O. Smorzhevska, PhD in History, Associate Professor
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/1728-2640.2017.132.1.12
THE NEOPAGANISM IN UKRAINE: SPIRITUAL QUEST OF A CITY DWELLAR
The papers deals with the Neopaganism as a spiritual quest of city dwellars in Ukraine in the late 20th – the early 21st century. We focused on differences in perception of the Neopaganism in 1990s and assessing its prospects during his appearance and some distribution in Ukraine and, since the 2000s to nowadays, especially with the popularization of the "virtual world" and accessibility of information. Singled out the main trends of this process: on the one hand, increasing the number of Self-pagans, especially among those who joined the movement in the early 21st century; and concern by the "big" Neopaganism such aspirations to self-pagan way of separation from the community or association. Remarkably, it is Ukrainian city dwellars who is turning to pre-Christian past as the current outlook at the end of the 20th – the early 21st century. According to adherents of the Neopaganism, "we should go back to move forward", so to say for the further progress we should return to pre-Christians practices. Without a strong material and financial base, human resources, information influence, based mainly on the romantic enthusiasm of his followers from late 1980s – early 1990s, the modern paganism took its niche among different religions in Ukraine, acquiring various forms and manifestations, which sometimes go far beyond a pure religion.
Keywords: neopaganism, postmodern religion, pagan movement, native religions, native faith, secularization, modern Paganism.
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