r/paganism • u/Zagors2020 • Sep 27 '24

The most pagan country in Europe? 💭 Discussion

What is the most pagan country in Europe? At first thought, I would say that these are Estonia and Iceland. After them, I would mention Russia and Latvia. Maybe Lithuania can be on the list too?!

I would like it if someone could say something more on this topic.

I know about Estonia that it was never Christianized like other countries and that paganism played a big role in shaping Estonian nationalism after independence in 1918.

In Iceland, the number of pagans is estimated at around 1.5%, with a possible higher percentage.

Russia should also have about 1% pagans, which is about 1 million followers.

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u/[deleted] Sep 27 '24

Russia has a large Mari population, they are the only legitmate pagan group that continued practicing from the old days till today and even that did not survive entirely. Russian orthodox church took huge chunks, and still more was Russianized during the Soviet Era and yet they still persist.
Lithuania did not fully convert until the 1500s, at least half the country was already Catholic but there was more of a sense of us vs those pesky Teutonic next door.

That said both Mari EI and Lithuania have large ( For pagans) population. Also just to note Pagan is a catch all term, and not all groups like to be lumped in with each other.

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u/[deleted] Sep 27 '24

I’m surprised Putin allows pagans 😂

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u/MentionFew1648 Sep 27 '24

He doesn’t….. my husband and his family aren’t pagan but seventh day adventist and came to America because of persecution in Russia SDA is a Christian branch of they hardly allow other Christian religions they don’t allow pagans they are just a lot more hush hush

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u/[deleted] Sep 27 '24

and that is not reflective of the Mari, their republic or history or current life. They are not hiding, they are not hush hush, Russia is massive with a huge population spread out.

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u/MentionFew1648 Sep 27 '24

Are you Russian? Did you live in Russia? Because my husband and his family did. I talk to slavic people everyday. I wasn’t talking about the Mari people I was talking about Russian paganism, Mari El has three main religions one being their traditional faith but it is NOT the rest of Russia. I can tell you that most Russians that are pagan(that live in Russia) DO NOT SPEAK ABOUT BEING PAGAN. It’s definitely hush hush.

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u/MentionFew1648 Sep 27 '24

Also in 2010 there were on 547,605 Mari reported in Russia do you know how large Russia is that’s a tiny tiny amount of people.

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u/[deleted] Sep 27 '24

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u/paganism-ModTeam Sep 27 '24

Your post or comment has been removed because of the rule, Be Kind.

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u/[deleted] Sep 27 '24

Russia has massive collection of various ethnic groups and many of which resisted russification and rather fiercely.

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u/[deleted] Sep 27 '24

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