Why the Redneck Pagan? I haven’t been asked this particular question yet, but I have had some similar questions posed in the past (and I figure the question will come up soon enough) . My favorite ones include: “Redneck… you?” or “Why on earth would you call yourself a Redneck?” and of course “What the hell makes you a Redneck”. Most of these questions have come up when I have self identified as a Redneck at work. And I can understand that question. You see at work I dress in nice slacks, a nice shirt or sweater, my hair is done and I typically wear very modest makeup. I speak in a low and calm voice, using very professional language. Not what most people think of when they hear the word Redneck!
For many people the name Redneck calls up a much different character. The person most people would associate with being a Redneck is loud and crass. She or he would be wearing very bright and almost inappropriate clothing. They would be the kind of people who are under or even uneducated, living in the trailer park and are often drunk. They tend to listen to country western music and really love either the Rodeo’s or NASCAR. This is the stereotype most people associate with Rednecks, and this stereotype has been played up by the media for comedic effect. But there is more to this term and the people who embrace it than you think!
For example how many people know where the term came from? I do, it started in the southern United States over 100 years ago, around 1893. The term was used to mean the poor farmers, their necks were often red from the sunburn. The term also was used in the earlier part of the 1900s to designate Union Members of the Coal Miners. As the century marched on the term was no longer used for just poor farmers and coal miners. Many members of the lower classes in the southern United States began to refer to themselves by this term and it really gained popularity with comedic acts such as Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Ron White and Larry the Cable Guy.
Are you impressed yet? No? I don’t blame you. Anybody with an internet connection could have checked Google and Wikipedia for these same facts (and is where I found them a few years ago). So let’s examine some of these stereotypes in detail. To help me with this I rely on the comedy act of Jeff Foxworthy and his “you might be a Redneck If…” lines.
“If you own a house that is mobile and fourteen cars that aren’t, you might be a Redneck”. This joke hits on two classical Redneck Stereotypes: Rednecks have messy yards and live in trailer parks. Well look a little deeper. I have a neighbor like this (lives across the street actually) do you know why he has a mobile home and fourteen cars (well right now it’s three trucks and a rider mower). The mobile home is actually a double wide trailer and at the time he and his wife bought it they were building a life together and the only financing they had available at the time was to buy the trailer. Over time they moved it onto a larger lot in our small town. They have found with some improvements and placing it onto a basement that it more than suits their needs.
You see we Rednecks typically are not greedy people. We find what it is we need, and go with it. My husband and I lucked out with our house as it is a bit larger than what we needed, but being in a smaller town it was well in our price range. Prior to finding that house we were looking at smaller places in the larger city near our home now. We were not looking for a mansion, just a nice little corner to call our own. All Rednecks that I have been honored to know actually do have the finances to get larger homes, they choose not to because they have what they need.
As to the fourteen cars? Most of the Rednecks I know are very mechanically inclined and work well with their hands. They hate to see anything go to waste if they can find a way to use it. My neighbor for example is fixing up an old truck, the other two on his lot he is salvaging for parts. Once he is done with them he will take them to the scrap yard to recycle the metal. He is not afraid of getting his hands dirty, or crawl under a rusty truck if it means being able to use something. His philosophy is that somebody, somewhere put a heck of a lot of time and effort to gather the materials and have the trucks built, he might as well appreciate their effort and use it. He’s the same way about anybody’s cooking, if you make him something he will eat it (even my terrible cooking). And for those asking, he’s not Pagan, not very spiritual actually. Once he asked us if we went to church or something. I replied we had other spiritual pursuits. He laughed and said that’s ok because he’s not really anything “there’s something out there, figure if I live good I’ll get where I have to go.”
As a Pagan I fully embrace both of these ideals! So many people today are fixated on mass consumerism. Buying the latest greatest toys, the hottest cars, gadgets, makeup, food and houses. So many of these things are tossed aside as the next greatest thing comes along. As a Pagan I know the Earth, and everything in her is Sacred. I also know that unchecked consumerism creates a whole slew of problems for the Earth, and I am sure those reading my blog do as well. Our society is very far out of balance, taking far more than we need and not using everything we have. I know I am guilty of this myself, but I am trying to change.
“If you’ve ever had to climb to the top of the water tower with a bucket of paint to defend your sister’s honor, you might be a redneck”. For those of you who might not get this joke, water towers are popular places to paint obscene comments about other people in some communities. So basically somebody wrote something nasty about your sister, you have to paint over it before anybody see’s it. But what does this tell you. It tells you that family is important, and we look after our own. It doesn’t matter what your sister is like, you get up on that water tower and paint over whatever they wrote. If your mother is sick, you take care of her, if dad calls and needs your help over the weekend, you go and help.
