Neopaganism in Latin Europe
Encyclopedia
Neopaganism
in Latin Europe
is less widespread than in Germanic Europe
and the wider Anglosphere
. Italy
, Spain
and Portugal
are traditionally Roman Catholic and according to the 2005 Eurobarometer Poll retain an above average belief in God. France
is traditionally Roman Catholic and has an above average fraction of atheists
.
The Neopagan movements found in Latin Europe can be divided into New Age
spirituality inspired by Celtic
or Megalithic templates on one hand (Neodruidism, Neoshamanism
), political Neopaganism as part of Alain de Benoist
's far-right ideology of the Nouvelle Droite
on the other.
In addition to this, there are some movements of polytheistic reconstructionism
, either focussing on the religion of Ancient Rome or on Germanic Neopaganism
.
theorized the Nouvelle Droite
movement, creating the GRECE in 1968 with the Club de l'Horloge
. They advocated an ethno-nationalism stance focused on European culture, which advocated a return of paganism
. Members of the GRECE quit the think tank in the 1980s, such as Pierre Vial who joined the FN, or Guillaume Faye
who quit the organization along with others members in 1986. Faye participated in 2006 in a conference in the US organized by the American Renaissance
white separatist magazine published by the New Century Foundation
. The philosophical background uniting Neopaganism and the Nouvelle Droite is the occultist or esoteric literature of "Integral Traditionalism" of René Guénon
, Julius Evola
and others. The influence of the Nouvelle Droite goes beyond France and is found in e.g. Belgian (Flemish) neopaganism, such as the brand of Asatru
advocated by Flemish neo-fascist and high priest Koenraad Logghe
.
The Libre Assemblée Païenne Francophone (LAPF) self-identifies as an association of "convinced free-thinking and humanist
pagans". Their Horizons Païens journal appears twice yearly (since 2005). They oppose all kinds of ethnic discrimination
n association in Italy, and Vanth Spirit Walker, organizer of Pagan Pride Italia.
Besides syncretist or New Age groups, Italy has several pagan associations dedicated to the Ancient Roman religion, including Associazione Culturale Ignis, Associazione GENTILITAS - Spiritualità Italica, Associazione Tradizionale Pietas.
Three Italian groups are listed as members of the World Congress of Ethnic Religions
, Movimento Tradizionale Romano, Federazione Pagana and Associazione Gentilitas - Spiritualità Italica.
In Northern Italy
, there is also a chapter of Odinic Rite
, Comunità Odinista.
and several people follow the Druidry
, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family
issued a warning that "Spain is at risk from the spread of neo-paganism":
There is some Germanic neopaganism
found in Spain, including Forn Sidr Ibérica and the Comunidad Odinista de España-Asatru
(COE) founded as Circulo Odinista Español in 1981.
The COE was recognized by the Spanish government as a religion, allowing them to perform "legally binding civil ceremonies", such as marriages. COE is the fourth Odinist/Asatru religious organization in the world to be recognized with official status, after those in Iceland, Norway and Denmark.
In December 2007, they conducted first legal pagan wedding in Spain, on the beach of Vilanova, Barcelona
.
Neopaganism
Neopaganism is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe...
in Latin Europe
Latin Europe
Latin Europe is a loose term for the region of Europe with an especially strong Latin cultural heritage inherited from the Roman Empire.-Application:...
is less widespread than in Germanic Europe
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
and the wider Anglosphere
Anglosphere
Anglosphere is a neologism which refers to those nations with English as the most common language. The term can be used more specifically to refer to those nations which share certain characteristics within their cultures based on a linguistic heritage, through being former British colonies...
. Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
are traditionally Roman Catholic and according to the 2005 Eurobarometer Poll retain an above average belief in God. France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
is traditionally Roman Catholic and has an above average fraction of atheists
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
.
The Neopagan movements found in Latin Europe can be divided into New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
spirituality inspired by Celtic
Celtic Neopaganism
Celtic Neopaganism refers to Neopagan movements based on Celtic polytheism.-Types of Celtic Neopaganism:*Neo-druidism, grew out of the Celtic revival in 18th century Romanticism....
or Megalithic templates on one hand (Neodruidism, Neoshamanism
Neoshamanism
Neoshamanism is a term signaling a "new" form or a revival of an old form of "shamanism", a system that comprises a range of beliefs and practices concerned with communication with the spiritual world....
