New Book on Ukrainian Paganism

The Return of Ancestral Gods: Modern Ukrainian Paganism as an Alternative Vision for a Nation by Mariya Lesiv, who teaches in the Department of Folklore at  the Memorial University of Newfoundland, has now been released by McGill-Queen’s University Press in Canada.

From the publisher’s site:

In The Return of Ancestral Gods, Mariya Lesiv explores Pagan beliefs and practices in Ukraine and amongst the North American Ukrainian diaspora. Drawing on intensive fieldwork, archival documents, and published sources not available in English, she allows the voices of Pagans to be heard. Paganism in Slavic countries is heavily charged with ethno-nationalist politics, and previous scholarship has mainly focused on this aspect. Lesiv finds it important to consider not only how Paganism is preached but also the way that it is understood on a private level. She shows that many Ukrainians embrace Paganism because of its aesthetic aspects rather than its associated politics and discusses the role that aesthetics may play in the further development of Ukrainian Paganism.

An earlier article of hers, “Glory to Dazhboh (Sun-god) or to All Native Gods?: Monotheism and Polytheism in Contemporary Ukrainian Paganism,” appeared in The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, in 2009.

One thought on “New Book on Ukrainian Paganism

  1. Looks very interesting. Ms Lesiv’s contribution was one of the best chapters in Aitamurto and Simpson’s “Modern Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe” by my reckoning, so hopefully this is more good stuff!

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