North of the Moon

Soul and the Quest for Love Eternal

2009-03-23T12:12:00.003+01:00

The Beautiful Girl

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905): Le Ravissement de Psyche, 1895

The Nordic 19th century folktale East of the Sun West of the Moon is my favourite fairytale. However, it is more than a regional story about a beautiful girl and a prince. It is rather a profound description of soul and eternal love, which has been retold throughout the history in many different ways. Here is my version of the narration:

Once upon a time, there was a poor peasant with many children. The peasant's youngest daughter was the prettiest, and there was no end to her loveliness.

In the days before birth control, parents could not always provide for the whole family, and sometimes a child was abandoned or sold due to force of circumstances.

The youngest child used to be the most protected of all children. Moreover the oldest child would inherite his parents, and therefore the youngest had to take build a life of his own and venture out into the wide world. The youngest is always the most beautiful or most clever in fairytales. Her beauty is a blessing for her family, but not for herself. In the East of the Sun West of the Moon, she attracts a strange bridegroom and enters into an arranged matrimony.

Edward Burne-Jones: Cupid Finding Psyche, 1865

The same scene is repeted in an ancient Greek-Roman myth of Psyche and Cupid, where Psyche is the youngest princess of Sicily. She is the most beautiful girl in the world, but her beauty is not meant for a man, and therefore her parents abandon her. Additionally, the goddess of beauty, Venus (Aphrodite) becomes envy and jealous of her, sending her son Cupid/Amor (Eros) to cause Psyche to fall in love with the ugliest creature on the earth. However, Cupid falls in love with Psyche on his own.

The White Bear approaches a poor peasant on Thursday evening in the month of August, asking if he would give him his youngest daughter; in return, he would make the man rich. The peasant thinks he ought to have a conversation with his daughter first.

It is unusual that the point of time is told in detail. Thursday is not just any day, but a day of the Norse god of thunder and sky, Thor, who protects the universe from the forces of evil. The month of August refers here to the ancient holy celebration, the autumnal equinox.

On the left: East of the Sun West of the Moon by Kay Nielsen (1886-1957).

On the right: Psyche and Zephyr by Maurice Denis (1870-1943)

The enchanted castle of the mysterious husband

In East of the Sun West of the Moon, the White (Polar) Bear plays the role of Cupid falling in love with the beautiful daughter. According to some interpretations, a bear represent strength, bravery, self-control and solitary life, but also an evil influence or an obstacle. Even though the White Bear makes an irresistable proposal, the peasant first wants to ask for her daughter's opinion. In the old days, this never happened in the real life, but here it is important that the heroine voluntarily sacrifices herself as a sign of her virtue.

Finally, the girl reclutantly agrees and the White Bear takes her with him to an enchanted castle. The same happens to Psyche after her parents abandon her. Zephyrus, the west wind, takes Psyche to an opulent palace, where she gets married with Cupid. The very same theme is used even in the Bluebeard and Beauty and the Beast fairytales, and it symbolizes the long journey away from the childhood into adulthood.

Anne Anderson: Anne Anderson's Old, Old Fairy Tales, Beauty and the Beast,

Racine Wisconsin, Whitman Publishing Company 1935

Neither the fairytale heroines nor Psyche are aware of their bridegooms' real identity. The husbands visit them in a human form only by nights, making bittersweet love to them, and this happens always in complete darkness. Otherwise, the heroines live a carefree life in luxury.

However, there is more to life than physical satisfaction, and the heroines were feeling more and more unsatisfied and homesick. Finally Cupid, White Bear and Beast allow their wives to visit the old home on the condition of their promise to not listen any suggestions about their having to discover the husband's real form.

You will bring great misery on both of us, but I cannot refuse you anything you ask, even though it should cost me my life

In all the tales the husband emphasizes that this could be a very dangerous and bad idea, and he is right. The heroine doesn't listen to his advices, and during the visit her relatives scare her by suggesting she is married with a troll or a snake. The relatives then give a candle or a lamp to her, for her to be able to see her husband in the darkness of the night.

On the left: Psyche gazing at Cupid by Simon Vouet (1590-1649)

On the right: Psyche and Cupid by Maurice Denis (1870-1943)

True Love Found and Lost

The fairytale heroines and Psyche obey the relatives by lighting the candle in the bedroom. They find a very attractive prince or god, whom they immediately fall in love with and kiss. However, in every tale some drops of light fall, waking up the husband. The White Bear, like Cupid, is literally burned by the love and curiosity of the spouses, which is merely a logical consequence of their disobedience and failure. Now they have to pay.

