Skriiₐnd tróch Dyami Millarson
Brullóft en begraffenis, ‘r ies mar ‘n móóment menning ien ‘t libben der ‘t de éémóósjes só haig òprinne kenne. Oergefoelens kómme òp sókke móómenten nei bóppe. Ómmes binne brullóft en begraffenis de belangriekste móómenten ien méénsken jerre libben. Sódwaaₑnde ies ‘t allegaar goo tó begriepen.
Ééₐder ien ‘t folkslééʷen weeren dizze móómenten ek ‘t belangriekst. Twaa doezend jiir wúróm fereere de Germaanen de Góóden òp dizze belangriekste libbensmóómenten. Eigenlik weer ‘t só: Jèè fereeren ‘t libben mei féést en seeremóónje en jèè frigge de Góóden natuuₐlik óm ‘r bie tó kómmen.
‘t Wééₐd een grätte geselligheid die ‘t de Germaanen mei de Góóden dééle woêₑden. Jèè déélden gelók en fedriet mei de Góóden jin ‘t oeral bie wééₐden. De Góóden weeren ‘r altieten òp ‘e belangriekste libbensmóómenten fòòr ‘e méénsken. Ómmes weer ‘n méénskenlibben só fòòₐbie. De tiid floog. Mar ‘t wééₐd wòl lang genóg óm ‘n sterken bâând mei de ââlde Góóden tó oentwikkeljen.
Foundation Operation X for languages, cultures and perspectives 
In Japan, brullóft (wedding) is at the church, begraffenis (funeral) is at the temple.
And usually, we Japanese visit the shrine and pray to Japanese 神様.
Japanese faith is 八百万の神（Yaoyorozu-no-Kami).
Very unique, don’t you think! XD!! Hehehe!!
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Wow, you managed to decode words of the archaic language of Hindeloopen!
Whilst the language of Hindeloopen has only a small language community with less than 300 speakers, I will definitely tell the other speakers of Hielepes that a Japanese person online managed to crack a few words of their old language.
This is exactly what our blog is about: Encouraging people to decode endangered minority languages.
The purpose of our blog is the reason why we offer no translation and keep it a mystery. However, we do offer supportive comments & feedback for progress in language-cracking/language-learning.
We wish to promote the idea of learning these endangered tongues. We believe in language-decoding, because this is also the method we use ourselves for language-learning.
When we study minority languages, we persevere until we manage to crack the code and use all words and repeat all patterns ourselves.
It all comes down to code-cracking and we definitely promote this. Code-cracking depends on pattern recognition. It is a highly useful skill in the modern digital age.
It does not matter what method you employ to decode words (e.g. you may rely on old-fashioned guesswork, Google search or Google translate to help you figure out the meaning behind words). Your decoding method is always correct as long as you arrive at the right answer eventually. It is hit and miss or trial and error, so it requires perseverence and discipline, which are also useful skills to have in the modern world.
I got carried away by the fascinating linguistic aspect of your insightful comment, while you were mainly talking about the numinous and the syncretic aspects in Japanese society. So let me return to the original topic.
Syncretism is still popular in Japan today, but it used to be popular in ancient Europe and to lesser extent in pre-modern Europe as well. Europeans lost their synretic belief systems, and became gradually more irreligious (i.e. ever more secular) along with it.
The Japanese, in that sense, have managed to preserve ancient traditions into the modern era that many Europeans have lost and that have consequently faded from European collective memory.
I have read about ancient Japan that matters of death and afterlife used to be the realm of Buddhism, while matters of the kami and other beings used to be the realm of Shintō. This is syncretic, as it combines different systems.
I find it fascinating that this ancient belief in combining things in a harmonious way translates in the modern era into Japanese having their wedding at the church, doing their prayers at the shrine and having their funeral at the temple.
It is mysterious that Japanese pay respects to numinous beings called kami during their lifetime.
I find shintō a profoundly intriguing and intellectually engaging topic and I always want to learn more about the kami and their nature (character).
I know Europeans who believe in numinous beings like the kami. They may bring offerings to them on certain occasions.
In pre-industrial (pre-modern) times the belief in such numinous beings used to be more widespread in Northern Europe.
