Viking mythology and all that goes with it

[Bates]

Hmm, well, I don't know of a rune that was tied to Freja specifically, but my lack of knowing doesn't mean that much. One could make a good argument for fe/feoh, being the rune of wealth, one of her domains.
As for the Poetic and other recommended reading, the best I can do for you is the following links: http://www.northvegr.org/lore/main.php
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/ice/index.htm
A bit of overlap between the two, but there's quite a few different translations, which is nice.

As for the last question, well, I don't call myself either. I don't really call myself anything, when you get down to it. Well, not entirely true, I do generally refer to myself as a heathen, and there's definitely a good bit of commonality between what I believe and the concept of Asatru. I also don't run around saying "Hail Odin(or Thor, or Ingvi Frey)" or suchlike. I do, however, do my best to learn and honor the hard earned wisdom and traditions of my ancestors... I guess the best I can say is "I believe in my own way."

 

[Tyra]

Hi there, im new here (in this sub forum, i came from the Nekrogoblikon forum), and i have a few questions:

Does Freyja have a rune?, ive been searching and i never found it (with "her rune" i men the rune that represents her, like Tiwaz represents Týr and Ansuz represents Odín).
Is possible to get the Saemund Edda? I barely managed to get the Edda Snorri (im from Argentina, South America) and i want to know if theres a posibility to get the poetic Edda from internet, because it seems to be impossible to find it here.
Can you also recommend me some mitology books?
And finally, this is more concerning to you -the people who posts here-:
Just to know: Are you a really Ásatrúar (or Wiccan)? Do you really believe in The Ases and Vanes or you just say "hail Oden" because it sounds cool or because you imitate what you hear in a song of the bands you like?
The last one is just to know how many of the people how says to "hail" the gods really does it, i expect to not hurt anybody's feelings with this, but i think there's a lot of "posers" (to say it of someway) hanging around (not here exactly, i mean everywhere).

Hi!
Freja has not one rune, but a whole "aett" (the futhark is divided into Freja's, Heimdal's and Tyr's aett): Fehu, uruz, thurizas, anzus, raidho, kenaz, gifu and wunjo. Some would say jera is Freja's rune, but I think that may be a wicca thing - not too sure. I've never heard that Freja is connected to jera from anyone who is asatru, that's all.
The Saemundar Edda is on the net. See www.northvegr.org or the Sacred Texts home page.
What kind of mythology books are you looking for, the old Icelandic stories retold or newer versions of the stories? Padraic Column has written several that I can highly recommend (such as http://www.amazon.com/Nordic-Gods-Heroes-Padraic-Colum/dp/customer-reviews/0486289125). I think some of his stuff is available on the net, but I don't have the addy right now.
I am "asatru", although I personally prefer the term Old Tradition. And there are plenty of posers, just as with any religion or philosophy, out there.

 

[Tyra]

Sorry Bates! The site is giving me problems ATM - I couldn't see your post until I'd already posted - didn't mean to step on your toes.

 

[Knarfi]

Hi!
the futhark is divided into Freja's, Heimdal's and Tyr's aett

I always thought it was Freya's eight, Hagall's eight, and Tyr's eight. But since Hagall is a rune, and not a god (right? ) i was probably wrong. I dont really remember how i got to Hagalls eight either

EDIT: Oh, and no, im not asatru.. I've never been able to believe in anything religious, im the kind of person that needs hard proof for everything, i guess I am very interested in it though.

 

[Bates]

Sorry Bates! The site is giving me problems ATM - I couldn't see your post until I'd already posted - didn't mean to step on your toes.

Bah, step on my toes indeed If anyone's guilty of that, it's likely me. I know what you mean about the site, it's been really flaky lately. I swear I have made posts and edited posts, only for them not to show up next time I open the thread.

 

[Reinhold]

I have the mother of all migraines tonight, so I am going to start with answering your question with a question becasue I can't seem to think clearly (sorry): Do you mean Saxo Grammaticus and Widsith and that kind of litterature in your first question? If so, I have read bunches of it, and you can too, for free on the net. I can give you links to a lot of them if you tell me which ones you want to read, and which language(s) you can read. Anyhow, I'll read the article properly as soon as my head stops making my stomach turn itself right side out...I'm seeing double right now, and not just because of the Smirnoff Ice this time!

