People have been so distracted by the witchy elements of Ireland’s 2024 entry to the Eurovision Song Contest that they have often overlooked the fact that the key religious symbolism in Bambie Thug’s on-stage and off-stage performance relates to the new belief system of gender identity. Her act for Doomsday Blue blends gender identity belief with aspects of Paganism, Witchcraft and Satanism, as well as some pointers to Christianity.
Sacred Space
The centrality of gender identity is most obviously exemplified by the trans-flag bikini worn by Bambie Thug on the Eurovision stage. The performance starts with her wearing a black tulle dress covered in feathers but this costume comes-off mid-performance to reveal the baby-blue and baby-pink-coloured bikini underneath. This occurs when Bambie Thug is in the centre of a pentagram within a circle of candles that is a type of altar or sacred space.
Bambie Thug identifies as non-binary. Her Instagram account lists her preferred pronouns as ‘they/them/fae.’ Within the gender identity belief system it is common for people to declare pronouns in order to signal possession of an internal sense of a gendered self and to communicate the wish that others acknowledge this by using the indicated pronouns.
‘Fae’ pronoun
Many commentators strove to use Bambie Thug’s preferred pronouns ‘they/them’ but no-one, that I’m aware of, attempted to use the ‘fae’ pronoun which would have involved saying things like: ‘Fae said that fae was confident about faer performance. The song was faers. Faer nails were very long.’
The use of flags symbolising gender identity belief was evident throughout the Eurovision. During the semi-final, Bambie Thug held up a trans flag in the performers’ area and her co-performer held up the Progress Pride flag. Nemo, the Swiss winner of the contest held a non-binary flag in the finals. All of these flags symbolise gender identity belief.
Nemo’s song, The Code, was about being non-binary and after he was announced as the winner, Bambie Thug went up to him and put a ‘crown of thorns’ on his head. Again the religious symbolism is very evident here. After the show, Bambie Thug spoke to media saying ‘the queers are coming, non-binaries for the f**king win’.
Religious parallels
Gender identity belief has many parallels to religion. The religious similarities include that there is a calendar of sacred dates such as Pride month, Transgender Day of Visibility, and Nonbinary Awareness Week. There are also rituals, a community, leaders, and doctrines. People who express disbelief are treated as heretics and are often ostracised and condemned.
We live in a multicultural society. The National Census of Ireland in 2022 recorded numbers for 53 different religious categories ranging from Roman Catholic to Hindu to Jedi Knight to Pastafarian. With this level of diversity comes the expectation of religious freedom. We express belief (or lack of) according to our own preferences and upbringing, and generally do not force others to use the same religious language or rituals as ourselves.
When it comes to gender identity belief, there is an expectation that everyone should participate in pronoun rituals. There is also a compulsion to believe that gender identity is more important than biology, that men can become women, that women can become men, and that some people are neither male nor female or even both. A compulsion to participate in other people’s religious rituals is the antithesis of modern liberal democratic values.
In 21st century Ireland we should be free to interrogate belief systems at the same time as treating those who have different beliefs with dignity and respect. The predominance of gender identity belief and its adoption in political, journalistic and academic circles has widespread implications including for education, health, prisons, sports, and schools. We should be able to have conversations about all of this. Questions and critique, however, have become taboo.
Bambie Thug also used ancient Celtic pagan symbols such as the triskele or triple spiral which is commonly associated with the triple moon goddess and the three phases of the moon (waxing, full and waning) that represents woman as maiden, mother and crone.
Symbols
Many people have said that Bambie Thug’s performance is about Satanism because of some of the symbols used. In Paganism, horns are used to symbolise regeneration. The pentagram was the symbol of the Greek mathematician Pythagorous and is also the symbol of Wiccans and Neo-Paganism. The five points of the star represent the five elements – earth, air, fire, water, and spirit. The open eye in the centre of the pentagram on the stage alludes to the Eye of Providence, is also associated with the eye of Big Brother, and has also been used in the past to represent God.
The inverted pentagram with a downward point is sometimes used as a symbol of Satanism but Bambie Thug, in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, has said that she doesn’t practice anything other than witchcraft. Satan, by around the 3rd and 4th centuries was seen as king of the demons who were understood by some to be the pre-Christian gods and goddesses. In Ireland, 189 people put down Satanism as their religion in the 2022 Census.
Jewish connection
The name ‘Bambie Thug’ is a collage of cute deer, fashion doll, and aggressive or violent person. Bambi the deer was popularised in the 1942 Disney movie that was based on a 1923 book by an Austro-Hungarian Jewish writer named Felix Salten. Many people believed the book to be a parable about the treatment of Jews in Europe and the book was banned and even burned in Nazi Germany. The history of the name is interesting in light of the controversies associated with the show this year relating to Israel’s participation.
The heady mix of religious symbolism in Bambie Thug’s performance points to a mish-mash of beliefs. However, the one that takes centre stage and is ultimately crowned by Bambie Thug at the end of the finals is gender identity belief. Far from becoming a more secular society, Ireland is becoming more and more religious but the face of religion has undertaken a dramatic change.
Colette Colfer is a lecturer in religious studies at SETU.
