The Northern Path

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.

At a Yule gathering on the Eve of the Solstice we all hailed Sunna, and the dedicated people kept vigil until sunrise. I feel an additional need to celebrate now: with the days getting perceptibly longer, I find myself rejoicing every day at Her return. Yet as a rational person I can’t help second-guessing the need to do this — surely I should know that the light will return on schedule?

My sense of spirituality is very deeply connected to seasonal cycles, but since I was raised Orthodox Secular Humanist I still feel a sense of embarassment about this, as though it is something that the human race really should have outgrown by now. Even in the sixth century A.D., the ulta-civilized historian Procopius takes the natives of Thule to task for their irrational exuberance at the return of the sun, which they should have realized would happen every year:

And when a time amounting to thirty-five days has passed in this long
night, certain men are sent to the summits of the mountains–for this is
the custom among them–and when they are able from that point barely to
see the sun, they bring back word to the people below that within five
days the sun will shine upon them. And the whole population celebrates a
festival at the good news, and that too in the darkness. And this is the
greatest festival which the natives of Thule have; for, I imagine, these
islanders always become terrified, although they see the same thing
happen every year, fearing that the sun may at some time fail them
entirely. (History of the Wars VI, trans. H.B. Dewing, courtesy of Project Gutenberg)

Of course Procopius never went through a Northern winter. I think my “primitive” Northern ancestors had the right idea after all, so I will join them and celebrate, rationality be damned. Hail, Sunna!

I’m still thinking about what to get people for Yule. Several artisans have websites showing their wares:

• Beautiful things from Urweg
• Original jewelry by Weylandsdottir
• Jewelry and Viking goods from Ragweed Forge. I’m very partial to the Birka glassware.

The Scandinavian retailers also have quite a few “Viking” objects inspired by Norse design. So far my favorite is the Viking spiral bottle stopper by Sigvat Designs, pictured at the left. Sigvat has also created a handsome set of wine charms.

The Tokheim pottery caught my eye, especially the beer mug with horse motif, pictured at right. If I’m feeling flush, I might also get someone the Hnefatafl set. Still, it’s not necessary to go out and spend a lot of money — handmade items, homemade preserves and CD music mixes also make great gifts, and they’re sure to be one of a kind.

Western skiers have been praying to Ullr for snowfall, and are apparently being rewarded. According to the Aspen Daily News:

This year’s early season drought has prompted some Roaring Fork Valley locals to turn to the gods. Several Ullr fires have been lit, and one group of locals is promising to burn one each week until the snow really starts flying.

“It’s just kind of a sacred spiritual event, pooling our energy into the rock and stick, to make energy move around to bring the snow,” said Danny Brown, an Aspen local who has been to several Ullr fires.

Aspen is also hosting its first Annual Pray for Snow party, complete with corporate sponsors: “… if it snows, organizers of the event — sponsored by KSNO-FM and 39 Degrees at the Sky Hotel — said the ceremony will be a way to thank the Norse god Ullr, or any other deity, pagan or otherwise, that unleashed the flakes. “

Invoking Ullr in Colorado is nothing new: Breckenridge has hosted an Ullr Fest for decades. The Fest sounds very tourist-friendly, featuring “the legendary Main Street Parade, live entertainment and bar series, a Nordic event, Ullympics and an ice skating party.”

Whistler Blackcomb also has an annual Ullr Party, and the Norse God is being invoked by official snowbloggers. These parties all sound like Good Clean Fun, encouraged by local tourist boards. And so far there don’t seem to be any objections from Christians — even when the God appears in Utah!

True confessions time: I didn’t expect to like this movie. Video games and gratuitous bloodshed bore me to tears, and the trailers and the buzz led me to expect quite a lot of both. However, the storytelling and acting (yes, acting) are good enough to carry the movie most of the time, special effects or no special effects.

There’s plenty here to appeal to a Heathen audience: most of the action takes place in an intact Heathen culture, where Christianity is a newfangled curiosity. The movie opens with a classic mead hall scene, in all its gritty grubby glory, and after Grendel’s attack Beowulf arrives to claim the role of hero in a round of boasting. We are in a Germanic world without all of the preachy Christian interpolations of the poem.

The faces and emotions of most of the main characters were believable — with the exception of poor Wealhtheow, who was rendered as a geometric mass like an artist’s dummy. Beowulf could have been done as a simple smash and bash piece (monsters! wenches!), but after the first round of action, a more complex human story takes over. Unfortunately, the story is trite, but that is not the fault of the actors or the technology. A number of complex facial expressions and unspoken moments come off successfully, showing that this is indeed drama and not a video game or graphic novel. Visually, there’s a lot to enjoy: I loved the details of the ornaments and clothing, and the battle with the dragon was glorious. It’s too bad the producers haven’t yet learned to render galloping horses, which looked like a row of bouncing tennis balls, but that was really the one jarring exception.