Family is everything. We all are born into a family, some are good, some are bad, but they are still family. Now obviously I am not talking about extreme cases where there was abuse. I am talking about the average everyday family. We have an aunt in my family (well my husband’s side), who is “nuttier than a bedbug”, she can drive a Mormon to drink. I will spare you the details but she is not my, or my husband’s, favorite relative to visit. We have nothing in common other than blood. But if she called tomorrow and said she was sick or really needed help with something in her home we would be there as soon as possible to help her.
Service to others is a huge part of Paganism. We recognize that we are not alone, what we do comes back to us. And what we do to or for another, will have far reaching effects that we cannot begin to understand. The roots of our current faith lie in the tight knit clan societies of the past, where we looked out for one another. As a Pagan I take care of my family and as a Redneck I know that family matters.
“If you’ve ever hit a deer with your truck… on purpose, you might be a redneck”. Almost every Redneck I know is a hunter. I have never gone myself but we are planning to have me going for my general deer tag in September, so I am going to be soon enough. And yes there are antlers on our wall. We have one set of shed antler on the bookcase, several antler handled knives and a set of Mule Deer antlers on the wall. The ones on the wall are special; it was from the last buck my husband’s grandfather shot before he passed away. My husband mounted the antlers for him and when his grandfather passed away the antlers went back to my husband and have stayed with him to this day. But here is something you might be surprised to hear: all the Rednecks I know HATE poachers with a passion. They believe that anybody who shoots an animal and only takes the head or hide, and leaves behind the meat, should be shot and left the way they left the animal.
You see the Rednecks I know respect the animal; they take a long time getting to know the animal, their habitat, their behavior. They spend hours walking the land, learning the terrain. They also make sure they know the law and all purchase their “tags”. In the province of Alberta hunting is regulated, anybody who wishes to hunt and kill an animal that is not labeled as vermin (skunks, mice and coyotes are examples of vermin in Alberta) has to purchase a tag for permission to kill the animal. The number of tags granted is based on population counts, fewer animals in the wild equals smaller number of tags issued. The goal is sustainability of the animal species.
All the Rednecks I know respect this system and hunt within sustainable limits. When they finally (and after listening to stories about long hours and days on end sitting and waiting it is a finally moment) shoot the animal they spring to work. There is of course a few pictures and congratulations to each other, but then they begin the work of skinning and butchering. My husband typically will say a prayer of thanks to the animal as he is skinning it. They will collect all the meat they can, using as much of the animal as possible (granted most do not keep the brain, intestine or hoofs). The meat is stored, and eaten by the hunters family and friends for months. And remember what I said earlier, even if the meal is awful, they will eat it.
Now the topic of hunting is a very sticky one in the Pagan community. Some Pagans are ok with it, some are uneasy about it and others are against it. Some Pagans still eat meat while others have become staunch vegetarians. My stance is that yes, all life is sacred, from the smallest stone to the Himalayan Mountains, from the single cell amoeba to the Humpback whale. However in order to live, some must die. Even the carrot you pull out of the ground for your salad has given its life so that you may live. And when we die we feed the life force, becoming food for bacteria that will nourish the soil and help the sapling grow. The key to me is gratitude. If you take a life, any life, you are thankful and use it without wasting. I have no problem with hunters, who put in the effort to hunt legally, who know and understand where there food comes from and will use the animal and not waste it. I do have an issue with the poacher who only takes the head, or even the punk that buys a steak in a supermarket and then lets half of rot.
“If your family tree does not fork… you might be a redneck” well this one I am not sure how to comment. My family tree forks, so does my husbands. I have not spent a lot of time following the genealogy of the other Rednecks I know, however I have not heard of any cousins marrying, or other similar cases. So I cannot fully comment on this particular stereotype, however Rednecks are not alone in this stereotype. Ever gone and traced the family tree of the Monarchs and Noble Families of Europe? Yeah…. Read up on it sometime, up until recently they seem to have a similar problem with their family trees.
Now obviously I have not touched up on all the myths and stereotypes and jokes there are about Rednecks. That might take a book or ten to go over! I have only selected a few to showcase, and to tell my perspective on! This may or may not be the perspective of other Rednecks out there, but I do hope at the very least it has given you something to mull over. Rednecks are like any other people, we have our good aspects, and our not so good aspects, but there is always more to us than people usually see.
