Póvoa de Varzim - Norse Pagan Past

It's no news that the Norse and Germanic culture spread so wildly throughout Europe and even got to Portugal, the last European country by the sea. For obvious reasons Portugal as always been the favorite European country for all the Europeans to settle and make a living, since the neolithic times that many diferente peoples from Europe went there, fertily soils for agriculture, warm weather, during the winter too harsh to the north but nothing that the people weren't used to, great strategic places, soils filled with diffrent types of ore, abundance of wildlife and game, rivers filled with fish and by the sea for fishing, a rich land where Celts, Iberians, Lusitanians, Swabians, Vandals, Vikings, and so on settled and prospered. Portugal has deep roots in the Celtic, Germanic and Norse culture, and the people lived with such culture and religious beliefs for almost 2500 Years before christianity conquered the land, possibly more, for the historical records began in a time where Portugal was already with such cultures in the ancient past of the land.

In this post i will talk about the Portuguese past with the Norse/Germanic culture, because in most historical maps, i have seen the routes of the Norse people voyages, but seldom do those routes pass in Portugal, and today i will show you one more proof that the Norse/Germanic peoples came there, settled, built, traded, farmed, lived and left a lot of descendants.

Póvoa de Varzim is a city in northern Portugal with a rich past, a place that has been permanently inhabited since pre-historic times, where the inhabitants of that área used to live in the mountains, protected from agression of other tribes, but the need for food was great, for in the mountains with nothing but cold, snow, frost and harsh storms, it is hard to farm and hard to hunt, so very early in history, the people from that área settled near the sea and small fishing villages started to apear. This place was Celtic land, and later the Swabians settle there also and centuries after the Vikings arrived. The norse writing system ( the runes ) was the first thing that was passed down to these people, in a period even before the vikings, more than 1500 years ago. In this reagion of northern Portugal the people adopted the runes not only as a form of writing but also to mark each family, instead of having a coat of arms, they had runes and other runic symbols such as the combination of runes. as you can see at the right of this post, the first image shows some of those runes and combination of runes that were also to represente spots, houses, family names, fishing tools and all kinds of stuff in a community. In the past, these were used to remember things and were known to be the only writing system that the people of Póvoa had, because many inhabitants did not knew how to write in the Latin alphabet, for the northern regions were hard places to get to and the Romans had much trouble going in there. These symbols had great utility, even merchants used it in trading, to mark an event, a selling, and so on, and these were read and recognized like we today read and recognize names written in the Latin alphabet.

Some of these symbols can still be found in the First Church of Póvoa de Varzim (first church since 1757) and in the Lapa church, the chapel of Santa Cruz in Balazar, in some religious places in north-western Iberia to where they went for praying, and are still very lightly used by some families. Thousands of these symbols existed in the former first church of Póvoa de Varzim (until 1757), but these were destroyed with the demolition of the church. The people of Póvoa wrote their marks in a kind of registry when they got married.
The symbols were passed down from father to son. In Póvoa’s tradition that lives until today, the heir of the family is the youngest son and a mark is given, a runic symbol, to the other children it was also given the same mark but with traces, known as «pique». Thus, the older son would have one pique, the next would have two, and so on. The youngest son would not have any pique, inheriting the same symbol as his father. The younger son is the heir because it was expected that he would take care of his parents when they became old. Also, unlike the rest of the nation, it is the women who governs and leads the family, this is also due to the fact that men passed most of the time at sea fishing.

It is importante to remembre our roots, to remembre who we are, and for the people of Póvoa de Varzim, this Norse past is somethign very importante that they hold on to, even today we can still see these markings in the well known
Portuguese stone sidewalk style as you can see below, you might want to click the image to enlarge.
 

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The Lusitanian people and Culture

Those who know me, are aware that i'm a practitioner of the Northern-Pagan Traditions, the spiritual paths of my ancestors from my mother side, both Germanic and Nordic, however, from my father side, there is a mixture of both Germanic and Celtic blood and also Lusitanian blood, so i feel the need to write in here who the Lusitanian people really were, in honor of those people who are my ancestors also. I am a walking cocktail of European bloodlines, with Nordic blood, Celtic blood, Lusitanian blood, some drops of Germanic blood and possibly some Latin blood. But enough about me, lets start our History lesson.

