Saturday, May 2, 2015

Iceland....again?

So, I know i've been gone a while. School is taking a fair chunk of time, and before that I was dealing with medical issues out the wazoo and didn't really feel like I had anything to say. This one probably won't be very long and is mostly my opinion, so feel free to disregard as needed.

I should note that I don't have any ancestral ties to Iceland, so I feel in no way like they are above criticism.

Also, I know this has been largely talked to death lately in a bunch of different circles. I should also make it clear I don't mean any disrespect to the Icelandic Asatru folks when I post this, not that any of them are likely to read this. All that out of the way.

I'm so damn tired about hearing about the temple in Iceland and how it's changing the face of heathenry world wide.

First off, Heathenry here in the states tends to differ widely between state to state. What we do here in West Virginia in Ulv Hamre is way different from what is done out in the Midwest or up in the north east. So it's vastly different from what they'll do in Iceland. Sure, some traditions and aspects are gonna be the same, but they're in Iceland. The entire culture there is vastly different from what we've got here, and that'll affect everything.

Second off, good for Iceland. A temple is good, not that I'm gonna travel there to use it. That's their temple, not mine, not Ulv Hamre's. We'll build our own temple when the time comes and it'll be for us and any future members.

Which leads to the next and somewhat vaguely related point which requires a bit of brief explanation. I was born, raised and still continue to live in West Virginia. I hope to live here for the rest of my life and eventually die here. I've often said I consider myself a West Virginian first and a American second when it comes to politics. I pay more attention to issues affecting West Virginia and I don't pay a whole lot of attention to issues outside of WV beyond a cursory glance when I browse the news.

Now what I meant when I talked about that was, I generally have more to do with my day than celebrate that a temple is being built in Iceland. I'd probably not even be overly excited if one was being built in Ohio. I put my effort into helping and working with my tribe here in West Virginia so that we can one day build a temple here, because that's where it's going to matter most to me.

Heathens need to be active in their local community, and build up in that. That's what I believe and that's the other members of Ulv Hamre believe. We should focus more on building up our own temples than rushing off to Iceland as if it's some kind of Asatru Mecca.

Grizz.




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