Misplaced Pages

#29970

169-534: Albanian paganism comprises the pagan customs , beliefs , rituals , myths and legends of the Albanian people . The elements of Albanian mythology are of ancient Paleo-Balkanic origin and almost all of them are pagan. Ancient paganism persisted among Albanians, and especially within the inaccessible and deep interior – where Albanian folklore evolved over the centuries in a relatively isolated tribal culture and society – it has continued to persist, or at most it

338-621: A Sun cult and the persistence of Sun motifs into the Roman period and later are considered to have been the product of the Illyrian culture. In Christian iconography the symbol of the Sun is associated with immortality and a right to rule. The pagan cult of the Sun was almost identical to the Christian cult in the first centuries of Christianity. Varieties of the symbols of the Sun that Christian orders brought in

507-475: A fis . The Malësors lived in three geographical regions within northern Albania. Malësia e Madhe (great highlands) contained five large tribes, four of which ( Hoti , Kelmendi , Shkreli , Kastrati ) having a Catholic majority and Muslim minority and with Gruda evenly split between both religions. Within Malësia e Madhe there were seven small additional tribes. During times of war and mobilisation of troops,

676-520: A borrowing of Greek ἔθνος ( ethnos ) via Armenian hethanos . The term has recently been revived in the forms "Heathenry" and "Heathenism" (often but not always capitalized), as alternative names for the modern Germanic pagan movement, adherents of which may self-identify as Heathens. It is perhaps misleading even to say that there was such a religion as paganism at the beginning of [the Common Era] ... It might be less confusing to say that

845-868: A bright future play a central role in Albanian tales. Albanian traditions have been handed down orally across generations . They have been preserved through traditional memory systems that have survived intact into modern times in Albania, a phenomenon that is explained by the lack of state formation among Albanians and their ancestors – the Illyrians , being able to preserve their "tribally" organized society . This distinguished them from civilizations such as Ancient Egypt , Minoans and Mycenaeans , who underwent state formation and disrupted their traditional memory practices. Albanian traditional practices, beliefs, myths and legends have been sporadically described in written sources since

1014-400: A century. During that time the tribal system was almost eradicated by the communists. After the collapse of communism in the early 1990s, northern Albania underwent demographic changes in tribal areas, sometimes becoming depopulated. Much of the population seeking a better life, moved either abroad or to Albanian cities such as Tiranë, Durrës or Shkodër; populations historically stemming from

1183-502: A class of subordinate gods/ daimons —see henotheism —or divine emanations . To Christians, the most important distinction was whether or not someone worshipped the one true God . Those who did not (polytheist, monotheist, or atheist ) were outsiders to the Church and thus considered pagan. Similarly, classical pagans would have found it peculiar to distinguish groups by the number of deities followers venerate. They would have considered

1352-595: A common ancestor, while the tribe, fara or gjeri , is much smaller than a northern Albanian fis . The members of a fara have a common ancestor who is the eponymos founder of the village. The political organization is communal; every neighbourhood sends a representing elder ( plak ) to the governing council of the village ( pleqësi ), who elect the head of the village ( kryeplak ). The Albanian term farë ( definite form : fara ) means "seed" and "progeny". In northern Albania it had no legal use, whereas in southern Albania, fara

1521-503: A creed outworn; So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn. In Italy, with the fall of the Papal States the process of Italian unification fostered anti-clerical sentiment among the intelligentsia. Intellectuals like archaeologist Giacomo Boni and writer Roggero Musmeci Ferrari Bravo promoted

1690-612: A cultural and scholarly center, with the establishment of the first Muslim university in 717 under Umar II , attracting scholars from across the Islamic world. Although Harran lost its capital status under the Abbasid Caliphate , it continued to flourish, particularly during the reign of Harun al-Rashid (786–809), when its university became a key center for translation and intellectual activity. The local religion, blending elements of Mesopotamian paganism and Neoplatonism, persisted into

1859-405: A cultural sense. It retained that meaning for roughly the first millennium of Christianity. This was influenced by Christianity's early members, who were Jewish . The Jews of the time distinguished themselves from foreigners according to religion rather than ethno - cultural standards, and early Jewish Christians would have done the same. Since Hellenic culture was the dominant pagan culture in

SECTION 10

#1732852583030

2028-452: A danger to the empire compared to previous uprisings. The Albanian revolt of 1911 was begun during March by Catholic Albanian tribesmen after they returned from exile in Montenegro. The Ottoman government sent 8,000 troops to quell the uprising and ordered that tribal chieftains stand trial for leading the rebellion. During the revolt, Terenzio Tocci , an Italo-Albanian lawyer gathered

2197-505: A different content depending on the region. No uniform or standard classification exists as societal structure showed variance even within the same general area. The term fis is the central concept of Albanian tribal structure. The fis is a community whose members are linked to each other as kin through the same patrilineal ancestry and live in the same territory. It has been translated in English as tribe or clan . Thus, fis refers both to

2366-500: A distinction in the region of possessing a legendary rock associated with Lekë Dukagjini . The Mirdita region was also a large powerful devoutly Catholic tribe with 2,500 households and five bajraktars that could mobilize 5,000 irregular troops. A general assembly of the Mirdita often met in Orosh to deliberate on important issues relating to the tribe. The position of hereditary prince of

2535-702: A fifteenth century warrior who fought the Ottomans. Disputes would be solved through tribal law within the framework of vendetta or blood feuding; the activity was widespread among the Malisors. In situations of murder, tribal law stipulated the principle of koka për kokë (a head for a head) where relatives of the victim are obliged to seek gjakmarrja (blood vengeance). Nineteen percent of male deaths in İşkodra vilayet and 600 fatalities per year in Western Kosovo were from murders caused by vendetta and blood feuding during

2704-681: A large extent, of native origin, which leads to the conclusion that the Christianisation of the Albanians occurred under the Latin-based liturgy and ecclesiastical order of the Holy See . Also according to Church documents, the territories that coincide with the present-day Albanian-speaking compact area had remained under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome and used Latin as official language at least until

2873-612: A largely pagan city well into the early Islamic period. When the city was besieged by the armies of the Rashidun Caliphate in 639–640, it was the pagan community that negotiated its peaceful surrender. Under the subsequent rule of the caliphates, Harran became a major settlement within the Diyar Mudar region and retained a significant degree of autonomy. During the First Fitna , the people of Harran sided with Mu'awiya I over Ali at

3042-539: A military context rather than a religious one is in Tertullian 's De Corona Militis XI.V, where the Christian is referred to as paganus ( civilian ): Paganus acquired its religious connotations by the mid-4th century. As early as the 5th century, paganos was metaphorically used to denote persons outside the bounds of the Christian community. Following the sack of Rome by the Visigoths just over fifteen years after

3211-419: A part of their own psychophysical and divine power, giving humans strength comparable to that of the drangue . The ora represent the "moment of the day" (Albanian: koha e ditës ) and the flowing of human destiny. As masters of time and place, they take care of humans (also of the zana and of some particular animals) watching over their life, their house and their hidden treasures before sealing their destiny. So,

3380-453: A part of them settled in new territory and formed a new fis that may or may not have held the same name as the parental group. The concept of farefisni refers to the bonds between all communities that stem from the same fis . Farë literally means seed . Among southern Albanians, it is sometimes used as a synonym for fis , which in turn is used in the meaning of fis i vogël . The term bajrak refers to an Ottoman military institution of

3549-435: A particular group of people or set of ideas other than their family and political context. If this is the right view of pagan life, it follows that we should look on paganism quite simply as a religion invented in the course of the second to third centuries AD, in competition and interaction with Christians, Jews and others. Defining paganism is very complex and problematic. Understanding the context of its associated terminology

SECTION 20

#1732852583030

3718-820: A rebellion in mid-April 1877 against government control and the Ottoman Empire sent troops to put it down. Montenegro attempted to gain support among the Malisors even though it lacked religious or ethnic links with the Albanian tribesmen. During the Eastern Crisis and subsequent border negotiations in April 1880, Italy suggested that the Ottoman Empire give Montenegro the Tuz district, containing mainly Catholic Gruda and Hoti populations, which would have split between them both countries. With Hoti this would have caused tensions and instability because of their traditionally having precedence over

