Verein für germanisches Heidentum

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Verein für germanisches Heidentum
AbbreviationVfgH
Formation1994; 28 years ago (1994)
TypeReligious organisation
PurposeGermanic neopaganism
Location
  • Germany
Websitewww.vfgh.de
Formerly called
Odinic Rite Deutschland

The Verein für germanisches Heidentum (lit. 'Association for Germanic paganism'), abbreviated VfgH, is a Germanic neopagan organisation in Germany. It began in 1994 as the German chapter of the British Odinic Rite and was called the Odinic Rite Deutschland. It became independent in 2004 and changed its name in 2006. It practices Germanic paganism as a polytheistic religion connected to the region of Central and Northern Europe, rejecting both völkisch religiosity and universalist approaches.

History[]

In 1994, a group created the Odinic Rite Deutschland (ORD) as a German chapter of the Germanic neopagan organisation Odinic Rite (OR), which is based in the United Kingdom.[1] In its early history the ORD was heavily influenced by Bernd Hicker who was its chairman for seven years.[2] It collaborated with the group Yggdrasil-Kreis in the 1990s; this group professed a "European religion of nature" and sought to combine Germanic and Celtic paganism.[3]

Due to concerns about connections between the British OR and far-right politics, expressed already in 1995 in the ORD's member's magazine, as well as differing views of practice and organising, the ORD was established as an independent organisation in 2004.[4] It changed its name to the Verein für germanisches Heidentum (VfgH; lit. 'Association for Germanic paganism') in 2006.[2] The VfgH grew from around 40 members in 2004 to around 80 members in 2010. Despite not being a large organisation, it became influential among German neopagans during this period.[1] Its most influential theorist has been Fritz Steinbock, also known as Asfrid, who has been responsible for much of the VfgH's religious management.[5]

Beliefs and activity[]

The VfgH describes Germanic paganism as a polytheistic religion and gods as "concrete, personal beings with individual personalities".[6] Rituals have a central role in the organisation's conception of pagan practice, which is defined as having a living relationship with gods and nature.[7] The Germanic aspect is defined through location in Central and Northern Europe and dedication to the cultures of Germanic peoples; the organisation's website describes Germanic paganism as "the religion of today's people who are members of a Germanic community by birth or association and who feel obliged to their heritage".[8] The VfgH promotes a cyclical view of time and a view of death as a transition rather than a definite end.[9] It rejects theologies that view gods as aspects of an abstract divinity, as archetypes or as symbols,[6] as well as völkisch religiosity, which it describes as reliant on monotheistic and dualistic views.[10] By associating the practice with a particular region, it rejects universalist approaches where Germanic paganism can be practiced anywhere in the world.[11]

The VfgH is structured around regional groups called Herde (lit. 'hearths').[1] Rituals are typically conceived as modern revivals of blót ceremonies and may consist of invocations of gods, ritual drinking, sacrificial gift giving and incantations of runes.[12] The rituals have been influenced by the OR's Book of Blotar from the 1980s and by Wicca, the latter via the Yggdrasil-Kreis.[13] Steinbock's book Das heilige Fest (2004; lit. 'The sacred feast') has been used as a reference work by members.[2] Literature such as the Poetic Edda, Prose Edda and Old Norse sagas are used as sources of inspiration but the VfGH regards its practices as reinventions rather than reconstructions.[9] Beyond the basic principles, members are allowed to develop their own beliefs and practices, creating a structure where priestly functions are available to everyone and strictly limited to the performance of rituals. This approach, which the VfgH calls the "guiding idea of free paganism" (German: Leitidee freies Heidentum), sets it apart from many other Germanic neopagan groups.[14]

Since its early existence, the VfgH publishes the magazine Ringhorn.[1] In 2012, it co-organised the International Asatru Summer Camp, an international meeting of Germanic neopagans, with the German group Eldaring and the Dutch groups De negen verelden and Het Rad.[15]

Politics[]

The VfgH explicitly abstains from taking a political stance.[2] Within the neopagan milieu in Germany, it has been at the centre of some controversy due to far-right involvement of individual members.[16] According to the scholar Stefanie von Schnurbein, the approach to paganism promoted by Steinbock and the VfgH contains a possible contradiction, because it dismisses genetical ideas about Germanic ancestry but also assumes that language and culture are derived from a unity of gods, nature and men.[17] Schnurbein says the VfgH has promoted views that "resemble an ethno-pluralist paradigm", which would mean it has commonalities with an aspect of the German New Right,[18] but she distinguishes it from the New Right in that it does not reject humanist and Enlightenment ideas.[19]

References[]

Citations[]

  1. ^ a b c d Schnurbein 2016, p. 75.
  2. ^ a b c d Krebel 2014, p. 140.
  3. ^ Schnurbein 2016, p. 78.
  4. ^ Krebel 2014, p. 140; Schnurbein 2016, p. 75.
  5. ^ Krebel 2014, p. 140; Schnurbein 2016, p. 135.
  6. ^ a b Schnurbein 2016, p. 94. "Götter und Göttinnen existieren tatsächlich und sind konkrete persönliche Wesen mit individuellen Persönlichkeiten."
  7. ^ Schnurbein 2016, p. 106.
  8. ^ Schnurbein 2016, p. 134. "Das germanische Heidentum ist die Religion heutiger Menschen, die durch Geburt oder Aufnahme Angehörige einer germanischen Gemeinschaft sind und sich ihrem Erbe verpflichtet fühlen."
  9. ^ a b Baumann 2018.
  10. ^ Schnurbein 2016, p. 127.
  11. ^ Maréchal 2010, pp. 206–207.
  12. ^ Schnurbein 2016, p. 107.
  13. ^ Schnurbein 2016, p. 111.
  14. ^ Schnurbein 2016, pp. 75–76.
  15. ^ Schnurbein 2016, p. 86.
  16. ^ Schnurbein 2016, p. 76.
  17. ^ Schnurbein 2016, pp. 135–136.
  18. ^ Schnurbein 2016, p. 140.
  19. ^ Schnurbein 2016, pp. 174–175.

Sources[]

  • Baumann, Tim (9 January 2018). "Odins Comeback" [Odin's comeback]. deutschlandfunkkultur.de (in German). Deutschlandfunk Kultur. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  • Krebel, Sebastian (2014). Weil Gott die wunderbare Vielfalt liebt. Modernes Heidentum in Deutschland. Ethnographische Erkundungen [Because God loves the wonderful diversity. Modern paganism in Germany. Ethnographic explorations] (PDF) (PhD) (in German). University of Erfurt. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  • Maréchal, Ann-Laurence (2010). "Neugermanisch-heidnische Religiosität" [Neogermanic-pagan religiosity]. In Lüddeckens, Dorothea; Walthert, Rafael (eds.). Fluide Religion. Neue religiöse Bewegungen im Wandel. Theoretische und empirische Systematisierungen [Fluid religion. New religious movements in transition. Theoretical and empirical systematisations] (in German). Bielefeld:  [de]. ISBN 978-3-8376-1250-9.
  • Schnurbein, Stefanie von (2016). Norse Revival: Transformations of Germanic Neopaganism. Studies in Critical Research on Religion. Vol. 5. Leiden: Brill Publishers. doi:10.1163/9789004309517. ISBN 978-1-60846-737-2.

Further reading[]

  • Steinbock, Fritz (2004). Das heilige Fest. Rituale des traditionellen germanischen Heidentums in heutiger Zeit [The sacred feast. Rituals of traditional Germanic paganism in the present age] (in German). Hamburg: Daniel Junker. ISBN 978-3-938432-00-6.

External links[]

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