Paper short abstract:

The paper presents an analysis of the geopolitical imagery of Lithuanian contemporary Pagans and its relation to the national and international context of the past decade.

Paper long abstract:

Romuva, the most visible contemporary Pagan community of Lithuania, describes itself as an Ancient Baltic religion, supports the unity of the Baltic peoples, and keeps close connections with Latvian counterparts. In 2021 both communities signed a statement on the Sacred land of the Balts. Based on the idea developed by Romuvian priest Jonas Vaiškūnas, the statement claims the two religious communities are legitimate inheritors of the Sacred land of the Baltic tribes and requires nations currently living in the historical Baltic lands covering Belorussia, parts of Russia, Ukraine and Poland to respect the Baltic material and spiritual heritage in their territories.

The paper explores the role of the concept of the ‘Balts’, the relationships with Latvian Pagans and the development of geopolitical imagery of Romuva, and its relation to the current national and international context. As their counterparts in other Eastern and Central Eastern countries, Lithuanian contemporary Pagans have always been mostly a right-wing nationalistic religious community, and Romuva has described itself as a Baltic religion at least since its official registration in 1992. However, the idea of the Sacred land of the Balts points to some shifts in the Romuvian geopolitical imagery that reflects recent processes in Eastern Europe of the past decade.