{"id":8604,"date":"2017-05-30T16:45:02","date_gmt":"2017-05-30T22:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8604"},"modified":"2017-05-30T16:45:56","modified_gmt":"2017-05-30T22:45:56","slug":"no-neos-here-were-ethnic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8604","title":{"rendered":"No “Neos” Here, We’re “Ethnic”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

The flag of Romuva (Wikipedia).<\/p><\/div>\n

A letter from one of the leading Hellenic Pagan groups to the government of Lithuania<\/a> supports a request by the Lithuanian Romuva <\/em>for state recognition.<\/p>\n

Just as the Hellenic Ethnic Religion, Romuva is by no means a \u201cneo-pagan movement\u201d or a \u201cnew religious movement\u201d. It belongs to the category of religions that the Religious Studies of the last 150 years name \u201cethnic\u201d and \u201cindigenous\u201d, as it consistently refers to the recorded in the historical sources ancient Lithuanian traditions and, most importantly, to the living tradition of the indigenous religion, values and symbols, carried forward from generation to generation through the customs, songs, folklore and polyphonic ritual singing \u2013 sutartines. Romuva promotes the ancient Baltic Religion, cherishing in our days the traditional culture of the ancient Baltic ethnii as a spiritual, cultural and social heritage.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Do I buy that? Not totally. It’s a reconstructionist movement,<\/a> making the claim that the folk songs contain encoded Pagan spiritual content. Is every tree a World Tree? In other words, it was started in the early 20th century but claims access to the 13th century, when German knights brought Christianity to Lithuania at the point of the sword. (And ended up controlling the land, oddly enough.)<\/p>\n

To a scholar of new religious movements, Romuva would in fact be a new religious movement \u2014 and all religions are NRMs at some point.<\/p>\n

It would be like saying that the English song “Greensleeves<\/a>,” which goes back to the 16th century at least, contains encoded goddess religion. Or maybe it’s just a love song.((OK, a lot of popular songs unwittingly invoke Aphrodite, I grant you that.))<\/p>\n

But let Baltic Paganism bloom. As a friend of mine noted, one day “Romuva are going to get their own Hutton,” and some of these historical issues will be sorted out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A letter from one of the leading Hellenic Pagan groups to the government of Lithuania supports a request by the Lithuanian Romuva for state recognition. Just as the Hellenic Ethnic Religion, Romuva is by no means a \u201cneo-pagan movement\u201d or a \u201cnew religious movement\u201d. It belongs to the category of religions that the Religious Studies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_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":[33,230,5],"class_list":["post-8604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-greece","tag-lithuania","tag-paganism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-2eM","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10673,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=10673","url_meta":{"origin":8604,"position":0},"title":"Increased Recognition for Romuva in Lithuania","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"June 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Lithuanian parliament moved Romuva, its leading Pagan movement, a step closer to state recognition recently. Here is a Google-translation of the article's first paragraphs: 46 members of the Seimas [parliament] voted for the recognition of\u00a0 [by?] the State of Romuva on Tuesday, before 19 were abstained and 18 members\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Lithuania\"","block_context":{"text":"Lithuania","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=lithuania"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13879,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=13879","url_meta":{"origin":8604,"position":1},"title":"Lithuanian Pagans Gain More Official Recognition, But What Does that Really Mean?","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 14, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A Romuva celebration (Euronews). After repeated tries, the Lithuanian Pagan group Romuva, which was formally organized in the early 20th century, has received a higher level official recognition Romuva has been granted official recognition following the Constitution and the Law on Religious Communities and Associations, as well as the Justice\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Europe\"","block_context":{"text":"Europe","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=europe"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/romuva-celeb-euronews.com_.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/romuva-celeb-euronews.com_.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/romuva-celeb-euronews.com_.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/romuva-celeb-euronews.com_.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/romuva-celeb-euronews.com_.webp?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/romuva-celeb-euronews.com_.webp?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6887,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6887","url_meta":{"origin":8604,"position":2},"title":"A New ‘Guide’ for Lithuanian Romuva","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Jonas Trinkunas, the leader of Lithuania's Romuva Pagan movement, died last January \u2014 click here for video of his funeral. His successor as \"guide\" has now been elected: Kriva Inija Trinkuniene. Inija Trinkuniene was born in 1951\u00a0 . . . in 1969 graduated from high school in 1974 . .\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Lithuania\"","block_context":{"text":"Lithuania","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=lithuania"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alkas.lt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Trinkuniene.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alkas.lt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Trinkuniene.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alkas.lt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Trinkuniene.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6240,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6240","url_meta":{"origin":8604,"position":3},"title":"Pentagram Pizza from Rome’s Enemy","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00b6 The word went around last week of the passing of Jonas Trinkunas (1939\u20132014), founder of the revived Lithuanian Pagan group Romuva. This Lithuanian website has video of his funeral ceremony,\u00a0everyone in archaic ritual gear, lots of singing and drumming. (Video may be slow to load.) \u00b6 \"Perhaps the future\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Africa\"","block_context":{"text":"Africa","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=africa"},"img":{"alt_text":"pentagrampizza","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/pentagrampizza.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10035,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=10035","url_meta":{"origin":8604,"position":4},"title":"Season of the Witch(crap), Part 3","author":"Chas S. 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Clifton","date":"January 25, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"News release:The Canadian National Pagan Conference brings together Canadian activists, clergy and scholars interested in the neo-Pagan and revived pagan religions in Canada. These include, but are not lmited to Goddess spirituality, Wicca, Asatru and the Heathen paths, Romuva, Druidry and the Afro-diasporic religions. 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