This Resource Room will teach you how to tell time like a Viking! Well….not exactly. But it will help you familiarize yourself with how the people of the medieval North conceptualized the passing of time–and that’s still pretty cool.
🍃 FJÖRN’S FELLOWSHIP(Patrons): Anastasia Haysler, Cataclysmit, Cooper Brown, Froggy, and Kathleen Phillips. Thank you all for your gracious support and fellowship.
At long last! After many long hours, I have finally finished this post about norse healing. It is filled with magic, herbs, and saints – and I do hope that you all find something of interest there!
Skál! 🍻 – Fjorn
I hope you all don’t mind me giving this a quick boost! Indeed it may be shameless self-promotion, but I think there are many who missed this post due to Easter weekend and such.
Sagnaskemmtun with Fjorn: King Hakon the Good Complicates Yule.
Velkomin, gestir mínir! (Welcome, my guests!)
As many are of you are already aware, today is popularly regarded as Yule Day, while tonight is Yule Night. Yet, although I too regard this day as the ‘New’ Yule, I must inform you all that this is not truthful! Long ago, Yule was likely celebrated on the first full moon after the first new moon after the winter solstice (most scholars agree on mid-January) – a mouthful, indeed!1 Many holidays have now been aligned as one: the Old Yule was aligned with Christmas, and a New Yule, in an attempt to recover the Old Heathen holiday, has since been aligned with the winter solstice. It is all quite a complicated mess, if you ask me! But while it is fine that we celebrate a New Yule, we should all be kept aware of the Old Yule and when it was originally celebrated. For this, allow me to tell you all a brief portion from the story of King Hakon the Good, who complicated Yule through his attempts to find a common ground between Heathens and Christians:
When Hakon was the king of Norway, the land was torn between the Old Ways and the New. Christians and Heathens dwelled together, and this created tension between folk. But King Hakon was a kindhearted man (or so our sources say). He did not intend to force folk to convert to Christianity, although he was one himself. Instead, he sought to persuade them peacefully. This was quite difficult for him though, for there were many powerful chieftains in Norway who still honored the Old Ways. Such ways were still popular among ordinary folk as well. Thus, the king was left with a troublesome situation. Christianity had begun to seep into his land, and this would not be stopped. He had to mend this tear before greater turmoil could plague his peace.
For quite some time, King Hakon observed Christianity in secrecy, observing Sundays and Friday fasts. But this would not last, for he could not rule a land that he had to hide from. And so he passed laws that attempted to bring the Old Ways closer to the New. The first step in this endeavor was moving the observance of Yule, which was around January 12th that year, to the same time when Christians observed Christmas. He also made it law that folk were to have a certain measure of ale during these festivities, which has been measured to around 16 liters per person, or else pay a fine. Both holidays then were to last as long as the ale did. Yule, however, used to be celebrated for three nights! Whether or not the ale could last three nights is difficult to say. But all of this was before King Hakon publicly declared that he intended to convert the folk of Norway to Christianity.
By bringing the two holidays closer, King Hakon hoped to gradually transition Heathens into the arms of Christianity. It was not long after these changes, after all, that King Hakon moved to gain support from other great chieftains who had persuaded to Christianity. Once he had their support, he made his intentions public. He went to Thrandheim to preach Christianity to the farmers, but their response was to take this matter to another assembly, the Frostathing. The story goes on about King Hakon’s continued negotiations and conflicts with Heathens, but that is a story for another time.2
While this tale does not tell us much about Yule itself, it certainly gives us an idea of how the time to celebrate Yule became so clouded. King Hakon the Good moved Yule to align it with Christmas, which was all a part of his plan to convert the common folk to the New Ways. While his intentions seemed well (he wanted to convert folk peacefully, and that is a good intention, I say), this has made us forget the true time that Heathen folk once celebrated Yule. The lines between the two holidays truly have become blurred. I certainly think that it is fine that we have established a New Yule that keeps the Old Yule’s spirit, but we should always be aware that our thoughts today may not align with the image of the past. But we should not be bound by such things! Awareness is one thing, and practice is another! Besides, I believe that we can all agree that celebrating our New Yule on the winter solstice is much simpler than celebrating the Old Yule on the first full moon after the first new moon after the winter solstice, já? I would certainly hope so.