We’re all heretics in the eyes of the new religious cult in town
People have been so distracted by the witchy elements of Ireland’s 2024 entry to the Eurovision Song Contest that they have often overlooked the fact that the key religious symbolism in Bambie Thug’s on-stage and off-stage performance relates to the new belief system of gender identity. Her act for Doomsday Blue blends gender identity belief with aspects of Paganism, Witchcraft and Satanism, as well as some pointers to Christianity.
Sacred Space
The centrality of gender identity is most obviously exemplified by the trans-flag bikini worn by Bambie Thug on the Eurovision stage. The performance starts with her wearing a black tulle dress covered in feathers but this costume comes-off mid-performance to reveal the baby-blue and baby-pink-coloured bikini underneath. This occurs when Bambie Thug is in the centre of a pentagram within a circle of candles that is a type of altar or sacred space.
Bambie Thug identifies as non-binary. Her Instagram account lists her preferred pronouns as ‘they/them/fae.’ Within the gender identity belief system it is common for people to declare pronouns in order to signal possession of an internal sense of a gendered self and to communicate the wish that others acknowledge this by using the indicated pronouns.
‘Fae’ pronoun
Many commentators strove to use Bambie Thug’s preferred pronouns ‘they/them’ but no-one, that I’m aware of, attempted to use the ‘fae’ pronoun which would have involved saying things like: ‘Fae said that fae was confident about faer performance. The song was faers. Faer nails were very long.’
The use of flags symbolising gender identity belief was evident throughout the Eurovision. During the semi-final, Bambie Thug held up a trans flag in the performers’ area and her co-performer held up the Progress Pride flag. Nemo, the Swiss winner of the contest held a non-binary flag in the finals. All of these flags symbolise gender identity belief.
Nemo’s song, The Code, was about being non-binary and after he was announced as the winner, Bambie Thug went up to him and put a ‘crown of thorns’ on his head. Again the religious symbolism is very evident here. After the show, Bambie Thug spoke to media saying ‘the queers are coming, non-binaries for the f**king win’.
Religious parallels
Gender identity belief has many parallels to religion. The religious similarities include that there is a calendar of sacred dates such as Pride month, Transgender Day of Visibility, and Nonbinary Awareness Week. There are also rituals, a community, leaders, and doctrines. People who express disbelief are treated as heretics and are often ostracised and condemned.
We live in a multicultural society. The National Census of Ireland in 2022 recorded numbers for 53 different religious categories ranging from Roman Catholic to Hindu to Jedi Knight to Pastafarian. With this level of diversity comes the expectation of religious freedom. We express belief (or lack of) according to our own preferences and upbringing, and generally do not force others to use the same religious language or rituals as ourselves.
When it comes to gender identity belief, there is an expectation that everyone should participate in pronoun rituals. There is also a compulsion to believe that gender identity is more important than biology, that men can become women, that women can become men, and that some people are neither male nor female or even both. A compulsion to participate in other people’s religious rituals is the antithesis of modern liberal democratic values.
In 21st century Ireland we should be free to interrogate belief systems at the same time as treating those who have different beliefs with dignity and respect. The predominance of gender identity belief and its adoption in political, journalistic and academic circles has widespread implications including for education, health, prisons, sports, and schools. We should be able to have conversations about all of this. Questions and critique, however, have become taboo.
Bambie Thug also used ancient Celtic pagan symbols such as the triskele or triple spiral which is commonly associated with the triple moon goddess and the three phases of the moon (waxing, full and waning) that represents woman as maiden, mother and crone.
Symbols
Many people have said that Bambie Thug’s performance is about Satanism because of some of the symbols used. In Paganism, horns are used to symbolise regeneration. The pentagram was the symbol of the Greek mathematician Pythagorous and is also the symbol of Wiccans and Neo-Paganism. The five points of the star represent the five elements – earth, air, fire, water, and spirit. The open eye in the centre of the pentagram on the stage alludes to the Eye of Providence, is also associated with the eye of Big Brother, and has also been used in the past to represent God.
The inverted pentagram with a downward point is sometimes used as a symbol of Satanism but Bambie Thug, in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, has said that she doesn’t practice anything other than witchcraft. Satan, by around the 3rd and 4th centuries was seen as king of the demons who were understood by some to be the pre-Christian gods and goddesses. In Ireland, 189 people put down Satanism as their religion in the 2022 Census.
Jewish connection
The name ‘Bambie Thug’ is a collage of cute deer, fashion doll, and aggressive or violent person. Bambi the deer was popularised in the 1942 Disney movie that was based on a 1923 book by an Austro-Hungarian Jewish writer named Felix Salten. Many people believed the book to be a parable about the treatment of Jews in Europe and the book was banned and even burned in Nazi Germany. The history of the name is interesting in light of the controversies associated with the show this year relating to Israel’s participation.
The heady mix of religious symbolism in Bambie Thug’s performance points to a mish-mash of beliefs. However, the one that takes centre stage and is ultimately crowned by Bambie Thug at the end of the finals is gender identity belief. Far from becoming a more secular society, Ireland is becoming more and more religious but the face of religion has undertaken a dramatic change.
Colette Colfer is a lecturer in religious studies at SETU.
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