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@thorsvinur
You may have mastered the viking look, but have you mastered the viking "look"? 😉
I saw this getting some likes and reblogs again and figured it needs an important update:
It was also important enough to incorporate into a spoon that I recently made.
OP is a beard required, or just the thousand yard stare?
The look is for everyone, bearded or not. 😉
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You may have mastered the viking look, but have you mastered the viking "look"? 😉
I saw this getting some likes and reblogs again and figured it needs an important update:
It was also important enough to incorporate into a spoon that I recently made.
There's absolutely no inherent need to try to "Norsify" Ostara/Ēostre. The Swedes at least already had a celebration that took place near the vernal equinox, that being Dísablót and the Dísaþing/Disting before it was moved into early February. Not long after, summer begins, which on a lunisolar calendar is generally only around a month after the equinox give or take a couple weeks. It can be argued that Old Norse time reckoning had quarter marks to the year, even within the primary winter/summer scheme, but those marks would have been Jól/Miðvetr and Miðsumar (in July, not June) since they're the halfway points of their respective seasons. For them, this would simply be late winter.
Even in an Anglo-Saxon and Continental Germanic context, there's debate over whether the goddess Ēostre was worshiped widely outside of Northumbria since Jacob Grimm was apparently a fan of shoehorning things in to support the idea of Pan-Germanic traditions. But even then, what is important in one place isn't necessarily important in another, and their being related cultures further back only goes so far since things can and do change over time. The closest linguistically related figure to Ēostre in the Norse context with any remaining attestation is Austri, a dvergr (dwarf) who along with the three others (Norðri, Suðri and Vestri) holds up the dome (sky) created from Ýmir's skull.
It has been proposed that Ēostre may even be more directly related to the Romano-Celtic Matronæ cult, and that her worship in Northumbria may have been a product or a relic of Roman cultural influence. It's impossible to say for sure, but it's a competing theory.
As I generally say with all of these types of things, in a modern context things are more open to modification since it is and should be a living tradition. If a person wants to celebrate Spring, at least where there actually is a defined "Spring" period, then there's no reason not to. It's simply not necessary, though, to try to apply it back onto Old Norse culture(s) for a sense of justification in Heathen practice where none is really required.
This is about four days late, but the new moon that took place this past week marked the transition from the month of Góa to the month of Einmánuðr using the Old Norse lunisolar calendar. Because this month contains the full moon marking Sigrblót/Sumarmál, the beginning of summer, it would be considered the first summer month.
On the Old Icelandic calendar, that title would be given to Harpa, which begins on that full moon since months are reckoned between full moons rather than new moons. The name "Einmánuðr" itself is found in multiple sources and can mean "Single-Month" or "One-Month"; this could refer to the first month of summer or the one remaining month before summer, depending on the context. In any case, it's the only name (that we're aware of) that really remains for it.
Sigrblót translates to "Victory Sacrifice", as this is when the season of voyages for trade as well as warfare and raiding would begin and people marked it with offerings to the gods to gain favor in their ventures. Sumarmál roughly translates to "Mark/Measure of Summer", referring to its being used to signify the beginning of that half of the year.
This is about the closest that Einmánuðr, and consequently the Old Norse beginning of summer, will come to the vernal equinox, and with the added month this summer it will shift back later next year. As a result, the first part of the summer will not be incredibly "summery", but last year wasn't much different even with a more regular beginning date!
This is the full moon period of Góa, also the time when the Disting/Dísaþing and Dísablót would take place in Early Medieval Sweden. The names respectively translate to "Assembly of the Dísir" and "Sacrifice of the Dísir", the word Dísir (singular Dís) being somewhat ambiguous in that is seems to be applied to female deities, spirits and sometimes even people. The dísir as a whole appear to have been largely regarded as protectors and guardians of the family and the home, potentially including female ancestral spirits. Several Old Norse deities have "heiti" (bynames) that include -dís as well, such as Freyja (Vanadís, "Dís of the Vanir") and Skaði (Öndurdís, "Ski-dís"), and certain feminine names such as Freydís (Dís of Freyr) include it.