The Lusitanians were a group of people from a Celtic tribe which came to the Iberian Peninsula along with other Celtic tribes when the Celts started their migrations around 3000 B.C.
The Celts origins are where Czech Republic and Germany are today, and they started a huge migration in all directions in Europe, one of the first places they settled, was in the Iberian Peninsula where the countries of Portugal and Spain are today, many tribes of Celts came there, one of those were the Lusitanians, some Archaeologists and Historians think they where the Celtic tribes who came from the Helvetic mountains in modern Switzerland.
The Iberian Peninsula had its inhabitants along the coast of Spain from the east side, they were called Iberians, and the South of Portugal was inhabited by Phoenicians and people from northern Africa and from Carthage, along the coastline to the west by the Atlantic ocean to the modern capital of Portugal ( Lisbon ) it was inhabited by Greek colonies, so the center of Portugal all the way to the north and most parts in the north of spain, were in this time, almost empty. So it was easy for the Celts to settled in those parts, and they took the lands with no problems, what is today Galicia, northern Spain, all the way to its center and northern Portugal till Lisbon, was Celtic territory. The Iberian Peninsula had a very fertile soil, not only for agriculture but it was also rich in ore, all kinds of metals, and the Celts were very good in working those metals, this was the Bronze age, and now they had access to such a huge quantity of metals, they had everything they wished for, their wealth increased, and they prospered. Of all the Celtic tribes in the Iberian Peninsula, only one grew in such a way, that they formed the first nation in Europe ( The Romans did not existed yet ), they were called Lusitanians, and they had the largest Celtic territory of all, all Center of Portugal and parts of Spain was theirs, they had the best lands for agriculture and they worked the metals like no one, the tools, weapons and objects they made were so beautiful and well crafted, that it was coveted by all Europeans and people from all over the place in Europe, from North, East and South, came to Lusitânia, to exchange and buy the things the Lusitanians crafted. These Celts and the other Celtic tribes in the Iberian Peninsula, were the first people to literally make trade routes, the first to make roads, unlike it was said for so much time, that the Romans were the first to build roads, the Celts made them before, the Romans just re-built roads on top of the already existing ones. The Lusitanian people were the strongest and most powerful people in the Iberian Peninsula, they had the most fertile lands, thousands of cattle, the best weapons and the largest villages, towns and strongholds. The Romans gave them this name, Lusitans/Lusitanians, from the word Luso, which was a Roman god, thought to duel in those parts and the Lusitanians were his children. However, the Lusitanians were Celts and they worshiped Celtic deities obviously, their language was the Leukaeke, a Celtic dialect, unfortunately, like the Cornish language of Wales, the Leukaeke was completely lost, 1500 years earlier than the Cornish, the last words of Leukaeke were spoken in the V century A.D. although many people are trying to bring it back in a modern way, the neo-lusitanian language called Leukantú, notice that this language is not similar in any way to the Portuguese language. The Lusitanians called their land, Leukitanea, the land of light, so probably these names came from their celtic tribe name.
These Celts were much feared and also respected and time passed and they lived wealthy, happy, joyful and increasing their lands, they even went to Great Britain with other Celts, when they started their migrations to those lands, but most of the Lusitanians went to Irland, so many people in Irland are related with the Lusitanians. But the Romans were growing in numbers and in strength and they had a nation of their own and soon they started conquer other lands in Europe, increasing their empire. The wealth and power of the Lusitanians soon came to the Romans' ears, and their lands were so rich in everyway, that the Romans really wanted them, it would increase their wealth, because the Celtic Lusitanians had a lot of gold also, strategic lands to plan invasions into other countries, extremely fertile soils, because they were also a possible threat to the Empire and because the very lands of the Lusitanian people were thought to be divine, made by the gods, a place where the gods could rest.. and that turned to be true, because when the Romans took those lands, they add the Lusitanian gods to their list of gods, these Celtic-Lusitanian gods were much feared and respected and also too powerful and great.
The lands of the Lusitânia covered much of what Portugal is today and a part of Spain. Now you may be thinking, why the Portuguese and Spanish people share the same language base of the French and the Italian, ( the Latin ) if they were Celts, with a Celtic and Germanic language? Well that is simple, those were the first countries to be conquered by the Romans, and the people of those places stood too long, under the Roman influence, the Romans had time to build a lot of cities, impose their culture, building their temples, making their own trade routes, and the native people of those countries, were either slaughtered or became romans and adopted the latin as their main language as an easy way to exchange and trade products with the Romans and survive. So the latin became the main language, and when the christian faith came, latin was still the main language for many centuries.
In Portugal today, most of that Celtic anf Germanic heritage was lost, and the Lusitanian spirit and their gods are now hidden throughout the beautiful landscape, even knowing that other germanic tribes came and settled, the Wandalns the Swabians, the Visigoths, the Vikings and so on, but the christian faith was too powerful, and brought down all of them.. This is a pity, for Portugal was forged by great cultures and has an extremely rich cultural past. All those cultures fought to survive and to maintain their gods, their beliefs, their way of living, people often talk about what christians did in other countries of Europe, bringing down ancient pagan temples, forests, slaughtering everyone, trying to wipe out those ancient pagan European beliefs, but the Iberian Peninsula suffered greatly with that and amazing cultures almost disappeared. Today, some people are trying to bring all of that, back, awaking the old gods, its hard to pick anything to start, for the romans and christians did a great job in cleaning those beliefs, but i hope, with my contribution and the contribution of such others, we might bring it all back again. There are still some many Germanic and Celtic descendants in Portugal, who have no clue of their ancestry...

