The Hunt for Lost Identity
Native Faith Paganism in Contemporary Lithuania
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/pom.34718Keywords:
Native Faith, contemporary Paganism, pre-Christian Baltic religion, Lithuania, ancient Baltic religion, national identity, ethnic identity, ethnic cultureAbstract
The article presents the results of the author's in-depth ethnographic research carried out during 2011-017. It focuses on the Native Faith Paganism movement in contemporary Lithuania. The popularity and peculiarities of the movement and related groups are discussed. Prehistory of the movement, establishment of related religious societies, impacts of altering history and new forms of spirituality to the phenomena debated. The turn from the folkloristic movement to the religious is explained. The diversity of the shifting phenomena and the variety of related groups are analyzed, their interrelations and relation with other modern Pagan groups are presented. Their ideas about and relation with ethnic identity, national history, ethnic culture is analyzed. The self-expression, self-presentation, aims, activities (both public and not for publicity) of Native faith movement are described. Specific attention it is given to the analysis of the Romuva group and subgroups and their ideas, as it is the most popular and the most active modern Native Faith-type Paganism active in Lithuania. Their impact on other modern Paganisms as well as to the whole image of the ancient Lithuanian/Baltic pre-Christian traditions and Lithuanian ethnic culture per se is noticeable.
References
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——. Balt? religin?s reformos. Vilnius: Taura, 1995.
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Berger, Helen, and Douglas Ezzy. Teenage Witches: Magical Youth and the Search for the Self. New Brunswick, N. J.: Rutgers University Press, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v6i4.523
Blain, Jenny, Douglas Ezzy, and Graham Harvey, eds. Researching Paganisms. Walnut Creek, Calif: AltaMira Press, 2004.
Clifton, Chas S., and Graham Harvey, eds. The Paganism Reader. London: Routledge, 2004.
Delis, Renatas. “Neopagonyb?s jud?jimas Lietuvoje.” Lietuvos etnologija: socialin?s antropologijos ir etnologijos studijos (2006): 187–225. https://doi.org/10.6001/lituanistica.v58i3.2363
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——. Wicca: History, Belief, and Community in Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press,2016.
Dusevi?i?t?, Gintar?. “Jor?: (re-)konstrukcija ar tradicij? t?sa?” (Jor?: (re-)construction or continuity of tradition?). Lietuvos etnologija 15, no. 24 (2015): 177–203.
Harvey, Graham. Animism: Respecting the Living World. London: Hurst & Co. 2005.
——. Listening People, Speaking Earth: Contemporary Paganism (second ed.). London: Hurst & Co., 2007.
Kal?dien?, Agn?. “Etnini? simboli? raiška ir reikšm?s jaunimo subkult?rin?se grup?se.”Grup?s ir aplinkos 3 (2013): 131–50.
Kurtz, Donald V. Political Anthropology: Power and Paradigms. Boulder: Westview Press. 2000.
Lewis, James R. Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996.
——. ed. The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
——. Witchcraft Today. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2000.
Linzie, Bil. Uncovering the Effects of Cultural Background on the Reconstruction of Ancient Worldviews. http://heathengods.com/library/bil_linzie/.
Magliocco, Sabina. Witching Culture: Folklore and Neo-Paganism in America. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004. https://doi.org/10.1086/589795
Mažeikis, Gintaras. “Challenge of Imagined Societies for Political Anthropology in Lithuania. Acta historica universitatis Klaipedensis. 2006, vol. 13. P. 57.
Orion, Loretta. Never Again the Burning Times: Paganism Revived. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press, 1995.
Pike, Sarah M. New Age and Neopagan Religions in America. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.religion.2005.10.003
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Putinait?, Nerija. Nugen?ta pušis. Vilnius: Lietuvos katalik? mokslo akademija, 2015.
Ramanauskait?, Egidija. “Elektroninis šamanizmas.” Liaudies kult?ra 1 (2001): 29–38..
——. “Neopagonišk?j? identitet? konstravimas Lietuvos jaunimo undergroundo kult?roje.” Lietuvos etnologija: Socialin?s antropologijos ir etnologijos studijos. 2002: 89–124. https://doi.org/10.6001/lituanistica.v58i3.2363
——. “Pagoniškosios Romuvos atšvaitai.” Darbai ir Dienos 6, no. 11 (1998): 133–44.