The Dísaþing and Dísablót in Sweden were originally held at the full moon closest to the vernal equinox, but later on toward the end of the Early Medieval period the festival was secularized and moved into early February in order to not conflict with the period of Lent. Adam of Bremen attests to the practice of a large blót at Uppsala in conjunction with a great assembly near the vernal equinox, and in Heimskringla Snorri writes the following:
“In Sweden there was an age-old custom whilst they were still heathen that there should be a blood offering in Uppsala during Góa-month. Then they would sacrifice for peace and victory for their king. And thither would they come from all over Sweden. There also were all the Swedish things. There was besides a market and a fair, and it lasted a week. But when Christianity came to Sweden they still kept the law thing and the market there. And when Christianity prevailed throughout Sweden and the kings no longer sat in Uppsala, the market was shifted and held at Candlemas. It has always been held then ever since, but now it does not last more than three days.”
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The Heathen community needs to up its headdress game. If your "viking priest" doesn't look like this, I'm not sure I want them sprinkling blood on me.
I kinda had this theory that like, whenever historical depictions (in paintings, movies, video games, the like) want to show Old Norse, or Celtic peoples, sometimes they'll borrow (ie appropriate) aesthetics from Native North Americans to either fill in the blanks where there's unconcrete knowledge about those European cultures, or to make them look "cooler", or essentially to get it across that "these people are barbaric, uncivilized, and savage. Just like Native Americans". But then it turns out it's actually not a theory & the wider media has been doing this shamelessly for a while now.
You see this a lot like with alleged "Viking inspired tattoos" that often just steal from Inuit Tuuniit. Like that bullshit that runway pulled & called it "Viking"
[Image ID: two photos stacked next to each other horizontally. The first on the left is of a White model on the runway with false tattoos, her forehead has two triangles entending in a downward, "V", while her chin has two vertical lines with 3 dots on opposite sides. The second on the right is of an Inuk woman with traditional tattoos, with the same "V" shaped tattoo on her forehead but more curved inward, and her chin has 5 lines running down it. The tattoos in the two photos are remarkably similar. End ID.]
I also think they did this with Tyr in the new god of war game
[Image ID: screenshot of a promotional photo from the upcoming Santa Monica Game God of War Ragnarok, featuring the character Tyr. His forehead has the same V shaped tattoo as the above images, though with the innerside of the V being shaded in. End ID.]
And again with Eivor in Assassin's Creed Valhalla (alternatively, theirs also looks like Dene & Cree tattoos I've seen)
[Image ID: screenshot from the Ubisoft game Assassin's Creed Valhalla, featuring the female version of the playable protagonist character Eivor. She is White & ethnically Norse wearing green metal armor, with a long scar on her cheek & a partially shaved with pulled back into a ponytail. Tattoos of 3 thick lines extend down her chin, similar to the photo of the Inuk woman in the first image. End ID.]
& then AGAIN with the show Barbarians, but this time with makeup (compare to how traditional pow wow dancers do their war paint using the same colors, if you're a regular pow-wow-er you'll know that red across the forehead with black lines or dots is a popular combo design)
[Image ID: 3 photos stacked together vertically. The first is of a White woman, a character from the TV show Barbarians. She is wearing warpaint, with a dark streak all along her forehead and ending at her eyebrows, with black lines extending from her eyeliner across to her ears, 3 black lines going down her chin, and the rest of her chest completely covered in black. The other two images to the right feature 2 different Native men, one younger and one elderly, in traditional pow wow regalia. They both also have ted across their foreheads. The younger man in the middle ohoto has a black line just under the red paint going across his nose and cheeks, with dots underlining the line, and 3 black lines on his chin extending outward from a shared point starting from the center of his lip. The more elderly man in the 3rd photo has yellow and white lines underlining the red face paint, and black dots undernearth those. End ID.]
We don't even know what Viking or Old Norse tattoos looked like, but they WERE described as having tattoos in black and dark blue. Although, given what we've seen in their art, they PROBABLY looked a lot more like the designs and art as seen in their existing carving, woodwork, runes & other art. Even if historic Scandanavian people tattooed their faces, why would they look like Inuit or other Native tattoos? & that's not even getting into all these fantasy video games or movies that do this too.
We also don't even know what Celtic tattoos looked like, or indeed, if they even had any. But again, we can probably guess they looked like something similar to the other art they had. But then in the show Brittania you also get this.
[Image ID: photo of a screenshot from the tv show Brittania. It features an elderly woman wearing a bluish white feathered headdress extremely reminiscent of Native American war bonnets. She is also wearing green jewelry and a feathered necklace. Characters in the background, while blurred, also have similar clothing reminiscent of Native American traditional clothing. End ID.]
