Heathenry in the United Kingdom

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Heathenry in the United Kingdom consists of a variety of contemporary Pagan movements attempting to revive the pre-Christian Germanic religion, such as that practised in the British Isles by Anglo-Saxon and Norse peoples prior to Christianisation.

Religious belief and practice[]

Most modern-day heathens operate in small groups, often termed kindreds or hearths.^[1] There is a tendency for such groups to develop their own approaches to Heathenry independently, assisted by networking groups and Internet communication.^[2] Thus most kindreds remain unaffiliated with one another while remaining in contact.^[2]

Although Heathenry is a highly internally diverse religion, the most evident forms of ritual practice among the British Heathen community are the blot and the sumble.^[3] Blot is a ritual involving giving offerings to ancestors or beings such as land wights, elves or gods (the Æsir and Vanir).^[3] It is no longer common to sacrifice animals with most heathens instead choosing to offer something personal to themselves such as handmade items or a drink such as mead.^[3] While a blot may be performed alone, a sumble is always a community event that may include rounds of toasting, drinking in turn (sometimes from a drinking horn and swearing oaths.^[3]

Places of worship[]

Votive offering of flowers and bread at Barbrook II stone circle, Derbyshire

There are no purpose-built Heathen temples in the UK. Heathen individuals and groups instead commonly choose to worship outdoors, particularly in nature or at ancient sites such as standing stones, stone circles or cairns.^[4][5][6] This mirrors earlier Anglo-Saxon and Norse practices.

Demographics[]

In the United Kingdom Census 2001, 300 people registered as Heathen in England and Wales,^[1] while in the UK as a whole in 2001 were 278 Heathen and 92 Asatru.^[7] Many Heathens, however, followed the advice of the Pagan Federation (PF) and simply described themselves as "Pagan", while other Heathens did not specify their religious beliefs.^[1] The 2011 census however made it possible to describe oneself as Pagan-Heathen (or any other chosen subgroup). The figures for England and Wales show 1,958 people self-identifying as Heathen. A further 251 described themselves as Reconstructionist and may include some people reconstructing Germanic paganism.

Heathen groups[]

Asatru UK[]

Asatru UK (AUK) is a UK-wide, inclusive, Heathen community. Although there are no official membership statistics, in February 2022 AUK had 3177 members of its Facebook group.^[8] The group was started on Facebook and organised a first moot in York, in March 2013. The organisational body behind the group is composed of volunteers within the community. Asatru UK typically organises three moots a year, hosted around the country. Asatru UK lists that it is open to anyone who follows Heathenry, regardless of nationality or ancestry and has openly condemned groups such as Woden's Folk, stating that "Asatru U.K. is categorically opposed to fascist movements, or any movements, using the symbols of our faith for hate".^[9][10] The group currently does not own land and thus is in the process of carving portable god posts that can be used in a wēoh. The first of these was of the god Woden and was consecrated at a gathering in 2021.^[11] Members of Asatru UK have been guests on, and are hosts of, podcasts that aim to promote the availability of accurate information regarding Germanic Paganism and promote the inclusion of people of diverse backgrounds within the international Heathen community.^[12][13]

Odinist and Wodenist groups[]

Within Heathenry, the term Odinist or Wodenist is typically used by folkish groups, which often restrict membership to those who are white members or specifically of Northern European descent.

The Odinic Rite (OR) is a racist neo-völkisch organisation that was founded in 1980 by the former member of the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists John Yeowell, known as "Stubba".^[14][15] On 24 February 1988 the Odinic Rite became the first polytheistic religious organisation to be granted Registered Charity status in England.^[16][17] This led to allegations by the journalist Polly Toynbee that the Odinic Rite had presented Odinism as a monotheistic religion in order to gain acceptance by the Charity Commission,^[18] an allegation strongly refuted by the Odinic Rite at the time. In 1990 a split occurred in the Rite. Two organisations were formed from the schism,^[19] initially each calling themselves the "Odinic Rite". One used the postal addresses, BCM Runic, and continued to be known as Odinic Rite with the motto "Faith, Folk and Family".^[20] The other, using the postal address of BM Edda, changed its name in 1998 to the Odinist Fellowship.^[21] The Odinist Fellowship remains registered as a charity to this day.^[22] Both groups only allow white members, with the Odinist Fellowship describing Odinism as "ethnospecific" while the Odinic Rite stresses the need to maintain "racial integrity" and has been accused of racism or a racialist perspective on religion.^[23][24][25]