Ever since John Gardner’s book Grendel, modern Beowulf interpreters have been interested in the monsters’ motivations and point of view, and this movie is no exception. In the interest of exploring monster-human relations, the writers decided to use Grendel’s mother as a femme fatale. (By this point everyone knows she is played by a digital version of Angelina Jolie, so I’m not giving anything away here.) This device seemed trite and gave the plot a soap opera twist, but the rest of the story and the acting were interesting and believable. This is not the Beowulf of the poem — but for an audience willing to experience it on its own terms, it has quite a tale to tell.

Note: if you want to brush up on the original Beowulf, check out the dual-language edition by Howell Chickering. The Chickering translation is more accurate than Seamus Heaney’s, and preserves more of the sense and rhythm of Anglo-Saxon verse. If you want to hear the poem in Old English, check out the Beowulf excerpt at Anglo-Saxon Aloud, or  Benjamin Bagby’s performance on DVD.

According to the Oregon newspaper the Curry Coastal Pilot, a driver who had been severely injured was discovered by a helpful Heathen who called the authorities on his cell phone and administered basic first aid while waiting for help.

How do we know he’s Heathen? Clifton Siple told the newspaper that he was also praying to Njord:

Siple, who was walking his Airedale terrier Dusty when he found Scott lying next to her car on the beach, said he was praying to Njord, the god of the sea, while awaiting rescuers.

“I was just praying to him, ‘hold the tide back a little bit longer so we can get Diane out of here,’” Siple said Friday.

Siple said he is a member of an old Germanic-Scandinavian religion called Asatru. “It’s not a mainstream religion. It’s being reconstructed from a thousand years ago. We’re not naked dancing in the woods,” he said.

Apparently the story has attracted wider interest: “Siple said since the rescue, he had done three interviews and had received calls from NBC’s Today Show and NBC’s Dateline.”

It was nice to see an ordinary person who happens to be Asatru in the news — a welcome break from the usual sensationalistic treatment in the media. It’s also nice to see an example of a Heathen virtue that doesn’t get as much press as the others:

No better burden can a man carry on the road
Than a store of common sense
(Havamal 10)

According to the New York Times, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has directed chaplains to remove religious books, tapes and CDs from prison libraries unless they are on an as-yet-undisclosed list of 150 government-approved resources. Apparently the original motivation was fear of terrorists with library cards:

Traci Billingsley, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Prisons, said the agency was acting in response to a 2004 report by the Office of the Inspector General in the Justice Department. The report recommended steps that prisons should take, in light of the Sept. 11 attacks, to avoid becoming recruiting grounds for militant Islamic and other religious groups. The bureau, an agency of the Justice Department, defended its effort, which it calls the Standardized Chapel Library Project, as a way of barring access to materials that could, in its words, “discriminate, disparage, advocate violence or radicalize.”

No Pagan religions are mentioned, but Jason at the Wild Hunt blog has immediately picked up on the implications for Pagans and Heathens:

In addition, according to religious scholars who have seen the list, the title selection is “inhibiting”, and favors “a bias toward evangelical popularism and Calvinism”. So naturally, one has to wonder what the book selections are for modern Pagan and Heathen religions. Which books were approved for Wicca? For Asatru? Which “experts” picked the books for these categories, and how many titles total are allowed in prison libraries?

The policy raises First Amendment concerns, and some inmates have already filed a class-action lawsuit. One can only hope that the spiritual interests of Pagans and Heathens won’t be washed away in the surge from this particular political storm.

Ravencast, the Asatru podcast, has posted the third interview in their series on national Heathen organizations.  This month’s interview is with Heimgast of the Odinic Rite. In previous entries, the dynamic duo interview leading figures in The Troth and the Asatru Folk Assembly.

Although these organizations are all very different, it’s striking to hear how their representatives are all thinking about the Big Picture and the long-term future of Heathenry. It’s also interesting that all of the leaders seem to have a strong dedication to service.  In most of the places I hang out in Cybergard, we tend to spend our time on interesting but ephemeral discussions of day to day issues or various points of lore.  Until I heard these interviews, I hadn’t devoted much thought to larger issues or the role that a national organization might play whether in the life of an individual or on the national stage.  This series has broadened my horizons in a big way.