Sure.
At some point, I used to also read about the IE connections used to reconstruct European religions. Many people would toss about different meanings for Druid and relate it back to Hinduism. Some confused New Agey people thinking they were following Asatru went as far as trying to read Shiva and Shakthi into their stuff, and basically looked for corresponding IE motifs in everything (Yin-Yang is not IE, hence they avoided it).
But then the flipside of this shows how it is most useless (mentioned this several times elsewhere on IF): there are groups of Europeans who are reconstructing 'Vedic Religion' as if it's not alive in Hindu India, as if it is a separate entity from Hinduism and as if Hindus got it all wrong and they know better...
So reconstructing based on IE is not reliable, especially when it's at odds with the known beliefs of ancient practitioners of the European religion in question, as in the case of Irish. For the real historical Irish, something akin to folkatru (traditions relating to fairy folk) were very important. But as one can only find vague parallels at best with Vedic Religion on this, some Druid reconstructionists dump everything that is known about their religion in favour of imitating Hinduism. That can't be a good sign.
On the other hand, there are numerous serious reconstructionists out there, who don't use any IE stuff at all, but consciously avoid it. Iceland never lost Asatru, so no reconstruction necessary in their case. And the large Hellenismos groups don't try to find IE links either. Some Celtic groups also stay away from it.
But then there are some New Agey people, just as eager as those 'vedik reconstructionists' or whatever they are called, who were learning PIE to <i>speak</i> it and worship the PIE 'gods'! Good luck with that is all I could think of.
It's a mockery of the real Old Religions of Europe, I find.
So in the end, I just quit looking for more information about the IE-related speculations mentioned in such sites.
<b>ADDED:</b>
I wanted to mention the following when I originally wrote the post, but I didn't have any link to support it. It concerns an episode of the travel show 'Getaway' I think it was that I'd seen some years ago. One of the hosts was off to Iceland and among the many sights to be seen, they described a wood popularly known to house many pixies or trolls or some other little people.
In Iceland some people still see these creatures it seems, as they showed a lady famous in the country for seeing them. She couldn't speak English, but her son or other near-relative was also there in the episode and he was interviewed. He didn't believe in any of this, because he couldn't see them. But many locals believed her and regularly took her advice on matters that might affect these creatures. I think it was in the Getaway program where they mentioned that even the government deferred to her request not to build as planned in a location where she said many of these creatures lived. The government quickly called the construction off because of what she told them.
Today I was finally able to track down some background. It's a summary of this episode of Getaway, even if it only makes a very brief mention of the Icelandic lady:
http://getaway.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=17523
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Hellisgerði Lava Park, meanwhile, is a landscaped leisure spot, first planted in 1924. Due to the amount of lava there, local folklore has it that the park has Iceland's highest concentration of elf activity. Eria, the Elf Lady, gives guided elf walks through the town and garden to show visitors "hot elf spots". Icelanders take their little people seriously and Eria swears she sees elves everywhere she goes. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
In The Netherlands and Germany and Scandinavian countries, their people used to believe in 'Kabouters', something which has now gone into Dutch folklore. But they say it was once part of general belief. People used to set out dishes for Kabouters and other creatures during dinner time. After christianity they kept up this practice - the church was unable to end it - but the dishes were thereafter dedicated to jeebus instead.
The English resort to describing 'Kabouters' with the term 'gnomes' I think, but gnome is the wrong word (I think it's Greek or Latin for 'wise'? - or so Tolkien wrote anyway). Everyone now the world over would have seen 'garden gnomes', that's what Kabouters were traditionally thought to have looked like.
All these other creatures that the N Europeans had, were part of the Old Traditions of the northern countries. In Ireland and Wales they had their own traditions about somewhat different creatures: like the Tuatha De Danaan of Tir Na Nog or whatever it was called, Giants and others. All of these had been fundamental parts of their lives and religious beliefs long ago.
At some point, I used to also read about the IE connections used to reconstruct European religions. Many people would toss about different meanings for Druid and relate it back to Hinduism. Some confused New Agey people thinking they were following Asatru went as far as trying to read Shiva and Shakthi into their stuff, and basically looked for corresponding IE motifs in everything (Yin-Yang is not IE, hence they avoided it).
But then the flipside of this shows how it is most useless (mentioned this several times elsewhere on IF): there are groups of Europeans who are reconstructing 'Vedic Religion' as if it's not alive in Hindu India, as if it is a separate entity from Hinduism and as if Hindus got it all wrong and they know better...
So reconstructing based on IE is not reliable, especially when it's at odds with the known beliefs of ancient practitioners of the European religion in question, as in the case of Irish. For the real historical Irish, something akin to folkatru (traditions relating to fairy folk) were very important. But as one can only find vague parallels at best with Vedic Religion on this, some Druid reconstructionists dump everything that is known about their religion in favour of imitating Hinduism. That can't be a good sign.
On the other hand, there are numerous serious reconstructionists out there, who don't use any IE stuff at all, but consciously avoid it. Iceland never lost Asatru, so no reconstruction necessary in their case. And the large Hellenismos groups don't try to find IE links either. Some Celtic groups also stay away from it.
But then there are some New Agey people, just as eager as those 'vedik reconstructionists' or whatever they are called, who were learning PIE to <i>speak</i> it and worship the PIE 'gods'! Good luck with that is all I could think of.
It's a mockery of the real Old Religions of Europe, I find.
So in the end, I just quit looking for more information about the IE-related speculations mentioned in such sites.
<b>ADDED:</b>
I wanted to mention the following when I originally wrote the post, but I didn't have any link to support it. It concerns an episode of the travel show 'Getaway' I think it was that I'd seen some years ago. One of the hosts was off to Iceland and among the many sights to be seen, they described a wood popularly known to house many pixies or trolls or some other little people.
In Iceland some people still see these creatures it seems, as they showed a lady famous in the country for seeing them. She couldn't speak English, but her son or other near-relative was also there in the episode and he was interviewed. He didn't believe in any of this, because he couldn't see them. But many locals believed her and regularly took her advice on matters that might affect these creatures. I think it was in the Getaway program where they mentioned that even the government deferred to her request not to build as planned in a location where she said many of these creatures lived. The government quickly called the construction off because of what she told them.
Today I was finally able to track down some background. It's a summary of this episode of Getaway, even if it only makes a very brief mention of the Icelandic lady:
http://getaway.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=17523
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Hellisgerði Lava Park, meanwhile, is a landscaped leisure spot, first planted in 1924. Due to the amount of lava there, local folklore has it that the park has Iceland's highest concentration of elf activity. Eria, the Elf Lady, gives guided elf walks through the town and garden to show visitors "hot elf spots". Icelanders take their little people seriously and Eria swears she sees elves everywhere she goes. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
In The Netherlands and Germany and Scandinavian countries, their people used to believe in 'Kabouters', something which has now gone into Dutch folklore. But they say it was once part of general belief. People used to set out dishes for Kabouters and other creatures during dinner time. After christianity they kept up this practice - the church was unable to end it - but the dishes were thereafter dedicated to jeebus instead.
The English resort to describing 'Kabouters' with the term 'gnomes' I think, but gnome is the wrong word (I think it's Greek or Latin for 'wise'? - or so Tolkien wrote anyway). Everyone now the world over would have seen 'garden gnomes', that's what Kabouters were traditionally thought to have looked like.
All these other creatures that the N Europeans had, were part of the Old Traditions of the northern countries. In Ireland and Wales they had their own traditions about somewhat different creatures: like the Tuatha De Danaan of Tir Na Nog or whatever it was called, Giants and others. All of these had been fundamental parts of their lives and religious beliefs long ago.