| |
|
However, if they're making the argument that their faith includes elements of ancestor worship, and that this is the religion of their forefathers ... well, that in itself doesn't seem unreasonable.
Those claims are not entirely unreasonable, no, and if that was as far as it went then there wouldn't be an enormous problem. But what you're describing there isn't Folkism. There's a kind of spectrum in modern heathen thought, with Universalists on one end, Folkists on the other, and Tribalists in the middle.
Universalists will sign up pretty much anyone. Tribalists will sign up pretty much anyone if ze feels a profound and genuine calling to the Northern pantheon and is prepared to do a metric fuckton of homework: not just studying the legends relating to the Gods but informing hirself of the cultural context in which They were originally worshipped, and usually making significant attempts to reflect elements of that culture in hir own lifestyle. Tribalists (theoretically anyway) don't give a moneky's if you're from Norway or Nigeria so long as you can name Egil Skallagrimsson's nursemaid, recite at least 150 of Odin's bynames, and tell the class when Lindisfarne Monastery got sacked.
Folkists are a spectrum all of their own. The most extreme cases are essentially white supremacists so fuck 'em. Then you get the people who aren't quite that bad but are still fixated on race; they'll accept only people who are of 'pure' Northern European extraction (yeah, good luck with that). By 'pure,' I mean that having an Italian or Greek grandparent will sometimes disqualify you. These people will make much of the fact that other nations have what they call 'folk-faiths' including ancestor worship, generally gamely trying to insist that these faiths would reject Northern Europeans. Hilariously, they usually include Vodoun in this list of supposedly ethnospecific faiths, which must come as something of a surprise to Maman Brigitte. Then there's the more moderate Folkist, who will 'only' insist that you have an identifiably Northern European ancestor knocking around somewhere.
I'm not terribly familiar with this particular group, so I can't tell how Northern European one would have to be to play in their treehouse.
It also makes other peoples use of the same faith seem very much like cultural appropriation. Now I know we walk a strongly grey-shaded line when it comes to appropriation. I'm just not sure why it instantly becomes edged into racism by necessity here.
Uhnm. I think this is debatable, frankly. For one thing, Political Correctness Gone Maaaaaaaad notwithstanding, people of recognisably Northern European extraction are not a freaking minority in the UK or, uh, Vinland. The social, cultural and political structures surrounding (say) Hinduism and reconstructionist big-H Heathenry are totally different, and I don't think one either can or should discount that.
For another, the people 'appropriating' Odin and His drinking buddies are largely part of the same culture as the modern decendents of the notional elder kin. They're British or American. They've got dibs. I can't really think of the Heathen equivalent of the wealthy white teenager with a sequined Hindu God ze can't even name on hir tee-shirt or a kanji tattoo on hir ankle. When wealthy Haitian teens start getting runic tattoos because that alphabet is like, sooo ethnic and spiritual, no, I can't read it but the guy in the tattoo parlour said it meant my boyfriend's name, yah? then we'll talk. |
|
|