——. Subkult?ra. Fenomenas ir modernumas. Kaunas: VDU leidykla, 2004.
——. “Sugr?žtant ? alkus: Lietuvos Romuva.” Darbai ir Dienos 31 (2002): 239–62.
Religij? ivairov? Lietuvoje: portretai, kasdienyb? ir švent?s, edited by Milda Ališauskien?. VDU- Versus Aureus, 2014.
Religini? bendruomeni? ir dvasini? grupi? Lietuvoje žinynas (2007–2009): http://tm.lrv.lt/rel_static/rel_zinynas/
Rountree, Kathryn. “Context is Everything: Plurality and Paradox in Contemporary European Paganisms.” In Contemporary Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Europe: Colonialist and Nationalist Impulses, edited by Kathryn Rountree, 1–23. New York: Berghahn. 2015. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt9qctm0.5
——. Crafting Contemporary Pagan Identities in a Catholic Society. Farnham: Ashgate, 2010.
Rowell, Stephen Christopher. Lithuania Ascending: A Pagan Empire within East-Central Europe, 1295–1345. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjh.30.1.104
Šerkšnait?, Kristina. “Politin?s apeigos—?šventinimo ? krivius ritualas Romuvos religin?je bendruomen?je” 2006. https://religija.lt/politines-apeigos-isventinimo-i-krivius-ritualas-romuvos-religineje-bendruomeneje
Shnirelman, Victor A. “’Christians! Go home’: A Revival of Neo-Paganism between the Baltic Sea and Transcaucasia (An Overview).” Journal of Contemporary Religion 17, no. 2 (2002): 197–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537900220125181
Simpson, Scott, and Mariusz Filip. “Selected Words for Modern Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe.” In Modern Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe, edited by Kaarina Aitamurto and Scott Simpson, 27–43. Durham: Acumen, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1163/18748929-00802008
Streikus, Ar?nas. “Antireligin? propaganda Lietuvoje 1944–1977.” Lietuvos istorijos studijos 14 (2004): 88–99.
——. ”Ateistin?s propagandos pob?dis Lietuvoje 1975–1988”: http://genocid.lt/Leidyba/13/streikus.htm.
Strmiska, Michael F. Modern Paganism in World Cultures. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-007-0012-9
——. “The Music of the Past in Modern Baltic Paganism,” Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 8, no. 3 (2005): 39–58. https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2005.8.3.39
——. “Romuva Looks East: Indian Inspiration in Lithuanian Paganism.” In Religious Diversity in Post-Soviet Society: Ethnographies of Catholic Hegemony and the New Pluralism in Lithuania, edited by Milda Ališauskien? and Ingo W. Schröder, 125–50. Farnham: Ashgate, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1163/18748929-00601002
Vaicekauskas, Ar?nas. Lietuviškos Jonin?s: nuo kaimo bendruomen?s iki šiuolaikin?s miesto švent?s. Liaudies kult?ra 4, no. 24 (2009): 33–38.
Van Gulik, Leon A. “The Goddess Does Play Dice: Creativity and Non-Intentionality in Contemporary Pagan Ritual.” In The Ritual Year: The Inner and the Outer, edited by Mare Koiva, 13–26. Tartu: ELM Department of Folklore, 2011.
——. “On the Pagan Parallax: A Sociocultural Exploration of the Tension between Eclecticism and Traditionalism as Observed among Dutch Wiccans.” The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies 12, no. 1 (2010): 49–70. https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.v12i1.49
V?lius, Norbertas. Senoji lietuvi? pasaul?ži?ra. Vilnius: Mintis, 1983.
York, Michael. Pagan Theology: Paganism as a World Religion. New York: New York University Press, 2003. https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v1i4.523
——. “Pan-Baltic Identity and Religio-Cultural Expression in Contemporary Lithuania.” In New Religions and the New Europe, edited by Robert Towler, 72–86. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 1995.
