rehedning

Rehedning is a term that appears in some contemporary discussions about religious and cultural identity to describe the process by which a group redefines or reframes its heathen or pagan identity. The term is not widely standardized and does not appear in major dictionaries; its use is largely confined to niche scholarly articles, journalism, or discourse within neopagan and ethnocultural communities. The word combines the prefix re- with hedning, the Nordic term for heathen, itself derived from Old Norse heiðinn.

Usage and scope: In some contexts, rehedning refers to deliberate reinterpretation of historical pagan practices and beliefs to align with modern ethical, political, or social values. In others, it denotes rebranding or revitalizing a movement to appeal to new publics, such as immigrants, urban populations, or younger generations. The concept is often discussed alongside related processes such as reethnicization, religious revival, or ethnogenesis.

Assessment: There is no formal framework or consensus on how to identify rehedning, its indicators, or its timeline, and critics warn against conflating revival with fabrication or essentialist readings of tradition.

See also: neopaganism, heathenry, ethnogenesis, reethnicization, religious revival.