Archaeological Find in Iceland - The First Settlers?

Archaeological excavations in Stöðvarfjörður, the East Fjords, reveled interesting signs of human presence dated 74 years before the official settlement in the area by the first humans who came exploring the country. It seems the country was inhabited as early as the year 800 which means the first Viking explorers were not the ones who came to settle in 874 but there were people before who made the preparations for an official colonization of the area.

However, this is not the first time that signs of human presence from a similar time have been discovered. Excavations in Kvosin, Reykjavík, Hafnir, Reyjanes and in Húshólmi, had already given the hint of older settlements in the country. But now this one in Stöðvarfjörður came to cientifically prove the previous thought that Vikings settlers had been here way before the official historical record.

The Stöðvarfjörður is a strategic location, because the fjord has a good harbor and is the country’s closest location to sail to and fro Norway and the British Isles.

The first structure to be detected was a longhouse-shaped building with thick floor layers. The long-fire structure which was usually at the very center of the house is missing, but a fireplace can be seen by the wall. This structure is typically Nordic. The items are of the same kind as the ones which had been found in the whole Nordic area (including the Scandinavian Peninsula and all the way to the British Isles). This first settlement probably wasn't the type of farm-settlement, but an outpost that served as a predecessor to a real settlement.

The lack of animal bones in the area suggests that these settlers did not keep animals here, but used this place as a seasonal residence in order to exploit the natural resources the area offered.

Several tiny items of great importance to this finding, and a link to the first settlers, have been found. For instance, a sharpener, pearls, washers, a ring and a silver coin. A chalcedony discovered at the site proves that these first norsemen made utensils out of stone. This might give us a clue from where these people came from. In Northern Norway, during the medieval ages, it was still common for people to make tools out of stone. It became a sort of a costum to make stone tools in that area, while in other places these techniques had been put aside for a long time and in most cases had been forgotten. These first settlers were skilled in making stone tools, which suggests they were used to do it and this might indicate that they probably came from the northern regions of Norway.

The month of Þorri

The way we count time has changed throughout history, so did the calendars which helped us counting the days, months, seasons and the phases of the moon. So, according to the ancient scandinavian calendar we are now entering the month of Þorri, which Icelanders to this day still feast on traditional dishes. This is the high month of winter and this celebration marks the time when the provisions from the last harvest (before the coming of winter) were already scarce or ultimately consumed. During this feast the remaining preserved consumables are gathered and a great feast is held.

Þorrablót is the name given to this celebration, or to the festivities held around Scandinavia (and nowadays Iceland) during the month of Þorri. Every village and town has a Þorrablót administration group preparing the festivities; poetry, music and comical acting are part of the festivities in every community.

The 22nd of January is named Bóndadagur - or in other words the day of the husband - which marks the precise beginning of the month of Þorri or Þorrablót, and the festivities lasts until the 21st of February. The last day of this celebration is in turn called Konudagur - the day of the wife. Konudagur marks the beginning of the fifth winter month - Góa - during which the return of the daylight and longer days become discernible and spring will soon begin.

Secret Staves

In the old northern european societies, it was common to use runic symbols and combinations of runes for different magical purposes. Most of the symbols and spells used in the incantations of the bidding of runes, appear to have been for the use of simple daily problems in the life of the common folk. For instance, for catching a thief or to overthrowing an enemy. Others helped heal livestock, whilst others look at cursing the animals of another. It was also common to create charms to help preserve food and ale, staves to bless the bearer with strength or courage, or symbols to help with fishing or prevent death by drowning. The bidding of runes, charms, staves an so on, were also commonly created to protect a person while in battle, to enhance the durability of a shield, the deadly strike of a weapon or the flexibility of a bow.

However, the people in the 17th century in Iceland faced more difficulties in agriculture, herding and hunting and finishing, rather than the troubles of war. With long dark winters, little arable lands for crops, and icy seas, life was unforgiving. Luck seemed to have an important role in that society, and the inhabitants would do what they could to influence their fortunes themselves. In times of famine, neighbours would be tempted to steal from each other, and disputes would often end in violence of course. Reputation and the ability to intimidate seems to have been an important factor in survival, and many staves were created to allow the bearer to do this or cast back negativity upon their perceived attacker. It was a very superstitious time.

