The Wild Hunt (https://wildhunt.org/tag/russia/page/5)
There are lots of articles and essays of interest to modern Pagans and Heathens out there, sometimes more than our team can write about in-depth in any given week. So The Wild Hunt must unleash the hounds in order to round them all up.
ST. LANDRY PARIS, La. — After releasing a video as part of the department’s Crime Stoppers video series, Captain Clay Higgens found himself at the center of major news story. His Feb.
The Museum of Witchcraft, located in Boscastle, Cornwall, will be undergoing major renovations over the next two months. These changes will include a complete overhaul of the shop and entrance way. Director Simon Costin said the first two galleries will also be “radically altered to allow for new material.” Part of the gallery expansion will be the installation of old Victorian cabinets donated by the Museum of Zoology in Cambridge. In addition to those renovations, the Museum will also have a new temporary exhibition space.
MOSCOW –An influential figure in the Russian Orthodox Church has said he’d like to see “neo-paganism” made illegal in that country. In remarks at the international congress of Orthodox youth, as reported by Interfax, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin declared, “Let’s say that three things – Wahhabism, Nazism and aggressive neo-paganism – should be removed from the country’s life at the level of the law. Let’s not try to be friends with any of that.” We spoke to Gwiddon Harvester, the national coordinator of the Pagan Federation International Russia. He provided some context for this statement for Western readers.
Russian Republic Legalizes Neo-Pagan Faith
Russia, more often making headlines for repression of minority faiths, recently recognized the neo-Pagan faith Aar Aiyy as an official “religious organization” in the Siberian Russian Republic of Sakha. Religions with this special designation receive greater protections and privileges in Russia than those who are merely religious groups. Aar Aiyy appears to be a modern neo-Pagan revival of the indigenous shamanistic religion Tengrism. Tengrism flourished among the Turkic-speaking population of the Siberian Yakuts, the Turks, Huns, Mongolians, and Hungarians. In Siberia the religion waned in the 1600’s when Russian Orthodox Christians moved into the area.
On May 3, for the second time in two years, two stones long associated with pagan worship, were vandalized. The stones are located in Kolomenskoye Park in Moscow. Vandals spray painted “This is sin!” and “Idolatry” on the two stones. Area Pagans, who came together to clean the stones, suspect radical Christians for the vandalism.