???? LOOKS KINDA FAMILIAR. They did not. Have headdresses. This was also pulled apart as inaccurate by people who study historical costume on youtube, but you don't even need to do that to know this is inaccurate as hell an appropriation. She looks like those hipster, appropriative types who do this exact thing so they can post it on their blog from coachella or pinterest princesses with Viking moodboards full of white women in dreadlocks (because of course they are, of course they appropriate Black culture too) with feathers in their hair who look like this (you noticing a pattern here?)
[Image ID: 3 images stacked together vertically. The 3 images have 3 white women dressed very similarly. The first woman is blonde, holding a wooden & furred weapon, with a feathered head piece, & a bone choker & breastplate obviously based off of Native American ones. She has white dots along her eyes. The middle photo features another blonde woman with matted hair 'dreadlocks' with bone jewelery in her hair, a leather bra, dark makeup with a rune on her forehead, and a dreamcatcher like ornament in her hair. The last woman on the right photo is black haired, with a red streak of makeup along her eyes, a single black line going down her chin, a red leather vest showing her cleavage, and wearing a black feathered headdress obviously nodeled off of Native American war bonnets, & with also a dreamcatcher like ornament within in. End ID.]
& istg I read an article online somewhere that said that when European artists started depicting Celts, they portrayed them like this, vs. A drawing of a Powhatan person on the right, so they based a lot of drawings of Celtic peoples on early drawings of Native Americans (if I can find it, I'll link it)
[Image ID: two photos stacked next to each other vertically, they are both in very similar poses and are historical illustrations. The first features a celtic man with red hair and various tattoos. The second on the right is of a Powhatan man with a bow in his hand, with red tattoos on his body. While not exactly the same, the biggest similarity is on the Celtic man's legs, which resemble algonquian tattoos, like on the Powhatan man's legs and arm, with curved lines going up and down. End ID.]
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is actually weirdly prevalent & it's getting to the point where various medias are just getting waaay too comfortable with stealing more and more of Native cultures for the inaccurate, historical or fantasy worldbuilding AND without giving credit, and I wanted to point out how often it goes without criticism or notice
Speaking as a tattoo artist and someone who is in the middle of a deep dive on the history of tattooing… yes.
Europeans historically had many of their own original tattooing traditions in ancient times, but many of them are not well recorded. It’s a complex history that went through various shifts because of things like Roman influence, Christian influence, and the impact of colonialism. Medieval Saxons in what’s now England used tattooing; possibly some Scandinavians in the Viking period may have used tattooing but the evidence is textual only; and it’s likely that at least some of the Celtic peoples used tattooing. There’s much better evidence of extensive tattooing among the Thracians and other groups in the Balkans, as well as the Scythians in the steppes. The Scythian examples are instructive because they reinforce the point that a culture’s tattoo customs tend to make use of similar artistic styles and motifs present throughout the culture - that is to say, it’s not usually a separate visual language. So we would expect it to look more like the other art that we find from that culture.
The OP pointed out how western depictions of tattooed peoples (even when looking backwards toward its own historical tattooing customs) lean into certain tropes of “the tattooed barbarian.” That’s a whole THING and it goes all the way back to ancient Rome, where tattoos were primarily used as punishment and to mark people as the property of the State, and the idea of ornamental tattooing of the body was identified with marginal Others, those “uncivilized” tribes beyond the borders (like the Thracians and Scythians.)
This idea of the barbarian Other with a wildly ornamented tattooed body has persisted in the West and been applied to various cultures that society wanted to romanticize and objectify. It was even back-projected onto its own histories. In the age of colonialism and “exploration” when they came into contact with tattooed peoples of the Pacific and of Turtle Island, a lot of parallels got made between “our barbarian ancestors the tattooed Picts” and the peoples of these places. It supported European myths of cultural hegemony where they would assign the so-called races to a place in an evolutionary hierarchy from “barbarian” or “s*v*ge” to modern and developed. Putting Indigenous peoples in a similar rank in this hierarchy alongside “the barbarian tattooed Pict”, “the wild Scythian horde”, etc. was a mechanism for coding them as backward and less developed.
