Paganism in Hungary
Hungary has seen the rise of a varied movement of Neopagan religions (Hungarian: Újpogányság), the major ones being Ősmagyar vallás, meaning "Old Hungarian Religion" — defined as "Hungarian Native Faith" by scholars as it comprises those movements which are or claim to be based on the indigenous spirituality of the Hungarian ethnicity —, and non-native religions including Egyptian Kemetism, Celtic Druidry, Wicca, and Mithraism.
Ősmagyar vallás is itself a composite and heterogeneous movement comprising diverse currents and organisations, which often both intertwine and conflict with each other; the scholar Ádám Kolozsi identified three of them: a Sumerian Zuism-oriented current, whose main ideologist has been the Assyriologist Ferenc Badinyi-Jós; a current of Scythian-Hunnic Tengrism-oriented national esotericism revolving around the Holy Crown of Hungary and an eschatological interpretation of Hungarian history — opened by the first shaman-king Attila, passing through the conflict between Cupan (Pagan) and Stephen (Christian), and closed by the future shaman-king Matthias —, whose main ideologists have been Gábor Pap and Jajos Szántai and which syncretises the Christian heritage in its spiritual project; and a Uralic-Siberian Tengrism-oriented current, sometimes called Böőn, whose main ideologist has been Imre Maté.
The heterogeneity of Ősmagyar vallás is due to the fact that little is known about the pre-Christian Hungarian religion, apart that it was led by shaman-like magicians, called táltoses, and it has been hypothesised that it was akin to Siberian shamanism-Tengrism, and in earlier studies to Sumerian and Scythian religions. Apart from taltosism (táltosság), which is a common denominator of the various streams of Ősmagyar vallás, supported by the experiences and the work of various táltoses, strengthened since the 1980s by studies on the subject by Mihály Hoppál, who also invited Michael Harner and introduced core shamanism to Hungary, other sources that have contributed to the development of the movement have been the legacy of Hungarian Turanism, which arose between the two 20th-century World Wars and ascribed the ancient Sumerians, Scythians, and Huns, seen as ancestors of the Hungarians, to the same "Turanian macro-ethnicity", i.e. Uralo-Altaic, Uralic or Finno-Ugric-speaking peoples, and the spread of various forms of esotericism and New Age in the last decades of the Communist Block and in the 1990s. According to the scholars István Povedák and László A. Hubbes, the Sumerian current has been the dominant one, and has inspired a strong wave of religiousness, in which, for instance, Hungarian runes and symbols are interpreted as deriving from Sumerian cuneiform, the Turul of Hungarian mythology is interpreted as the same as the Sumerian Anzû, and the Hungarian term Isten ("God") is equated with the Akkadian Isten ("One"), the Siberian Tengri with the Sumerian Dingir–An (Akkadian Ilu).
Among Ősmagyar vallás organisations, the Hungarian Religious Fellowship (Magyar Vallás Közössége) and the Old Hungarian Church (Ősmagyar Egyház) belong to the Sumerian Zuist current; the Church of Esoteric Teachings – Church of the Holy Crown (Ezoterikus Tanok Egyháza – Szent Korona Egyház) and the Church of the Hun Universe – Holy Mother Church of the Huns (Hun Univerzum Egyháza – Hunok Anyaszentegyháza) belong to the Scythian-Hunnic Tengrist national esoteric current of the Holy Crown; the Traditional Church of the Legal Grounds of the Order of Árpád (Árpád Rendjének Jogalapja Tradicionális Egyház) belongs to a Hunnic Tengrist current which, however, fully rejects Christianity; while the Old Hungarian Taltos Church (Ősmagyar Táltos Egyház) and the Yotengrit Church of the Ancestral Spirit of the Endless Sea (Yotengrit Tengervégtelen Ős-szellem Egyháza) belong to the Uralic-Siberian Tengrist current and emerged directly from the grassroots táltos movement. The Tengri Fellowship (Tengri Közösség) is another Tengrist organisation in Hungary. Some of these churches cultivate connections with the Traditionalist School and the Nouvelle Droite of Alain de Benoist, which promotes a Europe-wide return to indigenous Paganism.
Among non-native Neopaganisms, the Ankh Church of Eternal Life (Ankh Örök Élet Egyháza) and the Sun Religion (Napvallás) are Kemetic organisations in the country, while the Sodalitas Mithraica Confessing Church (Sodalitas Mithraica Hitvalló Egyház) is an organisation of Mithraism. Wicca, a religion of English origin, is represented in Hungary by the Church of Celtic-Wiccan Tradition Keepers (Kelta-Wicca Hagyományőrzők Egyháza); Zsuzsanna Budapest, a Hungarian who emigrated to the United States, is the founder of the Wiccan denomination known as Dianic Wicca, popular in North America. The Association of Hungarian Witches (Magyar Boszorkányszövetség) is an organisation of Hungarian contemporary witchcraft.