), political Neopaganism as part of Alain de Benoist
Alain de Benoist
Alain de Benoist is a French academic, philosopher, a founder of the Nouvelle Droite and head of the French think tank GRECE. Benoist is a critic of liberalism, free markets and egalitarianism.-Biography:...
's far-right ideology of the Nouvelle Droite
Nouvelle Droite
Nouvelle Droite is a school of political thought founded largely on the works of Alain de Benoist and GRECE .-Etymology and history:...
on the other.
In addition to this, there are some movements of polytheistic reconstructionism
Polytheistic reconstructionism
Polytheistic reconstructionism is an approach to Neopaganism first emerging in the late 1960s to early 1970s, and gathering momentum in the 1990s to 2000s...
, either focussing on the religion of Ancient Rome or on Germanic Neopaganism
Germanic Neopaganism
Germanic neopaganism is the contemporary revival of historical Germanic paganism. Precursor movements appeared in the early 20th century in Germany and Austria. A second wave of revival began in the early 1970s...
.
France
In the 1980s, Alain de BenoistAlain de Benoist
Alain de Benoist is a French academic, philosopher, a founder of the Nouvelle Droite and head of the French think tank GRECE. Benoist is a critic of liberalism, free markets and egalitarianism.-Biography:...
theorized the Nouvelle Droite
Nouvelle Droite
Nouvelle Droite is a school of political thought founded largely on the works of Alain de Benoist and GRECE .-Etymology and history:...
movement, creating the GRECE in 1968 with the Club de l'Horloge
Club de l'Horloge
The Club de l'Horloge is a French far-right association founded in 1974. Close to the Nouvelle Droite movement, the club centers itself around the values of "liberalism, nationalism and democracy." Its president is Henry de Lesquen.-History:The Club de l'Horloge was founded by far-right members...
. They advocated an ethno-nationalism stance focused on European culture, which advocated a return of paganism
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
. Members of the GRECE quit the think tank in the 1980s, such as Pierre Vial who joined the FN, or Guillaume Faye
Guillaume Faye
Guillaume Faye is a French journalist and writer.With a PhD from Science-Po, Guillaume Faye was one of the major theorists of the French New Right in the 1970-1980’s. A former member of Alain de Benoist’s New Right organisation GRECE, he took part in the splitting of the organization in 1986...
who quit the organization along with others members in 1986. Faye participated in 2006 in a conference in the US organized by the American Renaissance
American Renaissance (magazine)
-Cancellation of 2010, 2011 conferences:In February 2010, following protests to hotel management of several hotels, which Jared Taylor claimed included some death threats, American Renaissance's biennial conference was canceled...
white separatist magazine published by the New Century Foundation
New Century Foundation
The New Century Foundation is nonprofit organization founded in 1994 to study immigration and race relations. From 1994 to 1999 its activities received considerable funding by the Pioneer Fund., and has been described as a white supremacist group....
. The philosophical background uniting Neopaganism and the Nouvelle Droite is the occultist or esoteric literature of "Integral Traditionalism" of René Guénon
René Guénon
René Guénon , also known as Shaykh `Abd al-Wahid Yahya was a French author and intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of metaphysics, having written on topics ranging from metaphysics, sacred science and traditional studies to symbolism and initiation.In his writings, he...
, Julius Evola
Julius Evola
Barone Giulio Cesare Andrea Evola also known as Julius Evola, was an Italian philosopher and esotericist...
and others. The influence of the Nouvelle Droite goes beyond France and is found in e.g. Belgian (Flemish) neopaganism, such as the brand of Asatru
Ásatrú
is a form of Germanic neopaganism which developed in the United States from the 1970s....
advocated by Flemish neo-fascist and high priest Koenraad Logghe
Koenraad Logghe
Koenraad Logghe used to be a Flemish proponent of the European New Right and former "high priest" of folkish Asatru , founder of the Werkgroep Traditie neopagan organization . which he left in the summer of 2008...
.