Skál! (Cheers!) – Fjorn the Skald
ENDNOTES
One may get away with simply saying the second full moon after the winter solstice, but that is not always true! For more on how this was discerned, see this rather old book original written in 1920: Mary Wilhelmine Williams, Social Scandinavia in the Viking Age (New York: Kraus Reprint, 1971), 385-386. For more on the incorporation of Yule into Christmas, see Peter G. Foote and David M. Wilson, The Viking Achievement: The Society and Culture of Early Medieval Scandinavia (London: Sidgewick & Jackson, 1983), 401-402.
Summarized and retold from Snorri Sturluson, “The Saga of Hakon the Good,” in Heimskringla, vol. I, translated by Alison Finlay and Anthony Faulkes, 88-119 (Viking Society for Northern Research, University College London, 2016), 97-8 (Chapter 13).
For people who are actually interested in how viking music might have sounded, “Drømde mik en drøm i nat“ (/I dreamt a dream last night) is the earliest music (and lyrics) known in Scandinavia preserved on the last page of the (~1200-1300) Codex Runicus as rune notes.
The song and melody is still known and used today in most of Scandinavia, as a sort of folk-standard. This version, deceivinglyslow in the beginning, is presented as close to the original sound of the years 900-1000 as historians think they can come.
This song might have survived because it was a gigantic hit, like the viking’s very own “Billie Jean”. A total pop slayer that stayed around long enough for music notes to be invented.
VIKING LORE HELD THAT BOTH WEAVING AND SORCERY WERE WOMEN’S WORK, DITTO THE ORDERING OF THE HOUSE ACCOUNTS. MANY CULTURES HAVE HISTORICALLY LEFT ACCOUNTANCY TO WOMEN! MANY SOCIETIES HAVE ALSO LEFT FIBERCRAFT TO WOMEN BECAUSE IT IS TEDIOUS AND REPETITIVE BUT ALSO VERY NECESSARY. SEE ALSO: COOKING, CLEANING, BUDGETING, EMOTIONAL LABOR.
ANYWAY FIBERCRAFT, AS I HAVE DISCOVERED VIA LEARNING TO DO A WHOLE LOT OF IT, IS ALMOST ENTIRELY APPLIED MATHEMATICS EXCEPT FOR THE PART THAT’S ENGINEERING (WHICH IS ALSO MATHEMATICS). ONCE YOU LEARN EVEN THE BASICS OF KNITTING, SEWING, AND WEAVING, IT BECOMES ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE TO REALIZE MEN THINK WOMEN ARE BY VIRTUE OF THEIR SEX (these are of course sexist gender-essentialist men who are not cool with trans people) ILL-EQUIPPED TO DO MATH SOMEHOW. HOLY SHIT, HAVE YOU SEEN HEIRLOOM KNITTING PATTERNS? HAVE YOU SEEN THE FORETHOUGHT THAT GOES INTO WORKING A HARNESS LOOM? OH MY GOD.
THIS IS, THEN, WHERE PROGRAMMING (AND SORCERY) COMES IN. A PROGRAM IS “CODED INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE AUTOMATIC PERFORMANCE OF A PARTICULAR TASK”. WEAVING IS OFTEN A BINARY PATTERN: OVER/UNDER. PUNCH CARDS ON ADVANCED LOOMS CAN SET WHETHER THREADS GO OVER OR UNDER, AND SWITCHING THE CARDS AROUND YIELDS DIFFERENT PATTERNS OF CLOTH. A DUDE NAMED JAQUARD DEVELOPED EXTREMELY COMPLEX PUNCH CARDS THAT STARTED TO ENCODE HIGH VOLUMES OF INFORMATION FOR INCREASINGLY AUTOMATED LOOMS. A HUNDRED YEARS LATER WOMEN ARE USED AGAIN FOR THE ‘TEDIOUS BUT NECESSARY’ BUSINESS OF USING BINARY ON/OFF CARDS TO WRITE PROGRAMS FOR EARLY COMPUTERS.