Ősmagyar vallás is itself a composite and heterogeneous movement comprising diverse currents and organisations, which often both intertwine and conflict with each other; the scholar Ádám Kolozsi identified three of them: a Sumerian Zuism-oriented current, whose main ideologist has been the Assyriologist Ferenc Badinyi-Jós; a current of Scythian-Hunnic Tengrism-oriented national esotericism revolving around the Holy Crown of Hungary and an eschatological interpretation of Hungarian history — opened by the first shaman-king Attila, passing through the conflict between Cupan (Pagan) and Stephen (Christian), and closed by the future shaman-king Matthias —, whose main ideologists have been Gábor Pap and Jajos Szántai and which syncretises the Christian heritage in its spiritual project; and a Uralic-Siberian Tengrism-oriented current, sometimes called Böőn, whose main ideologist has been Imre Maté.
The heterogeneity of Ősmagyar vallás is due to the fact that little is known about the pre-Christian Hungarian religion, apart that it was led by shaman-like magicians, called táltoses, and it has been hypothesised that it was akin to Siberian shamanism-Tengrism, and in earlier studies to Sumerian and Scythian religions. Apart from taltosism (táltosság), which is a common denominator of the various streams of Ősmagyar vallás, supported by the experiences and the work of various táltoses, strengthened since the 1980s by studies on the subject by Mihály Hoppál, who also invited Michael Harner and introduced core shamanism to Hungary, other sources that have contributed to the development of the movement have been the legacy of Hungarian Turanism, which arose between the two 20th-century World Wars and ascribed the ancient Sumerians, Scythians, and Huns, seen as ancestors of the Hungarians, to the same "Turanian macro-ethnicity", i.e. Uralo-Altaic, Uralic or Finno-Ugric-speaking peoples, and the spread of various forms of esotericism and New Age in the last decades of the Communist Block and in the 1990s. According to the scholars István Povedák and László A. Hubbes, the Sumerian current has been the dominant one, and has inspired a strong wave of religiousness, in which, for instance, Hungarian runes and symbols are interpreted as deriving from Sumerian cuneiform, the Turul of Hungarian mythology is interpreted as the same as the Sumerian Anzû, and the Hungarian term Isten ("God") is equated with the Akkadian Isten ("One"), the Siberian Tengri with the Sumerian Dingir–An (Akkadian Ilu).
Among Ősmagyar vallás organisations, the Hungarian Religious Fellowship (Magyar Vallás Közössége) and the Old Hungarian Church (Ősmagyar Egyház) belong to the Sumerian Zuist current; the Church of Esoteric Teachings – Church of the Holy Crown (Ezoterikus Tanok Egyháza – Szent Korona Egyház) and the Church of the Hun Universe – Holy Mother Church of the Huns (Hun Univerzum Egyháza – Hunok Anyaszentegyháza) belong to the Scythian-Hunnic Tengrist national esoteric current of the Holy Crown; the Traditional Church of the Legal Grounds of the Order of Árpád (Árpád Rendjének Jogalapja Tradicionális Egyház) belongs to a Hunnic Tengrist current which, however, fully rejects Christianity; while the Old Hungarian Taltos Church (Ősmagyar Táltos Egyház) and the Yotengrit Church of the Ancestral Spirit of the Endless Sea (Yotengrit Tengervégtelen Ős-szellem Egyháza) belong to the Uralic-Siberian Tengrist current and emerged directly from the grassroots táltos movement. The Tengri Fellowship (Tengri Közösség) is another Tengrist organisation in Hungary. Some of these churches cultivate connections with the Traditionalist School and the Nouvelle Droite of Alain de Benoist, which promotes a Europe-wide return to indigenous Paganism.
Among non-native Neopaganisms, the Ankh Church of Eternal Life (Ankh Örök Élet Egyháza) and the Sun Religion (Napvallás) are Kemetic organisations in the country, while the Sodalitas Mithraica Confessing Church (Sodalitas Mithraica Hitvalló Egyház) is an organisation of Mithraism. Wicca, a religion of English origin, is represented in Hungary by the Church of Celtic-Wiccan Tradition Keepers (Kelta-Wicca Hagyományőrzők Egyháza); Zsuzsanna Budapest, a Hungarian who emigrated to the United States, is the founder of the Wiccan denomination known as Dianic Wicca, popular in North America. The Association of Hungarian Witches (Magyar Boszorkányszövetség) is an organisation of Hungarian contemporary witchcraft.
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