The Libre Assemblée Païenne Francophone (LAPF) self-identifies as an association of "convinced free-thinking and humanist
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
pagans". Their Horizons Païens journal appears twice yearly (since 2005). They oppose all kinds of ethnic discrimination
Italy
Faraoni (2006) is a review of Neopaganism in Italy. The author interviews Cronos, president of the only WiccaWicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
n association in Italy, and Vanth Spirit Walker, organizer of Pagan Pride Italia.
Besides syncretist or New Age groups, Italy has several pagan associations dedicated to the Ancient Roman religion, including Associazione Culturale Ignis, Associazione GENTILITAS - Spiritualità Italica, Associazione Tradizionale Pietas.
Three Italian groups are listed as members of the World Congress of Ethnic Religions
World Congress of Ethnic Religions
The European Congress of Ethnic Religions , formerly known as the World Congress of Ethnic Religions , is an organisation for the cooperation between associations which promote the indigenous ethnic religions of Europe...
, Movimento Tradizionale Romano, Federazione Pagana and Associazione Gentilitas - Spiritualità Italica.
In Northern Italy
Northern Italy
Northern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian state, also referred as Settentrione or Alta Italia...
, there is also a chapter of Odinic Rite
Odinic Rite
The Odinic Rite is a religious organization, practicing a form of Northern Indo European religion termed Odinism after the chief god of Norse mythology, Odin...
, Comunità Odinista.
and several people follow the Druidry
Spain
In 2004, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez TrujilloAlfonso López Trujillo
Alfonso López Trujillo was a Colombian Cardinal Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church and president of the Pontifical Council for the Family.-Youth:...
, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family
Pontifical Council for the Family
The Pontifical Council for the Family is part of the Curia of the Roman Catholic Church. It was established by Pope John Paul II on 9 May 1981 with his motu proprio Familia a Deo Instituta, replacing the Committee for the Family that Pope Paul VI had established in 1973...
issued a warning that "Spain is at risk from the spread of neo-paganism":
- In some countries of Europe, there is a temptation to embrace neo-paganism, and although I do not believe that Spain is immediately at risk, nevertheless the risk exists because in today’s world everything gets passed around
There is some Germanic neopaganism
Germanic neopaganism
Germanic neopaganism is the contemporary revival of historical Germanic paganism. Precursor movements appeared in the early 20th century in Germany and Austria. A second wave of revival began in the early 1970s...
found in Spain, including Forn Sidr Ibérica and the Comunidad Odinista de España-Asatru
Comunidad Odinista de España-Asatru
The Odinist Community of Spain — Ásatrú , also known as European Odinist Circle is a Germanic Heathen organisation in Spain founded in 1981 for followers of the denominations of Heathenry known as Odinism, after the chief god of Germanic paganism, Odin, Ásatrú and Vanatrú...
(COE) founded as Circulo Odinista Español in 1981.
The COE was recognized by the Spanish government as a religion, allowing them to perform "legally binding civil ceremonies", such as marriages. COE is the fourth Odinist/Asatru religious organization in the world to be recognized with official status, after those in Iceland, Norway and Denmark.
In December 2007, they conducted first legal pagan wedding in Spain, on the beach of Vilanova, Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
.
External links
- http://www.asatru.es/
- http://www.lapf.eu/
- http://www.paganisme.fr/
- http://www.wicca.fr/
- http://www.paganpride.it/
- Studio sulle correnti della tradizione pagana romana in Italia
- I Celti in Italia
- Les Fils d'Odin
See also
- Religion in FranceReligion in FranceFrance is a country where freedom of religion and freedom of thought are guaranteed by virtue of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The Republic is based on the principle of laïcité enforced by the 1880s Jules Ferry laws and the 1905 French law on the Separation of the...
- Religion in SpainReligion in SpainRoman Catholicism is the largest denomination of Christianity present in Spain by far. According to a October 2010 study by the Spanish Center of Sociological Research about 73% of Spaniards self-identify as Catholics, 2.2% other faith, and about 22% identify with no religion. Most Spaniards do not...
- Religion in ItalyReligion in ItalyCatholicism is by far the largest religious group in Italy. However, there are also some important religious minorities....
- Neopaganism in German-speaking EuropeNeopaganism in German-speaking EuropeNeopaganism in German-speaking Europe has since its emergence in the 1970s diversified into a wide array of traditions, particularly during the New Age boom of the 1980s.Schmid distinguishes four main currents:...