The Northern Path

According to an April 4 press release at Sami information site Samer.se, Swedish Culture Minister Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth is positive toward an official request to return Sami remains located in Swedish museums. The Sami site quotes an April 3 press release by Liljeroth:

I understand that the Sami wish to rebury their ancestors, rather than having them in museum storerooms. I will work toward having these remains returned where they belong as soon as possible. We are now in dialogue with the authorities to make this a reality. This is a question of ethics and morality coming from the heart; to speak of research value and the like must then come in second place. [my translation — ed.]

In autumn 2006 the government conducted an inventory of indigenous people’s remains in Swedish museums. In February 2007, the Sami Parliament requested that Sami remains be returned. The issue has been debated in the media since then, and the debate is sure to continue.

Asatru has gained increased visibility in Sweden this year, as the news of government recognition of a major Heathen organization has spread and Heathens held their annual public Spring Blot in Gamla Uppsala. So far, the Swedish press has responded primarily with open-minded curiosity, interviewing several Swedish Heathens and treating the entire issue as an opportunity to learn more about Asatru. Perhaps Swedish journalists are more familiar with the Heathen past and more comfortable with it than journalists in other countries.

The only sour note has appeared in Kyrkans Tidning, the news site of the State (Lutheran) Church. Their headline sniffs that Asatruar are “allowed to call themselves” a religious body, and the article questions the significance of the government’s recognition, describing the process as a legal/administrative one and not a “seal of approval.” Still, this is a comparatively mild treatment considering the source.

A summary of Swedish press coverage (all in Swedish):

• Swedish Radio 4/13/07 Radiokompaniet interviews Swedish Heathen Calle Rehbinder about the Spring Blot in Uppsala.
• Svenska Dagbladet 4/9/07. Coverage of the Spring Blot in Uppsala.
• Upsala Nya Tidning 4/9/07. Coverage of the Spring Blot. Also in English on an earlier blog entry here.
• Icakuriren 3/31/07. “We choose other Gods.” The paper uses the occasion of Easter as an opportunity to interview a Heathen, along with a Bahai and a Zoroastrian.
• Swedish Radio 3/21/07. Sveriges Asatrosamfund Vice Chairman Per Lundberg interviewed on radio program Morgonpasset.
• Aftonbladet, 3/11/07. Brief summary of a longer interview with Per Lundberg in that day’s paper.
• Swedish Radio 3/10/07. Sveriges Asatrosamfund’s Chairman Henrik Hallgren speaks on the religious radio program Vid Dagens Början. (30-day archive only, program no longer available.)
• Kyrkans Tidning 3/7/07. “Asatruar allowed to call themselves a religious body.”
• Swedish Radio 2/23/07. Religious program Människor och Tro discusses the recognition of Asatru. (30-day archive only, program no longer available.)
• Sydsvenskan, 2/14/07. “Freya, Odin and Thor gain official status.”

The Local, an English language portal for Swedish news, has a story today about an intriguing archaeological find in southeastern Sweden: a patrix, or die stamp used for making gold figures.

An amateur archeologist has made an unusual sixth century find at the burial mounds in Sättuna on the outskirts of Linköping.

On the first day of excavations at the site in the south east of Sweden, Niklas Krantz discovered a patrix, a sort of die used to emboss pieces of gold.

According to a more detailed story at the Swedish newspaper Östgöta Correspondenten, this type of patrix would have been used to make guldgubbar, small flat gold figures showing a high level of detail. According to this story, the figure may represent a woman of high status or even the Goddess Freya. Freelance archaeologist Martin Rundkvist calls the find exciting, due to the rarity of these objects, and because the manufacture of guldgubbar indicates an artistocratic presence. The research is being done under the aegis of the County Museum, with the mission of analyzing the political geography of the area during the period 400-1000 CE. The archaeologists had special permission to use a metal detector near the Sättuna grave mound, but they do not have permission from the County government to excavate the mound itself.

On Monday, April 9th, Swedish Heathens gathered at the ancient mounds of Uppsala to celebrate their Spring Blot. This is the eighth year for the ritual, organized by Sveriges Asatrosamfund in cooperation with the Stockholm groups Idavallen and Bifrostfolket.

The recent government recognition of Sveriges Asatrosamfund has led to several profiles of Swedish Heathens in newspapers and radio, and two newspapers had brief stories on today’s blot. One story is in Svenska Dagbladet, while the other is in the Uppsala Nya Tidning.

Here is a translation of the Uppsala Nya Tidning article:

The Gods Invoked at Spring Blot

“I raise the horn to life’s eternal cycle!” “I raise the horn to friends new and old!” There were many salutations at this year’s Spring Blot as the mead went around among the people celebrating the arrival of spring at the Old Uppsala mounds on Easter Monday.

Rust colored cloaks, babies and caps were to be seen among the 60-plus people who had come to call upon their gods Frey and Frey [sic], and upon nature and its spirits.

“This is a demonstration that this is a living faith,” shouts Henrik Hallgren of Sveriges Asatrosamfund in his opening remarks.

This thousand year old tradition has been celebrated in Uppsala for eight years. Among the visitors was Anders Olsson, who has been Asatru since the 1970s. “My Asatru faith began as a Viking romantic phase when I was a teenager, but today it has grown into something larger. The important celebrations for me are at the change of the seasons,” he explains.

Medieval music begins to play. Fanfares sound from instruments such as the birch bark horn and the talharpa. A hail shower surprises the visitors. The offering begins. One by one, they go up to the fire with bread, grain or fruit. Spring is welcomed and the ceremony continues.

Julia Wiraeus

In January, the Swedish Heathen organization Sveriges Asatrosamfund achieved Swedish government recognition as a registered religious organization. The original announcement on their homepage is in Swedish, so I’ve translated it below.

Sveriges Asatrosamfund has finally become a registered religious body. Of
course, we have been a religious body all along. According to Swedish law,
a religious body is a fellowship for religious activity, which includes
organizing services. Ever since the foundation of SAs, we have been this
type of religious fellowship, organizing ceremonies and blots (which
qualifies under the legal definition of “services”). In other words, SAs
has always been a proper religious body according to the law, but has not
been registered as such in a legal sense. Now we are. This emphasizes and
makes it clear that we are a serious spiritual alternative, not merely a
non-profit organization.

Unfortunately, this does not confer the right to perform marriages or other
advantages to the association. The association is required to have at least
3,000 members in order to receive these rights, as well as government
financial assistance for services, spiritual counseling, instruction, etc.
We’re not there today. But that day is coming. Rest assured.

- Chairman, Henrik Hallgren