A millennium after Iceland adopted Christianity as its national religion, a pagan faith dating to the era of the Vikings is making a vibrant comeback.
Called Ásatrú, the pagan faith is Iceland’s largest non-Christian religion. Officially recognized by the government, it is also the country’s fastest-growing belief, according to an October 17 article in Iceland Magazine.
Citing statistics from Registers Iceland, the nation’s main official civil registry, the article states that 4,375 Icelanders—1.2 percent of Iceland’s population—belong to two separate Nordic pagan congregations.
The vast majority of Iceland’s pagan believers are from the much larger Ásatrúarfélagið (Ásatrú Association of Iceland) congregation, whose membership is 4,349. Most of the balance practice Reykjavíkurgoðorð.
Followers of Ásatrú worship gods from Norse mythology such as Óðinn (or Odin), Thor and Loki. Óðinn is the supreme creator and the deity of wisdom, war, art and culture.
Odin, Thor and Loki became part of Icelandic folklore during the Viking Age (793-1066), when Norwegian farmers in search of new pastures settled Iceland, the volcanic island that lies just south of the Arctic Circle, according to a 2019 BBC article.
The three divinities reigned supreme across the “land of fire and ice,” as Iceland is known, until the year 1000. That was when Iceland’s leadership adopted Christianity as the national religion.
“Since Christianity had a very different moral and legal code from paganism, the leading chieftains of Iceland feared that society would be torn apart by permitting two different religions to coexist,” according to Iceland Magazine. “While it was still permissible to observe the old religion in private, the old pagan ways quickly receded in the face of Christianity.”
In an interview with the magazine a few years ago, the high priest of Ásatrúarfélagið, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, explained why Ásatrú is experiencing a popular resurgence.
The pagan faith emphasizes the importance of harmony and humility in everyday life, particularly when confronted with circumstances that cannot—and should not—be changed or subverted, he said. The most important of these circumstances is the passage of time. Ásatrú is also a faith that has great regard for wisdom—not just the wisdom in ancient texts, but also what ordinary folk gain through their own experience.
Virtuous behavior is encouraged. “It’s about being honest, upright and tolerant,” said Hilmarsson, who was elected as his congregation’s leader in 2003. “Respect for nature is also important. You have to make sure you live in harmony with nature.”
The BBC article points out that Ásatrúarfélagið has no fixed beliefs. It subscribes to local folklore, and the congregation’s meetings usually revolve around recitals from the Sagas of Icelanders, a striking work of medieval literature based on the triumphs and tragedies of the Norse men and women who settled Iceland.
Dating to the 9th century, the epic tales have been compared to the works of Homer and Sophocles. But their origins are humble and revolve around storytelling, Ásatrú priest Haukur Bragaso told the BBC.
Paganism reappeared in Iceland in 1972, when a group of artists led by sheep farmer and poet Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson began meeting in coffee shops in Reykjavik and came up with the plan to establish Ásatrúarfélagið as a congregation.
The following year, they lobbied Iceland’s government to extend official recognition to their faith. Ólafur Jóhannesson, the minister of justice and ecclesiastical affairs, was deliberating the matter when lightning struck a power station, causing a blackout.
“People thought it was Thor showing his might,” says Hilmarsson. He relented, and Ásatrú was reborn.
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