The Nordic Asa-Community (Swedish: 'Nordiska Asa-samfundet; abbreviated NAS) is a Germanic heathen religious organisation founded in Sweden in 2014. Since 2016, it has been the largest heathen organisation in the country.
| Nordiska Asa-samfundet | |
| Abbreviation | NAS |
|---|---|
| Formation | 2014 |
| Type | Religious organisation |
| Purpose | Germanic religion |
| Headquarters | Finspång, Sweden |
| Membership | c. 2000 (2024) |
Official language | Swedish |
Chairman | Håkan Ljunggren |
Key people | Thommy Vähäsalo (riksblotsansvarig) |
| Website | https://asa-samfundet.se/ |
History
editThe Nordic Asa-Community (NAS) was founded in Sweden in 2014.[1][2] It was officially recognised and registered by the government of Sweden in February 2016. Since then its membership has increased rapidly, growing from 60 members to 550 in November 2016, making it the largest heathen organisation in the country.[3] As of June 2018, it had 1100 registered members,[4] by 2021 it had around 1500 members[5] and by 2024 around 2000 members.[6]
Activity
editNAS has the aims to make asatro—Old Norse religion—an official religion, gathering all Swedish heathens in one body and re-embedding uprooted Swedes into their native historic-cultural tradition.[3] It asserts independence from political parties and ideologies, and forbids all political symbols at its activities, but members can have any political engagements outside the organisation.[7] This distinguishes NAS from the older Swedish Forn Sed Assembly, which has put effort into making political statements against xenophobia.[8]
The chairman is Håkan Ljunggren.[9] The national manager of blóts (Swedish: riksblotsansvarig) is Thommy Vähäsalo.[5]
References
edit- ^ Henrik Johansson. "Religiöst samfund vill växa". Nt.se, 16-03-13.
- ^ "Om oss - Nordiska Asa-samfundet - Tron som formade Norden och nordborna". Asa-samfundet.se. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
- ^ a b Jacob Zetterman. "Asatron frodas i en nationalistisk miljö". Dagen, 18 November 2016.
- ^ "Festade vid Ale stenar med Freja, Tor och mjöd". Aftonbladet.se. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
- ^ a b Jansson Högberg, Frida (1 July 2021). "Asatroende Thommy: 'Domarringen är en helig plats'". Karlstads-Tidningen (in Swedish). Retrieved 20 April 2024.
- ^ Edalat, Tannaz (11 July 2024). "Här kan asatroende få sin första gravplats i Sverige". Kyrkans Tidning (in Swedish). Retrieved 22 July 2024.
- ^ Strömberg, Maja (22 June 2018). "Här offrar Sveriges asatroende till Freja". Expressen (in Swedish). Retrieved 10 November 2019.
- ^ Tersmeden, Carl Bruno; Holmqvist, Tobias (16 May 2017). "Nytt asa-samfund vill växa". svt.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 10 November 2019.
- ^ "Styrelsen - Nordiska Asa-samfundet - Tron som formade Norden och nordborna". Asa-samfundet.se. Retrieved 10 November 2019.