The WAU 2025 Congress (Antigua, Guatemala) webpage and call for panels are now open - Please visit waucongress2025.org for more info.

WORLD ANTHROPOLOGICAL UNION

CONGRESS 2024​

Paper

Staroverstvo: Multidisciplinary investigation on slavic paganism in contemporary Slovenia

presenters

    Jennifer Morana

    Nationality: Italian

    Residence: Italy

    Presence:Online

Staroverstvo" (translated: "old faith" or "old belief," in english commonly rendered as "old faith") refers to a broad and complex system of values, practices, and beliefs present in Slovenia till nowadays: numerous groups and individuals claim that their way of life is based on the oral traditions and beliefs of pre-Christian Slovenia. However, the vastness of the topic and the limited availability of written sources on the origin of this phenomenon have led scholars and researchers to divide into two opposing factions through a long and controversial debate still in progress about the authenticity and definition of the phenomenon itself. I have attempted to outline some of the fundamental beliefs, some religious practices and behaviors of this tradition, analyzing also the location of rituals, focusing on the cave and other places in nature perceived as dimensions of the Sacred. The intention is to open and investigate the range of multiple points of view through the study of a multidisciplinary literature, after a fieldwork where i have used the method of participant observation and conducted some interviews with anthropologists, followers and researchers.

Keywords:

NewAge; Politeism; cult; religious immagination;