Most of the world is eaither Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, or Bhuddist…but are there any devotees of Odin, Amun-Ra, or Jupiter still around?
Do these people hold regular worship services?
And, how does one become a member of these sects–are there any neat conversion rituals in use?
Margot Adler’s book Drawing Down The Moon discusses various small sects who worship various pagan dieties. The book is possibly out of date since it was published more than a number of years ago but IMHO it’s still interesting reading.
Some people still worship the Norse gods- several friends of mine are involved in a yearly convention called “Free Spirit Gathering” which hosts hundreds of people from alternative religions (from various sects of Christianity to Wicca and everything in between).
There’s at least a small group of those who worship various Norse gods and try to do what they view as ‘ancient Norse practices’, though I doubt they’re any more true to ancient forms than Wicca is a form of Druidism.
There are certainly people who claim to still be worshipping the old Norse deities, for various values of “worship”. Search on “Asatru” or “Åsatru” if you’re curious, but be advised that a vocal subgroup of these folks are neo-Nazis - it ain’t pretty.
I have also heard reports, second-hand, from people who have seen the “ceremonies,” of Icelanders worshipping the Norse gods.
I believe some of the “neo-pagans” or Wiccans worship pretty much any and every historic pantheon.
No actually those wacky Icelanders are summoning deep ones who live near by . . .
After seeing her in Age of Mythology, I’m considering worshipping Isis.
Ascenray is correct (as is Otto on Adler’s book). I have met many neo-pagans in my day who worshipped any number of ancient deities, including Isis and Osiris and Ra, the various Norse gods, the Greek pantheon, and of course the Celtic goddess/horned god. Often several from several unrelated pantheons at once. And Adler’s book is required reading.
Now, when you say “Does Anybody **Still **WORSHIP …”, it depends on what you mean by “still”. There is little to no evidence that anyone has been CONTINUALLY worshipping these deities. Despite neopagan claims that certain witches deep in the heart of Europe have been faithfully following the Old Ways for millennia, it seems more likely that all of these current faiths are merely revivals of the old, defunct faiths.
It depends upon what one means, as toadspittle has stated. I’ll take “still worship” to mean “worship in unbroken tradition”. From that point of view, I would say that Freyja may be the only candidate. I think that at least some small number of Icelandics carry on worship from the earliest days, but they might have died out in the 1800s and not be connected to the current group in Iceland.
I was looking up information on reconstructing Roman armour and came upon a website (sorry, no cite) that at first glance looked like the classical equivalent of the SCA. A bunch of people hanging out and acting like Romans with somewhat more authenticity (and less vomiting) than your average toga party. Pretty intersting, I thought, and read on. Turns out that the driving factor behind their group was the restored worship of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. Sorry. I prefer not to make my personal decisions in life based upon the flights of birds and the condition of animal entrails.
Of course, from another perspective, there are millions of people who still follow “The Old Ways”.
Lessee, we’ve got Jews. Then there are Hindus, the shamanic people of Siberia, etc.
I’ve wondered if the world isn’t in such a sorry state because the gods on Mt. Olympus are a bit pissed at being kicked to the curb.
on a side note …
If anyone is interested in a great novel about this sort of idea, try American Gods by Neil Gaimon.
I worship Terminus, the Roman god of property bounderies…and Minerva.
Since the “worship” question has been well covered, I’ll weigh in on the “still” part. With the doubtful exception of some Icelanders & Laplanders- there is no historical unbroken line of “worship” for any of those “pagan” gods. Shinto, Taoism, Hinduism, Zorastrianism, Jainism, Confucianism, and Buddism were all founded pre-AD and are considered “pagan” by some/most definitions.
However, several “folk customs” that remain are clearly pagan in origin. The scouring of the chalk figures in England (one of whom is clearly The Dagda), and a few others. I think there are some ceremonies for women in glades that seem to be remants of the worship of Epona, etc.
There is quite a bit of difference between the Wiccans and the (neo) Pagans, in that the Wiccans- altho borrowing from some ancient traditions & folklore- do not really pretend to be “historical”. Some of the NeoPagans OTOH, make every attempt to be as historical as possible- still knowing that much of the rituals & ceremonies, etc were lost.
On a related note, I’d be fascinated to know what the last evidence of Classical paganism is, from late antiquity or early medieval times. I do know that paganism held out the longest in the countryside, long after Theodosius outlawed pagan worship in about 390. I also have read that when St. Benedict founded his monastery at Monte Cassino, he found the local villagers enjoying a festival dedicated to Apollo. This was well after 500.
It’s difficult to research traditional paganism on the Web, however. For every relevant hit you get a dozen on Wicca or Neopaganism.
The latest ‘pagan’ nation in Europe was Lithuanian kingdom that maintained the old Baltic religion well over the year 1300. Only then Lithuanians converted to christianity and this in part led to union with Poland. Also some of the Finno-Ugric and other nationalities in Russia are still pagans. These are mostly in rural faraway areas where the church didn’t have much power to go and enforce its rules.
Then again, I hear that quite a few people still go on worshipping some invisible old men in the sky, even though these religions have been founded thousands of years ago. We got jews, christians, muslims and whatever. Also these cults often include certain very intolerant and even violential subsects, so I’d advice to keep distance from them…
People: please note that the OP is interested in European and Egyptian paganism, not pagansim as practiced in Siberia or India or any other place.
Neo-pagansim is generally said to have arose in the 19th Century (hence the neo- part). There’s no evidence that it goes back any farther than this. I’d have to say that the connection to old paganism is pretty tenuous.