Hmm, so that video was a bit odd. I guess trying to reclaim Scandinavian traditions from right-wing grifters is not necessarily bad, but for me as a European born and raised in a northern European country, I feel no relation to these at all. And what I know of it is either Americanized pop culture or mostly faux BS that some fascists made up to justify their blood and soil ideology.
I mean, sure there are some archeologist digging up that stuff and so on, but it is almost as far gone as the ancient pyramid stuff is to a modern Egyptian.
This specific guy does a lot of work to explore animism and think that it’s a way for us to reconnect to nature. He is danish so his approach is through Scandinavian animism. It doesn’t have to be correct, because animism is not a dogmatic religion, it’s alive and traditions evolve over time. Of cause he does take a lot of inspiration from traditional Nordic mythology and religion and we do know a decent amount, because we have texts and runes. And he advocate that it’s a way to deal with climate crisis. I suggest you read Evergreen Ash - Ecology and Catastrophe in Old Norse Myth and Literature, if you find it interesting.
We do know a lot from archeology and so on, yes. But the same is true for ancient egypt.
But at least to my knowledge, there is next to no continous practise of these traditions anywhere in Europe for many generations now.
I mean if historical reenactment is a hobby this guy enjoys doing, fine with me. But I see very little point in trying to revive a tradition that is that long dead and forgotten.
He is a scholar with a phd in history and religion. The point is that are in a time where we need to reconnect with nature. A bit like we are trying to do with solar punk. And you can’t do that with Christianity. You could even argue that the Abrahamic religions are an indirect cause of the climate crisis, because it makes human the most important species with the right to rule over nature.
A lot of native people have an animist religion with a deep connection to nature and the western world need to rediscover that. At least that’s what a lot of modern animist believe. I think it’s worth exploring.
