The Daughters of Frya are an all-female religious society currently based near Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. Deriving their beliefs and practices from a controversial 19th century Frisian manuscript known as the Oera Linda Book, they are said to have a worldwide membership of approximately four hundred.
Beliefs and practices
According to the Oera Linda Book, the goddess Frya gave her Tex, or commandments, to the human race in 2194 BCE, at the time of the destruction of Atland (i.e. Atlantis). Frya’s Tex, and other passages in the Oera Linda Book, state that eternal life with Frya is available exclusively to women, but only if they renounce all sexual activity and remain free from bodily poisons (i.e. intoxicants). In addition, they must at all times wear nothing more than a short white tunic known as a tohnekka, whilst spending six hours every day bending their knees in devotion to Frya's divine father, the supreme deity Wr-alda. These six hours are divided into two shifts of three hours each, and during each shift the devotees are required to bend their knees six hundred times - whilst chanting the phrase Wr-alda t-Anfang t-Bijin (‘Wr-alda, the Origin, the Beginning’ in ancient Frisian). Atland, or Aldland as it is sometimes spelt, is the name applied to Atlantis by the Oera Linda Book. ... A map showing the supposed location of Atlantis. ... Frisian is a Germanic language, or group of closely related languages, spoken by around half a million members of an ethnic group living on the southern fringes of the North Sea in the Netherlands and Germany. ...
The Oera Linda Book implies that the Vestal Virgins of Ancient Rome were a later offshoot of this Frisian tradition. A vestal Virgin, engraving by Sir Frederick Leighton, ca 1890: Leightons artistic sense has won over his passion for historical accuracy in showing the veil over the Vestals head at sacrifices, the suffibulum, as translucent, instead of fine white wool. ... Ancient Rome was a civilization that existed in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East between 753 BC and its downfall in AD 476. ...
Organisational structure
After taking their vows to observe the above regulations, which are supposed to be binding for life, members spend seven years helping out in their local communities - doing voluntary work for charities, for example. After this they may enter the community at Armidale (named Frisland), which currently has about fifty residents. Life in the Frisland community centres around the burgh, a large wooden structure vaguely resembling Stonehenge, in which the daily devotions are continuously performed.
Controversies
In 2004 the Daughters of Frya were featured in an unfavourable light on Dutch TV, and attracted the attentions of anti-cult groups in Australia and elsewhere. The following year (2005) witnessed a number of fake websites purporting to be officially sanctioned by the organisation, but which were later revealed to be hoaxes perpetrated by former members. Since then, the Daughters of Frya have refused all contact with representatives of the media.
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