3887-402: A sacred – although secular – longstanding, unwavering and unchallenged authority with a cross-religious effectiveness over the Albanians, which is attributed to an earlier pagan code common to all the Albanian tribes . Historically, the Christian clergy has vigorously fought, but without success, the pagan rituals practiced by Albanians for traditional feasts and particular events, especially

4056-477: A subject in their own right." In addition, Petts notes how various spiritual, religious, and metaphysical ideas branded as "pagan" from diverse cultures were studied in opposition to Abrahamism in early anthropology, a binary he links to ethnocentrism and colonialism. Ludwig Feuerbach defined the paganism of classical antiquity , which he termed Heidentum ('heathenry') as "the unity of religion and politics, of spirit and nature, of god and man", qualified by

4225-481: A theological aspect to an ethnological one, and religions began to be understood as part of the ethnic identities of peoples, and the study of the religions of so-called primitive peoples triggered questions as to the ultimate historical origin of religion . Jean Bodin viewed pagan mythology as a distorted version of Christian truths. Nicolas Fabri de Peiresc saw the pagan religions of Africa of his day as relics that were in principle capable of shedding light on

4394-511: A threat to their tribal way of living and left it to their bajraktars to deal with the Ottoman political system. Officials of the Late Ottoman period noted that Malisors preferred that their children learn the use of a weapon and refused to send them to government schools that taught Turkish, which was viewed as a form of state control. Most Albanian Malisors were illiterate. In southern Albania,

4563-512: A tradition shared with early Greece , classical India , early medieval England , medieval Germany and South Slavs. Albanian folk beliefs and mythology also retained the typical Indo-European tradition of the deities located on the highest and most inaccessible mountains ( Mount Tomor ). Albanian paganism retained the Indo-European sky , lightning and weather deities ( Zojz , Shurdh , Verbt ), Sun and Moon deities ( Dielli and Hëna ),

4732-530: A tribal system among southern Albanians, which was regulated by the Code of Zuli ( Kanuni i Papa Zhulit/Zulit or Kanuni i Idriz Sulit ). In Kurvelesh the names of the villages were built as collective pluralia to designate the tribal settlements. For instance, Lazarat is a toponym that refers to the 'descendants of Lazar'. The northern Albanian tribes are fiercely proud of the fact that they have never been completely conquered by external powers, in particular by

4901-423: A vehicle for the expression of Crypto-Christian , Christian and pre-Christian pagan beliefs and rituals. Bektashism is a Muslim dervish order ( tariqat ) thought to have originated in the 13th century in a frontier region of Anatolia , where Christianity, Islam and paganism coexisted, allowing the incorporation of comparable pagan and non-Muslim beliefs into popular Islam. It facilitated the conversion process to

5070-518: Is metamorphosis : men morph into deer , wolves , and owls , while women morph into stoats , cuckoos , and turtles. Resulted from the Albanian tribal culture and folklore and permeated by Albanian pagan beliefs and ancient mythology, the Kângë Kreshnikësh ("Songs of Heroes") constitute the most important legendary cycle of the Albanian epic poetry , based on the hero cult. Hero's bravery and self-sacrifice, as well as love of life and hope for

5239-477: Is believed to give energy and health to the body. The Moon is worshiped as a goddess, with her cyclical phases regulating many aspects of Albanian life, defining agricultural and livestock activities, various crafts, and human body. The morning and evening star Venus is personified with Prende , associated with dawn, beauty, love, fertility, health, and the protection of women. The cult of the Earth ( Dheu ) and that of

Albanian paganism - Misplaced Pages Continue

5408-612: Is considered to be one of the sources from which Albanian mythology and folklore evolved, reflecting a number of parallels with Ancient Greek and Roman mythologies. Albanian legend also shows similarities with neighbouring Indo-European traditions, such as the oral epics with the South Slavs and the folk tales of the Greeks . Albanian mythology inherited the Indo-European narrative epic genre about past warriors ( Kângë Kreshnikësh ),

5577-419: Is crucial to stress right from the start that until the 20th century, people did not call themselves pagans to describe the religion they practised. The notion of paganism, as it is generally understood today, was created by the early Christian Church. It was a label that Christians applied to others, one of the antitheses that were central to the process of Christian self-definition. As such, throughout history it

5746-436: Is debated. In the 19th century, paganism was adopted as a self-descriptor by members of various artistic groups inspired by the ancient world . In the 20th century, it came to be applied as a self-descriptor by practitioners of modern paganism , modern pagan movements and Polytheistic reconstructionists . Modern pagan traditions often incorporate beliefs or practices, such as nature worship , that are different from those of

5915-452: Is important. Early Christians referred to the diverse array of cults around them as a single group for reasons of convenience and rhetoric . While paganism generally implies polytheism , the primary distinction between classical pagans and Christians was not one of monotheism versus polytheism, as not all pagans were strictly polytheist. Throughout history, many of them believed in a supreme deity . However, most such pagans believed in

6084-399: Is invoked in Albanian solemn oaths ( be ), and information about everything that happens on Earth is asked to the all-seeing Sun in ritual songs. The Fire – Zjarri – is deified as releaser of light and heat with the power to ward off darkness and evil , affect cosmic phenomena and give strength to the Sun, and as sustainer of the continuity between life and afterlife and between

6253-496: Is related to pangere ('to fasten', 'to fix or affix') and ultimately comes from Proto-Indo-European *pag- ('to fix' in the same sense): The adoption of paganus by the Latin Christians as an all-embracing, pejorative term for polytheists represents an unforeseen and singularly long-lasting victory, within a religious group, of a word of Latin slang originally devoid of religious meaning. The evolution occurred only in

6422-414: Is so closely related to "old age", that "to arbitrate" ( me pleknue ) and ( plekní ) means both "seniority" and "arbitration". The fis is divided into a group of several closely related houses ( mehala ) and a main house ( shpi ). The head of mehala is the krye (lit. "head", pl. krenë or krenët ), while the head of the house is the zoti i shpis ("the lord of

6591-494: Is the animal totem of all Albanians, associated with the Sky, freedom and heroism. A widespread folk symbol is the serpent ( Gjarpër, Vitore, etc. ), a totem of the Albanians associated with earth , water , sun , hearth and ancestor cults, as well as destiny , good fortune and fertility . The sun, the moon, the star, the eagle (bird), the serpent, and the bee, often appear in Albanian legends and folk art. In Albanian mythology,

6760-553: Is the context in which Early Christianity itself developed as one of several monotheistic cults, and it was in this period that the concept of pagan developed in the first place. As Christianity emerged from Second Temple Judaism and Hellenistic Judaism , it stood in competition with other religions advocating pagan monotheism, including the cults of Dionysus , Neoplatonism , Mithraism , Gnosticism , and Manichaeanism . Dionysus in particular exhibits significant parallels with Christ, so that numerous scholars have concluded that

6929-458: The krenë (chieftains) of the vëllazni , respectively. Unlike the northern Albanian tribes, the lineage groups of southern Albanians did not inhabit a closed region, but constituted ethnographic islands located on mountains surrounded by a farming environment. One of the centres of these lineage societies was based in Labëria in the central mountains of southern Albania. A second centre

Albanian paganism - Misplaced Pages Continue

7098-490: The Kângë Kreshnikësh . Nevertheless, the Albanian belief system has preserved also the importance of the cult of the earth, Dheu . The Albanian sky and lightning god, Zojz , is considered to have been worshiped by Illyrians in ancient times. Albanian Zojz is the clear equivalent and cognate of Messapic Zis and Ancient Greek Zeus , the continuations of the Proto-Indo-European *Di̯ḗu̯s 'sky god'. In

