#PaganSplainer James II of Scotland did die when a cannon exploded next to him, and did have a son called the Lord of Sticks, though Sticks was probably actually a place. #InsularKingdoms

#PaganSplainer The hat is in fact from eBay seller passthesabot. Support small businesses!

#PaganSplainer That's Penny Mordaunt, Leader of the House of Commons, who is a naval veteran and once went on a TV competitive diving show. Previous incumbents of the post have had... less sense of duty and suitability for the occasion.

#PaganSplainer There actually is a Green Man on the invitations to King Charles III's coronation.

#PaganSplainer Pussy willow was historically used as a substitute for palm leaves in parts of Europe which are too cold for palms to be grown, including in Hampshire in the 70s and 80s when I was growing up. #InsularKingdoms

#PaganSplainer Knockers are spirits who live in Cornish mines and eat discarded pasty crusts.

#PaganSplainer The Bucca is a legendary Cornish sea monster which may or may not be a prince under a curse.

#PaganSplainer

No one is totally sure what 'mumming' involved prior to the mid eighteenth century, though it seems to have been some kind of performance, possibly by masked figures going door to door. It almost certainly had nothing to do with being radicalised into hating trans people, which at least puts it one up on Mumsnet.

#PaganSplainer Read any explanation of the history of a beloved local event where people dress up in peculiar costumes and playfully menace onlookers. They're all exactly like this. (Okay, except for the bit about the wombats).

The Temperance Bush is inspired by the May Day celebrations in Padstow.

#PaganSplainer

Hedging His Bets, by Celia Kyle and Mina Carter. There may well be others.

#PaganSplainer Over in this universe, my mother opens her garden for charity three times a year in exchange for donations to the local day unit for adults with learning difficulties. She has previously had trouble with people taking cuttings from her (very poisonous) datura tree.

#PaganSplainer Yes, this absolutely is a shitpost about Patheos.

#PaganSplainer And minority religions get (almost literally) thrown under the minibus.

#PaganSplainer Pagan Who Has It All is most familiar with Jews and Muslims, and assumes based on this that no followers of Abrahamic faiths eat pork.

#PaganSplainer The sónargǫltr was the sacrifice of a boar, usually at midwinter. Oaths were sworn on the boar and in some sources its bristles were used for divination.

#PaganSplainer https://religion.masto.host/@PaganWhoHasItAll/109721360498344372

That is actually my cat Mycroft.

#PaganSplainer A 'fluffy bunny' is any pagan more towards the New Age end of things than the pagan you're talking to. Occasionally you will encounter a respectable pagan scholar with a name like Avalon Moonsprinkles: it's wisest not to make assumptions.

#PaganSplainer

Because I realised I never linked to this, here is the venerable reason why everyone in the #InsularKingdoms appears to be called either Raven or Morgan: <a href="https://www.ecauldron.net/humor01.php">Lady Pixie Moondrip's Guide To Craft Names</a>

#PaganSplainer : https://www.askamanager.org/2023/01/can-i-hold-a-job-applicants-proselytizing-email-signature-against-them.html , in which the commentators on the Ask a Manager blog disagree over what constitutes proselytizing and I want to buy every single Jewish person in the comments a large drink.

#PaganSplainer

A contemporary popular song described Charles II as 'our sovereign lord the King, whose word no man relies on'.