Yours Humbly
The Redneck Pagan
All Redneck Jokes are the creative property of Jeff Foxworthy: http://www.jefffoxworthy.com
For many people the name Redneck calls up a much different character. The person most people would associate with being a Redneck is loud and crass. She or he would be wearing very bright and almost inappropriate clothing. They would be the kind of people who are under or even uneducated, living in the trailer park and are often drunk. They tend to listen to country western music and really love either the Rodeo’s or NASCAR. This is the stereotype most people associate with Rednecks, and this stereotype has been played up by the media for comedic effect. But there is more to this term and the people who embrace it than you think!
For example how many people know where the term came from? I do, it started in the southern United States over 100 years ago, around 1893. The term was used to mean the poor farmers, their necks were often red from the sunburn. The term also was used in the earlier part of the 1900s to designate Union Members of the Coal Miners. As the century marched on the term was no longer used for just poor farmers and coal miners. Many members of the lower classes in the southern United States began to refer to themselves by this term and it really gained popularity with comedic acts such as Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Ron White and Larry the Cable Guy.
Are you impressed yet? No? I don’t blame you. Anybody with an internet connection could have checked Google and Wikipedia for these same facts (and is where I found them a few years ago). So let’s examine some of these stereotypes in detail. To help me with this I rely on the comedy act of Jeff Foxworthy and his “you might be a Redneck If…” lines.
“If you own a house that is mobile and fourteen cars that aren’t, you might be a Redneck”. This joke hits on two classical Redneck Stereotypes: Rednecks have messy yards and live in trailer parks. Well look a little deeper. I have a neighbor like this (lives across the street actually) do you know why he has a mobile home and fourteen cars (well right now it’s three trucks and a rider mower). The mobile home is actually a double wide trailer and at the time he and his wife bought it they were building a life together and the only financing they had available at the time was to buy the trailer. Over time they moved it onto a larger lot in our small town. They have found with some improvements and placing it onto a basement that it more than suits their needs.
You see we Rednecks typically are not greedy people. We find what it is we need, and go with it. My husband and I lucked out with our house as it is a bit larger than what we needed, but being in a smaller town it was well in our price range. Prior to finding that house we were looking at smaller places in the larger city near our home now. We were not looking for a mansion, just a nice little corner to call our own. All Rednecks that I have been honored to know actually do have the finances to get larger homes, they choose not to because they have what they need.
As to the fourteen cars? Most of the Rednecks I know are very mechanically inclined and work well with their hands. They hate to see anything go to waste if they can find a way to use it. My neighbor for example is fixing up an old truck, the other two on his lot he is salvaging for parts. Once he is done with them he will take them to the scrap yard to recycle the metal. He is not afraid of getting his hands dirty, or crawl under a rusty truck if it means being able to use something. His philosophy is that somebody, somewhere put a heck of a lot of time and effort to gather the materials and have the trucks built, he might as well appreciate their effort and use it. He’s the same way about anybody’s cooking, if you make him something he will eat it (even my terrible cooking). And for those asking, he’s not Pagan, not very spiritual actually. Once he asked us if we went to church or something. I replied we had other spiritual pursuits. He laughed and said that’s ok because he’s not really anything “there’s something out there, figure if I live good I’ll get where I have to go.”
As a Pagan I fully embrace both of these ideals! So many people today are fixated on mass consumerism. Buying the latest greatest toys, the hottest cars, gadgets, makeup, food and houses. So many of these things are tossed aside as the next greatest thing comes along. As a Pagan I know the Earth, and everything in her is Sacred. I also know that unchecked consumerism creates a whole slew of problems for the Earth, and I am sure those reading my blog do as well. Our society is very far out of balance, taking far more than we need and not using everything we have. I know I am guilty of this myself, but I am trying to change.
“If you’ve ever had to climb to the top of the water tower with a bucket of paint to defend your sister’s honor, you might be a redneck”. For those of you who might not get this joke, water towers are popular places to paint obscene comments about other people in some communities. So basically somebody wrote something nasty about your sister, you have to paint over it before anybody see’s it. But what does this tell you. It tells you that family is important, and we look after our own. It doesn’t matter what your sister is like, you get up on that water tower and paint over whatever they wrote. If your mother is sick, you take care of her, if dad calls and needs your help over the weekend, you go and help.
