#Närke

[michaelnordeman]

Garphyttan national park in Närke, Sweden (June 3, 2020).

[fornasedensgudar]

Hello! I have a questions but i'm not sure if there's even an answer: do you know whether there is a norse or continental germanic god/goddess that is associated with wind??

Oh Im so glad you asked because I love wind gods and spirits and I got two that I feel like almost no one outside of Scandinavia seemes to know about.

One is norse but not really germanic. The other, is not even norse just swedish af lol.

First I like to tell you about Kåre.

I bet most of you have never heard of him, but I also bet you heard of Ran, or Logi och Ägir.

As some may know, Ran is married to Ägir, a sea jötun. And I bet you know Logi, the jötun who is wild fire personified.

What does this have to do with Ägir? Well Ägir is listed as the brother of Logi and Ägir. Whos father Fornjot, is know in one saga to be the King of the swedish island of Gotland. (Perhaps a hint to an old cult or god of the island.)

These three sons of Fornjot personified the elements or the three most brutal aspects of nature, the wild deep seas, the every hungry wild fires and the ever harsh and cold northen wind. (With a father who rule over an island in the baltic sea that makes rather sense)

The name Kåre is also a swedish word describing a special form of wind or storm.

Kåre is also mentiond in Flatöboken and in one story in Fundinn Nóergr Kåre is the father of Frosti of the frost. But in Hversu the son is named Jökull wish means ice feald. This Jökull is in folklore (mostly in norway) said to be the father of old man winter.

So a lot of maybes here and things that hint he was more well known from Gotland to iceland and norway back in the day but a lot been lost.

But we do know he was a winter and wind jötun and one of the three elemental brothers.

My local group do offerings to him during winter and autum rituals but I know some pepole up north do as well. But overall hes rather forgotten compared to his brothers.

Here is a drawing of him by me:

THEN we get to the fun local part.

Ysätters-Kajsa!

Now who the heck is this and whats her deal?

Well Im from a Village called Asker, In Närke.

And back in the day, the farmers spoke about a troll by some, a Huldra by others and by some a spirit/creature who did not fitt any of the molds. Manny famous writers also wrote about her. Most famous of them all is Selma Lagerlöf.

Ysätters-Kajsas name came from the old Moss/lake in Ysätters thats said to be her home or birthplace, but she ruled the weather (but mainly wind) all over Närke but mostly Asker and the sorounding flat plains and fealds.

Ysätterskällan was likely an old offering place to what once was an old goddess or for spirits witch hints to her older roots before she was said to be an evil troll or forest spirit.

The Kajsa in her name is explained in a intervju with an old farmer from Asker in the start of the 1900s dokumentet in the book "Asker, Sant å sånt"

"that was just wat they named them trolls and giants back in the day"

That might seeme weird but tbh in the 1700s there are stories how pepole would toss coins to Kajsa of the sea while fishing.

Or in the 1800s when some in the Mountains and forest called forest and Mountain spirits for Kajsa as well.

It almost seemed as a form of a so called "noa-name" or maybe as the old man said: "it was just what them trolls was named back in the day."

(Im sure there is someone smarter here who can explain this weird Kajsa thing)

But ok, her wind aspect then?

Well first of all, its windy in East Närke.

Like the start of this old poem said

"Den ljuva Närke slätten, där enbart stormen består."

"The lovely Närke plains, where only the storm remains."

Also in manny stories she is said to controll wind and to travel by air.

In one story its said Ysätters-Kajsa looking down on Närke and was like "man this place is pretty, pepole have it good here, we cant have it like that."

And pretty much just made sure its always a bit windy and would play trick on the humans, making them get lost in forest, stealing laundry that hanged out to dry and in general just make the pepole of Närke just a little less comfy in their home.

But she is also a protector or the land!

In one myth, back in the day when a wild fire almost brought an end to the village of Asked she came to save the pepole, because even if she liked to play tricks on them she also deeply loved the pepole and needed them just as much as she they needed her.

So its said when the fire got to the center of the village, a woman was seen dancing up on the church towers roof and as she did storm clouds started to form and with wind and rain the fires was put out and the Village was saved.

Ysätters-Kajsa drawing by me:

This is also why my group call to her and giver her offerings for protection. Shes our local trickster and protector spirit of the wind.

But being a very Asker and Närke spirit. This is one I have to say I would think would be very weird and not really ok if like, pagans in america for some reason started to make offeings to. Because this is not just any big ol god or goddess. This is a local myth and spirit and part of my childhood and culture. I added a lot here from books just to get the facts right but I also just str8 up heared stories about her as a kid. She is just the protector of Asker and the bringer of wind in Närke.

Like if you dont live here, dont.

Go with Kåre then instead whos more wind in general.

