The Northern Path

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.

I’m spending a a week in Stockholm, and today I made a day trip out to Gamla Uppsala, which I hadn’t visited since 1987. While the somewhat murky Blackberry photo shows a quiet scene, it’s actually a fairly busy place, with people coming and going and the air ringing with the chatter of birds, tourists and schoolchildren.

The sixth-century mounds are indeed monumental in size, rising from rich agricultural land that must have helped Uppsala become the power base and population center it was by the third century.

At the entrance to the mounds is a round museum building reminiscent of a yurt or a muffin. The locals objected when it was built, saying it looked like a spaceship had landed, but once you are inside the design seems absolutely right: one wall of the museum is made of glass, providing a remarkable view of the mounds that is echoed by the round interior space.

I was slightly alarmed to find that I didn’t really know how to respond to this place. There were so many fences and trails and signs in the visible landscape and such a jumble of fragments from Adam of Bremen and Ynglinga Saga floating around in my head that a pure emotional, aesthetic or spiritual response was simply out of the question.  However I felt better after seeing a museum exhibit showing how the site had been used over the centuries as a backdrop for all sorts of political and romantic statements, from Gustav Vasa to Rudbeck to Bernadotte, from students drinking horns of mead to Pope John Paul holding mass there in 1989. (There was no mention of the return of practicing Heathens to the site.) Nearly every illustration showed the mounds absolutely crawling with people, all watching some sort of spectacle and with no idea what the hills they were standing on represented or contained.  And indeed very little seems to be known about their contents, even to this day. For me this place remains even more of a mystery than it was before.

The Swedish radio program Vetenskapsradion Historia often interviews archaeologists, and on April 24th they interviewed Dr. Kristina Jennbert of Lund University about her current research on falconry during the Iron Age and the Viking Age. The interview is in Swedish, but to summarize briefly in English, Jennbert has revisited the bird brooches found at Uppåkra, in view of archaeological remains including falcon bones deposited in rich graves which showed that falconry was an important pursuit of both men and women. She also reviewed the brooches with an ornithologist at the University, and came to the conclusion that the birds’ poses and the styling of their feet could very well represent birds of prey.

While the ornaments have traditionally been identified as ravens, in her written work Jennbert cautions against reflexively interpreting the brooches this way:

However, it is questionable whether Old Norse mythology gives answers to pre-Christian iconographic representations, and this is an ongoing discussion in the field of archaeology and history of religion.1

Still, mythology does provide another tantalizing suggestion: both Freya and Frigga had falcon cloaks, enabling them to fly. So there are really many possible connections between women and falcons here: the falcon bones in the women’s graves, the numerous finds of brooches with bird motifs, also found in women’s graves, and the falcon cloaks of mythology.

I couldn’t help wondering if a modern Heathen woman could find falcon or raven brooches to wear (for me it’s usually a very short leap from a theoretical question to a shopping opportunity), and the answer is definitely yes. I was told that the museum shop at Lund had reproductions, but there are reproductions to be found Stateside as well: The Viking Trader has two nice pins based on finds from Bejsebakken Denmark: a very nice brooch showing a bird of prey (item 330, pictured above right), and a “raven” very like the Uppåkra brooch (item 314, shown at the left, which comes as both a brooch and a pendant).

1. 2007.The mania of the time. Falconry and bird brooches at Uppåkra and beyond. On the Road. Studies in honour of Lars Larsson (Eds. Birgitta Hårdh, Kristina Jennbert and Deborah Olausson). Acta Archaeologica 4:26. s. 24-28. Stockholm: Almquist & Wiksell International.

The Norwegian paper Aftenposten reports that the Viking graves from the famous Oseberg and Gokstad ship burials will be reopened in September for further study.

Experts fear the human remains from Viking times may be in the process of disintegrating, if they haven’t already. They want to try to extract them to apply new methods of studying bone matter that can yield new information on the Vikings’ genetics and background.

Bone fragments from one of the Oseberg women were subjected to DNA analysis earlier this year. The tests showed a link to the Black Sea area.

Both ships can be seen at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo.

Swedish archaeologist Dr. Martin Rundkvist has written up a brief article on a gold foil figure die that his team found in April. He has published the preprint on his blog.

The die would have been used to make small gold foil figures known as guldgubbar. Guldgubbar, which are only found in Scandinavia, date from the Vendel period and depict men and women singly and in pairs. The figures have been interpreted as gods or heroes, although contemporary scholars are beginning to dispute this interpretation.

This piece depicts a single woman. The line drawing at left shows the woman’s dress and posture; she may be sitting on a low stool. Although the meaning of their iconography is unclear, guldgubbar are the expression of a high Heathen aristocratic culture. Rudolph Simek’s paper Rich and Powerful: the Image of the Female Deity in Migration Age Scandinavia is a detailed interpretation of exactly this type of figure. Simek’s student Sharon Ratke has a website where she shares her own research, along with more information such as maps, a bibliography, and lots of pictures.

In November 2006, the Danish Asatru group Forn Siðr dedicated a contemporary runestone outside the Danish village of Jelling. Jelling is the site of the famous runestone erected by Harald Bluetooth to announce the Christianization of Denmark. With the modern stone, Forn Siðr celebrated their ninth anniversary and their recognition by the Danish government — choosing Jelling as a location to “tell the world that we’re back, and that Harald failed in his mission.”