On the left: Psyché abandonneée par l'amour by Charles-Antoine Coypel (1694-1752).

On the right: East of the Sun West of the Moon by Kay Nielsen (1886-1957)

He tells her that if she held out a year, he would have been free, but now he must go to his wicked stepmother, who enchanted him into this shape and lives in a castle East of the Sun West of the Moon, and marry her hideous daughter.

A stepmother is often used as a symbol of the destructive forces of unconsciousness, jealousy and cruelty. Since the first bride has proven unfaithful and impatient, the prince's enchantment is not broken, and he has to marry a princess matching his rank instead of marring for love.

East of the Sun West of the Moon is a mysterious place, which is impossible to reach. Nevertheless the heroine has to find it, if she wants to find her beloved.

Afterwards the husband and the magical castle disappear and the heroine is left alone in the world. Now she must search for her husband to prove her worthiness and dedication after her indiscretion.

On the left: East of the Sun West of the Moon by Kay Nielsen (1886-1957)

On the right: Psyche at the Throne of Venus, 1883 by Edward Matthew Hale (1852-1924)

First Trial

Coming to a great mountain, she finds an old woman playing with a golden apple. She asks if the woman knows the way to the castle East of the Sun West of the Moon. The old woman does not, but lends her a horse to reach a neighbor who might know, and gives her the apple.

The mountain here is like a powerful obstacle of nature, before which one has to stop. Old women are Mother Goddess in disguise, symbolizing wisdom and guidance. At this point, Psyche meets Ceres (Demeter), the mother goddess of fertility. Ceres tells her that she must call directly on Venus, because she is the one who has caused all the problems in the first place.

Brian Froud: Fairy Godmother

A golden apple is a sacred symbol of affection, love, sexuality, fertility and goddesses of love. It is given here as an ordinary commodity, but it is an extraordinary item. The lending of a horse is a sign of luck, trust and faith, because horses were considered strong and intelligent, even worshiped in ancient cultures.

This first meeting is not entirely succesful, but the heroines are helped on their journey towards the beloved.

Second Trial

The neighbor is sitting by another mountain, with a golden carding-comb. She also does not know the way to the castle East of the Sun West of the Moon, but lends her a horse to reach a neighbor who might know, and gives her the carding comb.

Again, the heroine has to stop and seek advice from the goddess. Once more she receives an ordinary item.

In the tale of Psyche, at this point Psyche meets Juno (Hera), the goddess of marriage and family. Juno gives her the same advice as Ceres.

Again, the meeting is not entirely succesful, but the heroines are helped on their journey towards the beloved.

Third Trial

The third neighbor has a golden spinning wheel. She also does not know the way to the castle East of the Sun West of the Moon, but lends her a horse to reach — not a neighbor but the East Wind. She also gives her the spinning wheel.

Spinning wheel is a symbol of many different mother goddesses as a sign of female power. Spinning wheels play an important role in many fairytales.

Now the heroine is going to receive help from the four winds, Venti (Anemoi). It means she has to travel to all four cardinal directions of the earth in her quest. Usually the winds are portrayed in conflict with each other, but here they work together assisting the heroine to achieve her goal.

The Wind Deities

The East Wind, god Vulturnus (Eurus) is gentle bringing warmth and rain.

The East Wind has never been to the castle East of the Sun West of the Moon, but his brother the West Wind, being stronger, might have. He takes her to the West Wind.

Henri-Joseph Ruxthiel (1775-1837): Zephyr a Psyche, 1814

The West Wind, god Favonius (Zephyrus) is vigorous bringing dry weather, but also fertility, light spring and early summer breezes.

The West Wind does the same, bringing her to the South Wind; the South Wind does the same, bringing her to the North Wind.

The South Wind, god Auster (Notus) brings heat and drought and storms of late summer.

The North Wind reports that he will take her if she really wants to go. She does, and so he does.

North Wind in East of the Sun West of the Moon by Kay Nielsen (1886-1957)

The North Wind, god Aquilon/ Septentrio (Boreas) is the violent and most powerful of the four winds, bringing winter and cold.