7267-749: The Arbëreshë in Italy and the Arvanites in Greece , and the Arbanasi in Croatia . Either in pagan - polytheistic or monotheistic contexts, the supreme entity in Albanian is referred to as Zojz(-i) /Zot(-i) , Perëndi (-a) , or Hy(-u)/Hyj(-i) , always associated with the sky and light . In Albanian the god who rules the sky is referred to as i Bukuri i Qiellit ("the Beauty of

7436-403: The Arbëreshë in Italy and the Arvanites in Greece , and the Arbanasi in Croatia . The old beliefs in sun and moon , light and darkness , sky and earth , fire and hearth , water and springs , death and rebirth , birds and serpents , mountains , stones and caves , sacrifice , and fate are some of the pagan beliefs among Albanians. The Fire ( Zjarri ) rituals and

7605-570: The Battle of Siffin in 657, which allegedly resulted in a brutal retaliation by Ali, who massacred much of the population. Under the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), Harran prospered and was selected as the capital by the last Umayyad caliph, Marwan II , from 744 to 750. This move may have been influenced by the city's pagan sympathies and its strategic position near the empire's eastern provinces. The city's prominence under Umayyad rule saw it grow as

7774-559: The Christian persecution of paganism under Theodosius I , murmurs began to spread that the old gods had taken greater care of the city than the Christian God. In response, Augustine of Hippo wrote De Civitate Dei Contra Paganos ('The City of God against the Pagans'). In it, he contrasted the fallen "city of Man" with the "city of God", of which all Christians were ultimately citizens. Hence,

7943-545: The French Revolution and saw it as a path to restoring an ancient republic. He took the name Quintus Nautius, claimed Roman priestly lineage, and performed Orphic rites at his home. His followers were mainly his household. In 1799, he published La Thréicie , advocating a revival of paganism in France, condemning Christianity, and promoting universal animation . In the 17th century, the description of paganism turned from

8112-652: The Gheg – Tosk dialectal diversification. Regardless of the Christianization, ancient paganism persisted among Albanians , and especially within the inaccessible and deep interior – where Albanian folklore evolved over the centuries in a relatively isolated tribal culture and society – it has continued to persist, or at most it was partially transformed by the Christian, and later Muslim and Marxist beliefs, that were either to be introduced by choice or imposed by force. The Albanian traditional customary law ( Kanun ) has held

8281-826: The Mani Peninsula —where paganism had endured until the 12th century) encouraged the Medici, descendants of the Maniot Latriani dynasty, to found the Neoplatonic Academy in Florence , helping to spark the Renaissance . In addition Julius Pomponius Laetus (student of Pletho) established the Roman academy which secretly celebrated the Natale di Roma and the birthday of Romulus . The Academy

8450-476: The Ottoman Empire . This fact is considered as orthodox on a heritage and historical level by the tribes. In the 18th century the Ottomans instituted the system of bajrak military organization in northern Albania and Kosovo. From the Ottoman perspective, the institution of the bajrak had multiple benefits. Although it recognized a semi-autonomous status in communities like Hoti, it could also be used to stabilize

8619-544: The Roman Empire who practiced polytheism , or ethnic religions other than Judaism. In the time of the Roman Empire, individuals fell into the pagan class either because they were increasingly rural and provincial relative to the Christian population, or because they were not milites Christi (soldiers of Christ). Alternative terms used in Christian texts were hellene , gentile , and heathen . Ritual sacrifice

SECTION 50

#1732852583030

8788-533: The classical world ; including those of the Greco-Roman, Celtic, Germanic, and Slavic tribes. However, modern parlance of folklorists and contemporary pagans in particular has extended the original four millennia scope used by early Christians to include similar religious traditions stretching far into prehistory . Paganism came to be equated by Christians with a sense of hedonism, representing those who are sensual, materialistic, self-indulgent, unconcerned with

8957-553: The dawn goddess ( Prende/Afërdita ), fire rituals and deities and the hearth cult ( Enji/Zjarri , Nëna e Vatrës , Vatër ), the Fates and Destiny goddesses ( Zana , Ora , Fatí , Mira ), aspects of the earth worship ( Dhé ) and of the Divine twins ( Muji and Halili ), as well as the "serpent-slaying" and "fire in water" myths ( Drangue and Kulshedra ), the "Daughter of the Sun and Moon" legend ( E Bija e Hënës dhe e Diellit ), and

9126-412: The generations . The primeval religiosity of the Albanian mountains is expressed by a supreme deity who is the god of the universe and who is conceived through the belief in the fantastic and supernatural entities, resulting in an extremely structured imaginative creation. The components of Nature are animated and personified deities , so in Albanian folk beliefs and mythology the Sky ( Qielli ) with

9295-555: The 10th century, though periodic decrees enforced conversions to Islam, especially under Al-Ma'mun in 830. Nonetheless, Harran retained its heterogeneity, with a population that included Muslims, Christians, Jews, and a variety of other religious groups. The medieval church accused sects deemed heretical such as the Waldensians and Cathars of participating in pagan fertility rites. Arab paganism gradually disappeared during Muhammad 's era through Islamization . The sacred months of

9464-663: The 15th century CE, but the systematic collection of Albanian customs and folklore material began only in the 19th century. Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Pontic Steppe Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe South Asia Steppe Europe Caucasus India Indo-Aryans Iranians East Asia Europe East Asia Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Others European The elements of Albanian mythology are of Paleo-Balkanic origin and almost all of them are pagan . Ancient Illyrian religion

9633-431: The 17th century. In international bibliography of the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was often mistakenly equated with the fis as both would sometimes cover the same geographical area. The result of this mistake was the portrayal of bajrak administrative divisions and other regions as fis in early anthropological accounts of Albania, although there were bajraks in which only a small part or none at all constituted

9802-590: The 9th century, despite some church ruins from the 4th century indicating early Christian presence. The region's mountainous terrain allowed the Maniots to evade the Eastern Roman Empire's Christianization efforts, thus preserving pagan traditions, which coincided with significant years in the life of Gemistos Plethon . Another safe area for the pagans was the city of Harran which, Despite the persecution of its pagan inhabitants by Byzantine Emperor Maurice, remained

9971-473: The Albanian lamentation of the dead— gjâmë —appear on Dardanian funerary stelae of classical antiquity . In the context of religious perceptions, historical sources confirm the relations between the Greco-Roman religious ethics and the Albanian customary laws . These relations can be seen during the rule of the Illyrian emperors , such as Aurelian who introduced the cult of the Sun ; Diocletian who stabilized

10140-620: The Albanians are firstly mentioned as worshippers of the Sun and the Moon . British poet Lord Byron (1788–1824), describing the Albanian religious belief, reported that "The Greeks hardly regard them as Christians, or the Turks as Muslims; and in fact they are a mixture of both, and sometimes neither." In Ottoman times education in the Albanian language was forbidden. The folk storytellers have played an important role in preserving Albanian folklore. The lack of schools

10309-570: The Arab pagans were the 1st, 7th, 11th, and 12th months of the Islamic calendar. After Muhammad had conquered Mecca he set out to convert the pagans. One of the last military campaigns that Muhammad ordered against the Arab pagans was the Demolition of Dhul Khalasa . It occurred in April and May 632 AD, in 10AH of the Islamic Calendar. Dhul Khalasa is referred to as both an idol and a temple, and it

SECTION 60

#1732852583030

10478-769: The Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian . In 726 Leo III established de jure the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople over the Balkans, as the Church and the State established an institution. The Eastern Church expanded its influence in the area along with the social and political developments. Between the 7th and 12th centuries a powerful network of cult institutions were revived completely covering

10647-522: The Church as a cult institution in the region took a considerable amount of time. The Balkans were brought back into the Christian orbit only after the recovery of the Byzantine Empire and through the activity of Byzantine missionaries. The earliest church vocabulary of Middle Greek origin in Albanian dates to the 8th–9th centuries, at the time of the Byzantine Iconoclasm , which was started by

10816-473: The Genoese Il Basilisco (1979–1989), which released several works on pagan studies, and Politica Romana (1994–2004), seen as a high-level Romano-pagan journal. One prominent figure was actor Roberto Corbiletto , who died in a mysterious fire in 1999.The 1980s and 1990s also saw an increasing interest in serious academic research and reconstructionist pagan traditions. The establishment and growth of