WHERE SORCERY FITS INTO ALL THIS IS HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A WOMAN USE A CARD LOOM REALLY FAST? IT’S THE MOST INTIMIDATING SKILLSET OUTSIDE OF A RODEO. SHE 100% LOOKS LIKE SHE COULD MAKE YOUR BUTT FALL OFF IF YOU CROSSED HER. APPLIED MATHEMATICS / ENGINEERING IS BAFFLING TO WATCH FROM THE OUTSIDE, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO FIBERCRAFT. YOU CAN MANIFEST WITH YOUR MIND AND HANDS THIS HIGHER AND TRUER ARCANE PLANE OF EXISTENCE INTO A NICE SCARF AND KEEP YOUR HUSBAND ALIVE FOR THE WINTER. MAYBE IF HE CROSSES YOU YOU CAN ALSO MAKE HIS BUTT FALL OFF.
I TOTALLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT MEN DO FIBERCRAFT TOO BUT THIS WAS SPECIFICALLY ABOUT THE INTERSECTIONS BETWEEN WOMEN, MATH, FIBERCRAFT, AND MAGIC, SO THERE YOU GO.
You may have known this already, but the Apollo guidance computer’s core memory was literally woven strands of copper, and it was all done by hand, by a bunch of women. Because who else knows how to weave things?
*SLAMS HANDS ON TABLE* WOMEN’S WORK SENT MEN TO THE FUCKING MOON HOW IS THAT NOT MAGIC AS HELL
Oh oh oh oh this is my subject on Viking reenactment gigs, I’m the group’s Vala and I also fill in for the weavers and spinners because IT’S THE SAME SHIT let me tell you about it 😀 😀 😀
SPINNING with a drop spindle, none of your fancy high-tech spinning wheels here my friend, SPINNING OMG is literally taking undifferentiated fluff and turning it into the most useful and life-essential item in your whole civilisation with little more than a click of your fingers–without thread you have no sails, no clothes, no blankets, it’s literally power of life-or-death shit here, it is magic AS FUCK. That’s without doubt why the Norns were spinners and weavers.
There was laws about not saying people’s names or talking about people when you’re spinning, because you’re basically bringing something into being out of nothing, and with that kind of power you could just as easily bring events into being. So folks probably look the other way when you’re spinning thread for your son’s shirt and you want him to be victorious and honourable, but if you’re spinning away and bitching out about that ho Ingvar (see below) and how she stole your man and deserves the same to happen to her, that’s a crime. You’d be in better legal standing if you just punched her, because enchantment against a person was seen as sneaky and underhanded, with all connotations of forethought and antisocial intention, while punching someone could be an understandable lapse of self-control.
It was also forbidden to spin “against the sun” (ie: counterclockwise) because ok we also know there’s a mechanical aspect to that as well, it’s very useful to have the twist going in the same direction at all times so it doesn’t cancel itself out, but it was believed that an item made from backwards-spun thread could literally kill a person, there’s an account of a Vala spinning a shirt to murder a priest and it’s inferred that it was spun backwards. Because like, the sun is the source of all life, and to go against the sun goes against life, and much as the anti-twist cancels out the twist, it cancels out life. Brutal.
And you couldn’t talk about people when weaving, either, because weaving is an extension of the whole something-from-nothing power, but presumably people did anyway because there’s an actual find of a weaving tablet with a curse carved on it “Sigvor’s Ingvar shall have
my misfortune” so basically every time the card was turned, it would strengthen the curse, and literally spin and weave it into being. HOW FUCKING AWESOME IS THAT. There’s also a find of a weaving sword with a “love poem” carved on it, note the quotemarks because this “poem” goes “Think of me, I think of you; Love me, I love you” THAT AIN’T NO POEM FAM THAT A SPELL. She probably making him (or her) a shirt.
