While Americans watch Christianity continually attacked in the U.S, Icelanders have shifted back to the Gods of their ancestors. While Christianity eclipsed Norse paganism over 1000 years ago, it is now going by the wayside, and at a steady rate.
Over the last decade, Nordic pagan worship has more than tripled. And because of this interest in this ancient religion, they are breaking ground on its first Norse temple since the age of the vikings.
Membership in Ásatrúarfélagið has tripled in Iceland in the last decade to 2,400 members last year, out of a total population of 330,000, data from Statistics Iceland showed.
Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, high priest of Ásatrúarfélagið, said the temple will, in addition to being a place of worship:
The temple will host ceremonies such as weddings and funerals. The group will also confer names to children and initiate teenagers, similar to other religious communities.
Iceland’s neo-pagans still celebrate the ancient sacrificial ritual of Blot with music, reading, eating and drinking, but nowadays leave out the slaughter of animals.
The Guardian was a source for this story.