Every Northern European cultural region traditionally has their own words for these beings: the Swedes have the rå, vätter and älvor, the Icelanders have the vættir and álfar, the Germans have the Zwerge, Kobolde and Klabautermänner, the Dutchmen have the kabouters and dwergen, the Frisians have the ierdmantsjes, the Englishmen, Scotsmen and Irishmen have the elves and fairies.
The ancient divinities (Góóden is the word for divine beings in the language of Hindeloopen), that ancient Europeans believed in, used to be akin to the kami.
I am very interested in learning more about numinous beings and writing about this topic as well on the blog. I think that description of these beings is important, for they are fading from memory in the modern world; such description is a rewarding intellectual exercise, and I believe it ought to be both objective and empathic towards the subject matter.
– Dyami Millarson
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Excellent!
Blog in Frisian
Please continue, it is an Interesting challenge.
Please Shorten sentences, it was hard to decipher! ! !(T^T)
About the comment which wrote before disappeared,
3 years ago? He whom you are search were certainly existed, but he is unknown after that. It seems that he stayed in the Netherlands before few years ago in summer. I pasted the address of his (old days)student’s site.
If necessary, I will search again.
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Thank you so much for your sincere interest in taking up this challenge.
It may intrigue you to know that speakers of the language of Hindeloopen prefer not to call themselves Frisian.
They feel that their language is an archaic kind of Frisian and that therefore Frisian and the language of Hindeloopen are related, but they consider themselves also highly distinct in customs and language.
Thus speakers of the language of Hindeloopen consider themselves “people of Hindeloopen first, Frisians second”.
They accept their affinity with Frisia, but they do find it very important that others also accept they are very distinct. It is about accepting similarities and differences at the same time, the former does not negate the latter. It is a delicate balance.
I am grateful you took it upon yourself to look up information about the Japanese professors specialised in Frisian.
I met Makoto Shimizu in 2016, but I have not met Kodama yet.
I hope Kodama is still alive and well.
It would be a great honour to tell him about our study of the Frisian languages.
– Dyami Millarson
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You shoukd try to sending E-Mail ↓
wbs20957@mail.wbs.ne.jp
This E-mail address is Mr. Matsushita（松下）who
graduated of the department of English in 1978, the class of Professor Hitoshi Kodama（兒玉仁士）.
＊From this site↓
http://www.dokkyo.com/alumnus/foreignlanguage/001435.html
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I paste E-mail address and this sentence↓
I hope it not disappear,again!! 😀
This E-mail address is Mr. Matsushita（松下）who
graduated of the department of English in 1978, the class of Professor Hitoshi Kodama（兒玉仁士）.
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Europe or Continent etc.. is connected in Land, various ethnic groups live together.
So, “Common Rules” were necessary, It is “Religion”.
Japan was surrounded by the sea and evolved only by “Japanese”.
(There were a few moves from the continent)
Japanese people have a common recognition that “Have 神様 reside everything ” ,That’s the “八百万の神” thought(ideology).
Later, Buddhism and Christianity came into Japan from over sea.
Foreigners called Japanese thought “Shinto” by their ”Concept of their Religion”.
Combining “Geopolitics” with your” language studying”, it is very interesting,I think! ! 😀
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Our blog is explicitly apolitical, because we want to connect people through the objective, empathic study of human language, culture and philosophy.
The human relationship is the most important for us, and we believe we can get the best out of people by building a relationship with them.
I use “religion” in a general sense. One may interpret it to mean “way, philosophy, etc.” However, it is legally important to use the term “religion” because the (international) law recognises that all religions are equal.
People may perceive it as that the term “religion” is imposed upon them, because they regard “religion” as a fixed set of rules, but religion, in the legal sense, can be any belief system; it does not need fixed rules, it can be entirely spontaneous.
It is a practical/bureaucratic/legal issue, but it vital to know that calling it religion gives you legally equal status with others, and this equality is of great value in modern times.
Being called “mythology” would not mean legal recognition and equality; being called “religion” means being given legal recognition and equality.
Europe has a long pre-Christian history, and we shed light on this fascinating purely folk religious historical epoch.
We are aware that Europe has, objectively speaking, not always been Christian. But what was it then? This is a very interesting question.
Clues remain of what existed before. Folk religion continued to exist in Europe long after the purely folk religious era had ended.