The Land of East of the Sun West of the Moon

After rearching the place where her husband was taken, the heroine takes out the golden apple she had received. The new bride sees it, wishing to buy it. The heroine agrees, if the new bride can get her for one night to the castle where the prince is imprisoned.

The daughter [of the evil stepmother] agrees but gives the prince a sleeping drink to prevent the girl from waking him up, and does the same the next nights, when it was the prices of the carding comb and the spinning wheel.

It is charasteristic for the imposter bride, besides being ugly, that she is always greedy for material possessions. She doesn't really love the prince and will sacrifice the prince's welfare for own material gain.

Now the heroine has found her prince, being able to be together with him. At the same time, she cannot wake him up and get him back, which is ironical and sad, because she originally lost him by accidentally waking him.

However, some folk in the castle hear the heroine's frustrated crying and tell about it to the prince. On the third night, the prince will not drink the poison drink given by the new bride. Now he is awake when the his beloved heroine comes to visit him and can tell her how to rescue him.

Riding away from the East of the Sun West of the Moon by Kay Nielsen (1886-1957)

The prince announces that he will only marry the girl who can wash his stained shirt. It is assumed that the new bride cannot do it, because she is actually a troll and doesn't have true love. As to be expected, the heroine washes his shirt clean and at the same time she is herself washed clean of her sins. It is common in many religions for brides to go through such a ritualistic cleaning as a symbol of purity and forgiveness.

Afterwards, all the evil trolls burst from rage. The prince and his true love can finally be together and leave the land in East of the Sun West of the Moon, taking with them all the gold and silver they can carry.

Psyche in the Underworld

The tale of Psyche and Cupid follows a slightly different path after the second trial. The third goddess she talks with is Venus herself, who is angry at Psyche and orders her to carry out three ordinary but impossible tasks, corresponding with the elements of earth, fire and water. Every time Psyche succeeds with help of compassionate animals and gods.

Giulio Romano's (1492-1546) painting of Psyche and Venus in Palazzo del Te from 1520's.

Venus is not happy with Psyche's survival and wants to get rid of her once and for all by sending her with a box to the Underworld, where she is to give it to Proserpina (the goddess of Death, Persephone), asking her to place inside a little of her divine beauty for Venus.

Psyche thinks that the easiest way to the Land of Death is to throw herself off from a tower. However, the tower talks to her, forbiding her to do that, because she wouldn't be able to return. Then the tower tells her how to reach the Underworld and return from there, avoiding all dangers. She is especially adviced not to open the box.

Returning from the Underworld, Psyche follows the first orders. However, her curiosity takes her over and she opens the box of Venus. She finds no beauty in the box, but a heavy somniferous mist, corresponding to the element of air. Psyche falls dead asleep on the ground. Cupid no more bear to see his beloved in danger, but rescues her.

Antonio Canova (1757-1822): Psyché ranimée par le baiser de l'Amour, 1793

In the end, everything turns out well. Psyche has now completed the four tasks of Venus, and the four earthly elements are integrated in her soul. Only then the supreame god Jupiter (Zeus) helps Cupid and Psyche by declaring they should be together. Afterwards Psyche flies with Cupid to the world of the gods. She drinks the elixir of immortality, which I take as the fifth divine element. Cupid and Psyche will have a daughter Voluptas (Hedone), the goddess of sensual pleasure and bliss.

True Everlasting Love

The beautiful heroine and the prince or god finally have each other, living happily ever after. However, this is not all there is to say. The oldest of all these written stories is the tale of Psyche and Cupid from the Roman (Greek) mythology. The Greek word psyche means butterfly, but also soul.

Therefore Psyche is the immortal human soul, which is rewarded with eternity and love, but only after she is first purified through her suffering in the material world and her courage is tested by impossible tasks. Psyche leaves her dull caterpillar existence and the restraining cocoon, breaking out and reborn as a beautiful butterfly or soul. She is united with Cupid, representing love. Together they symbolize everlasting love.

William Etty (1787-1849): Cupid and Psyche in the Heavens

The lesson of this allegory is that the everlasting love is not given free, but one has to have courage and be prepared to sacrifice everything for it. Nor does the real love consist only of the physical attraction and material things, but it goes much deeper, overcoming the four elements, the four winds, sleep and even death: Amor vincit omnia; et nos cedamus amori.