So yeah, these ideas still persist today and continue to be part of Western culture’s visual signifiers for “barbarian”, ie the uncivilized other who we are allowed to romanticize and exotify, to project ourselves into as costume or fantasy, but not to be understood as a fully realized culture with equal dignity. That is why the 18th century engravings of tattooed Picts look so much like the illustrations of Native Americans at that time, and it’s also why Instagram models who want to embody a vaguely exotic barbarian vibe look like they do.
Just to add to this regarding Scandinavian tattoos, the one literary reference that holds up the entire notion of "viking tattoos" in the Early Medieval period is not even totally confirmed as referring to tattoos or to Scandinavians. It's not to say that it 100% couldn't be, but basically any argument about "tribal tattooing" amongst Viking Period Scandinavians is shaky at best.
There's also a reference in another account about the people of Hedeby using eyeliner (remains of which have indeed been found there) to enhance their physical appearance. However, this sometimes gets used to try to give a historical basis for extensive facepaint and such, some of which I've found to look quite similar to traditional tattoos amongst Indigenous peoples including the chin tattoos shown in the original post.
That's all to say that even if the current incarnation of the "tattooed viking" idea isn't directly based in mimicry of Indigenous cultural traditions, the roots of it are likely based more in that than any genuine pre-Christian Norse traditions. I personally have several tattoos featuring Viking Period art styles (Borre and Urnes, primarily) so I'm certainly not saying "no tats for Euros and Euro-descendants" (imagine even trying to push something like that), but rather it goes into the same notion I often harp on of not claiming that they're something they're not.
Two of my living history kits, or two versions of one kit, finally coming together. This is my high status kit focusing on Kievan Rus in the later 10th to early 11th century. The territory of Kievan Rus encompassed the areas of modern day Ukraine, Belarus and western Russia; and the society was culturally a mix of Slavic and eastern Scandinavian peoples with notable Byzantine influences on the upper social strata.
(The fourth photo featuring my impression of one of the carved faces on the Oseberg cart) 😅
Resources for Those Wanting to Learn about Pre-Christian Time Reckoning in Northern Europe and its Application in Modern Heathen Traditions
Throughout the history of the modern Neo-Pagan movement, the calendar that has been used by most practitioners has been either the Wiccan Wheel of the Year or another calendar heavily influenced by it. The Wheel of the Year draws largely upon a mixture of Celtic (Gaelic) and Anglo-Saxon traditions, splitting the years into quarters with quarterly and cross-quarterly celebrations and beginning the year at the end of October with the originally Gaelic festival of Samhain.
The calendars that have come to be popular for the majority of the modern Heathenry movement have undoubtedly been based in this calendar, with the major changes being to the names of certain celebrations. On the calendar created by Stephen McNallen for the AFA, Lammas became Freyfaxi, Mabon became Winter Finding, Samhain became Winter Nights, etc. Other organizations such as Forn Sidr of America, The Ásatrú Community, etc. have created their own versions of the calendar as well, but at their roots they all exist essentially as a modification of the Wheel of the Year concept.
More (relatively) recent research and scholarship has brought a greater awareness of older time reckoning systems within Heathen circles as well as amongst history enthusiasts. Some of this has focused on the Old Icelandic calendar as well as the primstav tradition, and while both of these have validity to them the Old Icelandic calendar already had some changes to how it worked from the older system and the primstav used a standardized dating system based in the Julian calendar. Still, these are both useful tools in attempting to reconstruct the pre-Christian (or at least pre-Julian) calendar systems of the Germanic, and particularly Scandinavian, peoples of Northern Europe.
Why is this at all important in an age with the Gregorian calendar used most everywhere and especially for those outside of Scandinavia? Because for those trying the build an understanding of or relationship with these cultures, or even just more connected to the earth in general, the way they reckoned time helps to understand their relationship and connection to their environment, the flow of seasons, how they viewed the different parts of the year and adjusted their activities accordingly, etc. It helps to understand the "why" behind the ritual cycle, even in the names of the months themselves.
Below are a few of the primary resources that I have found helpful in learning about these topics, as well as a graphic representation that I have made based on my research so far to represent the reconstructed Old Norse lunisolar calendar. Note that I don't claim to be an expert on this topic, so I could certainly be wrong in some of the details, and some of the months also have multiple names from which I chose one to use. Also, there were multiple time reckoning systems in use during the period, including a week-counting system, so there can also be conflicting information depending on which is being considered.