As this was an age where Christianity had great influence in the European societies, witchcraft was still used by some but in secrecy, as folk remedies for example. Some practiced these arts more openly, sometimes charging for their services. By using the magical staves, a person felt that they were able to control and influence their predicament without direct confrontation.

The staves appeared to be drawn by using the Norse runes and later mediaeval and renaissance occult symbols. They were at least influenced by later charms used on mainland Europe. Some even appear to be influenced by kabbalistic symbols. During the 17th century in Iceland, it was a time where the christian faith and the old Scandinavian faith was mixed. Icelandic society never forgot their past, their roots and traditions, so some charms that accompany certain staves mention the old Norse gods such as Odin and Thor, whilst others mention Solomon and Christ. The system seems to be an interesting blend of old and new magical beliefs. During the periods of transition between religions, Odin was still appealed to or mentioned, but his role had shifted from being the All-father figure to that of a sorcerer. The Christian God had taken the place of the Father of men on earth, with the Old Gods being pushed into the positions where they were only called upon by the superstitious or "evil magicians".

Between the 14th and 17th Centuries, it was common to hunted down and tried and punish witches for their sorcerous arts. In most cases these practitioners of the old ways were female. Interestingly enough, unlike mainland Europe, the majority of Icelandic witches that were executed were male; punished by being burned at the stake; women were usually drowned. Like so many other examples of hysteria and bitterness that peaked during such times of persecution, accusations of witchcraft seemed to be a powerful tool to be rid of enemies and improve one's own situation. One such tale suggests manic superstition, or possibly a personal vendetta against a family.

There is an interesting account that I would like to state:

In 1656 in the town of Kirkjuból (nowadays known as Ísafjörður), a pastor called Jón Magnússon was suffering from ill health and other misfortunes. He accused two members of his congregation of sorcery against him. The accused were father and son, both named Jón Jónsson, who sang in the church choir. After being interrogated, the father confessed to using magic against the pastor and having a book of magic in his possession. Jón Jónsson junior confessed to making the pastor ill, and of using Fretrúner against a girl. The latter was a stave that caused the subject to fart constantly. Far from being a joke, it was intended to humiliate and cause terrible abdominal discomfort. The pair were found guilty and were burned at the stake. Pastor Jón Magnússon was awarded all of the Jónsson's holdings, but later accused the daughter of Jón Jónsson senior (sister of Jón Jónsson junior) of witchcraft as his ills still continued. Thuridur Jónsdóttir stood trial and was found not guilty. She counter-sued the Pastor and won. As compensation, she was awarded the Pastor's belongings.

This account may have been an attempt for the pastor to get rid of that family and gain their wealth, but his intentions at the end left him with nothing. Unfortunately it led to the death of two innocent; were they really innocent at all? Some truths may never be known.

Well, back to the subject, folk magic went underground and its practices became hidden. Some records that exist of the staves, their uses and other magical practices of the Icelanders, were made by the courts during the trials of supposedly witches. Ironically, it is this act that has preserved some of the old customs to this day. Without being recorded, they would simply have been forgotten or would have died with their practitioners. But how well were they transcribed? It's very likely that the true knowledge of such magics has been completely forgotten.

After so much time in secrecy, these magical practices returned. It was only in the last century that it became safer to explore the practices of folk magic throughout Europe. Whilst still frowned upon as superstition and nonsense, the Icelandic staves have seen a surge in popularity. Many of the staves are used in art and decorative wares, whilst some people have taken to having them tattooed onto their bodies. The Icelandic staves have evolved over the centuries, and while certainly incorporating Norse runes, they cannot be considered exclusively of "Viking" culture as they are influenced by other esoteric practices from mainland Europe and beyond.


