Native Faith. Polish Neo-Paganism at the Brink of the 21st Century

by Scott Simpson

The beginning of Polish history is traditionally given in schoolbooks as 966, the year that King Mieszko I converted to Christianity and ordered his subjects to be baptized. For 300 years before that, his lands had been inhabited by kings who begot dynasties, warriors who won great victories, priests who sacrificed to their gods and peasants who tilled the land.
After the fall of communism, a growing number of people in Poland have been looking back to the days before 966 for religious inspiration. "Neo-Paganism" is a movement made up of groups that see themselves as the legitimate continuation of the pre-Christian religious beliefs of their ancestors and/or geographical territory. The attempted return of perhaps a thousand of Poland's several million inhabitants to the native faith of their forefathers seems at first glance a curiosity of no great importance to social science. Nonetheless, Neo-Paganism is a subject whose significance outweighs its numbers.

165 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Michal Puchovský · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kniha je síce už dvadsať rokov stará (a tým pádom miestami neaktuálna), ale stále poskytuje vynikajúci myšlienkový základ pre formuláciu akéhokoľvek výskumu medzi novopohanmi v strednej a východnej Európe. Scott Simpson už vtedy odviedol riadny kus roboty v teréne a aj v archívoch, takže funguje dobre aj pre tých, ktorý sa chcú dozvedieť niečo o koreňoch poľského pohanstva do roku 2000.