10985-674: The Gjakovë highlands contained eight tribes that were mainly Muslim; in the Luma area near Prizren there were five tribes, mostly Muslim. Other important tribal groupings further south include the highlanders of the Dibra region known as the "Tigers of Dibra". Among the many religiously mixed Catholic-Muslim tribes and one Muslim-Orthodox clan, Ottoman officials noted that tribal loyalties superseded religious affiliations. In Catholic households there were instances of Christians who possessed four wives, marrying

11154-450: The Hoti, Gruda, Shkreli, Kelmendi and Kastrati tribes. In later negotiations with the Ottomans, an amnesty was granted to the tribesmen with promises by the government to: build roads and schools in tribal areas, pay wages of teachers, limit military service to the Istanbul and Shkodër areas, grant the right to carry weapons in the countryside but not in urban areas, appoint bajraktar relatives to certain administrative positions and compensate

11323-445: The Indo-European sky and lighning deity have been preserved by Albanians until the 20th century, and in some forms still continue today. Early evidence of the celestial cult in Illyria is provided by 6th century BCE plaques from Lake Shkodra , which belonged to the Illyrian tribal area of what was referred in historical sources to as the Labeatae in later times. Each of those plaques portray simultaneously sacred representations of

11492-462: The Internet in the 1990s brought rapid growth to these, and other pagan movements. By the time of the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1991, freedom of religion was legally established across Russia and a number of other newly independent states, allowing for the growth in both Christian and non-Christian religions. In the 2000s, Associazione Tradizionale Pietas began reconstructing temples across Italy and sought legal recognition from

11661-493: The Kanun contains several customary concepts that clearly have their origins in pagan beliefs, including in particular the ancestor worship , animism and totemism , which have been preserved since pre-Christian times. Albanian traditions have been orally transmitted – through memory systems that have survived intact into modern times – down the generations and are still very much alive in the mountainous regions of Albania , Kosovo and western North Macedonia , as well as among

11830-552: The Latin west, and in connection with the Latin church. Elsewhere, Hellene or gentile ( ethnikos ) remained the word for pagan; and paganos continued as a purely secular term, with overtones of the inferior and the commonplace. Medieval writers often assumed that paganus as a religious term was a result of the conversion patterns during the Christianization of Europe , where people in towns and cities were converted more easily than those in remote regions, where old ways tended to remain. However, this idea has multiple problems. First,

11999-470: The Latin-speaking Western Roman Empire of the newly Christianizing Roman Empire , Koine Greek became associated with the traditional polytheistic religion of Ancient Greece and was regarded as a foreign language ( lingua peregrina ) in the west. By the latter half of the 4th century in the Greek-speaking Eastern Empire , pagans were—paradoxically—most commonly called Hellenes ( Ἕλληνες , lit. "Greeks") The word had almost entirely ceased being used in

12168-508: The Malisors returning from Montenegro with money and food. The final agreement was signed in Podgorica by both the Ottomans and Malisors during August 1912. The highlanders had managed to thwart the centralist tendencies of the Young Turk government. The last tribal system of Europe in northern Albania stayed intact until 1944 when Albanian communists seized power, ruling the country for half

12337-630: The Mirditë chieftains on 26/27 April 1911 in Orosh and proclaimed the independence of Albania, raised the flag of Albania and declared a provisional government. After Ottoman troops entered the area to put down the rebellion, Tocci fled the empire abandoning his activities. On 23 June 1911 Albanian Malisors and other revolutionaries gathered in Montenegro and drafted the Greçë Memorandum demanding Albanian sociopolitical and linguistic rights with signatories from

12506-671: The Moon and Starhawk 's The Spiral Dance opened a new chapter in public awareness of paganism. With the growth and spread of large, pagan gatherings and festivals in the 1980s, public varieties of Wicca continued to further diversify into additional, eclectic sub-denominations, often heavily influenced by the New Age and counter-culture movements. These open, unstructured or loosely structured traditions contrast with British Traditional Wicca , which emphasizes secrecy and initiatory lineage. The public appeal for pre-Christian Roman spirituality in

12675-436: The Ottoman conquest of Albania and the Balkans in the late 15th century and was followed by a process of strengthening of the tribe ( fis ) as a means of organization against Ottoman centralization particularly in the mountains of northern Albania and adjacent areas of Montenegro . It also remained in a less developed system in southern Albania where large feudal estates and later trade and urban centres began to develop at

12844-453: The Ottoman state. Through a series of conflicts and renegotiation a state of balance was found between Ottoman centralization and tribal autonomy. Hence, the Ottoman era is marked by both continual conflict and the formalization of socio-economic status within Ottoman administration. Members of the tribes of northern Albania believe that their history is based on the notions of resistance and isolationism. Some scholars connect this belief with

13013-636: The Roman east, they referred to pagans as Hellenes. Christianity inherited Jewish terminology for non-Jews and adapted it to refer to non-Christians with whom they were in contact. This usage is recorded in the New Testament . In the Pauline epistles , Hellene is almost always juxtaposed with Hebrew regardless of actual ethnicity The usage of Hellene as a religious term was initially part of an exclusively Christian nomenclature, but some Pagans began to defiantly call themselves Hellenes. Other pagans even preferred

13182-406: The Sky ( Qielli ) have a special place. The Fire – Zjarri, evidently also called with the theonym Enji – is deified in Albanian tradition as releaser of light and heat with the power to ward off darkness and evil , affect cosmic phenomena and give strength to the Sun, and as sustainer of the continuity between life and afterlife and between the generations , ensuring the survival of

13351-592: The Sky"), a phrase that is used in pagan contexts for the Sun ( Dielli ), worshiped as the god of light , sky and weather , giver of life, health and energy, and all-seeing eye. As the wide set of cultic traditions dedicated to him indicates, the Albanian Sun-god appears to be an expression of the Proto-Indo-European Sky-god ( Zot or Zojz in Albanian). The Sun, referred to as "the all-seeing (big) eye"

13520-409: The Sun ( Dielli ) and Moon ( Hëna ) worship are the earliest attested cults of the Albanians. The Sun holds the primary role in Albanian pagan customs, beliefs, rituals, myths, and legends; Albanian major traditional festivities and calendar rites are based on the Sun, worshiped as the god of light , sky and weather , giver of life, health and energy, and all-seeing eye; the sunrise is honored as it

13689-676: The Young Turk Revolution and subsequent restoration of the Ottoman constitution , the Hoti, Shala, Shoshi, and Kastati tribes made a besa (pledge) to support it and stop blood feuding with other tribes until November 6, 1908. However, Albanian tribes that showed enthusiasm had little knowledge of what the constitution would do for them. During the Albanian revolt of 1910, Malisors such as the Shala tribe fought against Ottoman troops that were sent to quell

13858-480: The animated components of Nature. The supreme god allows the existence of terrestrial female deities with their intervention in earthly events and interaction with humans. Hence the Albanian belief in zanas and oras (also fati or mira ), who symbolize the vital energy and existential time of human beings respectively. The zana idealizes feminine energy, wild beauty, eternal youth and the joy of nature. They appear as warlike nymphs capable of offering simple mortals

14027-412: The area of Gegënia an importance within the empire that differed from Toskëria. Still many Ottoman officers thought that Ghegs, in particular the highlanders, were a liability instead of an asset. They were commonly referred to as a "wild" ( Turkish : vahşi ) and backward people living poverty and ignorance for 500 years, and hostile to civilisation and progress. In areas of Albania were Malisors lived,

14196-507: The arrival of the Slavs. Between the early 7th century and the late 9th century the interior areas of the Balkans were deprived of church administration, and Christianity might have survived only as a popular tradition on a reduced degree. Some Albanians living in the mountains, who were only partially affected by Romanization, probably sank back into the Classic Paganism. The reorganization of