Golden Dynasties in the North

2009-02-18T16:00:00.004+01:00

All Roads Lead to Rome

The Roman Empire ruled a great part of the world from 27 BCE to 476 CE. Due to their commercial predominance, collaboration with the allies and military conquests, Romans were on their way to global world domination, subjecting many civilizations and countries under their rule.

What does the Roman Empire have to do with Scandinavian barbarians far in the North? Well, they both shared the same enemy, the Germanic tribes who lived in the area between the said kingdoms. As the well known proverb goes: The enemies of my enemy are my friends. This means that the Romans were eager to make allies wherever they had problems with their enemies.

A Man Is Known by the Company He Keeps

In the third century a dynasty in South-Sweden conquered their tribesmen in East Denmark, replacing the local tribal chiefs with their warrior rulers. The peninsula of Stevns became their frontier post.

This eastern dynasty affiliated later on with the Norwegian West-Danish Alliance, in order to be able to conjointly control all the northern waterways. I call them the Scandinavian Alliance here.

Scandinavians had without a doubt heard about the powerful Roman Empire, and as warrior people they must have admired the Roman military power and far-reaching fame. Therefore many Scandinavian juveniles were sent to the Roman army to learn warfare, skills and general knowledge.

After Flemming Bau's exhibition Det skapende menneske, 2006

When the youngsters in time came back to Scandinavia, they were educated and rich men in comparison with their countrymen. They brough not just advanced weapons, military experience and wealth, but also the Roman way of life with them. They could read and write, and they built new Roman style roads in the wilderness, and fords across rivers. The Peninsula of Stevns became their commercial center for import of Roman luxury items. The local chiefs bought some of the luxury, while the rest were brought further northward to the whole Scandinavian Alliance. From the same place, iron and amber were exported to the Roman Empire.

Ravens and Swastikas

The Romans wore jewellery shaped like snakes. Sometimes the snake had one, and sometimes two heads.

Roman jewellery with snake heads.

The Scandinavian aristocrats wanted to imitate the mighty Romans and demonstrate their liaison with the Roman Empire by crafting and carrying special Roman style jewellery. These armlets, rings and bracelets were of course made of Roman gold. However, the Scandinavians modified the snake theme to a more abstract direction, or used other animals than snakes.

The Lords of the Stevns had their entirely own variation of the Roman jewellery theme: They used raven head, which was the symbol of their dynasty. Such jewellery has only been found where the Scandinavian Alliance was in power, and the grand majority of them were found in Stevns, where the Alliance had its heart. The two ravens were not just ravens, but the divine ravens of the major god Odin: Hugin and Munin. Thus, it seems evident that Odin was the main god in the region.

On the left: A sketch of an Iron Age golden bracelet with raven heads from Stevns.

On the right: Odin, the chief god with his ravens on a Swedish plate on helmet.

Below: Golden raven head rings from the Scandinavian Alliance area.

The previous types of jewellery were used both by men and women, while a kind of brooch was used only by the women. It is called fibula in Latin and by means of it, one could fasten clothes, as buttons and safety-pins were not yet invented. The wives of the Stevnsian lords and their allies used two characteristic types of brooches, called swastika and rosette fibulas.

On the left: A restored swastika fibula found in Denmark, Kroppedal Museum.

On the right: A hindu swastika. Below: An ancient Roman floor mosaic.

Swastika is an ancient Indo-European solar symbol, which was popular in the Roman Empire as well. Therefore, I assume that with this sign, the Stevnsian aristocrats show the connection both to their own Aryan roots and to Rome, the super-power.

Runes: The Nordic Script

As soldiers in the Roman army, the Scandinavian youngsters of the dynasty had to learn to read and write in Latin. The need for it was evident, should they wish to use these skills after coming back home to Scandinavia.

A rosette fibula with runes and a swastika.

The first Scandinavian scripts are from the third century of Iron Age Denmark, and they are either in runes or in Latin letters. However, since the very first runes were carved on wood, there are no surviving examples. Therefore, it seems like they appear quite mystically and quickly out of nowhere in their final form, without any clear preceeding styles or transitions. Other European scripts originate from Latin or Greek alphabet. Even the order of the letters in the runes is different from other languages. Thus, the runes are a rather interesting and broad topic.