Sources:
"Jul, disting och förkyrklig tidräkning: Kalendrar och kalendriska riter i det förkristna Norden" by Andreas Nordberg
- Available as a free PDF, the majority of this is written in Swedish, but it contains a fairly concise English summary at the end. It focuses primarily on Old Norse Jól (Yule) as well as the Dísaþing/Disting and Dísablót in Sweden, but it touches on other celebrations and uses these to establish the overall scheme of the lunisolar calendar system.
"The Festival Year: A Survey of the Annual Festival Cycle and Its Relation to the Heathen Lunisolar Calendar" by Josh Rood
-Also available as a free PDF, this paper expands upon Norberg's work as well as others' and goes through the overall festival year of the pre-Christian Scandinavians.
"The Lunisolar Calendar of the Germanic Peoples: Reconstruction of a bound moon calendar from ancient, medieval and early modern sources" by Andreas Zautner
-This book is sort of a dive into a number of different ancient to early modern calendar systems, but it uses all of these to reconstruct lunisolar time reckoning systems not only for Scandinavians, but for other Germanic peoples as well. It's a great read for those interested in pre-Julian time reckoning in Northern Europe as well as Medieval calendar systems in general.
"The Nordic Animist Year" by Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen
-Similarly to Zautner's book, Rasmussen draws upon a variety of Medieval calendar systems in his work, but his goal, rather than reconstructing an Old Norse calendar is to create a modern calendar based in animist traditions of Northern Europe. It undoubtedly uses the lunisolar system as a base and takes a lot from Old Norse sources, but it also incorporates later traditions which are based in animist knowledge and have value in establishing a system of seasonal animism.
And lastly, my Old Norse lunisolar calendar representation. Each month starts on a new moon, represented by a black dot, and the festivals are shown at the full moons, being white dots. You may notice the lack of Þorrablót and Miðsumar (Midsommar) on here. Regarding Þorrablót, I'm not as well researched on the origins of it and how widespread it may have been. For Miðsumar I have long refrained from including it due to the absolute lack of mentions in literary material from during or shortly after the period, but I have been pointed to some instances of it marked on primstavs as July 14th (Julian calendar), suggesting a possible lunisolar observance of it earlier similar to Jól's relationship to the winter solstice.
Jackson Crawford just provided a good example of what I mean when I say that “linguists mistake their model for the phenomenon itself.” When he says runes are only tokens of phonemic value, that is, indicating speech sounds, and nothing else, with no other symbolic meaning, what you should be getting out of that is: “I am mistaking the only aspect of runes that are legible to my particular analytical framework for the only aspect of them that exists.”
Nordic Animism did a good pushback video yesterday.
By the way, I should specify that I agree with like 95+% of that Crawford video and I think it’s still a fine thing for people to watch, and it’s just in the pushing a little bit too far into saying things I think he’s not really in a position to say confidently that the thing I said in the OP applies. I can sympathize with being in the position where pushing back against the amount of misinformation and misunderstanding that’s out there causes one to overstep. (it’s just that that remaining ~5% percent includes a lot of important stuff).
Similarly I still consider him a solid resource overall and recommend his channel to people as a free and easily accessible option, but that's just an example of stepping outside the boundaries of one's area of expertise and not being correct in it. He did a similar thing in a video he made about Yule, namely regarding the dates of it, but chances are it's just not amongst the things that he has done much research on since it has little to do with language.
It's also a matter of striking the balance between showing that modern runic mysticism (as written about by people such as Edred Thorsson, Freya Aswynn, etc) has little to no actual basis in Early Medieval runic traditions while also acknowledging that there were indeed magical practices that included runes. Pressing the former too hard can inadvertently deny the reality of the latter.
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Can we take a moment to appreciate the irony of me, using the name Þórsvinur (Friend of Thor), theoretically telling people *not* to worship him during an entire month?
Friendly note/reminder that Þorrablót, in its original context, has no verifiable link to Þórr in name or practice. Etymologically, "Þorra-" is the genitive form of "Þorri", both the name of one of the months on the Old Icelandic and (likely) Old Norse calendars and a personal name meaning "frozen snow". A being by the name of Þorri, either personifying the month itself or appearing as a sort of Old Man Winter, may have been worshiped during this time. Þorrablót, then, means "Sacrifice of Þorri", whereas the equivalent for Þórr would be "Þórsblót".
