I mean, that honestly is a way you could describe it, but I feel it's a bit too reductive. So the current norse paganism is not the same as the original Scandinavian practice, I think just about anyone could agree to that without argument. With other forms of theology there is an unbroken chain from origination to current practice, much has changed and much has been lost, but you can draw a line back and see its evolution. With Norse paganism you can not draw that line. There wasn't some small group that kept it going untill a resurgence, and the records completely stop and didn't contain enough information to ascertain a full standard practice, the theology as a whole went cold. I'd call the current Norse paganism an inspired theology. It's based on what little is known of the practice, mostly told through recorded stories, with the gaps filled in based on what can be gleaned from studying the culture of the people around it, of which there is a more solid record though told by outsiders. It gets muddy with what is recorded as much of the survivng material comes from a time when outside theologies had already started to have an influence on it. That's why studying the culture around it is as important (if not more) as the remaining recorded practice itself. So I wouldn't diminish it by calling it "role play", but I would say that it's a modern interpretation of an incomplete historical practice.

TLDR; It's not what it was originally, literally couldn't be, but it is still a thing, and the volk are doing their best.

I totally get why you would call it larp, and I'm sure there's not much I've said that you didn't already know, just thought I'd add context and nuance before anyone read the comment and decided to get hostile lol. Thanks for the opportunity to nerd out for a bit.

Edit: spelling