's not that far back: they were pagans well into the 14th Century. (And probably long afterward, though they were officially 'Christianised' in 1387.) A lot of Lithuanians are rediscovering paganism these days: it's a popular movement in the post-Soviet era.

Lithuanians are related to an extinct group called the Old Prussians. Here's an Old Prussian hymn about the sun and moon. How did the Old Prussians become extinct, you ask? Two words: Teutonic Knights. Ancestors of all those Prussian generals.

Here's an elderly lady in Lithuania explaining and reciting a prayer to the moon. Here's a brief survey of Lithuania's 'happy paganism'. If you watch to the end, you'll hear some chanting that sounds almost Native American, accompanied by an instrument that looks and sounds suspiciously like a didgeridoo.

Elektra, who is half Lithuanian, likes crows a lot. But she is a disgrace to her pagan past in that she really doesn't like spiders and snakes. But I think she could get into the totem poles. And the singing.

Back to church

Do Christian hymnodists sing about nature? Sure, but they're usually careful to give the Creator credit. (I think sometimes they're too worried about copyright issues.) I'll go on some other day about my favourite nature hymnwriter, but for now, I'll let you have one I like: I Sing the Mighty Power of God.

I wonder what that would sound like with a didgeridoo?