14365-480: The bajraktar (chieftain) of Hoti was recognised by the Ottoman government as leader of all forces of the Malësia e Madhe tribes, having collectively some 6,200 rifles. Malësia e Vogël (small highlands) contained seven Catholic tribes such as the Shala with four bajaraktars, Shoshi , Toplana , and Nikaj containing some 1,250 households with a collective strength of 2,500 men that could be mobilised for war. Shoshi had

14534-411: The beginning of the 19th century). Pouqueville in particular reported that each village (Alb. katun ) and each town was some kind of autonomous republic composed of farë brotherhoods. In other accounts he mentioned the 'great farë ' tribes, each having their polemarchs . These chiefs had boluk-bashis (platoon commanders), analogus to the northern fis , the bajraktarë and

14703-450: The belief systems of Pre-Indo-European populations—who favored 'Mother Earth Cults' comprising earthly beliefs, female deities and priesthood—and of Indo-European populations who favored 'Father Heaven Cults' comprising celestial beliefs, male deities and priesthood, might be reflected in the dichotomy of matriarchy and patriarchy that emerges from the two types of female warriors/active characters in Albanian epic poetry , in particular in

14872-431: The borderlands; in their new capacity, these communities would defend the borders of the empire as their own territory. Furthermore, in times of rebellion the Ottomans could use the office of head bajraktar to divide and conquer the tribes by handing out privileges to a select few. On the other hand, autonomy of the borderlands was a source of conflict as the tribes tried to increase their autonomy and minimize involvement of

15041-495: The clouds and lightning, the Sun ( Dielli ), the Moon ( Hëna ), and the stars (including Afërdita ), the Fire ( Zjarri ) and the hearth ( vatra ), the Earth ( Dheu/Toka ) with the mountains, stones, caves, and water springs, etc., are cult objects, considered to be participants in the world of humans influencing the events in their life, and afterlife as well. Solemn oaths ( Besa ) and curse formulas involve and are addressed to, or taken by,

15210-425: The concept of "negotiated peripherality"; throughout history the territory that northern Albanian tribes occupy has been contested and is peripheral. Northern Albanian tribes often exploited their position and negotiated their peripherality in profitable ways, which also affected their national program; its significance and challenges are different from those in southern Albania. Such peripheral territories are zones of

15379-545: The context of the 1848 revolutions , leading to the creation of national epics and national myths for the various newly formed states. Pagan or folkloric topics were also common in the musical nationalism of the period. Paganism resurfaces as a topic of fascination in 18th to 19th-century Romanticism , in particular in the context of the literary Celtic , Slavic and Viking revivals, which portrayed historical Celtic , Slavic and Germanic polytheists as noble savages . Great God! I'd rather be A Pagan suckled in

15548-499: The cult of fertility in agriculture and animal husbandry . Ritual calendar fires are associated with the cosmic cycle and the rhythms of agricultural and pastoral life. Besa is a common practice in Albanian culture, consisting of an oath ( be ) solemnly taken by sun, by moon, by sky, by earth, by fire, by stone and thunderstone , by mountain, by water, and by snake, which are all considered sacred objects . Associated with human life, bees are highly revered by Albanians. The eagle

15717-451: The death penalty. Ali Pasha also reached an agreement with the Kurveleshi population not to trespass their territories, which at that time were larger than the area they inhabit today. Continualy since the 18th century, blood feuds and their consequences in Labëria have been limited principally by the councils of elders. The mountain region of Kurveleshi represents the last example of

15886-569: The descendants no longer consider themselves Albanian (i.e. Kuči, Mahine etc.). Malësia e Madhe , in the Northern Albanian Alps between Albania and Montenegro, historically has been the land of ten bigger and three smaller tribal regions. Two of them, Suma and Tuzi, came together to form Gruda in the 15th to 16th century. The people of this area are commonly called "highlanders" ( Albanian : malësorë ). The Dukagjin Highlands includes

16055-494: The dynamic creation of culture, where it is possible to manipulate regional and national histories to the advantage of certain individuals and groups. Malisor society used tribal law and participated in the custom of bloodfeuding. Ottoman control mainly existed in the few urban centres and valleys of northern Albania but was minimal or almost non-existent in the mountains, where Malisors lived an autonomous existence according to kanun (tribal law) of Lek Dukagjini. Western Kosovo

16224-582: The ecclesiastical administration of the entire present-day Albanian-speaking compact area. In particular an important role was played by the Theme of Dyrrhachium and the Archdiocese of Ohrid . Survived through the centuries, the Christian belief among Albanians became an important cultural element in their ethnic identity. Indeed, the lack of Old Church Slavonic terms in Albanian Christian terminology shows that

16393-488: The emperor. The growing religious stigmatization of Hellenism had a chilling effect on Hellenic culture by the late 4th century. By late antiquity, however, it was possible to speak Greek as a primary language while not conceiving of oneself as a Hellene. The long-established use of Greek both in and around the Eastern Roman Empire as a lingua franca ironically allowed it to instead become central in enabling

16562-732: The empire and ensured its continuation through the institution of the Tetrarchy ; Constantine the Great who issued the Edict of Toleration for the Christianized population and who summoned the First Council of Nicaea involving many clercs from Illyricum; Justinian who issued the Corpus Juris Civilis and sought to create an Illyrian Church, building Justiniana Prima and Justiniana Secunda , which

16731-640: The empire only posted Ottoman officers who had prior experience in other tribal regions of the state like Kurdistan or Yemen that could bridge cultural divides with Gheg tribesmen. Under Sultan Abdul Hamid II , Ottoman officials were posted to Albanian populated lands. Some Albanians strongly disproved of blood feuding, seeing it as inhumane and uncivilised, and an unnecessary waste of life that created social disruption, lawlessness and economic dislocation. To resolve this problem, Ottoman officials formed Blood Feud Reconciliation Commissions (musalaha-ı dem komisyonları) that produced results with limited success. In

16900-509: The exiled member of the tribe would be burned. Disarmament was regarded as the most embarrassing verdict. The Law of Lek Dukagjini (kanun) was named after a medieval prince Lekë Dukagjini from the fifteenth century who ruled in northern Albania and codified the customary laws of the highlands. Albanian tribes from the Dibra region governed themselves according to the Law of Skanderbeg (kanun), named after

17069-492: The expense of tribal organization. One of the most particular elements of the Albanian tribal structure is its dependence on the Kanun , a code of Albanian oral customary laws . Most tribes engaged in warfare against external forces like the Ottoman Empire. Some also engaged in limited inter-tribal struggle for the control of resources. Until the early years of the 20th century, Albanian tribal society remained largely intact until

17238-471: The fact that the Albanian traditional rites, customs, beliefs, mythology, etc. aligned Albanians – who have preserved a unique culture – with the major ancient groups of peoples. Albanian folklore evolved over the centuries in a relative isolated tribal culture and society , and although several changes occurred in the Albanian belief system, an ancient layer of pre-Christian beliefs has survived until today. Ancient paganism persisted among Albanians, and within

17407-628: The fairy tales of a country were particularly representative of it, to the neglect of cross-cultural influence. Among those influenced were the Russian Alexander Afanasyev , the Norwegians Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe , and the Englishman Joseph Jacobs . Romanticist interest in non-classical antiquity coincided with the rise of Romantic nationalism and the rise of the nation state in

17576-514: The fire rituals ( Zjarri ). Pagan Continuity in Mani and Mistra (800–1100) Christianity was introduced late in Mani, with the first Greek temples converted into churches during the 11th century. Byzantine monk Nikon "the Metanoite" (Νίκων ὁ Μετανοείτε) was sent in the 10th century to convert the predominantly pagan Maniots. Although his preaching began the conversion process, it took over 200 years for

17745-553: The first half of the 8th century. At the time of the South Slavic incursion and the threat of ethnic turbulence in the Albanian-inhabited regions, the Christianization of the Albanians had already been completed and it had apparently developed for Albanians as a further identity-forming feature alongside the ethnic-linguistic unity. Church administration, which was controlled by a thick network of Roman bishoprics, collapsed with

