#Viking Religion

[princeofteevs]

About "Christianity" in Scandinavia (Varg)

Varg Vikernes: When Norway became a part of Denmark in 1450 we too became officially Catholics, but the Danes had to send Danish priests to Norway, because there were no Norwegian Catholics. According to the records of history these Danish priests, and other Danish officials, did not have an easy job. They described the Norwegians as "wild" people, and especially the people living in the mountains were "hostile", "unchristian" and "dangerous". One of our inland counties still carries the name "Hedmark", that translates as "The Land of the Pagans". The Danish sheriffs and priests were regularly beaten to death by the Norwegian peasants, and some men even competed against each other, trying to be the one who had killed the most Danish priests and sheriffs. One story from Telemark ("The Land of Thule", another mostly inland county in Norway) tells us that a young man refused to stop until he had killed "at least as many priests as my father killed". This was in the XVIth century! They have also found archeological evidence that some places people made (animal) sacrifices in ancient holy lakes continuously from the Stone or Bronze age and all the way to the XVIIth century!

The explanations of this is of course the fact that Norway was actually never Christianized, as we understand the term. In 1030 they had officially been converted to a faith that was a mix of Pagan beliefs, including Sun worship and a Gnostic form of Christianity. When they met the Danish Catholic priests in the XVth century, who tried to convert them to Catholicism, many of them reacted with violence.

What saved the situation, to some extent, was the Reformation in the early XVIth century. It was more acceptable for the difficult and narrow-minded Norwegians to convert to Protestantism, rather than to the religion of their "oppressors", the Danes. As we know Denmark-Norway became Protestant, and finally most of the "wild" people were slowly Christianized, as we understand the term.

The interesting thing about this, is that the Norwegian people and parts of the Swedish people have never been Catholic! Norway is the only country in Europe that has been neither Greek/Russian-Orthodox nor Catholic. Also, old Pagan religious practices were common as late as the XVIIth and possibly the XVIIIth century. That is quite amazing, and it helps people understand the mentality of the modern Norwegian, and why only 3% of the Norwegian population goes to church (and most of these few church-goers are very old people too, who already have one foot in the grave).

The next time You wonder why there are so many Black Metal bands in Norway, of all countries, and the next time You wonder why it all began in Norway, think about what I have told You in this article...

[liberty1776]

Volva staff from Viking exhibit. Völva comes from a root meaning "magical staff," and throughout the Norse literature one sees female prophetesses and witches bearing a staff. The term völva dates back to the early Germanic tribes, where the term is found in the name or title of some tribal seeresses. The völva was an especially honored figure: Tacitus tells us of one such prophetess called Veleda, who prophesied the victory of her tribe over the Romans and saw that a general uprising against the legions would meet with success:

[dr3adlady]

she mad at her husband😑

I've got a few words with other people who, like me, are fascinated with GRRM's writing and characters :) Apparently it's *trendy* to dunk on this ship and bully its shippers these days. It's beyond me why we should fight over every little silly thing. First and foremost, a Song of Ice and Fire is a hobby for me, and many others, and it should be treated as such. It should not affect our real life in a negative way. If you care immensely about lives of fictional characters to an extent that you find online bullying and insulting others for no real reason a 'moral' thing to do, I am seriously worried for you. It speaks of a certain immaturity when there are real problems in the world, when real people are being hurt, killed, thrown out of their houses, deprived of their human rights, etc, and some people here spend their lives fighting over some non-problems.

Sorry to rant, anyway, good day to everyone 💙

[thesilicontribesman]

A Dedication Plaque Naming Two Scandinavian Benefactors For The Construction Of A Church In York, (Grim and Aese), 900 to 1100CE, The Yorkshire Museum, York

[atheostic]

Oh to have the confidence of a Christian saying the wildest (and very very inaccurate) shit about other religions

I once had a Christian tell me that Odin is famous for being greedy and a hoarder of knowledge.

And as someone who took a Norse mythology course in uni I was like

My dude. My buddy. My pal. My sibling in Christ, even.

That's literally the exact opposite of what he's famous for????

After he is granted knowledge of the Runes in Rúnatal he goes around the world teaching anyone who wants to learn how to write, no strings attached.

In Skáldskaparmál he steals the Mead of Poetry specifically to SHARE it with the other gods.

He's so famous for going around giving people advice and dropping knowledge that his kennings include Allfather, Journey Empowerer, Journey Advisor, Teacher of Gods, and Nourisher.

