Neopaganism in Latin Europe

Neopaganism in Latin Europe

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.

Contents

France

In the 1980s, Alain de Benoist 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 [1]

Italy

Faraoni (2006) is a review of Neopaganism in Italy. The author interviews Cronos, president of the only Wiccan 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

Spain

Ernesto García of COE conducting the first pagan wedding in Spain

In 2004, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family 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[2]

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.[3] 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.[4]

References

  1. ^ [1] Libre Assemblée Païenne Francophone, Frequently Asked Questions (French)
  2. ^ Cardinal Lopez Trujillo warns of risk of neo-paganism in Spain
  3. ^ odinismo.es.
  4. ^ http://www.laverdad.es/albacete/20080420/provincia/otras-religiones-discipulos-odin-20080420.html "La verdad" daily
  • Ethnologie française, numéro 4 - 2000 : Les nouveaux mouvements religieux (2001), ISBN 978-2130506942.
  • Francesco Faraoni, Il Neopaganesimo, Aradia Edizioni (2006), ISBN 9788890150036.
  • Cronos, Wicca - la nuova era della Vecchia Religione, Aradia Edizioni (2007), ISBN 8890150068.

External links

See also

v · d · eContemporary Paganism
Movements
Syncretic
Ethnic
Baltic (Dievturība · Romuva) · Celtic (Neo-druidism · Reconstructionist) · Estonian · Finnish · Germanic (Forn Siðr · Ásatrú · Odinism · Theodism · Urglaawe · Fyrnsidu) · Hellenic · Kemetism · Roman · Semitic · Slavic
Approaches
By region
German-speaking Europe · Greece · Hungary · Ireland · Latin Europe · Scandinavia · Slavic Europe · UK · USA
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