The Northern Path

At a Yule gathering on the Eve of the Solstice we all hailed Sunna, and the dedicated people kept vigil until sunrise. I feel an additional need to celebrate now: with the days getting perceptibly longer, I find myself rejoicing every day at Her return. Yet as a rational person I can’t help second-guessing the need to do this — surely I should know that the light will return on schedule?

My sense of spirituality is very deeply connected to seasonal cycles, but since I was raised Orthodox Secular Humanist I still feel a sense of embarassment about this, as though it is something that the human race really should have outgrown by now. Even in the sixth century A.D., the ulta-civilized historian Procopius takes the natives of Thule to task for their irrational exuberance at the return of the sun, which they should have realized would happen every year:

And when a time amounting to thirty-five days has passed in this long
night, certain men are sent to the summits of the mountains–for this is
the custom among them–and when they are able from that point barely to
see the sun, they bring back word to the people below that within five
days the sun will shine upon them. And the whole population celebrates a
festival at the good news, and that too in the darkness. And this is the
greatest festival which the natives of Thule have; for, I imagine, these
islanders always become terrified, although they see the same thing
happen every year, fearing that the sun may at some time fail them
entirely. (History of the Wars VI, trans. H.B. Dewing, courtesy of Project Gutenberg)

Of course Procopius never went through a Northern winter. I think my “primitive” Northern ancestors had the right idea after all, so I will join them and celebrate, rationality be damned. Hail, Sunna!

I’m still thinking about what to get people for Yule. Several artisans have websites showing their wares:

• Beautiful things from Urweg
• Original jewelry by Weylandsdottir
• Jewelry and Viking goods from Ragweed Forge. I’m very partial to the Birka glassware.

The Scandinavian retailers also have quite a few “Viking” objects inspired by Norse design. So far my favorite is the Viking spiral bottle stopper by Sigvat Designs, pictured at the left. Sigvat has also created a handsome set of wine charms.

The Tokheim pottery caught my eye, especially the beer mug with horse motif, pictured at right. If I’m feeling flush, I might also get someone the Hnefatafl set. Still, it’s not necessary to go out and spend a lot of money — handmade items, homemade preserves and CD music mixes also make great gifts, and they’re sure to be one of a kind.

Western skiers have been praying to Ullr for snowfall, and are apparently being rewarded. According to the Aspen Daily News:

This year’s early season drought has prompted some Roaring Fork Valley locals to turn to the gods. Several Ullr fires have been lit, and one group of locals is promising to burn one each week until the snow really starts flying.

“It’s just kind of a sacred spiritual event, pooling our energy into the rock and stick, to make energy move around to bring the snow,” said Danny Brown, an Aspen local who has been to several Ullr fires.

Aspen is also hosting its first Annual Pray for Snow party, complete with corporate sponsors: “… if it snows, organizers of the event — sponsored by KSNO-FM and 39 Degrees at the Sky Hotel — said the ceremony will be a way to thank the Norse god Ullr, or any other deity, pagan or otherwise, that unleashed the flakes. “

Invoking Ullr in Colorado is nothing new: Breckenridge has hosted an Ullr Fest for decades. The Fest sounds very tourist-friendly, featuring “the legendary Main Street Parade, live entertainment and bar series, a Nordic event, Ullympics and an ice skating party.”

Whistler Blackcomb also has an annual Ullr Party, and the Norse God is being invoked by official snowbloggers. These parties all sound like Good Clean Fun, encouraged by local tourist boards. And so far there don’t seem to be any objections from Christians — even when the God appears in Utah!

True confessions time: I didn’t expect to like this movie. Video games and gratuitous bloodshed bore me to tears, and the trailers and the buzz led me to expect quite a lot of both. However, the storytelling and acting (yes, acting) are good enough to carry the movie most of the time, special effects or no special effects.

There’s plenty here to appeal to a Heathen audience: most of the action takes place in an intact Heathen culture, where Christianity is a newfangled curiosity. The movie opens with a classic mead hall scene, in all its gritty grubby glory, and after Grendel’s attack Beowulf arrives to claim the role of hero in a round of boasting. We are in a Germanic world without all of the preachy Christian interpolations of the poem.

The faces and emotions of most of the main characters were believable — with the exception of poor Wealhtheow, who was rendered as a geometric mass like an artist’s dummy. Beowulf could have been done as a simple smash and bash piece (monsters! wenches!), but after the first round of action, a more complex human story takes over. Unfortunately, the story is trite, but that is not the fault of the actors or the technology. A number of complex facial expressions and unspoken moments come off successfully, showing that this is indeed drama and not a video game or graphic novel. Visually, there’s a lot to enjoy: I loved the details of the ornaments and clothing, and the battle with the dragon was glorious. It’s too bad the producers haven’t yet learned to render galloping horses, which looked like a row of bouncing tennis balls, but that was really the one jarring exception.