Agnew, Vanessa. “Introduction: What is Re-enactment?” Criticism 46, no. 3 (2014): 327–39.
Aitamurto, Kaarina, and Scott Simpson. “Introduction: Modern Pagan and native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe.” In Modern Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe, edited by Kaarina Aitamurto and Scott Simpson, 1–9. Durham: Acumen, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1163/18748929-00802008
Bender, Courtney. The New Metaphysicals: Spirituality and the American Religious Imagination. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010.
Beresnevi?ius, Gintaras. Ant laiko ašmen?. Vilnius: Aidai, 2002.
——. Balt? religin?s reformos. Vilnius: Taura, 1995.
Berger, Helen. A Community of Witches: Contemporary Neo-Paganism and Witchcraft in the United States. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1999. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcs/42.4.852
Berger, Helen, and Douglas Ezzy. Teenage Witches: Magical Youth and the Search for the Self. New Brunswick, N. J.: Rutgers University Press, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v6i4.523
Blain, Jenny, Douglas Ezzy, and Graham Harvey, eds. Researching Paganisms. Walnut Creek, Calif: AltaMira Press, 2004.
Clifton, Chas S., and Graham Harvey, eds. The Paganism Reader. London: Routledge, 2004.
Delis, Renatas. “Neopagonyb?s jud?jimas Lietuvoje.” Lietuvos etnologija: socialin?s antropologijos ir etnologijos studijos (2006): 187–225. https://doi.org/10.6001/lituanistica.v58i3.2363
Doyle White, Ethan. “In Defense of Pagan Studies: A Response to Davidsen’s Critique.” The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies 14, no. 1 (2012): 5–21. https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.v14i1.5
——. Wicca: History, Belief, and Community in Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press,2016.
Dusevi?i?t?, Gintar?. “Jor?: (re-)konstrukcija ar tradicij? t?sa?” (Jor?: (re-)construction or continuity of tradition?). Lietuvos etnologija 15, no. 24 (2015): 177–203.
Harvey, Graham. Animism: Respecting the Living World. London: Hurst & Co. 2005.
——. Listening People, Speaking Earth: Contemporary Paganism (second ed.). London: Hurst & Co., 2007.
Kal?dien?, Agn?. “Etnini? simboli? raiška ir reikšm?s jaunimo subkult?rin?se grup?se.”Grup?s ir aplinkos 3 (2013): 131–50.
Kurtz, Donald V. Political Anthropology: Power and Paradigms. Boulder: Westview Press. 2000.
Lewis, James R. Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996.
——. ed. The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
——. Witchcraft Today. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2000.
Linzie, Bil. Uncovering the Effects of Cultural Background on the Reconstruction of Ancient Worldviews. http://heathengods.com/library/bil_linzie/.
Magliocco, Sabina. Witching Culture: Folklore and Neo-Paganism in America. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004. https://doi.org/10.1086/589795
Mažeikis, Gintaras. “Challenge of Imagined Societies for Political Anthropology in Lithuania. Acta historica universitatis Klaipedensis. 2006, vol. 13. P. 57.
Orion, Loretta. Never Again the Burning Times: Paganism Revived. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press, 1995.
Pike, Sarah M. New Age and Neopagan Religions in America. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.religion.2005.10.003
Pranskevi?i?te, Rasa. “Contemporary Paganism in Lithuanian Context: Principal Beliefs and Practices of Romuva.” In Modern Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe, edited by Kaarina Aitamurto and Scott Simpson, 77–94. Durham: Acumen, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1163/18748929-00802008
Putinait?, Nerija. Nugen?ta pušis. Vilnius: Lietuvos katalik? mokslo akademija, 2015.
Ramanauskait?, Egidija. “Elektroninis šamanizmas.” Liaudies kult?ra 1 (2001): 29–38..
——. “Neopagonišk?j? identitet? konstravimas Lietuvos jaunimo undergroundo kult?roje.” Lietuvos etnologija: Socialin?s antropologijos ir etnologijos studijos. 2002: 89–124. https://doi.org/10.6001/lituanistica.v58i3.2363
——. “Pagoniškosios Romuvos atšvaitai.” Darbai ir Dienos 6, no. 11 (1998): 133–44.
