Can We Build a Tribe?

Ragnvold Thorsson

There is been some debate over the validity of tribalism in this modern society we live in today. Is it even possible to build and maintain a tribe in today’s world? I will be he first to tell you that it not an easy task and that a modern tribe will never be the same as an ancient tribe. However it is possible to the build bonds and community of tribal society within a modern world.

Our biggest obstacle today is geography and logistics. Many of us Heathens are separated by distance making getting together regularly extremely difficult. We do not live in a Heathen community where we are surrounded by mostly other Heathen families and individuals. Like most Americans we live in neighborhoods with people we hardly know who have mostly Christian backgrounds and depending upon the region we live in we may find ourselves in a very Christianized area. As Heathens we are separated by vast seas of Christendom.

The second obstacle we have is time. We all have day jobs that take up a large chunk living hours. On top of that there are family obligations and duties that we all must perform whole heartedly. There are household duties, chores, and trips to the grocery store, the hardware store, and all those other odd jobs that need to be done to keep our lives in order. After all this we have very little time left over in which to gather as a community and build the bonds necessary for a trú tribe to grow and exist.

So what is a modern heathen to do? What so many of us do is to rely on cell phones, e-mail, social media networking, and other techno mumbo-jumbo in order to communicate and attempt to build bonds. Trú tribes and bonds cannot be built upon the internet, and thus we are forced into a modernist-tribal collision. Finding the balance between the modern and the old ways of our Folk; we need to become modern tribalists.

As we strive to find our way, our balance between the modern and the tribal, we build relationships. These relationships are through social network solutions and through face to face meetings and gathering. We strive to make time for each other on personal levels, levels that social networks cannot provide. We gather when we can and where we can to try and build the bonds of a tribe. I may never see the day when a true modern tribe comes to be, but I hope that as generations pass and my children and their children grow that they will create these bonds, thus bringing about a new golden age of the Gods and reviving the ways of our Folk.