17914-419: The first spouse in a church and the other three in the presence of an imam, while among Muslim households the Islamic tradition of circumcision was ignored. Among Gheg Malësors of the highlands, the fis is headed by the oldest male ( kryeplak ) and forms the basic unit of tribal society. The governing councils consist of elders ( pleqt , singular: plak ). The idea of law administration

18083-499: The foreign invaders were "not of the city" or "rural". The term pagan was not attested in the English language until the 17th century. In addition to infidel and heretic , it was used as one of several pejorative Christian counterparts to goy ( גוי / נכרי ) as used in Judaism, and to kafir ( كافر , 'unbeliever') and mushrik ( مشرك , 'idolater') as in Islam. In

18252-465: The future, and uninterested in more mainstream religions. Pagans were usually described in terms of this worldly stereotype , especially among those drawing attention to what they perceived as the limitations of paganism. Thus G. K. Chesterton wrote: "The pagan set out, with admirable sense, to enjoy himself. By the end of his civilization he had discovered that a man cannot enjoy himself and continue to enjoy anything else." In sharp contrast, Swinburne

18421-444: The goddesses of fate "maintain the order of the universe and enforce its laws" – "organising the appearance of humankind." However great his power, the supreme god holds an executive role as he carries out what has been already ordained by the fate goddesses. Paganism Paganism (from classical Latin pāgānus "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in

18590-507: The guard of the gates of the Underworld (the three-headed dog who never sleeps). The absence of any single and specific theonymic root for the "earth" in the various branches of the Indo-European language family , might be due to the predominance held by earth mother goddess cults already extant and profoundly rooted among Pre-Indo-European -speaking peoples encountered by incoming Indo-European -speaking peoples. The confrontation between

18759-641: The historical paganism of Classical Antiquity. The 19th century also saw much scholarly interest in the reconstruction of pagan mythology from folklore or fairy tales. This was notably attempted by the Brothers Grimm , especially Jacob Grimm in his Teutonic Mythology , and Elias Lönnrot with the compilation of the Kalevala . The work of the Brothers Grimm influenced other collectors, both inspiring them to collect tales and leading them to similarly believe that

18928-450: The house"). A house may be composed of two or three other houses with property in common under one zot . A political and territorial unit consisting of several clans was the bajrak (standard or banner). The leader of a bajrak , whose position was hereditary, was referred to as bajraktar (standard bearer). Several bajraks composed a tribe, which was led by a man from a notable family, while major issues were decided by

19097-486: The inaccessible and deep interior it has continued to persist, or at most it was partially transformed by the Christian, Muslim and Marxist beliefs that were either to be introduced by choice or imposed by force. Albanian traditions have been orally transmitted – through memory systems that have survived intact into modern times – down the generations and are still very much alive in the mountainous regions of Albania , Kosovo and western North Macedonia , as well as among

19266-517: The kin community that live in its traditional territory, while fis i vogël refers to the immediate family members and their cousins ( kushëri ). In this sense, it is sometimes used synonymously with vëllazëri or vllazni in Geg Albanian. This term refers to all families that trace their origin to the same patrilineal ancestor. Related families ( familje ) are referred to as of one bark /pl. barqe (literally, belly ). As some tribes grew in number,

19435-457: The kinship ties that bind the community and the territorialization of that community in a region exclusively used in a communal manner by the members of the fis . In contrast, bashkësi (literally, association ) refers to a community of the same ancestry that has not been established territorially in a given area that is its traditional home region. It is further divided into fis i madh and fis i vogël . Fis i madh refers to all members of

19604-488: The largest world religions. Contemporary knowledge of old pagan religions and beliefs comes from several sources, including anthropological field research records, the evidence of archaeological artifacts , and the historical accounts of ancient writers regarding cultures known to Classical antiquity . Most modern pagan religions existing today express a worldview that is pantheistic , panentheistic , polytheistic, or animistic , but some are monotheistic . It

19773-561: The late Ottoman period, due to the influence of Catholic Franciscan priests, some reduction of blood feuding among Albanian highlanders was achieved. For instance, guilt was restricted to the offender or their household and one tribe accepted the razing of the offender's home as compensation for the offense. Ottoman officials viewed the violence committed by Malisors in the 1880s-1890s as a tribal problem not related to nationalism or religion. They also noted that Albanian tribesmen who identified with Islam did so in name only and lacked knowledge of

19942-509: The late Ottoman period. Besa is a word in the Albanian language meaning "pledge of honor", "to keep the promise". Besa is an important institution within the tribal society of the Albanian Malisors, and is one of the moral principles of the Kanun . Albanian tribes swore oaths to jointly fight against the government and in this respect the besa served to uphold tribal autonomy. The besa

20111-434: The lightning deity: a traditional practice during thunderstorms was to bring outdoors a lit fireplace ( vatër me zjarr ), in order to gain the favor of the deity so the thunders would not be harmful to the human community. Albanian folk beliefs regard the lightning as Zjarri i Qiellit ("the Fire of the Sky") and consider it as the " weapon of the deity". The earliest figurative representations that accurately mirror

20280-404: The lineage ( fis or farë ). To spit into Fire is taboo . The divine power of Fire is used for the hearth and the rituals , including calendar fires, sacrificial offerings , divination , purification , and protection from big storms and other potentially harmful events. Fire worship and rituals are associated with the cult of the Sun, the cult of the hearth ( vatër ) and the ancestor , and

20449-460: The majority to accept Christianity fully by the 11th and 12th centuries. Patrick Leigh Fermor noted that the Maniots, isolated by mountains, were among the last Greeks to abandon the old religion, doing so towards the end of the 9th century: Sealed off from outside influences by their mountains, the semi- troglodytic Maniots themselves were the last of the Greeks to be converted. They only abandoned

20618-520: The medieval tombstones ( stećci ) in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the burial monuments used until recently in northern Albania , Kosovo , Montenegro , southern Serbia and northern North Macedonia . Such motifs are particularly related to the ancient cults of the Sun and Moon, survived until recently among northern Albanians. Among the Illyrians of early Albania the Sun was a widespread symbol. The spread of

20787-548: The missionary activities during the Christianization of the Slavs did not involve Albanian-speakers. In a text compiled around the beginning of the 11th century in the Old Bulgarian language , the Albanians are mentioned for the first time with their old ethnonym Arbanasi as half-believers, a term which for Eastern Orthodox Christian Bulgarians meant Catholic Christian. The Great Schism of 1054 involved Albania separating

20956-709: The modern era has spread beyond Italy, with practitioners found in countries across Europe and the Americas. The most prominent international organization is Nova Roma , founded in 1998, with active groups worldwide. Albanian tribes Inherited from ancient Illyrian social structures, Albanian tribal society emerged in the early Middle Ages as the dominant form of social organization among Albanians. The development of feudalism came to both antagonize it, and slowly integrate aspects of it in Albanian feudal society, as most noble families themselves came from these tribes and depended on their support. This process stopped after

21125-469: The most famous representation of which is the constant battle between drangue and kulshedra , a conflict that symbolises the cyclic return in the watery and chthonian world of death, accomplishing the cosmic renewal of rebirth . The weavers of destiny , ora or fatí , control the order of the universe and enforce its laws. The zana are associated with wilderness and the vital energy of human beings. A very common motif in Albanian folk narrative

21294-430: The narrow meaning of the word from a broad cultural sphere to a more specific religious grouping. However, there were many Christians and pagans alike who strongly objected to the evolution of the terminology. The influential Archbishop of Constantinople Gregory of Nazianzus , for example, took offence at imperial efforts to suppress Hellenic culture (especially concerning spoken and written Greek) and he openly criticized

21463-752: The new Muslims and became the official order of the Janissaries . After the ban of all the Sufi orders in Turkey in 1925, the Bektashi Order established its headquarters in Tirana . Since its founding in 1912, Albania has been a secular state , becoming atheist during the Communist regime , and returning secular after the fall of the regime. For half a century the regime in Albania anathemized all beliefs, without taking into account

