{"id":12347,"date":"2021-08-02T11:30:48","date_gmt":"2021-08-02T17:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=12347"},"modified":"2021-08-02T11:31:59","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T17:31:59","slug":"interview-with-kaarina-aitamurto-on-russian-paganism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=12347","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Kaarina Aitamurto on Russian Paganism"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kaarina<\/a>

Kaarina Aitamurto, University of Helsinki, Finland<\/p><\/div>\n

Prof. Kaarina Aitamurto, University of Helsinki,<\/a> is interviewed here for the World Religions and Spirituality Project about her research on Paganisms in Russia. She has published on Russian Paganism in The Pomegranate<\/em> (here<\/a> and here)<\/a> and co-edited the important collection Modern Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe<\/em><\/a> with Scott Simpson.<\/p>\n

This interview was conducted by Ethan Doyle White. It also deals with her work on other minority religions in contemporary Russia.<\/p>\n

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I started my research through esoteric bookstores and stalls as well as inquiring if my Russian colleagues knew any Wiccan groups in Russia. Every way I turned there were hardly any signs of Wicca and questions about the topic usually led to ethnic Slavic Paganism. To be honest, I was initially a bit reluctant to change the topic of my research because it was the feminist aspect of Wicca that had appealed to me. In contrast, contemporary Slavic Paganism seemed emphatically patriarchal and conservative. Moreover, infrequently it was linked to intolerant nationalism. In many respects, this ethnic Paganism with its emphasis on warrior spirit and admiration of masculinity seemed to represent an opposite to the kind of feminist spirituality that had originally drawn me to Paganism. However, gradually I became captivated by Slavic Paganism. First, I have always loved Russian culture and folklore so, of course, being able to gain a new perspective on it was fascinating. Secondly, it was intriguing to notice that Rodnoverie contained many similar features to the forms of Paganism I had encountered previously and which had initially drawn me to it: the emphasis on independent thinking and individual freedom, a connection to nature, the central role of aesthetics and play in religious practice.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Download the whole interview as a PDF file here.<\/a>or read it on Doyle White’s blog\u00a0Albion Calling<\/em> here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prof. Kaarina Aitamurto, University of Helsinki, is interviewed here for the World Religions and Spirituality Project about her research on Paganisms in Russia. She has published on Russian Paganism in The Pomegranate (here and here) and co-edited the important collection Modern Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe with Scott Simpson. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[138,399,5,347,53],"class_list":["post-12347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-finland","tag-native-faith","tag-paganism","tag-rodnoverie","tag-russia"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-3d9","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9776,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=9776","url_meta":{"origin":12347,"position":0},"title":"Rodnoverie: A Quick History of Russian Pagan Revival","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Kaarina Aitamurto, a Finnish scholar who has studied the Russian Pagan revival extensively, has written a short history of the Rodnoverie movement(s) and their founders and exponents for the World Religions and Spirituality website. (Think of it as an online scholarly encyclopedia.) In the 2000s, the Rodnoverie movement grew rapidly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Paganism\"","block_context":{"text":"Paganism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=paganism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wrldrels.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Rodnoverie5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7344,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=7344","url_meta":{"origin":12347,"position":1},"title":"Paganism and\/or Patriotism: Russia’s New Slavic Pride","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"An article in Russia Beyond the Headline talks about the rising interest in Pagan Slavic roots in that county, exemplified by the increasing number of celebrations of Perun's Day, which was last Monday. As more and more Russians seek solace in patriotism, many are turning to their ancient past and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Paganism\"","block_context":{"text":"Paganism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=paganism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nl.media.rbth.ru\/web\/en-rbth\/images\/2015-07\/big\/RIAN_00412882.HR_468.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":798,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=798","url_meta":{"origin":12347,"position":2},"title":"New Pomegranate Contents","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"In the rush of travel and then preparing for the spring semester, I forgot to post the contents of the latest issue of The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies (Volume 8, no. 2, Nov. 2006).So here is what's happening in Pagan Studies:\"Santeria Sacrificial Rituals: A Reconsideration of Religious\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Paganism\"","block_context":{"text":"Paganism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=paganism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1255,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1255","url_meta":{"origin":12347,"position":3},"title":"Pagans among Suspects in Priest’s Murder","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"(Welcome, vistors from The Wild Hunt. Stick around, click a few links.) A Russian Orthodox priest is murdered in his Moscow church, and suspicion falls both on Muslims and on Russian Pagans.But note the titles of his books.We know too much about people who shout \"Allah Akbar\" and then pull\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Paganism\"","block_context":{"text":"Paganism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=paganism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5001,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=5001","url_meta":{"origin":12347,"position":4},"title":"Critiquing “Double Belief” in Russian Paganism","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Consider this a follow-up to yesterday's post on Russian dream rituals, which linked to an article whose author totally accepted the idea of spiritual practices with\u00a0 \"very deep roots in pre-Christian culture.\" I had not realized this, but Routledge published a book critiquing the idea of \"double belief\"\u00a0 (dvoeverie) three\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Paganism\"","block_context":{"text":"Paganism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=paganism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4815,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=4815","url_meta":{"origin":12347,"position":5},"title":"The Equinox Pagan Studies Series Continues","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"As I mentioned in November, the Equinox Series in Historic and Contemporary Paganism will continue, even though two books in the series will be published by Acumen, the result of the two firms' merger and then de-merger. These are the titles: 1. Kaarina Aitamurto and Scott Simpson, eds. Modern Pagan\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Paganism\"","block_context":{"text":"Paganism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=paganism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12347"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12352,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12347\/revisions\/12352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}