Ever since John Gardner’s book Grendel, modern Beowulf interpreters have been interested in the monsters’ motivations and point of view, and this movie is no exception. In the interest of exploring monster-human relations, the writers decided to use Grendel’s mother as a femme fatale. (By this point everyone knows she is played by a digital version of Angelina Jolie, so I’m not giving anything away here.) This device seemed trite and gave the plot a soap opera twist, but the rest of the story and the acting were interesting and believable. This is not the Beowulf of the poem — but for an audience willing to experience it on its own terms, it has quite a tale to tell.

Note: if you want to brush up on the original Beowulf, check out the dual-language edition by Howell Chickering. The Chickering translation is more accurate than Seamus Heaney’s, and preserves more of the sense and rhythm of Anglo-Saxon verse. If you want to hear the poem in Old English, check out the Beowulf excerpt at Anglo-Saxon Aloud, or  Benjamin Bagby’s performance on DVD.

According to the Oregon newspaper the Curry Coastal Pilot, a driver who had been severely injured was discovered by a helpful Heathen who called the authorities on his cell phone and administered basic first aid while waiting for help.

How do we know he’s Heathen? Clifton Siple told the newspaper that he was also praying to Njord:

Siple, who was walking his Airedale terrier Dusty when he found Scott lying next to her car on the beach, said he was praying to Njord, the god of the sea, while awaiting rescuers.

“I was just praying to him, ‘hold the tide back a little bit longer so we can get Diane out of here,’” Siple said Friday.

Siple said he is a member of an old Germanic-Scandinavian religion called Asatru. “It’s not a mainstream religion. It’s being reconstructed from a thousand years ago. We’re not naked dancing in the woods,” he said.

Apparently the story has attracted wider interest: “Siple said since the rescue, he had done three interviews and had received calls from NBC’s Today Show and NBC’s Dateline.”

It was nice to see an ordinary person who happens to be Asatru in the news — a welcome break from the usual sensationalistic treatment in the media. It’s also nice to see an example of a Heathen virtue that doesn’t get as much press as the others:

No better burden can a man carry on the road
Than a store of common sense
(Havamal 10)

According to the New York Times, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has directed chaplains to remove religious books, tapes and CDs from prison libraries unless they are on an as-yet-undisclosed list of 150 government-approved resources. Apparently the original motivation was fear of terrorists with library cards:

Traci Billingsley, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Prisons, said the agency was acting in response to a 2004 report by the Office of the Inspector General in the Justice Department. The report recommended steps that prisons should take, in light of the Sept. 11 attacks, to avoid becoming recruiting grounds for militant Islamic and other religious groups. The bureau, an agency of the Justice Department, defended its effort, which it calls the Standardized Chapel Library Project, as a way of barring access to materials that could, in its words, “discriminate, disparage, advocate violence or radicalize.”

No Pagan religions are mentioned, but Jason at the Wild Hunt blog has immediately picked up on the implications for Pagans and Heathens:

In addition, according to religious scholars who have seen the list, the title selection is “inhibiting”, and favors “a bias toward evangelical popularism and Calvinism”. So naturally, one has to wonder what the book selections are for modern Pagan and Heathen religions. Which books were approved for Wicca? For Asatru? Which “experts” picked the books for these categories, and how many titles total are allowed in prison libraries?

The policy raises First Amendment concerns, and some inmates have already filed a class-action lawsuit. One can only hope that the spiritual interests of Pagans and Heathens won’t be washed away in the surge from this particular political storm.

Ravencast, the Asatru podcast, has posted the third interview in their series on national Heathen organizations.  This month’s interview is with Heimgast of the Odinic Rite. In previous entries, the dynamic duo interview leading figures in The Troth and the Asatru Folk Assembly.

Although these organizations are all very different, it’s striking to hear how their representatives are all thinking about the Big Picture and the long-term future of Heathenry. It’s also interesting that all of the leaders seem to have a strong dedication to service.  In most of the places I hang out in Cybergard, we tend to spend our time on interesting but ephemeral discussions of day to day issues or various points of lore.  Until I heard these interviews, I hadn’t devoted much thought to larger issues or the role that a national organization might play whether in the life of an individual or on the national stage.  This series has broadened my horizons in a big way.

The official Beowulf movie website has a podcast series up now. Go to the main site and click on ‘Podcasts.’ The podcasts are on the long side, and I can’t decide if I liked the first one or not. As another blogger has pointed out, they really dumb down the poem, snickering at it as though it were something you would never want to actually read. The guys seem to have a lot more expertise in modern moviemaking and other Beowulf treatments, which they cover in loving detail and with great glee. They make fun of all of the other Beowulf movies, but I suppose that’s their job and in fact the other movies have been ridiculous. To this point, attempts to do a dramatic treatment of Beowulf have resulted in a train wreck. The hosts suddenly seem to realize where their logic is taking them, and assure us that this Beowulf movie will be much better.