In other posts, i will talk about the daily lives of the Lusitanian people, heroes, their gods and their culture, from spiritual beliefs to rituals and sacrifices, to the language and form of writing.

 If you have any questions for me or if you want to see my artistic works, check out my Facebook page and make a Like if you can by following this link --> http://www.facebook.com/ArithHarger

Working with the gods: Sunna

The Norse Goddess of the sun is called Sunna or Sol, she rides across the skies in her chariot pulled by two golden horses, Allsvinn and Arvaker.

Sunna is the very symbol of the sun and its power, so as you might guess, her gifts to us is exactly the same emotions and feelings the sun gives, energy, enthusiasm, motivation, happiness, warmth, joy etc. of course there are people who don't like the sun or its light, but i'm referring to those emotions and feelings the sun brings to the land it self, so as you might also guess, disrespecting the land, the air, the natural environments and the world itself, is something this goddess will disapprove. For her power is also linked to the power of growth of all natural things expecially plants. She belongs to the group of Northern gods of the Sky, and nowadays our daily actions that might bring harm to the Ozone layer ( which unfortunately is a problem very present ) is a great disrespect towards Sunna and the other sky gods.

Sunna is the very light that warms the hearts of those in need, the hearts of those that lie in the shadows and in the cold emotional depression, so she can be called by those who are in these melancholic conditions and in sadness. Imagine her importance to our ancestors, to those who worked in the fields, harvesting their crops, the sunny days bringing life to animals and plants which gave mankind sustenance. I know that some people don't like the heat of the sun, or its light, but imagine the people in the Northern countries, where winter is too long and too hard, so when the sun came, it brought vitality to the people and thus, it would empower the people, making them a better and healthier community.

An interesting curiosity is that Sunna is also called Sol, and in Denmark, Sweden and Norway, Sol means Sun, also in the English language which is based in Germanic languages, the very word Sun, comes from the same group of languages as the Northern countries, also in Iceland, the word for the Sun is also written as it is in English. But more interesting than this, is the fact that in the Iberian Peninsula in the counties of Portugal and Spain, there are thousands of vestiges of the Germanic culture, such as Pottery with runes carved ( the first symbols of the runes before the Elder Futhark, symbols used in times before the vikings ), or burial grounds, buildings, weapons, bones and also in the Language, because in Portugal and also in Spain the word for the Sun is also "Sol" and in Portugal the pronunciation of this word is too similar to the Swedish one. Like this you can see the importance that the Sun had all over Europe, for Europe is a cold mother and the weather is harsh, so people longed for the warmth of the Sun, and the fact that the name of such a goddess remained till today a word for the Sun especially in the coastal countries of Europe, it isn't something to be astonished about, for the Northern peoples traveled by sea and established their settlements in those countries, and it isn't something new to know that they were in Portugal, because all European cultures came to Portugal looking for a warmer weather for agriculture, hunting, fishing, living. Portugal is the last country of Europe by the Atlantic sea, or the first country for the sailors, it can either be where Europe begins or where Europe ends, that depends on your point of view. In fact more than half of Portugal was a Germanic country much influenced by the Germanic cultures for more than 2000 years, since somewhere between 2000 and 1500 Before the common Era, to the 6th century, but that is a subject for an other post because right now i'm entering in History and turning my back to the main subject of this post.

Note: The artwork to illustrate this post is a drawing of Sunna and Mani made by me. If you have any questions for me or if you want to see my artistic works, check out my Facebook page and make a Like if you can by following this link --> http://www.facebook.com/ArithHarger