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The Viking method of execution - the blood eagle - may be a mistranslation

The blood eagle as a Viking method of executing a person, may be the result of mistranslations and not historically accurate.

The execution method of the blood eagle in which victims were sliced open along the spine, had their ribs snapped open so it would look like wings, the lungs pulled out and salt poured in, may be a mistranslation of the Icelandic poet Sigvat Thordarson’s famous poem - Knútsdrápa. The poem is about Ragnar Hair-Breeches’s sons slaying King Ella of Northumbria in revenge. The stanza in question has been translated as both “Ivar caused the eagle to cut the back of Ella” and “Ivar cut the eagle on the back of Ella.” However, only the first translation makes literary and historical sense, as it fits in with the unique structure of the Icelandic poetry as well as the tradition of describing a slaughter as providing carrion for birds. The second translation led to a 14th-century interpretation that still exists today of the Vikings enacting a particularly horrid form of retribution.

This dreadful description of one of the methods used by the Vikings to kill a person, lasted to our days as the correct form of translation in an attempt to mark the Vikings as the barbarian bloodthirsty hordes the priests and monks believed them to be. The victims of the Vikings gave them a terrible reputation and later on the historical documentations writen about them which have survived to our days, were made centuries later when the Vikings were no more and the truth about such events had been altered from writer to writer.

Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson

Today i'm going to talk about an important figure to the Norse/Germanic Paganism, but this one is not a king, nor a hero from the old sagas, but he became an historical figure in a more recent time, today i'm going to talk about Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson.

Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson was born at the 4th of April of 1924 in Iceland and died at the 24th of December in 1993. In 1972 he founded the group called Ásatrúarfélag, the Icelandic heathen organization were he was the chief góði to te day of his death. His beliefs were officially recognized by the Icelandic government as a religion in May 1993, seven months before he died.
He belonged to a family of farmers, he himself was a farmer and since childhood he had a close connection with the old gods of the Norse pantheon, at the age of sixteen he started writing his own poems and songs about the Norse gods, inspired by the sagas, he also gave a great contribution to the Icelandic history. He was also a man with the knowledge of healing herbs and such natural remedies, for he lived alone in the wilderness, and whenever he got sick, it was too far away from any hospital or anyother kind of medical help, so he would gather the herbs he needed to heal himself.
As you may know, Icelandic people were very tied to the Norse beliefs before Christianity came, and when the christian faith started to spread all over this icy continent, the old religion was forbidden, illegal, but not lost, for the next 970 years people still worshiped the old gods, hiding that from the eyes of the church because they feared it, it was the strongest political and religious power in the country. Only after 1874 people had the right of religious freedom of choice, and so they whoever wanted, could leave the church. In the 70's of the XX century, Iceland lost many devotees of the Christian faith and started to spread again its faith, it was in these times that Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson founded the heathen group called Ásatrúarfélag, a group that still believed and whorship the old Gods and also the Landspirits, the hidden folk. The group was small but it grew faster than the expected, many people were still hiding their beliefs from the church and found the group to be their leap towards a free religious right, free from constraints and fears. Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson and the people of his group were Asatrú, they believed in the Aesir gods, it was the most important Norse pantheon to them, as you may know, the Norse gods are devided into groups, but Beinteinsson's group was focused only in the Aesir, an important step to the future generations who wanted to learn more about their history, the old religion and beliefs, and also to be connected with the land, which was in fact one of the main purposes of Beinteinsson's group, to be in contact with the landspirits and the spirits of their ancestors. It appears that it wasn't hard for Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson to have this religion aproved by the Icelandic government, it is in their laws that no one can do missionary work and spread their religious beliefs by imposing it to people, the beliefs just come on their own when people want to accept them with freewill. Iceland being a country where the majority of people still went to church because they felt forced to but still worshiped the old gods behind closed doors, with this new opportunity to be free in their beliefs, it spread quickly, however, Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson had to talk with the Minister of Justice to have the permission to officialize a religion and appling a license to practice the religion, since then, they have the same rights as the church, or course the church and the Bishop was against this, but still they managed to gain ground because many important people from the government and the media liked the idea of bringing the old religion back.

Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson was a great figure who helped a lot bringing the old Norse beliefs again, they have always been there, but hidden because people feared the power of the church and the christian faith, but Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson stimulated the awakening of the old beliefs and people now feel lighter and free to be what they are, to choose whatever spiritual path suits them, what brings them happiness and confort.

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The Icelandic Necromancer

In old Iceland there was a method used by the sorcerers to get money, a bit.. disturbing and gruesome..
The Icelandic sorcerers used the Necropants, which are pants made of human skin.. well, the sorcerer would make an agreement with a person ( always a man ), then when this person died he could use his body for his own purposes, he would flayed the skin of the body in one piece from the waist down, after tanning the skin he would used it like a pair of pants. After all this trouble he stole a coin and placed it in the natural "purse" the cavity formed by the scrotum. S upposedly this attracted more coins, therefore the sorcerer became a wealthy man.
Before the time of his death came, the sorcerer had to pass the necropants to another person ( possibly another sorcerer ). He did this by having the new owner place his right leg in one side of the pants while the sorcerer still had his left leg in the other. In this way, the power of the pants would pass from one individual to another.

This whole story might seem somethign taken out from a horror movie or book, but the Museum of Witchcraft and Sorcery in Iceland has a pair of necropants on exhibit. They resemble the preserved skin of the bog bodies found in Denmark and Irland and it is believed that probably this kind of unusual thing might have its roots in very ancient times.

Tiwaz

"Tiw is a guiding star, well does it keep faith with princes. It is ever on a course over the mists of night and never fails."
                                                                       
                                                          "The Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem"
"Tyr is one-handed among the gods and leaving of wolf and king of temples."
                                                                       
                                                          "The icelandic rune poem"
 
Tiwaz is also given as Teiwaz. To the Norse pf Scandinavia and Iceland, the rune was known as Tyr, while to the Saxons it was Tiw.
In the comon alphabet, this is the letter "T".
This rune is symbolocally connected with the North Star, which "never fails", and with vows and unbreakable oaths. The custom of holding up one's right hand while taking an oath is derived from the story of Tyr. The trees of Tiwaz are the mighty oak and the hazel. The spear is also a symbol of Tiwaz, as might be expected, since the rune represents the god of war.
The shape of the rune suggests the unvarying compass neddle, too.



Upright Meaning:

Binding oaths are indicated by Tiwaz. This may seem paradoxical, since Tiwaz broke his oath to the wolf, yet the oath was made under duress and he had good reasons to lie.
A worthy promise, made under the right conditions and for honourable reasons, should, and indeed must, be kept. Marriage vows are a case in point. Tiwaz is thought to signify lasting love, and its appearance denotes a bond that, once made, cannot be broken. However, Tiwaz is also an agressively masculine rune, so it tends to favour men rather than the women, Any relationship question that is answered by Tiwaz shows that passions will run riot because two strong-minded people will be involved. While sex will never be boring, the danger of jealousy will always be present. If the person asking the question is a woman, Tiwaz suggests that a strong and handsome man will love her fiercely and that she may have to sacrifice some thing major in her life to ensure that her attachment to him remains strong. However, once that has been done, the relationship will prosper. Love will be steadfast, or, as Shakespeare described it, "as constant as the northern star".
Tiwaz also indicates success in business and sports. It suggests that legal decisions will go in your favour, too. In these matters, as in affairs of the heart, an unshakeable conviction that what you are doing is right will give you streangth of purpose to succeed.


Inverted Meaning:

 
Selfishness, dishonourable actions and turning one's back on responsibilities are suggested when Tiwaz is inverted. Women should not trust their men so readily, because in this position the rune often denotes a shallow relationship.




Body Part: Immune system and thymus gland.
Associated Maladies: Diseases of the immune system. Lowered immunities. Allergies.
Action: Attacking.
Solution: Do everything you can to support the immune system.