Here’s a question for my Scandinavian followers, or anyone who knows more about runes than I do:
I re-read the section of the Hávamál where Odin talks about carving, coloring, reading, and “sending” the runes, and I understand he’s probably not talking about the rune-tokens we use for runic divination today (especially since those were invented in the 70’s). But that got me wondering what he is actually referring to, so I must ask:
Is he talking about carving runes on wooden sticks or poles instead?
Right now I’m thinking about an episode I saw of Hilda. In one scene, she walks into a graveyard carrying a stick covered in runes. She rolls it against the ground, evoking the dead, in order to raise them from their graves.
I remember something similar from the Norse myths as well: When Freyr falls in love with the giantess Gerdr, he sends his man Skirnir to Jötunheim to bring her to him. But Gerdr refuses to accompany him back to Asgard, so Skirnir pulls out a stick, carves runes it, and uses it to curse Gerdr to never find love unless it’s with ugly giants or Freyr himself.
I did a little digging just now and discovered there’s archaeological evidence for rune-poles: The “Bryggen inscriptions,” which are a collection of medieval-era poles found in Bergen, many of which have runic charms carved on them.
If making rune-poles is what the Hávamál is actually referring to, then do we know how they work and how they’re used? Is there any folklore about it? I’m guessing there must be something, given the scene in Hilda.
I also have some additional thoughts that I don't know where to put but relate to my general inquiry: What I know about runes leaves me with the impression that ancient Scandinavians thought about writing very differently. Today we use it as a medium for storing and transmitting stories (interpret this word in the broadest possible sense here; I'm talking about things ranging from fantasy narratives, to personal anecdotes, to factual reporting). But I’m wondering—and this is just me hypothesizing—if people used runic writing more like musical notation or computer code, in which it represented something that was supposed to be played. This would make “knowing how to read the runes” more analogous to “knowing how to read sheet music” or “knowing how to read JavaScript.” It would also make the concept of “sending runes” similar to the concepts of “playing music” or “running software.” This makes perfect sense in principle...but if this were all true, then the questions remain: How were they sent, for what purpose were they sent, and through what kind of framework were they sent? How does it all work?
Any leads help!