——. Subkult?ra. Fenomenas ir modernumas. Kaunas: VDU leidykla, 2004.
——. “Sugr?žtant ? alkus: Lietuvos Romuva.” Darbai ir Dienos 31 (2002): 239–62.
Religij? ivairov? Lietuvoje: portretai, kasdienyb? ir švent?s, edited by Milda Ališauskien?. VDU- Versus Aureus, 2014.
Religini? bendruomeni? ir dvasini? grupi? Lietuvoje žinynas (2007–2009): http://tm.lrv.lt/rel_static/rel_zinynas/
Rountree, Kathryn. “Context is Everything: Plurality and Paradox in Contemporary European Paganisms.” In Contemporary Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Europe: Colonialist and Nationalist Impulses, edited by Kathryn Rountree, 1–23. New York: Berghahn. 2015. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt9qctm0.5
——. Crafting Contemporary Pagan Identities in a Catholic Society. Farnham: Ashgate, 2010.
Rowell, Stephen Christopher. Lithuania Ascending: A Pagan Empire within East-Central Europe, 1295–1345. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjh.30.1.104
Šerkšnait?, Kristina. “Politin?s apeigos—?šventinimo ? krivius ritualas Romuvos religin?je bendruomen?je” 2006. https://religija.lt/politines-apeigos-isventinimo-i-krivius-ritualas-romuvos-religineje-bendruomeneje
Shnirelman, Victor A. “’Christians! Go home’: A Revival of Neo-Paganism between the Baltic Sea and Transcaucasia (An Overview).” Journal of Contemporary Religion 17, no. 2 (2002): 197–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537900220125181
Simpson, Scott, and Mariusz Filip. “Selected Words for Modern Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe.” In Modern Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe, edited by Kaarina Aitamurto and Scott Simpson, 27–43. Durham: Acumen, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1163/18748929-00802008
Streikus, Ar?nas. “Antireligin? propaganda Lietuvoje 1944–1977.” Lietuvos istorijos studijos 14 (2004): 88–99.
——. ”Ateistin?s propagandos pob?dis Lietuvoje 1975–1988”: http://genocid.lt/Leidyba/13/streikus.htm.
Strmiska, Michael F. Modern Paganism in World Cultures. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-007-0012-9
——. “The Music of the Past in Modern Baltic Paganism,” Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 8, no. 3 (2005): 39–58. https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2005.8.3.39
——. “Romuva Looks East: Indian Inspiration in Lithuanian Paganism.” In Religious Diversity in Post-Soviet Society: Ethnographies of Catholic Hegemony and the New Pluralism in Lithuania, edited by Milda Ališauskien? and Ingo W. Schröder, 125–50. Farnham: Ashgate, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1163/18748929-00601002
Vaicekauskas, Ar?nas. Lietuviškos Jonin?s: nuo kaimo bendruomen?s iki šiuolaikin?s miesto švent?s. Liaudies kult?ra 4, no. 24 (2009): 33–38.
Van Gulik, Leon A. “The Goddess Does Play Dice: Creativity and Non-Intentionality in Contemporary Pagan Ritual.” In The Ritual Year: The Inner and the Outer, edited by Mare Koiva, 13–26. Tartu: ELM Department of Folklore, 2011.
——. “On the Pagan Parallax: A Sociocultural Exploration of the Tension between Eclecticism and Traditionalism as Observed among Dutch Wiccans.” The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies 12, no. 1 (2010): 49–70. https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.v12i1.49
V?lius, Norbertas. Senoji lietuvi? pasaul?ži?ra. Vilnius: Mintis, 1983.
York, Michael. Pagan Theology: Paganism as a World Religion. New York: New York University Press, 2003. https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v1i4.523
——. “Pan-Baltic Identity and Religio-Cultural Expression in Contemporary Lithuania.” In New Religions and the New Europe, edited by Robert Towler, 72–86. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 1995.
Published
2019-06-21
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Senvaitytė, D. (2019). The Hunt for Lost Identity: Native Faith Paganism in Contemporary Lithuania. Pomegranate, 20(2), 234-260. https://doi.org/10.1558/pom.34718