It's not totally clear whether the month itself or the personified figure was the major focus of Þorrablót, but in either case the claim that Þorrablót is a feast in honor of Þórr is a result of a poor understanding of the name and its etymology. The modern revival of Þorrablót was initiated by Danish university students during the 19th century who may well have misunderstood the festival's name, and this misunderstanding has been further proliferated through organizations such as The Ásatrú Community in more recent decades.
Of course a person can make offerings to Þórr at this time if they wish, but Þorrablót itself is not a historically designated time for it.
And why do you care?
Let people practice how they want and stop trying to invalidate them just you can’t stand the thought of Heathenry being an actual Neo-Pagan religion rather than a mirror image of an ancient society that you and even historians know nothing about.
Everyone always wants to know we hate reconstructionalist Heathens, THIS is why.
Did you not read the part where I specifically acknowledged that a person can make offerings to Þórr at this time if they want? Not that it requires my permission anyway. I don't generally care how people choose to go about their modern traditions, but I do care about the roots of some of those traditions not being misrepresented in their original context and made to be something that by all indications they're not. Also, "know nothing about" is some hyperbole if I've ever seen it.
Personally I'd rather see modern Heathenry be a living and developing group of traditions rather than something stuck in the past and trying to be something that it simply can't. That's the point of religion and religious systems. Flourishing in the present and learning about and respecting the past aren't mutually exclusive, though. But hey, A+ strawman there.
This post literally starts with “Friendly reminder this practice has no historical evidence.” You are trying to discourage people from celebrating the blot. Everyone knows you’re not being friendly — you’re just pretending to be.
Look, if "hey here's a common misconception about x festival/blót, how it seems to have come about, and what appears to have actually been the case. Btw go for it if you want; it just happens to be modern" reads to you like "this never happened 1000 years ago and that means no one today is allowed to do it" then good luck with that, but it's really not my problem. Again, A+ strawman, C- argument.
I will say I suppose that if a person does want to blót to Þórr at this time they should perhaps consider calling it Þórsblót/Thorsblot, just because doing so and calling it Þorrablót is similar to saying "I'm going to Steve's birthday party to give Stan a present".
As a philosophy student I am genuinely impressed by their strawman! It's quite difficult to put together a decent one that doesn't get shot apart in seconds. Especially with how they framed the reconstructive part in their to give their flawed argument some more protection. The part that strikes me is the "Lokean" on the profile, not generalising but this is the umpteenth time I've seen a "Lokean" start demonising a heathen historian.
That being said: love your historical background on this, I learned something so I appreciate it. (Felt like adding some positivity here.)
Exactly my goal in posting this, thanks! 😊
Friendly note/reminder that Þorrablót, in its original context, has no verifiable link to Þórr in name or practice. Etymologically, "Þorra-" is the genitive form of "Þorri", both the name of one of the months on the Old Icelandic and (likely) Old Norse calendars and a personal name meaning "frozen snow". A being by the name of Þorri, either personifying the month itself or appearing as a sort of Old Man Winter, may have been worshiped during this time. Þorrablót, then, means "Sacrifice of Þorri", whereas the equivalent for Þórr would be "Þórsblót".
It's not totally clear whether the month itself or the personified figure was the major focus of Þorrablót, but in either case the claim that Þorrablót is a feast in honor of Þórr is a result of a poor understanding of the name and its etymology. The modern revival of Þorrablót was initiated by Danish university students during the 19th century who may well have misunderstood the festival's name, and this misunderstanding has been further proliferated through organizations such as The Ásatrú Community in more recent decades.
Of course a person can make offerings to Þórr at this time if they wish, but Þorrablót itself is not a historically designated time for it.
And why do you care?
Let people practice how they want and stop trying to invalidate them just you can’t stand the thought of Heathenry being an actual Neo-Pagan religion rather than a mirror image of an ancient society that you and even historians know nothing about.
Everyone always wants to know we hate reconstructionalist Heathens, THIS is why.
Did you not read the part where I specifically acknowledged that a person can make offerings to Þórr at this time if they want? Not that it requires my permission anyway. I don't generally care how people choose to go about their modern traditions, but I do care about the roots of some of those traditions not being misrepresented in their original context and made to be something that by all indications they're not. Also, "know nothing about" is some hyperbole if I've ever seen it.
