The Community of Forn Sed Sweden (Swedish: Samfundet Forn Sed Sverige),[1] formerly the Swedish Asatro Community (Sveriges Asatrosamfund) is a heathen (Germanic neopagan) organization founded in 1994.
History
The Swedish Asatro Community (Swedish: Sveriges Asatrosamfund) was founded in 1994 as an outgrowth of a group that studied Norse history and culture from a non-religious point of view.[2] It became a registered religious organization in Sweden in 2007.[3][4][5][6]
The Swedish Asatro Community became one of the most important heathen organizations in Sweden,[2] and had grown from approximately 150 members in 1996 to approximately 450[7] when it formed the main subject of Fredrik Skott's study of neo-paganism in Sweden, Asatro i tiden, published in 2000, at which time it was the largest such organization in the country.[8] Skott found that the membership was two-thirds male, mostly in their thirties, and the most active lived in and around Stockholm, but that they represented a cross-section of Swedish society.[8]
In the 2000s, the organization was reduced by disagreements; some of the members who left in 2004 founded Nätverket Forn Sed [sv] (literally "The Network Ancient Custom").[7] But later in the decade it was growing again, along with a general growth of interest in heathenry in Sweden; in 2009 it had about 300 members.[9] At the May 15, 2010 Thing, the organization changed its name to Samfundet Forn Sed Sverige.[10] In 2017, according to a spokesperson, the membership accounted to about 400.[11] It had at that point been surpassed by the Nordic Asa-Community, founded in 2014, making the Community of Forn Sed Sweden the second largest heathen organization in the country.[11]
As of 2023, the official website says that the organization has around 650 members.[5]
Organization
Unlike some other heathen groups in Sweden, the Community of Forn Sed Sweden is conventionally organized.[12] The annual Thing elects the Board, called the Council, as well as making major decisions.[5] The Council includes a council goði and gyðja.[13] The organization divides the country for administrative purposes into three regions or goðorðs, Götaland, Svealand and Norrland, each of which has a goði and a gyðja,[14] and serves as an umbrella organization for local groups.[15][8][16]
The Community of Forn Sed Sweden publishes a periodical called Mimers Källa.[7][17]
Beliefs and religious activity
Members vary in their conception of the gods. Some perform offerings on their own in addition to the organization's collective blóts, which, like those of the Danish Forn Siðr organization and in conformity with Swedish law, are not animal sacrifices as they would historically have been.[16][18][8]
The organization held a ceremony at the Kings' Mounds at Gamla Uppsala in 2000 in celebration of the dissolution of the Swedish state church,[7][19][20] the first heathen blót at the site in more than 900 years.[21] It has since held open blóts there every spring and is perhaps best known for that.[3][6][16]
Goði for Svealand and former Chairman of the Board Henrik Hallgren has represented Ásatrú at the "Spirituality beyond Religions" international conference organized in Jaipur, India, in 2006 by the World Council of Elders of Ancient Traditions and Cultures, presenting a paper entitled "Ecological spirituality and Forn Sed,"[22] and in 2010, 2011, and 2012 presented programs on heathenry in the Vid dagens början series of religious and philosophical reflections on Sveriges Radio,[23][24] provoking criticism from Siewert Öholm that Ásatrú was not worthy of broadcasting.[25]
Politics and activism
The Community of Forn Sed Sweden requires its members to adopt a "non-racist and democratic" stance.[15][26] Its own statement is that while non-dogmatic, its value system is "based on a humanistic and democratic ethos that recognizes all human beings" and it "stand[s] for religious tolerance and religious freedom in a multicultural society."[27] It set up a níðstǫng on its site against racist and xenophobic misuse of Norse symbols, which has become "something of a marker" for the group.[28] It is also establishing itself as particularly gay-friendly.[29][30]
^ abFredrik Gregorius, "Modern asatro och dess historia," in Catharina Raudvere, Anders Andrén, and Kristina Jennbert-Spång, eds., Hedendomen i historiens spegel: bilder av det förkristna Norden, Vägar till Midgård 6, Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 2005, ISBN978-91-85509-20-1, pp. 133–64, p. 150; GoogleBooks numbering p. 50(in Swedish)
^ abcdFredrik Skott, Asatro i tiden, Småskrifter utg. av Språk- och folkminnesinstitutet, Dialekt-, ortnamns- och folkminnesarkivet i Göteborg 1, Gothenburg: Språk- och folkminnesinstitutet, 2000, ISBN978-91-7229-009-9; Review by Morten Warmind, Chaos: Dansk-norsk tidsskrift for religionshistoriske studier 37 (2002) pp. 158–59(in Danish)
^Rådet, Samfundet Forn Sed Sverige, retrieved February 5, 2012 (in Swedish)
^Godeord, Samfundet Forn Sed Sverige, retrieved February 5, 2012 (in Swedish)
^ abKennet Granholm, Embracing the Dark: The Magic Order of Dragon Rouge: Its Practice in Dark Magic and Meaning Making, Åbo: Åbo Akademi, 2005, ISBN978-951-765-251-3, p. 105.
^Warmind review of Skott, Asatro i tiden: "Der kræves et demokratisk sindelag for at være med, og racisme er ikke tilladt." – "You have to have a democratic spirit to be in it, and racism is not permitted."
^Om Samfundet: "Samfundet har inga religiösa dogmer, däremot har vi en starkt uttalad värdegrund som utgår från en humanistisk och demokratisk livssyn och som erkänner alla människors lika värde oavsett kön, ursprung eller sexuell läggning. Samfundet och dess medlemmar ska också stå för religiös tolerans och religionsfrihet i det mångkulturella samhället."
^Karin Hylander, "Homofolk tar plats i nyhedendomen,"Svenska Dagbladet November 4, 2009 (in Swedish): "Sveriges Asatrosamfund håller på att etablera sig som en hbt-vänlig rörelse." – "The Swedish Asatro Community is in the process of establishing itself as a GLBT-friendly movement."
^Karin Hylander, "Svagt stöd hos forskningen,"Svenska Dagbladet November 4, 2009 (in Swedish), an interview with Fredrik Gregorius, author of a recent PhD dissertation on modern Ásatrú: " Även om hbt-anhängarna har ett starkt stöd i Sveriges asatrosamfund . . . . , mer nationalistiska nyhedniska grupper har lyft fram en mer negativ bild av homosexualitet." "Even though LGBT advocates have strong support in the Swedish Asatro Community . . . . , more nationalistic neo-heathen groups have emphasized a more negative view of homosexuality."
