*De wiki.

Este artículo trata sobre el nuevo movimiento religioso pagano moderno.

pagano, también llamado Heathenism, contemporary Germanic Paganism o el neopaganismo germánico, is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religious studies classify it as a new religious movement. Developed in Europe during the early 20th century, its practitioners model it on the pre-Christian religions adhered to by the Germanic peoples of the Iron Age and Early Middle Ages. In an attempt to reconstruct these past belief systems, Heathenry uses surviving historical, archaeological, and folkloric evidence as a basis, although approaches to this material vary considerably.

El paganismo no tiene una teología unificada, pero es típicamente politeísta y se centra en un panteón de deidades de la Europa germánica precristiana. Adopta puntos de vista cosmológicos de estas sociedades pasadas, incluida una visión animista del cosmos en la que el mundo natural está imbuido de espíritus. Las deidades y espíritus de la religión son honrados en ritos de sacrificio conocidos como blóts in which food and libations are offered to them. These are often accompanied by Symbel, the act of ceremonially toasting the gods with an alcoholic beverage. Some practitioners also engage in rituals designed to induce an altered state of consciousness and visions, most notably seiðr y galdr, with the intent of gaining wisdom and advice from the deities. Many solitary practitioners follow the religion by themselves. Other Heathens assemble in small groups, usually known as parientes or hogares, to perform their rites outdoors or in specially constructed buildings. Heathen ethical systems emphasize honor, personal integrity, and loyalty, while beliefs about an afterlife vary and are rarely emphasized.

Heathenry’s origins lie in the 19th- and early 20th-century Romanticism which glorified the pre-Christian societies of Germanic Europe. Völkisch groups actively venerating the deities of these societies appeared in Germany and Austria during the 1900s and 1910s, although they largely dissolved following Nazi Germany’s defeat in World War II. In the 1970s, new Heathen groups established in Europe and North America, developing into formalized organizations. A central division within the Heathen movement emerged surrounding the issue of race. Older groups adopted a racialist attitude—often termed “folkish” within the community—by viewing Heathenry as an ethnic or racial religion with inherent links to a Germanic race. They believe it should be reserved for white people, particularly of northern European descent, and often combine the religion with far right-wing and white supremacist perspectives. A larger proportion of Heathens instead adopt a “universalist” perspective, holding that the religion is open to all, irrespective of ethnic or racial background.

Mientras que el término pagano is used widely to describe the religion as a whole, many groups prefer different designations, influenced by their regional focus and ideological preferences. Heathens focusing on Scandinavian sources sometimes use Ásatrú, Vanatrú o el Forn Sed; los practicantes que se enfocan en las tradiciones anglosajonas usan Fyrnsidu or teodismo; aquellos que enfatizan las tradiciones alemanas usan Irminism; y aquellos paganos que adoptan perspectivas folklóricas y de extrema derecha tienden a favorecer los términos Odinismo, Wotanism, Wodenism o el odalismo. Las estimaciones académicas sitúan el número de paganos en no más de 20,000 en todo el mundo, con comunidades de practicantes activas en Europa, América y Australasia.