[lokislittlestar]

Was talking about Loki to my mom 😭💀 and this motherfucker pulls up

[nostalgia-tblr]

WIP Wednesday

For WIP Wednesday, a bit from the sequel no one wants to a fic nobody much wanted, because fuck yeah self-indulgence :D

Fair Alfrida Part 2: More Fairer, 2 Frida (idk what that even means). It is set about 3-4 years after the first one, she's been off being a nun (oh no!) and I have killed Thor again so the new king's come to see her:

She doesn’t look up until the wrong voice greets her.  “You look better than I expected. Do you actually like it here?” She doesn’t answer that, instead admitting to her confusion; “I was told the king -” “Thor’s dead,” says Loki, rather abruptly. He must think the news won’t hurt her, or so she chooses to assume. “I’ve taken over the family business.” Alfrida protests this with a shake of her head. “My son -” “Is three years old and there are Norsemen raiding our neighbours. No one wanted a child on the throne when that choice might hand it to a Dane by the end of the year.” This she can’t really argue with; Leofric is much too young to lead his people, and it might even be a mercy not to mark him with failure when he is barely more than an infant. But still, her son was supposed to be a king and she knows better than to trust his uncle. (She knows better now. Her son should not have to learn his own lessons so harshly.)

I still haven't decided how it ends, which is something I should work out soon because otherwise it would just go on forever. This one is more tense and I think basically I felt bad for what I did to her the first time and want her to get if not revenge then at least some satisfaction after a weird affair that ended with a nunnery. Loki was only fucking her to fuck Thor, she should get to fuck him in return. As it were. (They should also bang, of course.)

[infinitymythos]

Worlds Beginning🌳🪐♾️

By:

https://www.deviantart.com/samflegal/gallery

[eagle-longing-for-rostau]

Fenrir howls terribly before the doors to Hel; the wolf will break its bonds and run. I know much wisdom, I see deep in the future, all the way to Ragnarok, a dark day for the gods.

— Voluspa 43

[princeofteevs]

Why our forebears were buried with possessions. (Had nothing to do with their supposed need of them in a fictitious "afterlife")

Varg Vikernes: The items they buried them with were not meant to "go with them to the afterlife", to some fictional "Heaven". Our forebears were not the idiots our "scholars" and priests think they were, and present them as, in their books about pre-Christian customs. The items were there to help lift the amnesia that had been placed upon them by death. When they returned to life and entered the burial mounds to reclaim the items they had owned in previous lives, these items would – just like in the case of amnesia patients today – help them remember. The remains in the grave would too, and the location itself: a sacred place used by them for thousands of years.

Later on, they would use gold for such items to ensure that they would remain intact. Even after a thousand years, a gold amulet, a golden hair needle, or anything else golden in the burial mound, would remain the same.

But I trust you see the problem here, right?

How do you know that you have reincarnated as the person in that particular burial mound? How do you recognise yourself?

This is where we enter the topic of exoteric Paganism...

[loki-was-framed]

[phantom-voices]

All of my tattoos.

[nopezone]

My mom gave me a book, 'Return of the Gods' by Jonathan Cahn to 'teach me the truth about pagan gods' since I got angry at her for calling gods outside of Christianity 'demons' and I've been angry at it since then.

I've only looked at the reviews for it because I'm not reading that and it apparently compares Stonewall and Pride stuff to the worship of Ishtar, and I so badly want to text her something like 'well according to that book I'm apparently an Ishtar worshipper'

[sword-in-the-sea]

sometimes meeting a deity means five months of cross-checking your divination sessions with said deity with friends (what if i'm going insane? is this real? why is there a norse god all the way in southeast asia??) and researching resources, traditions, culture, etymologies, etc etc. but sometimes meeting a deity also means you offer pretty rocks at them and they gave you cool rocks back and so you gave them strands of your hair (like a fool) and now you end up in the court of manannán mac lir.

[thesilicontribesman]

Anglian or Viking Gritstone Cross Fragment, 825 to 875 CE, The Yorkshire Museum, York

Two men are carved in stone on this cross. One man carries a sword, the other a horn and they are clasping hands in greeting. Images of people are very rare on crosses like these. The men depicted probably commissioned and financed this cross as a public demonstration of their status and Christian piety.

[atheostic]

"A laughingstock is he who nothing knows, and with the instructed sits."

-- Odin Allfather (“The High One’s Lay” in the Poetic Edda (aka the Elder Edda) written by Saemund Sigufsson (Benjamin Thorpe translation).