Meanwhile, MacFarlane Toys has created a set of action figures with young Beowulf, Grendel, the dragon, and Grendel’s mother. (Warning: if you check out Grendel’s mother in hopes of seeing a naked Angelina Jolie, you’re going to be really, really disappointed.)

What I really want is the strange glowing meadhorn that everyone seems to have in the trailer. Maybe there will be a fast food restaurant tie-in and I can get one with a Happy Meal.

The September issue of National Geographic has a story on Iron Age bog bodies. The story highlights the use of new tools such as CT scans, radiocarbon dating, and 3D imaging, and is accompanied by an artistic photo spread. The additional scientific information is shining a new light on the fanciful theories of the past, as well as the damage the bodies have sustained at the hands of peat diggers and overeager curators.

DNA analysis has shown that the Windeby “girl” was probably a boy, while radiocarbon dating reveals that a supposed lover buried nearby lived three centuries earlier. A Danish team using CT scans to reexamine Danish bog bodies has concluded that many of the injuries previously attributed to ritual violence may have been inflicted during excavation (often done accidentally by a backhoe) or by the pressure of the bog itself. However, even after discounting specific injuries, the larger riddle of ritual sacrifice remains.

NOVA’s program website The Perfect Corpse features extensive information and teaching materials, including Seamus Heaney’s poem The Tollund Man — you can read the text and hear audio of Heaney reading the poem. Both sites also have excellent photos, including pictures of the Swabian knot, a hairstyle described by Tacitus.

This is an area where Celtic and Germanic cultures sometimes seem to be considered together as though they were a single monolithic culture making sacrifices to a generic fertility deity, so it was nice to see the National Geographic author take care to draw a distinction at one point: “… even if Kelly is right about the royal status of Irish bog bodies, people on the Continent had a different culture—Germanic rather than Celtic—chiefs instead of kings, and, almost certainly, other rites of sacrifice.“

The second edition of Neil Price’s The Viking Way: Religion and War in the Later Iron Age of Scandinavia is now available on Amazon. This is a groundbreaking study of the archaeological evidence for Heathen religious practices, and I’ve been eagerly awaiting the second edition. Here’s a description from Oxbow books:

The Viking Way: Religion and War in the Later Iron Age of Scandinavia, second edition. by Neil Price

Magic, ritual and sorcery are prevalent themes in medieval Icelandic sagas, but do they reflect reality or are they a literary and poetic construct? Neil Price’s thesis examines the literary and archaeological evidence for Old Norse sorcery and especially the important link between religion and war. He traces evidence for Viking mytholgy and cosmology, for the function, practice and practitioners of sorcery and war rituals. What he reveals is that violence played a crucial role in early medieval power systems in Scandinavia and in particular where there existed `a gender-encoded control of organised violence’. The evidence is placed within the context, and in comparison with, Germanic and circumpolar societies, and the archaeological evidence is accompanied by many excellent illustrations. second edition (Oxbow Books, forthcoming 2007)

Praise for the first edition of The Viking Way
“One of the most important contributions to Viking studies in recent years, quite possibly in recent decades … an exceptional book … essential reading” Dr. Matthew Townend, Antiquity

“This will be the starting point for any discussion of early northern religion from now on … this book is about to become famous … it is the sense of being invited back-stage in history to discover not magic realism, but the reality behind the magic” Professor Martin Carver, Fornvännen

“Takes the reader on an exciting journey … anyone reading Price’s book will never again be able to romanticise the Vikings and their time … here the terror and madness of the Viking Age Odin cult and its war-fixation emerge unvarnished … a book that is going to be debated for a long time to come” Professor Gro Steinsland, Collegium Medievale

“A big, packed, inspirational book … one of those that moves archaeology forwards, gives it nourishment and opens new avenues” Professor Else Roesdahl, Kuml

“This refreshing, thoroughly researched and inspirational book sheds exciting new light on the Viking Age. I am already recommending it to all my students” Dr. Terry Gunnell, University of Iceland

“A fresh and stimulating analysis which unites archaeology and ethnography and makes excellent use of both” Professor Richard Bradley, University of Reading

“A ground-breaking work of research in archaeology and the humanities, with an impact that will be felt for many years … it has turned our view of this period upside down” Professor Helle Vandkilde, University of Aarhus

In Sweden the book has received prizes from the Royal Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities and the Royal Gustav Adolf Academy, and in 2005 the author was awarded the prestigious King Oscar II Prize from Uppsala University.