Taaraism Taaraism was founded in 1928 by members of the intelligentsia, including soldier and writer
Marta Lepp, with the aim of reaffirming traditional Estonian culture and identity. Viewing Christianity as a foreign religion brought by the
Germans, they turned to indigenous religion with its many
deities.
Maausk Maausk ("Native Religion") is an activist movement of
nature worship, the worship of local gods and
hiis unrelated to the Taaraist movement. It stresses the claimedly non-Christian and non-European roots and tradition of Estonian culture. The Maausk movement emerged in the 1980s. It's mostly a
polytheistic-
pantheistic faith identifying the divine with nature itself. Their shrines are
hiis or other natural sites, preferably traditional sacrificial, healing and other sacred sites of the Estonian folk religion. A shrine is a location which may have ancient trees, glacial boulders, bodies of water or unique plants. There may be a swing, fireplace, sauna and a log storage shed at the shrine. People go to various shrines during important festivals or other important occasions, to establish harmony with nature, experience peace and gather strength. Before going to the shrine, body and mind must be purified. Their ethics emphasises
mõnu or
mõnus, "enjoyment" or more accurately "harmonious life" or "balance". ==See also==