Paper short abstract:

The neo-Pagan community in Malta differs from revival or reconstructionist Paganisms where Paganism is informed by neo-nationalist impulses or becomes a nexus for asserting identities grounded in the indigenous, local and traditional in the face of globalising, pan-European or other hegemonic processes. Nor is it engaged in a critique of the dominant Christian (Catholic) religiosity of the society in which it is embedded. Indeed, many Maltese Wiccans and Pagans see themselves as at least culturally Catholic while spiritually Pagan. Nonetheless some Maltese Pagans have recently begun to consciously ‘create’ an indigenous religion, blending local cultural and environmental knowledge with elements from antiquity. This paper, based on anthropological fieldwork, explores this creation project.

Paper long abstract:

Throughout contemporary Europe neo-Pagan or Native Faith movements have been emerging amidst the changing social, political and economic conditions and processes of the last two to three decades. 'Indigenous' beliefs, traditions and rituals are being retrieved, reconstructed and co-opted as sources for constructing 'authentic' indigenous identities.

The neo-Pagan community in Malta differs from those revival or reconstructionist Paganisms where Paganism is informed by neo-nationalist impulses or becomes a nexus for asserting identities grounded in the indigenous, local and traditional in the face of globalising, pan-European or other hegemonic processes. Nor is it engaged in a critique of the dominant Christian (Catholic) religiosity of the society in which it is embedded. Indeed, many Maltese Wiccans and Pagans see themselves as at least culturally Catholic while spiritually Pagan. Maltese Pagans integrate local cultural and religious heritages with numerous sources from abroad. Claiming it is impossible to know much about the pre-Christian religion(s) of their islands, and pointing out that in any case there was a series of religions over the five millennia of pre-Christian settlement, some Maltese Pagans have recently begun to consciously 'create' an indigenous religion, blending local cultural and environmental knowledge with elements from antiquity. They have 'invented' a Goddess and God representing the female (earth) and male (sea) divinities of Malta, simultaneously embracing all the pantheons once present in Malta and providing a correspondence with the Wiccan Lord and Lady. This paper explores this 'invention' process drawing on several periods of anthropological fieldwork with Maltese Pagans since 2005.