The Northern Path

Theodsman Dan Halloran’s candidacy for the Queens New York City Council has attracted a fair amount of attention in the media. This issue has been covered extensively at the Wild Hunt blog, but I did want to post today’s article in the Village Voice. In this case the author spent a bit more time trying to learn about Theodism and Asatru than the other journalists have, clearly doing some research and consulting numerous sources. There are still things to be unhappy about, but the at least the reporter made an effort to do some actual reporting about the issue. It’s a pity that the bar is so low that this has to count as an outstanding effort.

Halloran has been squirming and wiggling about his affiliations — which was partly why the Village Voice chose to look into the issue (the article is titled “Grand Ol’ Pagan: What Does the Republican ‘Heathen’ Running for New York’s City Council Actually Believe?”). Most of the public is probably still fairly confused. But no matter how the election next week turns out, this is another sort of “historic candidacy,” and there will be a new level of public awareness of Heathenry and Theodism.

Fredrik Gregorius, a scholar of religion at the University of Lund, has just defended his dissertation on contemporary Asatru in Sweden: Modern asatro: att konstruera etnisk och kulturell identitet [Modern Asatru: Constructing Ethnic and Cultural Identity].  The dissertation is in Swedish, but a member of Sveriges Asatrosamfund has reviewed the dissertation in English on YouTube. Six pages of the dissertation are in English, and there is a brief English summary available on the university website cited above:

The purpose of the study is to examine contemporary followers of Asatru in Sweden. Central to the study is the way Asatru today can be seen as an ethnic religion. Due to this will the ideas about Asatru as a folk religion among followers and the idea of Asatru as a form of “sed”, a term that can roughly be translated as a form of custom, be explored. Related to the idea of ethnic identity and Asatru is the question as to why people living in Sweden today feel a connection and identifies themselves with a culture that ceased to exist around a thousand years ago. In order for such a relationship to exist is it necessary for a follower of Asatru to imagine some form of essential cultural identity that defies other cultural changes. That is some form of cultural and ethnic essentialism. The study deals primarily with Sweden but Asatru in other countries, especially the United States are also included due to the influence they have on the Swedish scene. Chapter 1 serves as an introduction; discussion of methodology, previous studies and also presents some definitions used. Chapter 2 deals with the theories used in the study. Chapter 3 presents an historical background from which Swedish Asatru appears. Chapter 4 gives an historical background to the Swedish Asatru scene. Chapter 5 presents an overview of the Asatru scene in Sweden today regarding numbers of followers, why people join, and so forth. Chapter 6 presents ideas about culture in the Swedish Asatru scene. Chapter 7 deals with the attitude towards nature. Chapter 8 deals with the ideas about gods and goddesses in Asaru. Chapter 9 is about religious rituals like modern forms of “blot”. Chapter 10 discusses the use of magic, like rune magic and sejd, in Asatru. Chapter 11 serves as a form of analysis and deals with the relationship between Asatru and other social fields.

In July of this year the Danish organization Forn Sidr received permission to establish a Heathen cemetery in the town of Odense. Although this isn’t exactly breaking news, the coverage in English-language media has been somewhat sparse, so here is a translation of the original Danish story in the (yes, Christian) newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad.

Admirers of Odin and Thor get their own cemetery
July 7, 2008   Now Asatruar can be buried in a shared Heathen grave in Odense. Yet another sign that the Danish government is demonstrating openness toward smaller religious groups, says expert

Laura Elisabeth Schnabel
For the first time in a thousand years, Danish admirers of the old Scandinavian gods Thor, Odin and Loki will have a burial ground that is theirs alone. The municipality of Odense has given the green light to the establishment of a Heathen cemetery at the Assistens Cemetery in central Odense by the end of the year.

The membership of the largest Asatru organization, Forn Sidr, has tripled to 600 members since it was recognized as a religious community by the Ministry for Ecclesiastical Affairs in 2003. Thus the cemetery is also badly needed, said Søren Fisker, Forn Sidr’s vice president and cemetery liaison.

“When you establish a religious community, you should also be able to serve your members from cradle to grave, so getting a cemetery is a big breakthrough,” said Fisker.

In the past, Asatruar have had to have their ashes scattered at sea or be buried in a churchyard. But not everyone is happy with this arrangement:

“Many Asatruar define themselves precisely by being different from the majority of Christians. Therefore they don’t want to have parochial Christian church councils deciding on the gravestones, symbols and plants at their gravesites either,” says Søren Fisker.

Forn Sidr has already chosen a row of large stones that will form the outline of an 18 meter-long Viking ship, thus forming the boundary of the shared Heathen cemetery. Søren Fisker hopes that other municipalities that operate cemeteries in larger towns will also be sympathetic to establishing cemeteries for Asatruar.

If the Center for Cemeteries, which oversees the five cemeteries in the municipality of Copenhagen, is approached by Forn Sidr, the Center would be positively disposed right away.

“They could certainly rent an area. We have a very broad definition of what is permissible. But of course we would say no if they suddenly wanted to raise stones that were 15 meters high,” said Tom Olsen, the daily director of cemeteries.

Forn Sidr is the only one of 35 Asatru groups in the country that has been recognized as a religious community.

René Dybdal Pedersen of Aarhus University, who has done research on Asatru and written a book on new religious groups, estimates that there are a couple of thousand Asatruar in Denmark in total.

According to Pedersen, the Heathen cemetery is part of a general movement in which people from different religious communities want to be buried in separate places under separate conditions.