And that’s three times I’ve mentioned shirts, so I should tell you that making a shirt for someone was a Big Deal, in a way it was sort of the period equivalent of the boyfriend sweater, with the sheer amount of labour that goes into making a shirt you have to really give a whole lot of shits about that person. There’s an account of a woman making a shirt for her brother-in-law while her husband was away, and it’s OMG DRAMA BOMB. The Vala I mentioned above really gave a lot of shits about murdering that priest. Hence, the most-likely-a-woman who owned the inscribed weaving sword could very well have been making a shirt for her crush, who may OR MAY NOT have been her husband. You know, she could’ve been like “hope my nice hubby thinks about me while he’s away” or she could’ve been like “damn, brother-in-law too hot” or she could’ve been like “damn, Ingvar too hot” (wlw aren’t attested at all but you gotta assume it happened because humans) but in any event she knew what was up. And making a shirt for someone wasn’t thought of as *overtly* magical, mostly, but there’s kind of a subtext to it that presupposes any shirt could be enchanted and probably was to some extent.
And this is just scratching the surface of the academically well established stuff, with none of my own hypotheses and observations. I can go on for hours.
I have talked about knitting and fiber arts with many different women of all sorts of religion and non religion, and the vast majority of them say that when they make special items, they put some kind of intentions into the garment.
My apologies for the delay of this response. I have been a bit overwhelmed by the state of my inbox as of late, so my pace in answering academic questions has been rather slow.
THE OLD GODS AND THE NEW: Sitting on the Spiritual Fence.
I STILL STAND by the words I spoke then, in that elements of the Old Ways did not fade entirely with the presence of Christianity. Although Christianity sought to rid the Norse of their old ways, it was not (nor ever could be) entirely successful. Plenty of heathens, after all, had no problem incorporating other deities into their practice. Christians would have been opposed to such doings, and so were plenty of heathens (especially once forced conversions began), but not all. Considering that, the two are only diametrically opposed when viewed from the perspective of Christianity. The Old Ways were not set in stone; there was plenty of room for variation in practice, which never truly remained stagnant to begin with.
One of the best historical examples of a Norseman with mixed faiths would be Helgi the Lean, who was a Norwegian and became an early settler of Iceland. Landnámabók, the Icelandic Book of Settlements, has this to say about him and his faith:
“Helgi the Lean went to Iceland with his wife and children and his son-in-law Hamund Hell-Skin as well. Hamund was married to Ingunn, Helgi’s daughter. Helgi’s faith was very much mixed: he believed in Christ but invoked Thor when it came to voyages and difficult times (my emphases). When Helgi sighted Iceland, he consulted Thor as to where he should put in, and the oracle guided him north of the island. Then his son Hrolf asked Helgi whether he was planning to sail to the Arctic Ocean if Thor told him to go there? It was late summer, he said, and the crew thought it was time to get ashore. Helgi made land north of Hris Isle, just south of Svarfadardale, and spent the first winter in Hamundarstead. The winter was very severe.”(1)
And so Helgi had embraced Christ, yet still looked to Thor for guidance during specific occasions; for him, Christianity and the Old Ways intermingled seamlessly. It is important to mentioned, though, that Helgi’s case was not the norm. The fact that the author took the time (and materials) to specifically note that his “faith was very much mixed” suggests that it was an anomaly of sorts (but perhaps more so for a Christian author). The fact that this was even remembered long enough to be written shows that even his contemporaries (other heathens) found this to be a bit odd. Regardless of the author’s thoughts on this, Helgi is spoken of rather neutrally; there is little indication of any overarching hostility towards him; it is spoken as fact. The Icelanders of that time often had a talent for respecting the past without complete condemnation, after all.