Migraines truly suck...

Yes, Saxo Grammaticus, Widsith, Flateyjarbókí, etc... But I’d rather read them from books, because I kinda love reading them, and sitting in front of computer for hours just reading plain text ain’t my thing at all. (And the minor materialistic part of me likes to see those books in my bookshelves. ) But if you can recommend some good translations to look for, I’d be grateful. (Excluding Finnish, I understand only English and Swedish enough to understand written text, and with Swedish I need a dictionary, because I lack it in vocabulary. [We had a horrible teacher last year in comprehensive school, who killed my interest for some time. My grade fell from 9 to 6. ])

I'd just like to hear your opinion about the whole article. Should I rely on it as in any other theory that has not yet been proven but seems to make sense, or should I retain my distrust in it?

I am not familiar with that particular translation of the Edda, but you can find many on-line versions to compare it with. I can recommend BookPlus.fi as a good, reputable dealer in Finland. They may be able to help you find another version and work out a way for you to pay for it if you are not so sure about that other one. Or just do a Google Book search for the Bylock version and it'll probably let you read some of it on-line, so you can see what you think yourself. Don't they have Finnish-language translations of the Edda??

I had totally forgotten BookPlus. They have Hollanders', and if I remember right, that's the one you've kept recommending through this thread?

And yes, there is two finnish translations of the Edda, but I've heard that the older ones (written by Aale Tynni) ain't that good, and the new one has just been publised and I haven't found it in any store (and it's apparently stolen from my nearest library), but now that you reminded me of Bookplus, there it is. THANKS! Now I'll only need to wait till next pay-day, and I'll order it.

The vast majority of the Scandinavian rune stones were raised by Christians. That means that there is an awful lot that I could say about this particular subject, so maybe, rather than my posting one of those super-de-duper long posts, do you have specific questions regarding that or do you just want some general info re. Christian rune stones, like why, where and when?

Just the general info, why, where and when. I was just wondering that most of them are raised by christians. Like, do they depict some kind of christian propaganda, as one of their maneuvers to convert our ancestors into christianity? Or where they just like any other runestones, raised by christianized scandinavians who had not abandoned their true faith and earlier way of life?

I bet that I could find out the answer from the net if I had time, but I was just fishing (and drinking) at Saimaa for five days and now I'll be busy playing in a football tournament for couple of days and... :zombie: I would have spare time for it next time in like two weeks, and I tend to be a little absent-minded, so I would probably forget about it.

 

[Tyra]

Hmmm, well, with most of those texts that you mention, it really is not a matter of which translation is the better, it is if there is a translation. I will give you a list of the translations of texts I use the most and the translators below, keeping in mind that most of the time I do NOT use these alone, but the text is its original language and/or in Swedish (I did not include these in the list):
-Heimskringla by Snorre Sturlasson, English transl. A H Smith or Snorres konungasagor, in Swedish, transl Å Ohlmarks - IMO necessary for you to read.
-Bede's ecclesiastical history of the English people, transl by L C Jane
-Beowulf Swedish transl by Collinder
-History of the Wars, Books V. and VI. by Prokopius. Translation by H B Dewing
-Vita Anskarii, a.k.a. Anskar, The Apostle of the North, transl. Charles Robinson or in Swedish, Boken om Ansgar ,ed by Hallencreutz and Hållander
-De Bello Gallico by Caesar, transl McDevitte & Bohn or in Swed. Kriget i Gallien transl by Åke Fridh
-Risala, a.k.a Ibn Fadlans Journey to Russia, by Aḥmad Ibn Faḍlān, transl. by Richard Nelson Frye
-Eddan, översatt av Erik Brate (very old, but very useful, Swedish transl. avail. on-line at Projekt Runeberg)
-History of the Franks by Gregory of Tour, transl by Earnest Brehaut
-Prose Edda, by Snorri, transl Anthony Faulkes or Jean I Young depending on what I am looking for.
-History of the Danes by Saxo Grammaticus, transl by Peter Fisher
-Germania by Tacitus, Engl. transl Thomas Gordon, but I prefer the Swedish by N E Hammarstedt or Per Persson (the latter avail. on-line)
-Njals saga, Swedish transl by H Alving