“I think this will develop into a liberalization of burial practice, so that there will be an opening for people to be buried according to their wishes,” he said.

He sees the Asatru cemetery as an expression of greater openness toward religious communities other than Christianity.

“Previously the Ministry for Ecclesiastical Affairs recognized religious communities. Now this is done by a committee of theologians, lawyers and sociologists of religion among others, which has created a greater opening for the government not to focus exclusively on Christian groups. We have been living in a religiously diverse society for a long time. Now this is spreading to the public system,” said René Dybdal Pedersen.

Among other things he points to the fact that Muslims have gotten their own cemetery, and to a new law that makes it possible to establish cemeteries in Denmark’s forests.

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!

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.

Yesterday, the news broke that the VA had finally reached a settlement in the Pentacle Quest case, and added the Pentacle to their official list of Emblems of Belief, meaning that it can now be placed on the government-issued gravestones of Wiccan veterans. This is great news — congratulations to everyone who fought so long and hard for recognition!

However, in an analysis posted today, Jason P-W of the Wild Hunt points out that the victory is slightly bittersweet, since the terms of the settlement prohibit the plaintiffs from keeping or disclosing any documents obtained by them during the discovery phase of the lawsuit. If this interpretation is correct, any potential proof of government wrongdoing during this long battle would not be available to interested parties, including any other groups seeking approval of their symbols in the future. The final sentence: “As for the VA, one wonders what will happen when Asatru organizations start applying for a gravestone symbol.“

One wonders, indeed. With so many Heathens in the military, has the time now come to seek approval for the Hammer?

Asatru has gained increased visibility in Sweden this year, as the news of government recognition of a major Heathen organization has spread and Heathens held their annual public Spring Blot in Gamla Uppsala. So far, the Swedish press has responded primarily with open-minded curiosity, interviewing several Swedish Heathens and treating the entire issue as an opportunity to learn more about Asatru. Perhaps Swedish journalists are more familiar with the Heathen past and more comfortable with it than journalists in other countries.

The only sour note has appeared in Kyrkans Tidning, the news site of the State (Lutheran) Church. Their headline sniffs that Asatruar are “allowed to call themselves” a religious body, and the article questions the significance of the government’s recognition, describing the process as a legal/administrative one and not a “seal of approval.” Still, this is a comparatively mild treatment considering the source.

A summary of Swedish press coverage (all in Swedish):

• Swedish Radio 4/13/07 Radiokompaniet interviews Swedish Heathen Calle Rehbinder about the Spring Blot in Uppsala.
• Svenska Dagbladet 4/9/07. Coverage of the Spring Blot in Uppsala.
• Upsala Nya Tidning 4/9/07. Coverage of the Spring Blot. Also in English on an earlier blog entry here.
• Icakuriren 3/31/07. “We choose other Gods.” The paper uses the occasion of Easter as an opportunity to interview a Heathen, along with a Bahai and a Zoroastrian.
• Swedish Radio 3/21/07. Sveriges Asatrosamfund Vice Chairman Per Lundberg interviewed on radio program Morgonpasset.
• Aftonbladet, 3/11/07. Brief summary of a longer interview with Per Lundberg in that day’s paper.
• Swedish Radio 3/10/07. Sveriges Asatrosamfund’s Chairman Henrik Hallgren speaks on the religious radio program Vid Dagens Början. (30-day archive only, program no longer available.)
• Kyrkans Tidning 3/7/07. “Asatruar allowed to call themselves a religious body.”
• Swedish Radio 2/23/07. Religious program Människor och Tro discusses the recognition of Asatru. (30-day archive only, program no longer available.)
• Sydsvenskan, 2/14/07. “Freya, Odin and Thor gain official status.”

On Monday, April 9th, Swedish Heathens gathered at the ancient mounds of Uppsala to celebrate their Spring Blot. This is the eighth year for the ritual, organized by Sveriges Asatrosamfund in cooperation with the Stockholm groups Idavallen and Bifrostfolket.

The recent government recognition of Sveriges Asatrosamfund has led to several profiles of Swedish Heathens in newspapers and radio, and two newspapers had brief stories on today’s blot. One story is in Svenska Dagbladet, while the other is in the Uppsala Nya Tidning.

Here is a translation of the Uppsala Nya Tidning article:

The Gods Invoked at Spring Blot

“I raise the horn to life’s eternal cycle!” “I raise the horn to friends new and old!” There were many salutations at this year’s Spring Blot as the mead went around among the people celebrating the arrival of spring at the Old Uppsala mounds on Easter Monday.

Rust colored cloaks, babies and caps were to be seen among the 60-plus people who had come to call upon their gods Frey and Frey [sic], and upon nature and its spirits.

“This is a demonstration that this is a living faith,” shouts Henrik Hallgren of Sveriges Asatrosamfund in his opening remarks.

This thousand year old tradition has been celebrated in Uppsala for eight years. Among the visitors was Anders Olsson, who has been Asatru since the 1970s. “My Asatru faith began as a Viking romantic phase when I was a teenager, but today it has grown into something larger. The important celebrations for me are at the change of the seasons,” he explains.

Medieval music begins to play. Fanfares sound from instruments such as the birch bark horn and the talharpa. A hail shower surprises the visitors. The offering begins. One by one, they go up to the fire with bread, grain or fruit. Spring is welcomed and the ceremony continues.

Julia Wiraeus