helshound

[helshound]

As I'm writing this Gävlebocken (2024) is till standing. Been following its livestream on YouTube and it's quite fun to see all the comments. I myself expect it to burn around new year. I do so hope the tradition gets to live for a long time .... not that they necessarily have to burn it every year tho.

I know most connect julbocken with Krampus and the devil which is cool because it shows how culture and faith mix . I prefer the idea of it being a surviving remnant of Tor's Tanngnjóstr and tanngrísnir ( the goats pulling his chariot ). In Prose Edda it's told that one of the goats got a broken leg ( don't know which and if it was permanent) when Tor and Loke in their journey stopped at a peasants farmer's home. The goats which could be resurrected were cooked and the peasant family was invited for dinner. The son ( Tjalve/ thjalfi) ended up breaking open one of the bones to suck out the marrow ( guess poor dude was still hungry but still not a good choice, however some say it was loke pulling the strings ) and when the goats were resurrected one of them was limping. As payment the peasant's two children became Tor's servants.... not sure why the daughter ( Röskva) had to go too but .... it's not healthy to argue with gods.

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A foolish man is all night awake, pondering over everything, and when morning comes, all is lament as before.

The Elder Eddas

[helshound]

Yule Goat is here to greet you and wish you a merry solstice, may your winter festivities be joyous and safe ✨

[prints available here]

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a suneater for solstice

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The Emperor/The Lord, by Ted Enik

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happy midwinter and a very merry twelve nights everyone! may the gods give you a good winter and a good coming year 🙏 hail to the æsir and the vanir!

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gotta remember to buy beer for the Raunächte tomorrow 👀

[helshound]

'Tis the season to unpack some stuff about Christmas from a minority perspective:

Christmas is a Christian holiday. The fact that many celebrate it in an irreligious way (which is valid!) does not change its origins, connotations, symbolism, nor what it has historically meant for religious minorities.

The idea that Christmas is "secular" (read: neutral) is a product of Christian hegemony and the blindness of many in Christian countries to the permeation of Christianity as "default" culture.

When someone says they don't celebrate Christmas since it's a Christian holiday, it is not actually reassuring or helpful to say something along the lines of "oh well it's just a secular day of family & presents for everyone! So you can celebrate it too!"

Though the above statement is usually well-intentioned, it is often distressing to hear because it is untrue and is erasing our lived experiences. The reflexive effort to make Christmas universal is a cultural reverberation of the millennia-old evangelizing effort to make Christianity universal, and as such, can be very uncomfortable for religious minorities.

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tiny pic dump: yuletide display (bought a tiny evergreen tree!) and new prayer beads (camel bone beads and lovely dark green wool)

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'Midwinter Orison' by Andy Kehoe

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Trans pride colored Mjolnir 🏳️‍⚧️

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seeing limited success with doing simple tarot style divination with regular playing cards. might be a fluke but for now I'm happy about that. usually I suck at divination.

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We out here

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Nothing makes me have more faith in my community than posting something in the discord about how I'm hesitant to work with Freyja as an ace person due to her more sexual aspects and getting replies from five or six different acespec people confirming that they absolutely love Freyja and sex has never once come up in their relationship with her, then segueing into a conversation about how of course she's great at boundaries, how else would she get cats to pull her chariot

Inclusive Heathens really walk their talk when it comes to inclusivity and I'm continually fucking floored.

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I wanted to offer a ritual of gratitude to Loki, Odin, and Tyr today. How much their guidance, inspiration, and support means to me cannot be overstated x0x

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Hello Norse Pagans (or those knowledgeable about Norse mythology)! :D

Samhain/Halloween/All Hallow's Eve is coming up soon, and as a baby pagan, I'd like to know the Norse version, if there is any.

I'm very fluid in my practice as to whether it's Norse or Celtic, and I'm aware that it can be interchangeable, but it would still be nice to know.

So, what are the differences between Vetrnaetr, Alfablot, and Samhain/Halloween? Is there a Norse version of Halloween? What do you do on that/those day(s)? Any resources you can point me to (preferably not a video, if possible)?

Thank you so much!!! :D

<3