I still have to read the article again, but by skimming through it, I can already tell you that much of it is accurate, and some is speculation and a small protion seems to be misundertanding of some of the texts. I do not like the interpretation of the "Russian" contingent as it is outlined here for that reason, but maybe I am misenterpreting what the dude is trying to say. Either way, I should not be speaking on this, because I am an archaeologist, and this text seems to be written from the point of view purely based on litterature. I like to base my opinion on artefacts AND a small amount of litt. The litt is so full of later Christian interpretations of old texts, political angles and so on - and especially the texts that this author has used - that it is very risky to do what has been done here, and rely on the litt alone. I tend to remain sceptical of any text that does that. None the less, I have not really read the text thoroughly, so I am not going to knock it. Also, the fellow that wrote the English essay seems to have had some difficulty in doing so, which is unfortunate. Wish I could understand the original!

I am supposed to be working, so I won't get into the rune thing right now, but basically, I can confirm what you said in your post, that "they depict some kind of christian propaganda, as one of their maneuvers to convert our ancestors into christianity". Better get some work done for now, though, and get back to you later. At least now you can look for some books...

 

[Bates]

Sweet, the condensed version of T's reading list. I think there's a couple on their I hadn't heard of yet.
And as for the lit, as unreliable as it may be, at least it's bit better then what's left for the Saxons, at least if you want pre-Christian. Tho we do have some pretty damn juicy archaeological bits, and bit of an idea just by the things that were outlawed.

 

[Belgar]

I will be reporting on the 2007 Wacken mead, does that count?
Last year's mead was good, if you could fight off the cloud of bees guarding the mead mugs.

 

[Bates]

Good enough for me, man. For that, I will admit a definite twinge of jealousy. I do at least get to go home for a week or so. Admittedly, still the same continent, but it's 1600 miles from where I live. Kansas is most certainly not where I belong, 3 years and my neighbors are still trying to run me out of town.
And, if my luck holds, the (in-law) family trip to the Bahamas looks to be getting rerouted to Iceland, which should kick ass.

 

[Tyra]

HAH! I got Runesinger here for a visit. She brought mead... My report from that is that all other meadmakers can drop dead.

 

[Bates]

Hehe, most excellent. Tell her I said hi. And on the topic, since it looks like I'll finally be able to fire up the forge and get some stuff done this weekend... going to see what I can do for a strainer. Not sure how good it will do, since I haven't gotten around to making a spoon mold yet, so I'm prolly just gonna freehand it with a ball peen and the hardy hole. After I do a new set of tongs, since I kinda melted half the handle off the last pair I was making

 

[Bates]

is there some sort of blessing we could find sometimes on someone's blade, runes of course? what would it look like? what words in old norse could be carved?

Well, I'd think it would probably something a bit more interesting then one of the best examples of "rune blades" I can think of.... they put the alphabet on it.
It just gives me this picture in my head of some big dude chopping off limbs and going "Learn to read!" a la Conan the Librarian.

 

[Reinhold]

Hmmm, well, with most of those texts that you mention, it really is not a matter of which translation is the better, it is if there is a translation. I will give you a list of the translations of texts I use the most and the translators below, keeping in mind that most of the time I do NOT use these alone, but the text is its original language and/or in Swedish (I did not include these in the list):
-Heimskringla by Snorre Sturlasson, English transl. A H Smith or Snorres konungasagor, in Swedish, transl Å Ohlmarks - IMO necessary for you to read.
-Bede's ecclesiastical history of the English people, transl by L C Jane
-Beowulf Swedish transl by Collinder
-History of the Wars, Books V. and VI. by Prokopius. Translation by H B Dewing
-Vita Anskarii, a.k.a. Anskar, The Apostle of the North, transl. Charles Robinson or in Swedish, Boken om Ansgar ,ed by Hallencreutz and Hållander
-De Bello Gallico by Caesar, transl McDevitte & Bohn or in Swed. Kriget i Gallien transl by Åke Fridh
-Risala, a.k.a Ibn Fadlans Journey to Russia, by Ahmad Ibn Fadlān, transl. by Richard Nelson Frye
-Eddan, översatt av Erik Brate (very old, but very useful, Swedish transl. avail. on-line at Projekt Runeberg)
-History of the Franks by Gregory of Tour, transl by Earnest Brehaut
-Prose Edda, by Snorri, transl Anthony Faulkes or Jean I Young depending on what I am looking for.
-History of the Danes by Saxo Grammaticus, transl by Peter Fisher
-Germania by Tacitus, Engl. transl Thomas Gordon, but I prefer the Swedish by N E Hammarstedt or Per Persson (the latter avail. on-line)
-Njals saga, Swedish transl by H Alving