But why would a heathen accept Christ to begin with? And if Christians were so strongly opposed to polytheism, how did some heathens manage to stay on the spiritual fence? Missionaries pushing for conversion emphasized that the acceptance of Christ required the rejection of all other gods, but some evidence has shown (such as the case of Helgi the Lean) that not all folk were accepting of this. Some heathens wanted to keep their old doors unlocked.
THE CONCEPT that ‘allowed’ some heathens to embrace the old gods and the new is something that has been called ‘adhesion’. Dr. Arthur Derby Nock has discussed the topic of conversion quite extensively in his 1933 book Conversion: The Old and the New in Religion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo. Although concerning a different flavor of paganism, the concepts discussed in his book can still apply to the Norse realm. Here is what he has said about heathens who once embraced both the old and the new:
“You have sufficient reason for disseminating a special form of piety if you are convinced that it affords a means of contact with the supernatural which each and every man needs or can with profit use in addition to those means which he has inherited and uses.”(2)
In other words, heathen Norseman saw the Christian God as a potentially useful addition to their spiritual (and even social) experiences. It was as if a new door was open to them, while still being able to keep other doors unlocked. So why do they still seem to be so diametrically opposed to one another?
FOR EVERY ACTION, there is an equal and opposite reaction. When the push for conversion became more forceful, resistance also became more forceful. Helgi the Lean was the product of a different time, in which he encountered Christianity in passing (likely via travel).(3) This meant that he personally choose to adopt Christ; his Old Ways were not immediately threatened by any imposing force. No one with power was telling him that he could not follow both (although Christian doctrine does its best to do so).
This changed however, when the tenth century began to shift into the eleventh. Powerful men like King Olaf Tryggvason began bloodied campaigns to convert the Norse people, which sparked a more prevalent resistance among certain heathens in regards to Christianity.(4) For once it was potentially useful and beneficial, but now it had become like a foreign empire seeking to entirely usurp their way of life. There was no place on the fence when powerful men desired more centralized authority.
After King Olaf’s death however, Norway partially reverted to Heathenry, which demonstrates that, even though he had converted many Norwegians, many of them still held the Old Ways in their hearts and returned to them.(5) In the end, forced conversion does not often leave a sweet taste in the mouths of those being pushed into a new worldview.
THIS TALE is more complicated than we tend to imagine. In the early years of exposure to Christianity, a handful of heathens intermingled the two faiths without trouble or worry. Helgi the Lean could be a Christian, but still look to Thor for guidance at sea. With no one in power telling Helgi how to live spiritually, he was free to open whichever doors he pleased; he was able to remain on the spiritual fence.
The assumption of incompatibility between these two spiritual paths comes from later times, and perhaps even from the overarching Christian lens that the West inevitably still looks through. From the viewpoint of Christianity, all old gods must be rejected upon the acceptance of the God. From the viewpoint of Heathenry, the Christian God could just be another one of many to call upon, depending on the situation. Therefore, they are only diametrically opposed when one looks at the situation through the lens of Christianity. Though, even some heathens could have argued that Christ had no place in the Norse mythos. We have little way of knowing what kind of contemporary criticism he may have faced for his spiritual position, after all.
As for the overall picture, the ideology of Christianity could not accept multiple gods and would inevitably demand the purging of the old gods for the new. And so when conversion efforts became more forceful, heathens would have become less willing to include the Christian God among their own. Through their intense battle, the two (generally) became more closed off to each other. Although time wore down such strife, eventually.
I TRULY HOPE that this has helped to clear things up a bit for you, although it feels more like it added additional complexity. Such is the nature of such a rich topic, I must admit. If you have any further questions, or wish to continue the discussion, do not hesitate to ask! I am more than happy to continue.
Með vinsemd og virðingu, (With friendliness and respect,) — Fjorn
NOTE: @gospel-of-yggdrasil: this question is quite similar to yours and actually plays considerably into how unique flavors of Christianity developed in Scandinavia. I would consider this a pretext to your question, which I plan to answer in the near future. I look forward to discussing that subject with you! In the meantime, I do hope that you find this answer to be interesting as well.