Northern Europe became Christian only very recently in history when compared to Southern Europe.
Northern Europe has many traces left of the elder faith, and there is a lot that can be learned from studying this meticulously.
It gives an idea of what the old religion might have looked like. The later folk beliefs are essentially authentic expressions of human folk religion just like the old religion; the authenticity is what matters primarily for getting a clue about what might have gone before, whether there is a direct connection between the ancient and the (pre-)modern is of secondary concern, because authentic folk expressions are in themselves interesting to study regardless of their exact origin or age.
That being said, we do know that Northern Europeans had a nature religion in ancient times. Folk religion as practised in later times is also heavily based on nature and man’s relationship with nature.
The thematic essence of later pre-industrial Northern European folk religion and ancient Northern European folk religion appear the same; there is obvious connection in nature-based mind-set and reverence towards nature and the acceptance of man’s intimate relationship with nature. This makes sense because folk religion is spontaneous, and man might arrive at the same insights throughout the ages.
I have sketched a picture of Northern European nature religion.
The basic tenets are the same in Northern Europe as in Japan: (a) Everything had/has a soul/spirit and (b) there was/is no set of rules like those in Christianity.
Northern European folk religionists had their laws, but this was different from a fixed set of religious rules.
Japan and Northern Europe have a lot in common. However, Japan managed to hold on better to its ancient traditions than did Northern Europe; most Japanese have traditional beliefs that only a very small minority of Northern Europeans have nowadays.
Nevertheless, not all has been lost in Northern Europe and I am interested in studying whatever has been preserved.
There are so many fascinating things, and I think that Japanese have a lot to teach us and can inspire us a lot; Japanese may help us restore ancient traditions and help us understand nature philosophy again.
Japanese have managed to keep traditions and to restore traditions when they were (almost) lost or had faded from collective memory.
This is very admirable, and this is why exchange between our human cultures is so valuable for preserving and restoring heritage.
– Dyami Millarson
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まだ読んでいる途中なので、ちょっと舞ってね 😀 Please wait for a while, I’m reading this comment!! 😀
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Excellent!! 😀
For Japan the concept of “religion” was unnecessary.
As Japanese common values, morals etc.,
Our Thought is “Japanese 神様 resides in Everything”.
Therefore, education is also “神様 watching, even if no one is watching, so do not steal” “Even if no one is watching, 神様 is watching and 神様 knows already that we are kind to somebody”etc…
That’s why the Japanese has been “highly civilized”.
This is a Japanese, it is Japanese’s view of religion.
Buddhism, Christianity ,Islam, etc. are religion in order to unify the “moral” of different habits of ethnic groups, and made laws.
Religion is common unification of the moral; law is clear regulation and the rule that all people in same group must obey strict observance of law.
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The same can be said for ancient Northern Europe. The concept of “religion” was unnecessary for ancient Northern European tribes. So Northern Europe, inhabitated by a variety of ethnic groups in ancient times, does originally not have a concept for “religion”. The word “religion” itself in Northern Europe is a loanword from Latin. However, when one studies the original Latin word religiō, one discovers also that the Romans used the word quite differently from how people use it today. The old meanings of religiō are:
1. conscientiousness, sense of right, moral obligation, duty
2. a regard for sacred things, devoutness, piety, reverence, religious feeling
3. a religious scruple, scruple of conscience, apprehension of divine anger, fear of the gods, superstitious awe
4. a sense of religious obligation, religious sanction, duty to the gods
5. a religious obligation, oath, pledge of faith, religious sanction
6. divine service, worship of the gods, religious observance, religion, worship
Religiō is originally not as much a set of strict rules, but rather it is about moral conscience and duty; religiō, in its old historical usage, is about human moral feeling and so it is ambiguous. No one knows, however, what the exact pre-historical original meaning of religiō is because the etymology is obscured since ancient times. One acceptable ancient theory is that the noun religiō comes from the verb relegō (“I collect again, I read again”).
Furthermore, Northern Europeans described religious activity in their languages as “custom”. The Ancient Germanic substantive root with this meaning is sid-, which comes from the Indogermanic verbal root seh₂y- with the meaning “to bind”. The word has been inherited in the language of Hindeloopen as sééde, which means “custom” and “moral behaviour” at the same time. The word sééde conflates the concepts of tradition and morality, which must be the original situation.