Personally I'd rather see modern Heathenry be a living and developing group of traditions rather than something stuck in the past and trying to be something that it simply can't. That's the point of religion and religious systems. Flourishing in the present and learning about and respecting the past aren't mutually exclusive, though. But hey, A+ strawman there.
This post literally starts with “Friendly reminder this practice has no historical evidence.” You are trying to discourage people from celebrating the blot. Everyone knows you’re not being friendly — you’re just pretending to be.
Look, if "hey here's a common misconception about x festival/blót, how it seems to have come about, and what appears to have actually been the case. Btw go for it if you want; it just happens to be modern" reads to you like "this never happened 1000 years ago and that means no one today is allowed to do it" then good luck with that, but it's really not my problem. Again, A+ strawman, C- argument.
I will say I suppose that if a person does want to blót to Þórr at this time they should perhaps consider calling it Þórsblót/Thorsblot, just because doing so and calling it Þorrablót is similar to saying "I'm going to Steve's birthday party to give Stan a present".
My point is if you don’t care that people practice it then why did you make the post?
Because I value history and education, and along with that I see a level of importance in dispelling misinformation about history. It has nothing to do with how modern people practice modern traditions, but rather acknowledging where those traditions differ from what was (at least likely) done originally and giving people the information to do so. With plenty of Edred Thorssons and Stephen McNallens out there doing much the opposite, I think every bit helps.
Practice how you want, more or less, but knowing where it does and doesn't come from is also good.
Friendly note/reminder that Þorrablót, in its original context, has no verifiable link to Þórr in name or practice. Etymologically, "Þorra-" is the genitive form of "Þorri", both the name of one of the months on the Old Icelandic and (likely) Old Norse calendars and a personal name meaning "frozen snow". A being by the name of Þorri, either personifying the month itself or appearing as a sort of Old Man Winter, may have been worshiped during this time. Þorrablót, then, means "Sacrifice of Þorri", whereas the equivalent for Þórr would be "Þórsblót".
It's not totally clear whether the month itself or the personified figure was the major focus of Þorrablót, but in either case the claim that Þorrablót is a feast in honor of Þórr is a result of a poor understanding of the name and its etymology. The modern revival of Þorrablót was initiated by Danish university students during the 19th century who may well have misunderstood the festival's name, and this misunderstanding has been further proliferated through organizations such as The Ásatrú Community in more recent decades.
Of course a person can make offerings to Þórr at this time if they wish, but Þorrablót itself is not a historically designated time for it.
And why do you care?
Let people practice how they want and stop trying to invalidate them just you can’t stand the thought of Heathenry being an actual Neo-Pagan religion rather than a mirror image of an ancient society that you and even historians know nothing about.
Everyone always wants to know we hate reconstructionalist Heathens, THIS is why.
Did you not read the part where I specifically acknowledged that a person can make offerings to Þórr at this time if they want? Not that it requires my permission anyway. I don't generally care how people choose to go about their modern traditions, but I do care about the roots of some of those traditions not being misrepresented in their original context and made to be something that by all indications they're not. Also, "know nothing about" is some hyperbole if I've ever seen it.
Personally I'd rather see modern Heathenry be a living and developing group of traditions rather than something stuck in the past and trying to be something that it simply can't. That's the point of religion and religious systems. Flourishing in the present and learning about and respecting the past aren't mutually exclusive, though. But hey, A+ strawman there.
This post literally starts with “Friendly reminder this practice has no historical evidence.” You are trying to discourage people from celebrating the blot. Everyone knows you’re not being friendly — you’re just pretending to be.
Look, if "hey here's a common misconception about x festival/blót, how it seems to have come about, and what appears to have actually been the case. Btw go for it if you want; it just happens to be modern" reads to you like "this never happened 1000 years ago and that means no one today is allowed to do it" then good luck with that, but it's really not my problem. Again, A+ strawman, C- argument.
I will say I suppose that if a person does want to blót to Þórr at this time they should perhaps consider calling it Þórsblót/Thorsblot, just because doing so and calling it Þorrablót is similar to saying "I'm going to Steve's birthday party to give Stan a present".
Friendly note/reminder that Þorrablót, in its original context, has no verifiable link to Þórr in name or practice. Etymologically, "Þorra-" is the genitive form of "Þorri", both the name of one of the months on the Old Icelandic and (likely) Old Norse calendars and a personal name meaning "frozen snow". A being by the name of Þorri, either personifying the month itself or appearing as a sort of Old Man Winter, may have been worshiped during this time. Þorrablót, then, means "Sacrifice of Þorri", whereas the equivalent for Þórr would be "Þórsblót".
