Ritual Performance and Language in Modern Greek Neopaganism

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Modern Greek Neopaganism is a phenomenon that has hardly received any serious or systematic academic study. When it comes to focused and specific issues of its history, performance, practices and beliefs, the research situation is even worse. My scholarly engagement with this new religious movement consists in extensive fieldwork during the 2009–2013 period. What became evident to me from the very beginning was the fact that modern Greek Neopaganism is about realizing a Greek/Hellenic identity at the religious level, which unequivocally is regarded by the members of the movement as the most fundamental in one’s life. In this regard, the Greek language features prominently in the ritual performance of the movement, since it most tellingly relates to the intended and desired identity. This is my focus in the present investigation, especially regarding how the ritual discourse of the groups involved realizes, empowers and enhances Greekness both individually and collectively, privately and publicly.