Family is everything. We all are born into a family, some are good, some are bad, but they are still family. Now obviously I am not talking about extreme cases where there was abuse. I am talking about the average everyday family. We have an aunt in my family (well my husband’s side), who is “nuttier than a bedbug”, she can drive a Mormon to drink. I will spare you the details but she is not my, or my husband’s, favorite relative to visit. We have nothing in common other than blood. But if she called tomorrow and said she was sick or really needed help with something in her home we would be there as soon as possible to help her.
Service to others is a huge part of Paganism. We recognize that we are not alone, what we do comes back to us. And what we do to or for another, will have far reaching effects that we cannot begin to understand. The roots of our current faith lie in the tight knit clan societies of the past, where we looked out for one another. As a Pagan I take care of my family and as a Redneck I know that family matters.
“If you’ve ever hit a deer with your truck… on purpose, you might be a redneck”. Almost every Redneck I know is a hunter. I have never gone myself but we are planning to have me going for my general deer tag in September, so I am going to be soon enough. And yes there are antlers on our wall. We have one set of shed antler on the bookcase, several antler handled knives and a set of Mule Deer antlers on the wall. The ones on the wall are special; it was from the last buck my husband’s grandfather shot before he passed away. My husband mounted the antlers for him and when his grandfather passed away the antlers went back to my husband and have stayed with him to this day. But here is something you might be surprised to hear: all the Rednecks I know HATE poachers with a passion. They believe that anybody who shoots an animal and only takes the head or hide, and leaves behind the meat, should be shot and left the way they left the animal.
You see the Rednecks I know respect the animal; they take a long time getting to know the animal, their habitat, their behavior. They spend hours walking the land, learning the terrain. They also make sure they know the law and all purchase their “tags”. In the province of Alberta hunting is regulated, anybody who wishes to hunt and kill an animal that is not labeled as vermin (skunks, mice and coyotes are examples of vermin in Alberta) has to purchase a tag for permission to kill the animal. The number of tags granted is based on population counts, fewer animals in the wild equals smaller number of tags issued. The goal is sustainability of the animal species.
All the Rednecks I know respect this system and hunt within sustainable limits. When they finally (and after listening to stories about long hours and days on end sitting and waiting it is a finally moment) shoot the animal they spring to work. There is of course a few pictures and congratulations to each other, but then they begin the work of skinning and butchering. My husband typically will say a prayer of thanks to the animal as he is skinning it. They will collect all the meat they can, using as much of the animal as possible (granted most do not keep the brain, intestine or hoofs). The meat is stored, and eaten by the hunters family and friends for months. And remember what I said earlier, even if the meal is awful, they will eat it.
Now the topic of hunting is a very sticky one in the Pagan community. Some Pagans are ok with it, some are uneasy about it and others are against it. Some Pagans still eat meat while others have become staunch vegetarians. My stance is that yes, all life is sacred, from the smallest stone to the Himalayan Mountains, from the single cell amoeba to the Humpback whale. However in order to live, some must die. Even the carrot you pull out of the ground for your salad has given its life so that you may live. And when we die we feed the life force, becoming food for bacteria that will nourish the soil and help the sapling grow. The key to me is gratitude. If you take a life, any life, you are thankful and use it without wasting. I have no problem with hunters, who put in the effort to hunt legally, who know and understand where there food comes from and will use the animal and not waste it. I do have an issue with the poacher who only takes the head, or even the punk that buys a steak in a supermarket and then lets half of rot.
“If your family tree does not fork… you might be a redneck” well this one I am not sure how to comment. My family tree forks, so does my husbands. I have not spent a lot of time following the genealogy of the other Rednecks I know, however I have not heard of any cousins marrying, or other similar cases. So I cannot fully comment on this particular stereotype, however Rednecks are not alone in this stereotype. Ever gone and traced the family tree of the Monarchs and Noble Families of Europe? Yeah…. Read up on it sometime, up until recently they seem to have a similar problem with their family trees.
Now obviously I have not touched up on all the myths and stereotypes and jokes there are about Rednecks. That might take a book or ten to go over! I have only selected a few to showcase, and to tell my perspective on! This may or may not be the perspective of other Rednecks out there, but I do hope at the very least it has given you something to mull over. Rednecks are like any other people, we have our good aspects, and our not so good aspects, but there is always more to us than people usually see.
Yours Humbly
The Redneck Pagan
All Redneck Jokes are the creative property of Jeff Foxworthy: http://www.jefffoxworthy.com
lol...I think the element of fire is perhaps not for you! Great posts! :-)
ReplyDeleteMy husband agrees with you, and I'm no longer allowed to play with the bonfire! Thank you for reading!
DeleteYours Humbly
The Redneck Pagan