Thanks, I could find most of those from my local library or in bookplus, in english and swedish (and some in finnish too).

I'm already somewhat familiar with Ibn Fahdlan's story. I liked the movie based on Michael Crichton's Eaters of The Dead, so I bought the book and liked it even more, and have been looking for Ibn Fahdlan's original texts since, and sometime ago I found out that it has even been translated in finnish, by Faruk Abu-Chacra, a professor from the University of Helsinki.

Also, the fellow that wrote the English essay seems to have had some difficulty in doing so, which is unfortunate. Wish I could understand the original!

And sorry, I too had only skimmed it through, and now I see what you mean… I should’ve translated it by myself to the end, and not deleted what I had already translated after I found that one…

And Bates, your drinking horn is awesome! (Just remembered it when you mentioned your forge and stuff)

 

[Erzebeth.Rouge]

Well, I'd think it would probably something a bit more interesting then one of the best examples of "rune blades" I can think of.... they put the alphabet on it.
It just gives me this picture in my head of some big dude chopping off limbs and going "Learn to read!" a la Conan the Librarian.

i dont want to put the futhark on Siv's scramaseax... i want something more fiting for her. and what ive found so far isnt much fiting.. of course i could still make her a design like i did for Hel but then i dont feel her having it on her blade... and i surelly wont carve her name on the blade! lol like if she was to loose it it would return to her from the goodwill of the finders lol like a little child loosing his scissors at school..

anyway

any idea? : /

painting going very great by the way, ive just put the under color for the ground where she stands on. the storm is done, i have to retouch the mountain, the river is absolutely realistic ^^ theres only blank Siv herself i keep for the end ^^ cant wait to see the final result!

 

[Erzebeth.Rouge]

by the way, ive managed to convince my mother to sew me a whole kit of under-dress and appron for a live i did this weekend (live, gn-grandeur nature- i dont know how you call it in your slang, its a reconstructed midieval time fantasy story... or a lived dungeon and dragon, instead of being played on table) anyway, my character was a priest, and i was wearing a birka inspired dress. theres not much good pics of me on my suit..

but here one when im reading my spell book to resurect the dead guy on the ground.

or here, on the left

the white dress is 100%coton undyed, the appron is linen. ill also have another dress to be done soon, in linen too. its a burned orange.

 

[Bates]

Hehe, I was too out of control to do those, always looked like fun tho.
I saw this and thought it was pretty cool, I'm sure the Swedes have seen it, but it was a new one by me.
http://www.overhogdal.se/svensk1/tapeten.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96verhogdal_tapestry

 

[Tyra]

Yeah, kind of makes you wonder how many of those things are sitting in some box somewhere w/o people knowing what they are, huh? I've been trying to find a detailed pic or pattern of the thing, like the kinds you can get of the Bayeux tapestry, so I can copy it. Like I have nothing better to do... Just want to know if I can do it, sort of...it's a Bates thing. LOL. The yarn is wool and silk, so it must have been commissioned or made by someone with a lot of dough!

 

[Bates]

Really? All the sites I can find are in Svenska, and I haven't gotten far enough with learning it to get much more then about a 1st grade level, hehe. But silk in circa 8-1100, that's definitely some well funded women there. (I feel tapestry weaving almost surely falls under the category of "The men will just make a mess if we let them do it, go bang on something with a hammer")
I happened upon it when I was looking at designs and got curious where the Yggdrasil symbol had come from.

 

[Skif_the_Red]

I like the story of Hermod riding Slepnir to Hel to save Baldur. Very cool story.