But I had to share this about her becouse I just love her and wind spirits and gods in general.

Also, this is a good reminder to check what you have local, you might have myths and stories about old spirits and gods of the land you grow up and live in.

As I often say. The best way to do polytheism and anmism is to know and work with your local land and the spiritits and gods within said land. Because thats the best tools you got right here, right now. The land it self.

[briefbestiary]

A wind troll who flitted about Närke on mischief filled escapades and danced with the wind out in the fields. A light-hearted and free-spirited being.

[abunadh]

Örebro Slott i Örebro

[vikingost]

Ive been on vacation,and so Ive already finished some drawings of Närke and Dalarna! The boy is dalarna and the girl is Närke. I hope you guys enjoy them :D btw i had to draw using only now quality color pencils so thats why they may look a bit bad (Närkes bad fashion sense is on purpose i swear)

[whileiamdying]

Nordic Summer's Evening #RichardBergh #Duke of #Närke, PrinceEugen of #Sweden and #Norway and singer #KarinPyk stand on the balcony of a house in #Kyrkviken on the Island of #Lidingö (#Stockholm). They have turned away from us and are looking out over a stretch of water that has a calm, mirror-like aspect. Behind them a marvelous #panorama opens up. It is #sunset and we see the last of the evening��s orange light on the surface of the water and the #forest in the background. #NordicSummerEvening is one of the most famous paintings of Swedish #painter, #portraitist, #landscapist, and #writer #RichardBergh. Although it is not directly a #ValentinesDay painting, Nordic Summer Evening has something that makes it perfect for this day. I think it is because of the #mystery behind it. It looks like something may be going on between the two characters, but what exactly? Are they at the beginning of the #romance? Or, on the opposite, is their #relationship already established? Is it secretive, or are they bound by some social conventions? That's the unknown! — #DailyArt 170 × 223.5 cm #OilOnCanvas #GothenburgMuseumOfArt #Göteborg, #Sverige (at Stockholm, Sweden) https://www.instagram.com/p/Coqh9sdpaMB/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[rostam-z]

(Disclaimer) By no means am I a bird photographer... This image was shot on the 220122 in #Luleå, Sweden. #Sidensvans (Swedish (#BombycillaGarrulus) is a #bird that belongs to the order of #wagtails in the #silktail family. The species breeds in the northernmost parts of #Eurasia and northwestern #NorthAmerica. In #winter it can be observed in large #flocks further south. In #Sweden, it breeds mainly in the #ConiferousForests of northern #Norrland, but also along the coast of #Norrbotten and #Västerbotten. It has been observed as far south as #Västmanland, #Närke, #Uppland and northern #Småland, and can even exceptionally breed there. In #Finland, where it is very common, it has been observed throughout the country. The silktail was first described taxonomically by #CarlVonLinné in 1758 in the tenth edition of his #SystemaNaturae. He described it as Lanius Garrulus and thus placed it in the same genus as the thornbush. Its current genus Bombycilla was described in 1808 by #LouisJeanPierreVieillot. The #scientific genus name Bombycilla is derived from the #Latin Bombyx, meaning "silk" or "silk", and cilla, which is Neo-Latin for "tail". This is a direct translation of the Swedish silk tail and refers to the bird's silky plumage. Its species epithet, garrulus, means "talkative" and refers to its appearance similarities with the nuthatch (Glandularius garrulus).

[notthepasteldyke]

Very ready to go to Pride this weekend!❤️🧡🤍💖💜

[huariqueje]

Group of trees on the plain - Prince Eugen * , 1912.

Swedish , 1865 - 1947

Oil on canvas laid on panel, 49 x 62.5 cm.

Prince Eugen of Sweden and Norway, Duke of Närke *

[fullnessofjoy]

Kakelugn - Tiled Stove

An 1880s neo-renaissance kakelugn (tiled stove), Mullhyttan, Närke, Sweden.

[henk-heijmans]

Gathering of sheaves with a yoke of oxen, Hallsberg, Närke, Sweden, 1934 - by Mårten Sjöbeck (1886 - 1976), Swedish

[michaelnordeman]

Eurasian red squirrel/ekorre. Garphyttan national park in Närke, Sweden (June 3, 2020).

[memorycare]

Panoptikon is a suite of vocal & electronic music composed by Maria W Horn for an installation in the disbanded Vita Duvan panopticon prison (The White Dove Prison) in Luleå, Sweden.

From the opening of Vita Duvan in 1856 until its closure in 1979, prisoners were detained for theft, perjury, drunkenness, domestic violence, and vagrancy. More than fifty women were charged with miscarriage & abortion (which was labeled as child murder); however, they did not spend much time at the prison before facing execution by capital punishment.