21632-467: The observation that man in the pagan view is always defined by ethnicity , i.e., As a result, every pagan tradition is also a national tradition. Modern historians define paganism instead as the aggregate of cult acts, set within a civic rather than a national context, without a written creed or sense of orthodoxy . The developments in the religious thought of the far-flung Roman Empire during Late Antiquity need to be addressed separately, because this

21801-550: The old religion of Greece towards the end of the ninth century. It is surprising to remember that this peninsula of rock, so near the heart of the Levant from which Christianity springs, should have been baptised three whole centuries after the arrival of St. Augustine in far-away Kent . According to Constantine VII in De Administrando Imperio , the Maniots were referred to as 'Hellenes' and only fully Christianized in

21970-402: The other four tribes during peace and war. The tribes affected by the negotiations swore a besa (pledge) to resist any reduction of their lands and sent telegrams to surrounding regions asking for military assistance. During the late Ottoman period Ghegs often lacked education and integration within the Ottoman system, even though they had autonomy and military capabilities. Those factors gave

22139-422: The pagans, before their competition with Christianity, had no religion at all in the sense in which that word is normally used today. They had no tradition of discourse about ritual or religious matters (apart from philosophical debate or antiquarian treatise), no organized system of beliefs to which they were asked to commit themselves, no authority-structure peculiar to the religious area, above all no commitment to

22308-663: The period of the Ottoman dominion. Afterwards, these lineage segments increasingly became the basic political, economic, religious, and predatory units of social organization. According to Pouqueville these forms of social organizations disappeared with the dominion of the Ottoman Albanian ruler Ali Pasha , and definitely ended in 1813. In the Pashalik of Yanina , in addition to the Sharia for Muslims and Canon for Christians, Ali Pasha enforced his own laws, allowing only in rare cases

22477-464: The physical phenomena , elements and objects are attributed to supernatural beings. The mythological and legendary figures are deities, demigods, humans, and monsters, as well as supernatural beings in the shapes of men, animals and plants. The deities are generally not persons, but animistic personifications of nature . Albanian beliefs, myths and legends are organized around the dualistic struggle between good and evil , light and darkness ,

22646-558: The poet would comment on this same theme: "Thou hast conquered, O pale Galilean; the world has grown grey from thy breath; We have drunken of things Lethean, and fed on the fullness of death." Recently, the ethnocentric and moral absolutist origins of the common usage of the term pagan have been proposed, with scholar David Petts noting how, with particular reference to Christianity, "...local religions are defined in opposition to privileged 'world religions'; they become everything that world religions are not, rather than being explored as

22815-545: The pre-Christian pagan period the term Zot from Proto-Albanian : *dźie̅u ̊ a(t)t- was presumably used in Albanian to refer to the sky father/god/lord , father-god, heavenly father (the Indo-European father daylight-sky-god ). After the first access of the ancestors of the Albanians to the Christian religion in antiquity the term Zot has been used for God , the Father and the Son ( Christ ). The worship and practices associated to

22984-493: The priestly colleges (such as the College of Pontiffs or Epulones ) and cult practices more meaningful distinctions. Referring to paganism as a pre-Christian indigenous religion is equally untenable. Not all historical pagan traditions were pre-Christian or indigenous to their places of worship. Owing to the history of its nomenclature, paganism traditionally encompasses the collective pre- and non-Christian cultures in and around

23153-568: The recasting of Jesus the wandering rabbi into the image of Christ the Logos , the divine saviour, reflects the cult of Dionysus directly. They point to the symbolism of wine and the importance it held in the mythology surrounding both Dionysus and Jesus Christ; Wick argues that the use of wine symbolism in the Gospel of John , including the story of the Marriage at Cana at which Jesus turns water into wine,

23322-401: The region between Catholic Christianity in the north and Orthodox Christianity in the south. Islam was first introduced to Albania in the 15th century after the Ottoman conquest of the area. In Ottoman times , often to escape higher taxes levied on Christian subjects, the majority of Albanians became Muslims. However one part retained Christian and pre-Christian beliefs. In the 16th century

23491-457: The region found in the Albanian highlands sympathetic supporters, enriching the body of their symbols with new material. The historical-linguistic determination of the Albanian Christian terminology provides evidence that Albanians have already joined the process of conversion to Christianity in the Balkans since the late antiquity (4th–5th centuries AD). The earliest church lexicon is mainly of Late Latin or Ecclesiastical Latin origin and, to

23660-583: The religion. In the aftermath of the Young Turk Revolution in 1908 the new Young Turk government established the Commissions for Reconciliation of Blood Feuds that focused on regions such as İpek (Pejë) and Prizren. The commissions sentenced Albanians who had participated in blood feud killing. The Council of Ministers allowed the Commission to continue their work in the provinces until May 1909. After

23829-716: The restoration of Roman religious practices. In 1927, philosopher and esotericist Julius Evola founded the Gruppo di Ur in Rome, along with its journal Ur (1927–1928), involving figures like Arturo Reghini . In 1928, Evola published Imperialismo Pagano , advocating Italian political paganism to oppose the Lateran Pacts . The journal resumed in 1929 as Krur . A mysterious document published in Krur in 1929, attributed to orientalist Leone Caetani , suggested that Italy's World War I victory and

23998-525: The rise of fascism were influenced by Etruscan-Roman rites. The 1960s and 1970s saw a resurgence in neo-Druidism as well as the rise of modern Germanic paganism in the United States and in Iceland . In the 1970s, Wicca was notably influenced by feminism, leading to the creation of an eclectic, Goddess -worshipping movement known as Dianic Wicca . The 1979 publication of Margot Adler 's Drawing Down

24167-758: The rise of the Gruppo dei Dioscuri in cities like Rome, Naples, and Messina, which published a series of four booklets, including titles such as L'Impeto della vera cultura and Rivoluzione Tradizionale e Sovversione , before fading from public view ..The Evolian journal Arthos , founded in Genoa in 1972 by Renato del Ponte , expressed significant interest in Roman religion. In 1984, the Gruppo Arx revived Messina's Dioscuri activities, and Reghini's Pythagorean Association briefly resurfaced in Calabria and Sicily from 1984 to 1988, publishing Yghìeia . Other publications include

24336-481: The rise to power of the communist regime in 1944, and is considered to be the only example of a tribal social system with tribal chiefs and councils, blood feuds and oral customary laws , to survive in Europe until the middle of the 20th century. Fundamental terms that define Albanian tribal structure are shared by all regions. Some terms may be used interchangeably with the same semantic content and other terms have

24505-442: The sky and the sun, and symbolism of lighning and fire, as well as the tree of life and birds (eagles). In those plaques there is a mythological representation of the celestial deity: the Sun deity animated with a face and two wings, throwing lightning into a fire altar, which in some plaques is held by two men (sometimes on two boats). This mythological representation is identical to the Albanian folk belief and practice associated to

24674-461: The social system is based on the house ( shpi or shtëpi ) and the fis , which consists of a patrilineal kinship group and an exogamous unit composed of members with some property in common. The patrilineal kinship ties are defined by the concept of "blood" ( gjak ) including moral and physical characteristics that are shared by all the members of a fis . The fis generally consists of three or four generations sharing

24843-677: The spread of Christianity—as indicated for example, by the use of Greek for the Epistles of Paul . In the first half of the 5th century, Greek was the standard language in which bishops communicated, and the Acta Conciliorum ("Acts of the Church Councils") were recorded originally in Greek and then translated into other languages. "Heathen" comes from Old English : hæðen (not Christian or Jewish); cf. Old Norse heiðinn . This meaning for

25012-562: The state, drawing inspiration from similar groups like YSEE in Greece. In 2023, Pietas participated in the ECER meeting, resulting in the signing of the Riga Declaration, which calls for the recognition of European ethnic religions. Public rituals, such as those celebrating the ancient festival of the Natale di Roma , have also resumed in recent years. The idea of practicing Roman religion in

25181-499: The term originated from Gothic haiþno ( gentile woman) being used to translate Hellene in Wulfila's Bible , the first translation of the Bible into a Germanic language . This may have been influenced by the Greek and Latin terminology of the time used for pagans. If so, it may be derived from Gothic haiþi (dwelling on the heath ). However, this is not attested . It may even be