The Odinist Fellowship has publications, including The Book of Rites and "All About Odinism - Your Questions Answered", and follows a ninefold calendar of festivals which include celebrations on the solstices and equinoxes.^[26] A Midsummer Gathering takes place annually at which members decide on and ratify policy in an open democratic fashion.^{[citation needed]} Like many Odinists, the Odinist Fellowship advocates an ethical standard based on the eternal search for wisdom, following the example of Odin, and on the Nine Noble Virtues.^{[citation needed]} The Odinist Fellowship was involved in providing support to an Odinist postal worker dismissed by his employer for leaving printed images of Odin at his place of work. This led to a hearing in the Manchester Industrial Tribunal of Royal Mail PLC v Holden (2006) which found unequivocally in Mr. Holden's favour.^[27] In May 2014 the Odinist Fellowship purchased a Tudor-era chapel in Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, which was consecrated at Midsummer of that year as the first heathen Temple in England in over a thousand years.^[28][29] The Newark Temple is managed by a registered charity, the Newark Odinist Temple Trust,^[30] and as a result of the registration of the Newark Odinist Temple as a place of worship under the Places of Worship Registration Act (1855) the Registration Office has included a new denomination of "Odinist" in its register.^{[citation needed]}

Woden's Folk is a folkish group that was founded in 1998 and has received media attention for hate speech and holding private rituals attended by members of the Neo-Nazi group Combat 18.^[31] While the group describes itself as a Heathen group, it rejects aspects of Germanic mythology such as the self-sacrifice of Odin described in Hávamál.^[32] Instead, members espouse beliefs that are not supported by sources on historical Germanic paganism such as that certain historical figures, including Adolf Hitler, were incarnations of Germanic gods, claiming the work of the Miguel Serrano validates this idea.^[31][32][33] In 2019, the group was estimated to have 50 members.^[31]

In 2019, the head of research at Hope not Hate stated that there are Neo-Nazis involved with groups like Woden's Folk who do not genuinely follow Heathenry but use these groups as a tool for radicalisation and justification of their ideas.^[31]

Organisation and events[]

Anthropologist Jenny Blain noted that by 2005, it was common for Pagan moots (regular social gatherings) to contain a small number of Heathens.^[1] However, many Odinists distance themselves from the wider Pagan movement, which they deem to have been too heavily dominated by practitioners of Wicca.^[1] Thus, there are few Odinist members of the Pagan Federation, although increasingly mutual links between Heathens and the Pagan Federation are being established.^[34] To this end the Pagan-Heathen symposium was established in order to foster support and dialogue between the rapidly diverging paths of heathenry and other neo-pagan sects.^[35]

The internet also provided a factor in unifying the British Heathen movement, as websites such as UKHeathenry and Midgard's Web became increasingly popular in the early 21st century.^[1] The popularity of Asatru UK also owes much to this, the rise of social media has allowed heathens to connect more effectively. Heathens were also involved in the creation of the Association of Polytheist Traditions,^[1] as well as the creation and maintenance of the International Asatru Summer Camp (IASC), a loose coalition of real-world heathen groups across Europe. Asatru UK is a signatory of the IASC, along with its sister group, the Kith of the Tree and the Well.^[36]

An annual gathering of Heathens in the UK called Heathenfest was held at Peterborough from 2005, it was organised by Woden's Hearth. Past speakers included Pete Jennings, Jenny Blain, Thorskegga Thorn and Stephen Pollington.^[37] However, this event is no longer extant.

See also[]

• Neopaganism in Scandinavia
• Ásatrúarfélagið
• Anglo-Saxon paganism
• Old Norse religion
• Religion in the United Kingdom

References[]

Footnotes[]

Sources[]

External links[]

• Asatru UK