Suzanne Owen: Is Druidry an Indigenous Religion?

Is Druidry an indigenous religion?

Several contemporary Druid groups in Britain and Ireland claim that Druidry is a ‘native spirituality’ or that it is indigenous to these islands. While it would be difficult to argue that Druidry today has any continuity with ancient Druids, by employing a land-based definition rather than one based on ethnicity, I will discuss ways Druidry could be considered an indigenous religion as well as some counterarguments. Although Druids do not claim to be indigenous people, can their emplacement activities – the way they relate to their environment and its past – provide a sense of belonging to the land found in indigenous cultures?

Suzanne Owen lectures at Leeds Trinity University UK in all aspects of the study of religion and researches indigeneity, contemporary indigenous religious traditions and British Druidry.