25350-570: The tribe assembly whose members of the tribe were male. The Ottomans implemented the bayraktar system within northern Albanian tribes, and granted some privileges to the bayraktars (banner chieftains) in exchange for their obligation to mobilize local fighters to support military actions of the Ottoman forces . Those privileges entitled Albanian tribesmen to pay no taxes and to be excluded from military conscription in return for commitment to military service as irregular troops; however few served in that capacity. Malisors viewed Ottoman officials as

25519-571: The tribe with the title Prenk Pasha (Prince Lord) was held by the Gjonmarkaj family. Apart from this princely family, the Franciscan Abbot held some influence among the Mirdita tribesmen. The government estimated the military strength of Malësors in İşkodra sanjak as numbering over 30,000 tribesmen and Ottoman officials were of the view that the highlanders could defeat Montenegro on their own with limited state assistance. In Western Kosovo,

25688-405: The tribes have become scattered. Locals that remained in northern Albanian areas have maintained an awareness of their tribal identity. The following is a list of historical Albanian tribes and tribal regions. Some of the tribes are considered extinct because no collective memory of descent has survived (i.e. Mataruga, Rogami etc.) while others became slavicised very early on and the majority of

25857-452: The uprising and disarm the population by collecting guns and replacing the Law of Lek with state courts and laws. Malisors planned further resistance and Albanian tribes living near the border fled into Montenegro while negotiating terms with the Ottomans for their return. The Ottoman military commander Mahmud Shevket concluded that the Bajraktars had become Albanian nationalists and posed

26026-453: The usage of local Albanian tribal customary laws . After annexing Suli and Himara into his semi-independent state in 1798, he tried to organize the judiciary in every city and province according to the principle of social equality, enforcing his laws for the entire population, Muslims and Christians. To limit blood feud killings, Ali Pasha replaced blood feuds (Alb. gjakmarrje ) with other punishments such as blood payment or expulsion or

26195-423: The will to enforce them dissipated. In times of revolt against the Ottomans, the besa functioned as a link among different groups and tribes. Besa is an important part of personal and familial standing and is often used as an example of " Albanianism ". Someone who breaks his besa may even be banished from his community. During the Great Eastern Crisis , Prenk Bib Doda, hereditary chieftain of Mirdita initiated

26364-729: The word's usage as a reference to non-Christians pre-dates that period in history. Second, paganism within the Roman Empire centred on cities. The concept of an urban Christianity as opposed to a rural paganism would not have occurred to Romans during Early Christianity . Third, unlike words such as rusticitas , paganus had not yet fully acquired the meanings (of uncultured backwardness) used to explain why it would have been applied to pagans. Paganus more likely acquired its meaning in Christian nomenclature via Roman military jargon (see above). Early Christians adopted military motifs and saw themselves as Milites Christi (soldiers of Christ). A good example of Christians still using paganus in

26533-420: The years following fascism was largely driven by Julius Evola . By the late 1960s, a renewed "operational" interest in pagan Roman traditions emerged from youth circles around Evola, particularly concerning the experience of the Gruppo di Ur . Evola's writings incorporated concepts from outside classical Roman religion, such as Buddhism , Hinduism , sexual magic , and private ritual nudity . This period saw

26702-480: Was also an area where Ottoman rule among highlanders was minimal to non-existent and government officials would ally themselves with local power holders to exert any form of authority. Western Kosovo was dominated by the Albanian tribal system where Kosovar Malisors settled disputes among themselves through mountain law. In a period without stable state control, it was the tribe who tried its members. The usual punishments were fines , exile or disarmament. The house of

26871-420: Was an integral part of ancient Greco-Roman religion and was regarded as an indication of whether a person was pagan or Christian. Paganism has broadly connoted the "religion of the peasantry ". During and after the Middle Ages , the term paganism was applied to any non-Christian religion, and the term presumed a belief in " false gods ". The origin of the application of the term "pagan" to polytheism

27040-419: Was based in Himara in southwest Albania. A third centre was based in the Suli region , located far south in the middle of a Greek population. The tendency to build segmentary lineage organizations of these mountain communities increased with the degree of their isolation, causing the loss of the tribal organization of the Albanian highlanders in southern Albania and northern Greece since the 15th century, during

27209-426: Was compensated by the folk creativity, molding generations of Albanians with their forefathers' wisdom and experience and protecting them from assimilation processes. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, in Albania arrived also the Bektashi Sufi order which spread widely among Albanians because of its traditional tolerance and regard for different religions, practices and beliefs and because it allowed itself to be

27378-673: Was dissolved in 1468 when Pope Paul II orderd the arrest and execution of some of the members, Pope Sixtus IV allowed Laetus to open the academy again until the Sack of Rome of the 1527. After the French Revolution , the French lawyer Gabriel André Aucler (mid 1700s–1815) adopted the name Quintus Nautius and sought to revive paganism , styling himself as its leader. He designed religious clothing and performed pagan rites at his home. In 1799, he published La Thréicie , presenting his religious views. His teachings were later analyzed by Gérard de Nerval in Les Illuminés (1852). Admiring ancient Greece and ancient Rome , Aucler supported

27547-488: Was generally used in a derogatory sense. The term pagan derives from Late Latin paganus , revived during the Renaissance . Itself deriving from classical Latin pagus which originally meant 'region delimited by markers', paganus had also come to mean 'of or relating to the countryside', 'country dweller', 'villager'; by extension, ' rustic ', 'unlearned', ' yokel ', ' bumpkin '; in Roman military jargon , 'non-combatant', 'civilian', 'unskilled soldier'. It

27716-442: Was intended to become the centre of Byzantine administration. Prehistoric Illyrian symbols used on funeral monuments of the pre-Roman period have been used also in Roman times and continued into late antiquity in the broad Illyrian territory. The same motifs were kept with identical cultural-religious symbolism on various monuments of the early medieval culture of the Albanians. They appear also on later funerary monuments, including

27885-485: Was intended to show Jesus as superior to Dionysus. The scene in The Bacchae wherein Dionysus appears before King Pentheus on charges of claiming divinity is compared to the New Testament scene of Jesus being interrogated by Pontius Pilate . Proto-Albanian speakers were Christianized under the Latin sphere of influence, specifically in the 4th century CE, as shown by the basic Christian terms in Albanian, which are of Latin origin and entered Proto-Albanian before

28054-401: Was known by some as the Ka'ba of Yemen, built and worshipped by polytheist tribes. Interest in reviving ancient Roman religious traditions can be traced to the Renaissance , with figures such as Gemistus Pletho and Julius Pomponius Laetus advocating for a revival, when Renaissance magic was practiced as a revival of Greco-Roman magic . Gemistus Plethon, who was from Mistras (near

28223-422: Was partially transformed by the Christian, Muslim and Marxist beliefs that were either to be introduced by choice or imposed by force. The Albanian traditional customary law ( Kanun ) has held a sacred – although secular – longstanding, unwavering and unchallenged authority with a cross-religious effectiveness over the Albanians, which is attributed to an earlier pagan code common to all the Albanian tribes . Indeed,

28392-502: Was used legally instead of the term fis of the northerners until the beginning of the 19th century, to mean a politically autonomous tribe and a 'brotherhood' ( Gheg Alb. vëllazni ; Tosk Alb. vëllazëri ; or Alb. bark , "belly"). Attestations of these forms of social organization among southern Albanians are reported by Leake and Pouqueville when describing the traditional organization of Suli (between 1660 and 1803), Epirus , and of southern Albania in general (until

28561-488: Was used to regulate tribal affairs both between and within tribes. The Ottoman government used the besa as a way to co-opt Albanian tribes into supporting state policies or to seal agreements. During the Ottoman period, the besa would be cited in government reports of Albanian unrest, especially in the tribes. The besa formed a central place within Albanian society in order to generate military and political power. Besas held Albanians together, united them and would wane when

#29970