Heathenry in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, a variety of contemporary Pagan movements professing a form of Heathenry exist.

Religious belief and practice

Most Heathens in the UK operate in small groups or family units, 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]

The most evident forms of ritual practice among the British Heathen community are blot and sumbel. The first of these is a rite of offering, while the latter is a rite of toasting. The latter rite is typically more formal, while blot can be more simple, and performed without words.^[3]

Demographics

In the United Kingdom Census 2001, 300 people registered as Heathen in England and Wales.^[1] However, many Heathens 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. The comparable figures for the UK as a whole in 2001 were 278 Heathen and 92 Asatru:^[4]

Heathen groups

Anthropologist Jenny Blain asserted that the largest divide in the British Heathen community was between groups who believe that humans are naturally divided into distinct races and those who see racial distinctions as being cultural.^[2]

The Odinic Rite (OR) was founded in 1973 under the influence of Else Christensen's Odinist Study Group. On 24 February 1988 the Rite became the first polytheistic religious organisation to be granted "Registered Charity" status in the UK.^[5] This led to some controversy that the Rite had presented Odinism as a monotheistic religion in order to gain acceptance by the Charity Commission.^[6] In 1990 a split occurred in the Rite. Two organisations were formed from the schism,^[7] initially each claiming the same name and therefore known by their postal addresses. "BCM Runic" is now known as the Odinic Rite with the motto "Faith, Folk and Family".^[8] "BM Edda", now known as the Odinist Fellowship,^[9] is the part of the organisation which retains charitable status.^[10]

An annual gathering of Heathens in the UK called Heathenfest has been held at Peterborough since 2005, it is organised by Woden's Hearth. Past speakers have included Pete Jennings, Jenny Blain, Thorskegga Thorn and Stephen Pollington.^[11]

2013 saw the founding of an online social media group called Asatru UK, which decided to branch out into real-world events. The group's inclusive, family-friendly and individualistic approach proved highly popular. Now running successfully for a couple of years, membership of this group has exploded, becoming one of the largest heathen organisations in the country. Moots and other events have been held across the U.K. and plans for a large-scale heathen festival in 2016 are well underway.^[12][13][14]

Organisation

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 Heathens 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 Heathen members of the Pagan Federation, although increasingly mutual links between Heathens and the Pagan Federaton are being established.^[3]

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 th early 21st century.^[1] Heathens were also involved in the creation of the Association of Polytheist Traditions.^[1]

References

Footnotes

1. Blain 2005, p. 191.
2. Blain 2005, p. 193.
3. Blain 2005, p. 194.
4. Office for National Statistics, 11 December 2012, 2011 Census, Key Statistics for Local Authorities in England and Wales. Accessed 12 December 2012.
5. Michael York (1997), Paganism and the British Charity Commission, paper given at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion 1997 Annual Meeting - San Diego
6. Polly Toynbee (1996). "A being that works in mysterious ways," The Independent, 15 July 1996
7. York (1997)
8. The Odinic Rite website, accessed 27 November 2011
9. The Odinist Fellowship website accessed 27 November 2011
10. Charity Commission website, accessed 27 November 2011.
11. "Heathenfest". Retrieved 30 November 2011.
12. "Asatru UK website". Retrieved 5 March 2015.
13. "Asatru UK Community Page". Retrieved 5 March 2015.
14. "Asatru UK Social Media Group". Retrieved 5 March 2015.

Sources

Blain, Jenny (2005). "Heathenry, the Past, and Sacred Sites in Today's Britain". In Strmiska, Michael F. Modern Paganism in World Cultures. ABC-CLIO. pp. 181–208.