Morality is a vague concept that is based on feeling, and this feeling may philosophically be seen as inherited or originating from the divine. To clarify the latter statement, one ought to remember that ancient philosophy (incarnated by wise men and women in ancient times, while there was no word for philosophy) attributed things frequently to divine inheritance or divine origin. If Northern Europeans saw sid- (the conceptual conflation of morality and tradition) as being linked to the divine, which they most likely did, then it makes sense that they never felt the need for constructing the concept of religion as a strict set of rules. Feeling was the strongest binding factor for ancient Northern Europeans.
Furthermore, ancient Northern European law was customary law; it was arbitrary and based on moral feeling. One can say that the old law was folk law, while it sprang up spontaneously among the people. Everyone “knew” it from birth. Ancient Germanic speech, shared by numerous Northern Europeans, has two different roots for law. One root for law was witōþ-, which originated from the verbal root wit- (to know), which stems from the Indogermanic verbal root weyd- (to see, to know); the other root for law was lag-, which came from the verbal root lagj- (to lay, i.e. to influence the position), which came from the verbal root ligj- (to lie, i.e. to be situated), which comes from Indogermanic legʰ- (to lie). So law can be interpreted in the ancient senses as: (a) that which is seen/known and (b) that which is placed before us. The former perhaps suggests law comes from within, the latter perhaps suggests it comes from without; both notions are not mutually exclusive in an ancient polytheist worldview, for if man inherited law from his ancestors, his ancestors would have inherited it from the Gods.
The ancient world was different, for all was based purely on human nature; the concepts of law and religion in the modern senses did not exist. Although a modern invention, “religion” and “law” are useful concepts in the modern world and the modern legal environment. The concept of polytheism serves as a good analogy: The word polytheism itself did not exist in the English language until 1613 (first known usage), but it is nevertheless a useful concept, albeit a somewhat vague one that always requires further explanation/elaboration, for such concept serves as no explanation in and of itself. In the modern world, benefits are conferred upon those who adopt modern categorisation; those who refuse are left behind and will not receive such benefits. When one adopts the concept of “religion”, one is accorded with legal rights linked to that concept.
“Religion”, in the modern international legal sense, may include any system practised by human beings since some unspecified time. As we have seen, religion does originally not mean a “strict set of rules”. The word has nevertheless been (ab)used in later times to mean such, but in ancient times it was based on human nature/feeling. Religion was spontaneous and moral and innocent, but it became “rational” and “constructed” and “strict” in later times; it moved further away from human nature, one might say, and became a strict rational construct. However, such definition of religion is exclusive, and it does not include the ancient ways of the Japanese or the Northern Europeans.
A philosophically inclusive practical definition is needed, which does not conflate religion with “a strict set of rules”. The ancient religion of the Japanese and Northern Europeans does not include such strict set of rules, and therefore the definition of religion ought to be adapted to that reality; not all religion is based on strict rules, and there ought to be understanding for this in the modern world. That is why it is important to adopt the concept of “religion” in the broad modern legal sense.
It is not good to let but a few monopolise such a concept and exclude others by doing so; it is important to seek legal equality. Japanese people who pay respect to the kami and Northern European people who pay respect to the numinous beings with various local names (see one of my previous comments for an enumeration of local Northern European names for those beings) should be considered as legally equal human beings when compared to practitioners of religions which do have a strict set of rules, and therefore history books and other textbooks, which previously expressed bias against ancient religion, might have to be rewritten to adapt to this legally established equality between human beings.
– Dyami Millarson
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Very Interesting! !
Yes! A word “Religion” is derived from the Latin “ligāre” of ancient civilization.
“Re (again) + ligāre (tie)”
The Latin” religare” (~full of consideration) + ending “-ous “(full of),→English “religious” is derived.
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Let’s talk about Human Science.
Protein and Water are the main constituents of human creatures, and all is conceived in the “cerebrum”.
Each part of a human being moves with blood and nerves.
There is no “organ” called “Warm Lovely Heart” in a human beings. That is the “concept” that the brain created.
As human beings evolved, the cerebrum also evolved, and a new “Emotion” such as “Greed” was born.
Along with that, various “regulations (rules = law) became necessary to Human-being.
