Claiming Europe
Celticity in Russian Pagan and Nativist Movement (1990s–2010s)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/pom.34872Keywords:
Celts, Celticity, Paganism, Russia, Native Faith, Slavic PaganismAbstract
I focus on "Celticity" as an area of cultural material emically marked as "Celtic," whether containing real borrowings from Celtic cultures or pre-Christian religions, or not. In Russian post-Soviet milieus of Pagan, Nativist and esoteric movements, as well as in mass culture, "Celtic" may vary from a dim referential corpus serving as a backdrop for different cultural agendas to ethnic and folkloristic reconstructions in religious or secular context. The present paper looks at two contexts in which Celticity was and is articulated in modern Russia. The first was as a topic in the Slavic Paganism and Nativism between 1990 and the 2010s. Claiming an "Indo-European" identity, many Russian Pagan Nativist authors mention Celts in the context of a "big" Indo-European history of Slavs/Russians. The role of these "Celts" may vary-from close allies or kin peoples to foes and spiritual opponents. Second, Celticity plays a role in Russian non-Slavic Paganism. While Wicca in the1990s and subsequently was widely perceived in Russia as a "Celtic" religion, a Druidic movement also emerged in the twenty-first century.
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Tsvetkov, S. V. Kel’ti i slavyane (The Celts and the Slavs). Saint Petersburg: Russian-Baltic Information Center BLITZ, 2005.
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Andreyeva, Yulia. “’Tvorit’ ray na zemle’: kul’t zemli i prirodi v novom religioznom dvizhenii ‘Anastasia’” (“To create paradise on earth”: veneration of the earth and nature in the new religious movement “Anastasia”). In Izobreteniye religii: desekulyarizatsiya v postsovetskom kontekste (Invention of religion: desecularization in post-Soviet context), edited by Zh. Kormina, A. Panchenko, and S. Shtirkov (Saint Petersburg: Evropeiskiy universitet, 2015, 163–82.
Biblioteka KRYa (Library of Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism), https://vk.com/gaelic_quack.
Buzunov, Nikolai. “Kel’ti predki slavyan” (The Celts are the ancestors of the Slavs) 2013, https://www.proza.ru/2013/05/22/2068.
Chto dumayut uchyoniye o Velesovoy knige? (What do the scholars think of the Book of Veles?). Saint Petersburg: Nauka, 2004.
Cinneadh na Craoibhe Chaorainn: obschiye printsipi (Cinneadh na Craoibhe Chaorainn: the general principles), 2016, https://vk.com/doc37740965_443064122?hash=908c0b5c954b7ebbd4&dl=63563e21b82cf948d9.
Conway, Dina J. Misterii I magiya Luni: Yazicheskiye rituali, Magicheskiye retsepti, Lunniye amuleti (Moon magick: myth and magic, crafts and recipes, rituals and spells). Moscow: AST-Vakler, 1998.
Dietler, Michael. “Celticism, Celtitude and Celticity: The Consumption of the Past in the Age of Globalization.” In Celtes et Gaulois dans l’histoire, l’historiographie et l’idéologie moderne. Actes de la table ronde de Leipzig, 16-17 juin 2005, edited by Sabine Rieckhoff. Glux-en-Glenne: Bibracte, Centre Archéologique Européen, 2006: 237–48.
Frolov, Sergei. “Kel’tskiye druidi—predki Slavyanskikh volkhvov?” (Are the Celtic Druids ancestors of the Slavic Volkhvs?). Rodovaya zemlya, 1, no. 150 (2017): 29.
Geoffrey of Monmouth. Istoriya brittov: Zhizn’ Merlina (History of the Briton: life of Merlin), edited by A. S. Bobovich. Moscow: Nauka, 1984.
Grimassi, Raven. Vikka: drevniye korni koldovskikh ucheniy (The Wiccan mysteries: ancient origins and teachings). Translated by K. Medved’. Moscow: FAIR-Press, 1999.
Irlandskiye sagi (Irish scelas).T ranslated by A. A. Smirnov. Moscow: Goslitizdat, 1961.
Kutarev, Oleg. “Slavyansky Dazhbog kak razvitiye indoevropeiskogo boga siyayuschego neba (Dyeus-Pater)” (Slavic Dazhbog as a development of an Indo-European god of the shining sky [Dyeus-Pater]). Filosofia i kul’tura, 1, no. 97 (2016): 126–41. https://doi.org/10.7256/1999-2793.2016.1.17386.
Lazarev, Evgeny. Druidi russkogo severa (The Druids of the Russian North). Moscow: Veche, 2009.
Mabinogion, Volshebniye legendi Uel’sa (Mabinogion. Welsh magic legends). Translated and edited by V. V. Erlikhman. Moscow: Ladomir, 1995.
Marnessa, “Likbez o vikke” (Wicca FAQ) http://wicca.flybb.ru/topic214-45.html.
Monroe, Douglas. Dvadtsat’ odin urok Merlina: Magicheskiye znaniya druidov (The 21 lessons of Merlin: a study in Druid magic and lore). Translated by N. Shpet. Kiev: Sofia, 1996.
Muradova, Anna. “Pro kel’tushku I kel’tyatinu” (Of the ways Celtic and things Celtic). Noviy mir 6 (2009), http://www.nm1925.ru/Archive/Journal6_2009_6/Content/Publication6_1650/Default.aspx.
NicDhana, Kathryn et al. “So what is Celtic Reconstructionism?” 2006, http://www.paganachd.com/faq/whatiscr.html.
Obschestvo issledovateley kel’tskogo naslediya “Fidmened,” Istoriya nashego soobschestva (The history of our community), http://druidism.ru/fidnemed/.
Paganka, Sergei. “An interview with Alexandr McGregor and Linnen McFersson.” 2013, http://paganka.blog/2013/08/03/intervyu-s-aleksandrom-makgregorom-i-linnen-makferson/.
Pokhischeniye bika iz Kual’nge (Táin Bó Cúailnge), Translated and edited by T. A. Mikhailova, S. V. Shkunaev. Moscow: Nauka, 1985.
Restall Orr, Emma. Chto takoye druidism? (What is Duidry?). Translated by Aleksei Sarph et al. 2013, http://www.e-reading.club/bookreader.php/112883/Chto_takoe_druidizm.pdf.
Schevchenko, Ogneslav. “Irlandtsi i russkiye – odin narod!” (The Irish and the Russians are one nation!) 2016, https://cont.ws/@vzvess2/356803.
Shnirel’man, Viktor. Ariysky mif v sovremennom mire: Evolutsii ariyskogo mifa v Rossii (The Aryan myth in the modern world: Development of the Aryan myth in Russia). 2 vols. Moscow: Novoye literaturnoye obozreniye, 2015.
Svyato-Russkiye Vedi. Kniga Velesa (Holy Russian vedas: the Book of Veles). Edited by A. Asov. Moscow: FAIR-Press, 2001.
Tsvetkov, S. V. Kel’ti i slavyane (The Celts and the Slavs). Saint Petersburg: Russian-Baltic Information Center BLITZ, 2005.
Zadornov, Mikhail. “’Osoby’ ukrainsky narod” (A “separate” Ukrainian nation), 2014, http://zadornov.net/2014/06/osobiy-ukrainsky-narod/.
Published
2019-06-21
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Galtsin, D. (2019). Claiming Europe: Celticity in Russian Pagan and Nativist Movement (1990s–2010s). Pomegranate, 20(2), 208-233. https://doi.org/10.1558/pom.34872
