La Lettonia ha appena concesso uno status speciale al paganesimo. La Legge comunitaria Dievturi rappresenta la prima volta che uno Stato europeo ha sancito uno spazio per una religione autoctona all’interno dello Stato. I sacerdoti Dievturi possono officiare matrimoni e fornire servizi spirituali nelle istituzioni militari ed educative

*Historic Milestone for an Ethnic Religion in the EU: Law Grants Dievturība Status as a Longstanding Traditional Religion in Latvia
Rīga, Latvia — October 9, 2025 — The Parliament of the Republic of Latvia has made history by passing the Law of the Latvijas Dievturu sadraudze (henceforth — Sadraudze) in its third and final reading, with 63 votes in favor, 7 votes against, and 2 abstentions.*

*This is the first law in the European Union to formally recognize an ethnic religious union, explicitly affirming its traditional status: “Dievturība, as a traditional religion in Latvia, and the Sadraudze representing it have maintained a longstanding presence in Latvia; it is faithful to spiritual and moral values, nurtures the Latvian language and traditions, and preserves the nation’s spiritual heritage” (Article 2.2).*

*The law grants the Sadraudze legal status; protects its name, sacred sites, shrines, and ritual objects; and secures the right to self-governance under its statutes (Articles 3–5). Key rights include legal marriage, spiritual care, education, and training. Sadraudze’s authorized priests may officiate marriages under Civil Law (Article 6), and provide spiritual services in military, medical, and correctional institutions (Articles 7–8), and the Sadraudze maintains a publicly accessible official Priests’ Registry submitted to the Ministry of Justice (Article 11). Sadraudze-founded educational institutions may determine curricula and train priests or other personnel for religious service (Article 10).*

*“After eight centuries since the violent Christianization of the Baltic lands began, Latvia — now a member of the European Union, founded on the principle of unity in diversity — finally has the opportunity to return to and continue the ancient religious traditions upheld by the Sadraudze, whose roots have endured through Latvian folk songs and other forms of intangible cultural heritage,” said Andrejs Broks, Grand Leader of the Sadraudze in charge of spiritual affairs.*

*“This law — developed by the Dievturi since 2022, in response to a parliamentarian proposal introduced in 2018 to explicitly define traditional religious groups in Latvia — recognizes Dievturība as a traditional religion deeply rooted in Latvia’s history and culture,” said Dr. Uģis Nastevičs.*

Wohoo! Way to go Latvia!

Bro, this is so cool. Hope that Serbia does this also in the near future!

Back to their roots! Fantastic to see.

Holy based, very cool

That’s so cool!

This makes me very happy as an Indian living in Europe with a Latvian girlfriend and would like to get married according to the pagan traditions. The rituals seem so similar to hinduism (Specifically from my region in eastern india).

Is Paganism still alive in Europe? I mean I know there are pockets of them like the post says but they seem more revivalists than continuation of older communities and they don’t seem organized like Asian ones no?