An organization dedicated to promoting paganism, witchcraft, animism, Druid rituals and other heathen practices is hosting its annual “Heathen Days and Pagan Nights” festival in Salcha, 40 miles outside Fairbanks.

Organized by Wild Heathen Wolfpack, the event is presented as a Viking-themed, Renaissance-fair festival set in the Viking Age – roughly 793–1066 AD, a time when much of Scandinavia was pre-Christian.

Founded in 2023, this year’s festival is themed “Realm of the Gods.” Activities will include live music, pagan art and trinkets, food vendors, traditional Viking games, classes and lectures. There will also be an Ulfhednar-themed bonfire. These are often associated with modern, neo-pagan Viking gatherings and include a large outdoor fire that evokes the Úlfhéðnar – legendary wolf-skin warriors of Norse tradition.

While the event is presented as a family-friendly cultural gathering, the organizing group describes itself as a “fast-growing heathen group in the state of Alaska with more than 250 active members.”

Together, they seek to establish space “where people of all heathen/pagan beliefs can share and collect information without bullying, religion bashing, racism, or politics.”

The growth of the festival comes at a time when visibility and interest in pre-Christian, pagan spirituality is growing across the nation. While such adherents are still a tiny fraction of the larger population, social media, seasonal festivals and intrigue with nature spirituality and occult practices have amplified in recent decades.

A Pew Research Center study found the share of Americans who identify with religions other than Christianity has increased from 4.7% of U.S. adults in 2007 to 7.1% in 2023-24. Roughly 2% of Americans now identify with Unitarian Universalism, Pantheism, Wicca, or other pagan beliefs.

Modern pagans often focus on communing with nature, celebrating the solstice and other seasonal rituals and observing the so-called spiritual connectivity within the natural world.

According to a recent article in the Maine Monitor, which covers an area where paganism is widespread, researchers note that paganism’s growth is “tied to the second-wave feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s, where many were interested in the idea of the feminine goddess at the center of Wicca, and in the independent nature of its rituals, which attracted women and LGBTQ people who felt shut out by Christianity.”

According to the Monitor, Sociologist Helen Berger describes this trend as a movement away from organized religion and toward “nature-based spirituality fueled by feminist and gay rights movements, as well as environmental concerns.”

“This is a non-dogmatic religion,” Berger said. “It’s a religion of practice; it’s a religion that you get to do your own thing.”

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