The Forn Siðr website features an informative account of the runestone project in English. The account includes a translation of chairman Linda Nørgaard’s dedication speech, which details the mixed reception that met this project:

…We’ve also heard from many Danes that rejoyce and look forward to the unveiling of this stone. People that regard Forn Siðr and the stone project as interesting, even sympathetical, and certainly not provocative. The anger we’ve met during this project, has almost exclusively been from christians. We have no perception of any anger coming from ordinary Danes regarding this celebration of our anniversary, only from christians. So I’m forced to say, short and simple, in a language everyone understands: We really can’t be bothered with it.

She also gives a vision for Asatru in Denmark:

That is why I hope that the work of art you’ll be seeing in a moment will bring people joy, and bring pleasure not only to the members of Forn Siðr, but to all people locally and nationally, who enjoys an exciting work of art and believes that there is room for The Old Ways in this country. Forn Siðr is non-missionary, which means that Asatru is a belief that everyone needs to find and embrace by themselves. But I personally believe that many more are ready to embrace Asatru, if only they can find the strength to free themselves of their given limitations and of other people’s expectations. So it’s not the purpose of the stone to facilitate mass conversion of people to Asatru, or in any other way force something upon people, but only to act as an inspiration in many ways.

The Icelandic documentary Screaming Masterpiece includes an excerpt of the ancient Icelandic poem Odin’s Raven Magic. This work is an extraordinary musical performance on a large scale. While Screaming Masterpiece covers a lot of ground in the Icelandic alternative music scene, and is jammed full of exciting music, Odin’s Raven Magic was a real high point for me.

According to the Reykjavik Arts Festival website, the Icelandic group Sigur Ros collaborated with composer Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson and ballad chanter Steindor Andersen to stage this poem in the Edda tradition:

Here they embark on their most ambitious work so far: restoring Odin’s Raven Magic, a forgotten masterpiece of ancient Icelandic poetry, to its rightful place of honour. Here, Iceland’s ancient song tradition merges with the most exciting new horizons in modern Icelandic music. New light is shed on the past, ancient motifs are revitalized in our modern age. Also engaged in the performance are a string section, a choir and a huge harp hewn from Icelandic rock by sculptor Páll from Húsafell. Choir conductor: Árni Hardarson. This work has been eagerly awaited ever since word first got around that it was being specially produced for Reykjavík Arts Festival.

Odin’s Raven Magic is an Icelandic poem in the ancient Edda tradition, thought to have been composed in the 14th or 15th century. Its anonymous author clearly had an intimate knowledge of the Edda literature and mythology and alludes to a number of pagan motifs which are now lost. The poem recounts a great banquet held by the gods in Valhalla. While they are absorbed in their feasting, ominous signs appear that could foretell the end of the worlds of the gods and men. Odin’s Raven Magic had been relegated from mainstream ancient literature ever since 1867, when Norwegian scholar Sophus Bugge claimed it was a 17th century fabrication. This theory has since been toppled with literary and linguistic arguments, and Jónas Kristjánsson, probably the most renowned scholar of ancient Icelandic literature today, has even hailed it as “a new Edda poem”.

Curious readers can examine a side-by-side translation of the Icelandic text into English. Sigur Ros plan to relase a  CD and DVD in early 2008. The band has also provided some video and audio clips, but the Screaming Masterpiece video material is way better. (Screaming Masterpiece is also available on Netflix.)

Between this piece and the upcoming Sequentia concert, this is turning out to be an exciting season for Heathen-themed performance works.

The Winter 2007 issue of the American Saami journal Baiki has a review of an English-language reference work on the Saami:

The Saami: A Cultural Encyclopedia
Ulla-Maija Kulonen, Irja Seurujärvi-Kari and Risto Pukkinen (eds.) Helsinki, Finland: Sumoalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 2005, 498 pages.

The review was quite positive, and indicates that the book would be of interest to the general lay reader. The book is available in the US from Finnbooks. Their website goes on to describe the book in more detail:

The multidisciplinary book is an outcome of a project launched and coordinated by the Saami Studies Work Group at the University of Helsinki. It presents the national character of the Saami and its manifestations from a point of view within the Saami culture itself. It is part of the great change in Saami research, which began in the 1970’s: the shift from Lappology to Saami Studies. In general and specialized articles, the encyclopedia presents not only the languages, history, mythology, folklore, music, economy, livelihoods and media of the Saami but also the indigenous peoples’ movement, human rights questions, education, art and social conditions. The nature and environment of Sápmi (Saamiland) are also dealt with as important background factors. Words and concepts that are characteristic of Saami culture are defined, and there are etymological articles about many Saami words. The encyclopedia is illustrated with numerous photographs and maps.

As this book aims to ensure that the voices of the different Saami groups themselves are heard, particular emphasis has been given to information about their own minority groups, such as the Kola Peninsula, Inari and Skolt Saami, who until now have been largely ignored by mainstream Saami Studies.

The book is a result of the efforts of more than 50 writers, which represent a number of academic institutions in Finland, Sweden, and Norway as well as various Saami institutions.

According to a March 26 story in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, bones from the Oseberg ship burial have been subjected to DNA analysis.

The bones of one of the women found in one of Norway’s most famous Viking graves suggest her ancestors came from the area around the Black Sea. The woman herself was “Norwegian,” claims Professor Per Holck at the University of Oslo, who has conducted analyses of DNA material taken from her bones. But Holck says that while she came from the area that today is Norway, her forefathers may have lived in the Black Sea region.

For more information, see the full story in English.