ENDNOTES:
1. Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards trans., The Book of Settlements: Landnámabók (repr., 1972; Manitoba: University of Manitoba Press, 2012), 97. (Chapter 218)
3. Many Norwegians stopped in the British Isles before finally making their way to Iceland (not to mention the Scandinavians who went raiding). As a result, many of them were exposed to Christianity on their way to Iceland, and some of them even converted before leaving. Unn the Deep-minded is a good example of a prominent Icelandic settler who came from regions of Scotland (see chapters 3-7 of Laxdæla saga). There have also been Celtic-Christian artifacts found in Icelandic burials, such as a bell, which would have had clear connections with Christianity (see Þór Magnússon, “Bátkumlið í Vatnsdal„ (Árbók hins íslenzka fornleifafélags, 1966), 31-2; or, for an English translation of this section, see Jesse L. Byock, Viking Age Iceland (Penguin Books, 2013), 295-7).
4. There are several sources to consider for further reading about King Olaf’s efforts. There is Snorri Sturluson’s Heimskringla, which contains The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason. There are also several sagas that recount these events, such as Njal’s Saga (for Iceland), and The Saga of Hallfred the Troublesome Poet (for a bit of Norway, but also a look into an individual’s struggle between the two). As for secondary resources, Jesse L. Byock’s Viking Age Iceland spends a fair amount of time on the subject, and it is not a heavily academic read. It is, of course, from a heavily Icelandic point of view, but still includes a bit about what was happening in Scandinavia to influence the events that occurred in Iceland. For this resource, see chapter 16. It should also be mentioned that King Olaf Tryggvason was not the only man to attempt forceful conversion. He is simply the most famous, in regards to Scandinavia. Other men did the same, such as King Harald Bluetooth of Denmark.
True story – There are historical accounts (well, there’s at least one historical account) in which English people whine about how the Norse men bathe so often they’re able to seduce the local women away from their husbands.
THIS POST is designed to act as a basic, free, and online resource for Old Norse vocabulary. Entries have been condensed to the Old Norse word, part of speech, and a basic definition. This ‘dictionary’ is meant more for reference, or, perhaps more appropriately, for the casual learner, or even an already somewhat familiar learner. In other words, this list is meant to complement more reliable sources of learning, if not just for casual entertainment and practice. If you would like more comprehensive resources for learning Old Norse, see the citations at the bottom of this post.(1)
As for pronouncing these words, there are generally two methods: old and modern. The old method is reconstructed, whereas the modern method is the same pronunciation as modern Icelandic. The information regarding these methods can be found in Jesse L. Byock’s book, listed below, but I have also made posts about these methods on this blog, so here are the links to those respective guides on pronunciation:
As for the dictionary aspect of this post, each word is included in an alphabetically ordered list, including basic (and I do mean basic) grammatical information and English definitions. If any questions concerning this list arise, send them my way via an ask and I will elaborate or explain the issue. More words will be added roughly every twelve or thirteen weeks, or every three months. Nonetheless, individuals words are posted once a week (on Wednesday) and can be viewed here.
This post is part of a collective project called the Víkingabók Database. The goal of this project is to compile various resources, whether as links or lists (particularly of books, articles, or sites), that relate to the field of medieval Scandinavian studies. This project began on the 6th of December, 2016. This post may be updated in the future so that the information it contains remains current and applicable.
This post was last updated on: 05 JUL, 2017 (12 new words, ö ☞ ǫ, and aesthetic improvements)
I hope this information has been helpful. If you have any questions concerning this list, or pertaining to the project in general, feel free to contact me atfjorntheskald@gmail.com. If you have any additional information you would like to add to this post, such as updated text availabilities or corrections, please let it be known.
Með vinsemd og virðingu, (With friendliness and respect,) Fjörn
Tasertrickslove 