It's not totally clear whether the month itself or the personified figure was the major focus of Þorrablót, but in either case the claim that Þorrablót is a feast in honor of Þórr is a result of a poor understanding of the name and its etymology. The modern revival of Þorrablót was initiated by Danish university students during the 19th century who may well have misunderstood the festival's name, and this misunderstanding has been further proliferated through organizations such as The Ásatrú Community in more recent decades.
Of course a person can make offerings to Þórr at this time if they wish, but Þorrablót itself is not a historically designated time for it.
And why do you care?
Let people practice how they want and stop trying to invalidate them just you can’t stand the thought of Heathenry being an actual Neo-Pagan religion rather than a mirror image of an ancient society that you and even historians know nothing about.
Everyone always wants to know we hate reconstructionalist Heathens, THIS is why.
Did you not read the part where I specifically acknowledged that a person can make offerings to Þórr at this time if they want? Not that it requires my permission anyway. I don't generally care how people choose to go about their modern traditions, but I do care about the roots of some of those traditions not being misrepresented in their original context and made to be something that by all indications they're not. Also, "know nothing about" is some hyperbole if I've ever seen it.
Personally I'd rather see modern Heathenry be a living and developing group of traditions rather than something stuck in the past and trying to be something that it simply can't. That's the point of religion and religious systems. Flourishing in the present and learning about and respecting the past aren't mutually exclusive, though. But hey, A+ strawman there.
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Friendly note/reminder that Þorrablót, in its original context, has no verifiable link to Þórr in name or practice. Etymologically, "Þorra-" is the genitive form of "Þorri", both the name of one of the months on the Old Icelandic and (likely) Old Norse calendars and a personal name meaning "frozen snow". A being by the name of Þorri, either personifying the month itself or appearing as a sort of Old Man Winter, may have been worshiped during this time. Þorrablót, then, means "Sacrifice of Þorri", whereas the equivalent for Þórr would be "Þórsblót".
It's not totally clear whether the month itself or the personified figure was the major focus of Þorrablót, but in either case the claim that Þorrablót is a feast in honor of Þórr is a result of a poor understanding of the name and its etymology. The modern revival of Þorrablót was initiated by Danish university students during the 19th century who may well have misunderstood the festival's name, and this misunderstanding has been further proliferated through organizations such as The Ásatrú Community in more recent decades.
Of course a person can make offerings to Þórr at this time if they wish, but Þorrablót itself is not a historically designated time for it.
I am upset.
I as a Heathen and a Pagan believe that there is something to be learned from every religion, culture, and society. And that we should use those lessons to grow as individuals and to advance our relationships with the Gods.
And when I say this
I do NOT mean we should appropriate everything!
What I mean is that we should read, study, observe respectfully, and learn to place ourselves in others’ shoes.
We shouldn’t condemn people because of their cultural and religious differences. We should practice intersectionality and learn from each other.
Except for Nazis and atheists who are assholes to religious people.
I do not know if I’m making any sense here. This is something I try to accomplish by reading about a lot of different cultures and watching documentaries and stuff. I’ve also had penpals in the past, but its kinda gotten a lot harder to find penpals these days.
But I’m upset because I thought the phrase for this was “universalism.” And it turns out that universalism is really just more Christian bullshit. If anyone does know the proper word I would appreciate it if you could share with me.
Thanks.
At a very base level this is simply cultural exchange. There are versions of it which can be genuinely appropriative, such as being non-Sámi and wearing a Sámi gákti or cherry-picking elements of initiatory traditions and divorcing them from their cultural contexts (which the New Age movement is rife with), but in a basic sense cultural exchange is the essence of human spirituality. Learning about Coast Salish potlatch traditions helped me to fill some gaps and make more sense of certain elements in my group's traditions, particularly our recent Jól celebration, which also has meaning to me in that I live on traditionally Coast Salish (Spuyalpabš) land.
Now, I'm certainly not going to frame my Jól celebration as a potlatch or go buy a ceremonial raven mask and dance around in it, but certain elements, especially ones that have similarities to more fragmented ones in the pre-Christian Scandinavian context, help to make it feel more cohesive and alive, so to speak.
