Crossword Genius

Paganism party for women maiden starts with fire (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

heathendom

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'paganism' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'party for women maiden starts with fire' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'party' could be 'hen' (hen party is a kind of party) and 'hen' is present in the answer.
'maiden' could be 'm' (cricket abbreviation) and 'm' is found in the answer.
'fire' could be 'heat' (both can mean passion) and 'heat' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'do' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for heathendom that I've seen before include "land outside the church" , "damned foreigners" , "hellish circumstances" , "Uncivilised lot" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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