Why have neo-pagan movements gained large numbers of followers in regions such as the Baltics, The Caucasus and Russia while numbers have stayed very low in the rest of the Christian world (the highest being Iceland and New Zealand at 1% each).
Numbers:
>Estonia - 11%
>Abkhazia - 8%
>Ossetia - 29%
>Circassians - 3-12%
>Mari El,Russia - 6%
try to keep this thread academic and not /pol/ posting i.e. avoid >le magic LARPers or >le dead kike
not to mention shortly after the reformation happened, so frankly im not sure what people are on about when they talk of a unified christian europe
Lucas Phillips
cringe
Chase Carter
so basically they have the weakest xtian tradition of continental europe id say im sure theres more to it though
Jackson Johnson
Baltics and (northern) Caucasus converted from paganism relatively late, as did Iceland and Russia.
Caleb Brown
Source on these numbers?
Adrian Flores
>Abkhazia is over 1/4 Pagan
Holy shit.
Nicholas Perez
excuse me, Ossetia
Hunter Jenkins
Officially christianized mind you. Pagan traditions in the Baltic (Influcing Finland) truly died at the reformation, when Christians got autistic about the religion. Mind you that especially Finnish/Estonian paganism (which are quite similar) survived in Russia, especially Karelia in oral tradition (some were discovered from Estonia and Finland as wlel). The last true carriers of said oral tradition died in the 20th century but by that time Finnish nationalist had collected most of their poems.
Petri Shemeikka is considered to be last one of them, and he even did some audio recordings. His speciality vere religious poems about deer.
I think this adds to the "authencity" of the neopaganism, as the material is not just some bishops recording of what the pagan religion was like.
Brandon James
cont.
My personal theory is that western European nations have complete written histories as well as sovereignty and the lack of a regional hegemon by the time nationalism emerges. Thus figures in the nations past can be used as symbols of national pride. In addition to this most states have a strong church that most of the population accepted (Catholic or a National Church) which is often distinctive enough to set them apart from their neighbors.
In the case of the territories I listed they were under the Russian Empire directly or in Russia's hegemonic zone. So when nationalism come around (both for the first time and after the fall of the Soviet Union) these groups, which often have little in the way of complete history and share a common religion with the Russians, need to find something on which to distinguish themselves from their former overlords they used their historical faith for this purpose.
For a final point Neo-Paganism has little future in the west as normies see the Germanic and Hellenic Pagan gods as little more than pop culture figures and this prevents them from taking neo-pagans seriously and the Celtic religion has been discounted by Wicca and "Witches". As well serious devotion to the Germanic gods is often connected to the Third Reich and modern Neo-Nazi's killing it in the eyes of the general populace even farther.
Wikipedia so number probably a bit off but still massively higher than the West
Parker Martinez
Op here
why did the revival movement work in Estonia and other places but fail to catch on in Finland where number stay similar to neighboring Sweden.
Jaxon Harris
Because first worlders are too smart for religion
Dylan Foster
Christianity was pretty strong, so the interest was almost purely nationalist and romantic. And now most just feel apathy towards any form of religiousness. The traditions are very cherished though, to a much higher extent than most other countries.
Liam Ortiz
Why can't you just enjoy old mythology and folklore without pretending that it's real?
James Wright
why cant you enjoy ancient semite myths a folklore
Joseph Hernandez
What are some necessary reading materials for someone that has an interest European paganism? I started the Mabinogion and plan on finishing it, but I'm asking for other recommendations from lesser known mythologies like Estonia.
John Richardson
Because Christianity is demonstrably true
Kevin Watson
I'm not a pagan myself but if you believe something happened then you believe it happened and there isn't any helping that, especially if you are happy believing it.
Let them, a wrong faith is better than no faith.
Aiden Morales
Not really
Jason Adams
blablabla god somethin somethin muh bible prooofs
we're talking about pagan revival cultures here, go bother someone else
John Murphy
The Summer solstace is arguably a bigger deal than Christmas in the Baltics - at least Latvia and Lithuania.
I'd say the number of semipagans is much higher.
Dylan Gutierrez
>le no context cherrypicking
Nathaniel Williams
Books on the topic of Baltic paganism by author
Finnish and by extension estonian: Juha Pentikäinen (prof. of Religious anthropology and folklore) >Shamanism and Northern Ecology >Kalevala Mythology, Revised Edition >Shamanism and Culture >Lore of the northern bear Ronald Hutton (historian) >Shamans, Siberian spirituality and the western imagination Anna-Leena Siikala (prof. of Folklore) >Myth and Mentality Studies in Folklore and popular thought >Studies in Oral Narrative >Mythic images and shamanism a perspective on Kalevala poetry >Songs beyond Kalevala, Transformations of oral poetry Estonian folklore institution: en(dot)folklore(dot)ee/inst/ For Lithuanian you could probably read: Of gods & holidays : the Baltic heritage. It's written by Jonas Trinkunas who is an academic, but he is the founder of the Romuva neopagan movement but the book should be more about facts. And you should of course read Kalevala, even though it is more of a literary work based on Finnish mytholoy. Here's some older stuff as well: Fragments of Lappish Mythology by Lars Laevi Laestadious (the founder of Laestadianism so do take with some salt) and Mythologia Fennica by Christfrid Ganander, an older book from 1789 about Finnish mythology
Sebastian Morgan
>a wrong faith is better than no faith If someone doesn't have a faith they have no choice in not believing in them
Chase Brown
And in my experience they are quite miserable because of that.
Luis Jackson
Easter fires are equally as important to Easter celebrations as easter breakfast or looking for chocolate eggs in former Saxon lands (eastern Netherlands)