Humans are made of protein and water, So we surely die.
Human being with “Greed” think they are Elite, and they say that a “simple human-being” are fool and Simple is “degenerate”.
However, the origin of Human being is universal.
Evolved ppl forget about it and want “greed”more and more, things are complicated.(necessary became Laws.. etc)
Humans being essentially are Simple.
Human being with cerebral who Forget the return to origin is dominated by the “greed” and put the values on “excellence”.
The world has decayed.
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> Japanese have managed to keep traditions and to restore traditions when they were (almost) lost or …
In Japan,”Emperor” has been existing from over 3000 years ago.
It is a “Inherit(succeed to a fortune)” system,Not Usurp.
The Emperor is not a Ruler.
The Emperor is not a God.
The Emperor has a Role of praying to Japanese 神様 for Japanese citizen.
The Emperor is supported by All Japanese people.
The Emperor lives for All his Japanese people.
Therefore, the Emperor is a “Precious Existence” for All Japanese people.
Our role is to inherit Japan from our Ancestors and Inherit Japan to our Descendants.
So, the Emperor and Japanese us can always sacrifice ourselves, giving priority to “Prosperity of Japanese Descendants”.
Human life is limited.
Therefore, we Japanese will commit the “Future” to our Descendants.
“Protect Japan and inherit Japan to our Descendants”
This is JAPAN. 😀
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Such hereditary systems also existed/exist in Northern Europe. Historically speaking, all Northern European countries/peoples used to have monarchical systems of some kind; Germany and Iceland are the only exceptions nowadays in Germanic-speaking Europe, but nevertheless used to be associated with monarchical systems until relatively recently in history. The Netherlands, where I live, is still a monarchy like Japan and therefore it is called the Kingdom of the Netherlands – which is the official legal name. Moreover, it is a descriptive-historical fact that monarchical systems used to be common throughout the world but are rare nowadays.
Let us now focus more on the ancient history and religion of Northern Europe: The locals used to have kings or chiefs. These leading figures were of noble descent and traced their descent to the Gods (such as Othin or Frey). These noblemen of divine descent would presumably have communicated with the Gods on behalf of the people and conveyed the people’s wishes using their own special hereditary connection/relationship with the Gods. This is why all Northern Europeans willingly revered and supported their sacred leaders. The Northern European concept of king is akin to the Japanese concept of emperor and it comes from the ancient Germanic root kuning-, which means “member of the (divine) family”. Belonging to some exclusive kinship group is therefore inherent in the ancient concept of king.
Individuals could earn the favour of the Gods through heroic deeds, but heredity mattered; those who were of some kind of noble descent always performed the greatest feats according to the ancient lore. Heredity was vital in ancient Northern European society and so one was expected to be able to trace one’s lineage; knowing one’s ancestors was practical for knowing one’s place in society. Being unable to recall one’s ancestors would have proved disadvantageous if not disastrous. Ancestry used to be an essential matter, nay, even a sacred matter. This is why ancient Northern Europeans respected their living family and venerated their deceased ancestors; having some kind of ancestral or hereditary connection in one way or another with the Gods was a central theme in the ancient religion.
This pristine system which emphasised heredity, ancestry, family, monarchy, lineage and respect evolved into feudalism in the Middle Ages. Just as the society before it, medieval society was focused on maintaining natural order and it advocated that no one should usurp. Feudalism developed the code of chivalry and the feudal system had a warrior class known as knights. A similar development took place in Japan where the samurai were the warrior class. In this regard, Northern European and Japanese history run parallel. However, this history continued for longer in Japan and Japan has managed to retain or sometimes restore more of this history.
This is not to say that Northern Europe has lost all, because there are still people who observe the ancient traditions spontaneously and unwittingly. Nevertheless, a complex restoration may be envisioned with the growing consciousness in Northern Europe; there is currently a societal desire/need for a return to historical traditions that feels authentic, and this tendency is ultimately spontaneous, timeless and eternal, for traditions became old and then become fashionable again throughout the ages – this is eternal recurrence or simply the recursive, eternally self-replicating nature of tradition. Human nature is cyclical, I believe, and old things will return and become new again when enough generations have passed. The history of human taste and fashion moved in cycles, and religion is ultimately about taste and fashion as well.
– Dyami Millarson
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