The circular prison structure of Vita Duvan, which enabled central monitoring, was meant to create a sense of omniscient surveillance. The panopticon made the inmates aware that they could be monitored at any time without having any way of checking if this was actually the case. Through the extensive reform of the Western penal system from the 18th century onwards, the former corporal punishments of torture and public humiliation were replaced by new technologies for social control through spatial isolation and surveillance. The individual prisoner often spent the first three years in complete isolation, during which all contact with other prisoners was strictly forbidden. The prison interior was seen as an efficient and silent machinery whereby an inner psychological change would gradually occur in the prisoner through solitary confinement and isolation.

In the compositional process, Maria W Horn has tried to imagine how consciousness is affected by the sensory deprivation of the isolation cell, where the only indication of the passing of time was found in cycles of daylight amongst the silence, uncertainty, and solitude.

Panopitkon was originally presented as a multichannel sound and light installation where the imagined individual voices of the inmates were represented by loudspeakers placed in the various cells of the prison – each voice striving for community but hindered by the forced isolation of the prison architecture. The composition consists of three vocal parts that relate harmonically to a synthesized chord cycle. Together, these form a sounding body that slowly pulses in synchronization with the illumination of the panopticon system.

Omnia citra mortem (everything until death) is a legal term that means the accused who did not confess their crime could not be sentenced to death, but only to torture until a confession was made. Hæc est regula recti (this is the rule for correctness) derives from Nicolas Andry's book L'orthopedie, the art of correcting and preventing deformities in children. The melody and text used in Vita Duva Lament is a traditional folk song from Närke arranged to fit within the harmonic context of the vocal cycle.

[thegreymoon]

How am I only finding out about this man today? 😭 And why is Tumblr sleeping on the homosexual bachelor prince of Sweden who devoted his life to art and bequeathed all his earthly belongings to the nation?

Prince Eugen was born at Drottningholm Palace as the fourth and youngest son of Prince Oscar, Duke of Östergötland. His mother was Sophia of Nassau. The newborn prince was granted the title of Duke of Närke. Upon his father's accession to the thrones of Sweden and Norway as King Oscar II, the Duke of Närke became fourth in line to the throne. Showing early artistic promise, he studied in Paris, and went on to become one of Sweden's most prominent landscape painters. Throughout his life Prince Eugen was a supporter of fellow artists, and also involved in many cultural organisations and committees. A homosexual bachelor, he bequeathed his villa Waldemarsudde at Djurgården in Stockholm, and its collections, to the nation. It is now one of Sweden's most popular museums.

Here is some of his art:

[mecthology]

Hulder from Scandinavian folklore.

The word hulder is only used of a female; a "male hulder" is called a huldrekall and also appears in Norwegian folklore. This being is closely related to other underground dwellers, usually called tusser.

Though described as beautiful, the huldra is noted for having a distinctive inhuman feature—an animal's tail (usually a cow's or a fox's) and/or a back resembling a hollowed-out tree.

The hulder is one of several rå (keeper, warden), including the aquatic sjörå or havsfru, later identified with a mermaid, and the bergsrå in caves and mines who made life tough for the poor miners.

The hulders were held to be kind to charcoal burners, watching their charcoal kilns while they rested. Knowing that she would wake them if there were any problems, they were able to sleep, and in exchange they left provisions for her in a special place. A tale from Närke illustrates further how kind a hulder could be, especially if treated with respect.

The Huldra are seen as beautiful women who lure human men into marrying them, and when they do so they will lose the hollow back and tail. It's said that if her fiancée sees her back before marriage he will see her for she truly is - ugly - and if he refuses to marry her, she will simply kill him, yet if he goes through with the marriage she will become human but kill him anyway. There is not much for him to be rescued from.

A multitude of places in Scandinavia are named after the Hulders, often places by legend associated with the presence of the "hidden folk".

Follow @mecthology for more lores and legends. DM for pic credit or removal. https://www.instagram.com/p/ClrZlw6tUDh/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[fornasedensgudar]

Hey, i have a question: do you follow or are you "part of" Forn Sed Sverige? (don't know how to formulate this properly) Cause I'm a norse pagan and i've noticed that most of the holidays i celebrate are very close to the ones celebrated by Forn Sed. That's why i wanted to ask whether you know how i can learn more about it, is there an official website? Or are there any books? (It's fine if they're in Swedish, i've been learning Swedish for a few years now)

Hey, yes I am. Well im also norse pagan and so is forn sed haha. I founded and are the contact person for Forn sed Närke. Our local group.

Here is Forn sed Sveriges webbsite

They have an english version of it and books in the store.

And if you like to see what I and my local heathen group is up to here is our insta

https://www.instagram.com/forn_sed_nerke/