Paper short abstract:

The paper explores the approach of the contemporary Czech pagans towards the so-called sacred nudity. It presents qualitative analysis of the phenomenon of pagan naturism through deep interviews with practitioners and opponents of the practice of ritual nudity.

Paper long abstract:

A quite large community of neopagans is very active in the Czech Republic. The ritual nudity was traditionally practiced by Wiccans, but in some cases also by priests and priestesses of other contemporary pagan paths. Actually the phenomenon seems to assume new and enlarged forms, thanks to the use of the social networks like youtube, facebook or rajce.net, a Czech platform for sharing photos. This paper will present a short introduction to the so-called sacred nudity and it will trace a map of the use of the social networks for spreading the idea of naturism. The central parts of the study are the narratives of the interviewees, the reason for their choices and the way how they see the relationship between spirituality and nudism. Using the emic approach, the aim of the paper is to show an insider view of the ways in which Czech contemporary pagans relate themselves to the so-called pagan naturism and sacred nudity.