However, in this blog I will discuss only one theory about them. According to this suggestion, the Scandinavian Alliance needed to create a script that was understandable both for them and the Romans. Therefore the Stevnsian aristocrats invented the runes, which became a symbol of the Alliance, in the same way as Odin's ravens and swastikas had become. Many of the previously pictured items have runic inscriptions, which are some of the oldest existing, as well as from the Peninsula of Stevns.

Actually, in the Norse the poem Hávamál, in stanzas 138-139, the major god Odin explains that it was him who received the runes through self-sacrifice by hanging upside down from the World Tree.

I know that I hung on a windy tree nine long nights,
wounded with a spear, dedicated to Odin, myself to myself,
on that tree of which no man knows from where its roots run.
No bread did they give me nor a drink from a horn, downwards I peered;
I took up the runes, screaming I took them, then I fell back from there.

Well, we'll never know. Perhaps he handed them over to his his devotees in the Stevnsian golden dynasties?

All Good Things Must Come to an End

In the late third century the Roman Empire was in trouble struggling with a civil war and hostile tribes, and the Romans no longer had time for diplomacy or luxury items for their allies. In that way the Scandinavian-Roman connection died away, and it was never repared again, even after the Roman Empire gained its strenght for the last time in the early fourth century.

Additionally, the Scandinavian Alliance broke down in the early fourth century, and the Stevnsian lords attacked their Swedish allies. This conflict ended devastating the dynasty in Stevns, leading to its disappearance.

To Hi Dal Doodle to Fairy Land

2009-02-15T15:00:00.002+01:00

When I was very young, maybe four or five years of age, I remember playing on the floor alone. This is one of the first things I can remember. Suddenly I raised my glance and saw my parents' wedding picture on the table. I thought to mysef: Yes, they say that those people are my parents, but I am sure that they are not. They can't be. My parents don't look like that. Who are these people? What on earth I am doing here?

Edmund Dulac: Fairy Land for Edgar Allan Poe

After this moment everything was changed. The light of the Sun, the taste of food and the whole world were different, as if an enchantment had been broken. Ever since I've always felt a vague depression and frustration in my heart. Only when playing and wondering alone in the great northern forests could I feel some true happiness.

Actually, there was something besides this that enrapt my mind: Fairytales. I could not have enough fairytales. I even learned to read just to be able to read fairytales, to not depend on other people´s time and will. I deeply felt that the world of the fairytales was the real world; a world where I belonged to and wanted to be. However, that world was not separeted from the world I was living in. In my universe these worlds were mixed, always together: I was afraid of the nix in the lake, I danced with fairies on the fern meadow, I followed pixies into the darkest forest, I talked with angels and hid myself under the bed in fear of ghosts.

Margaret Tarrant: Secrets

Fairytales also gave me an explanation for what, and how, I was. As I read about changelings, I became entirely convinced I was a one. I was not a freak who was teased by other kids and misunderstood by adults, nor was I stupid or a crazy loser. No, I was a changeling from the kingdom of the fairytales.

Several European folklores tell how wights sneak to a house of a newborn infant. On the Orkney islands, they would to sing the following (quite meaningless?) song, when entering the house without being seen.

Spinning yet, spinning yet?
Got to bed, go to bed!
Short spoon and wooden ladle
Unsound horse and torn saddle
In childbed and unwell;
To hi dal doodle and to hi del doo-dee

Then they could steal the human baby unobserved putting their own child back to the cradle. When human parents came back, they would understand they now had a troll child.

A 14th century painting in a Danish church, Skamstrup.
A troll changing the babies. Link

The ancient Romans didn't have a name for a changeling, but they believed that female creatures called lamiae and strigae could kidnap babies. In Danish a changeling is called skifting, in Norse skiptungr, in Norwegian bytting, in Icelandic umskiptingr, in Swedish bortbyting, in Finnish vaihdokas and in German Wechelbalg. They all have the same meaning as changeling.

John Bauer: An Illustration to Helena Nyblom's The changelings
in anthology Among pixes and trolls, 1913

Usually, the changeling was ugly and malicious, while the human baby with the trolls was sweet and beautiful. It is quite clear that people believed they had a changeling, when they actually had a retarded or a handicapped child. However, I think this coincedence is a consequence, not a cause, of the folklore.

Changelings could also be wise and intelligent, but they were eccentric: they wanted to barefoot around, and their hair was always hopelessly tangled. Some changelings would forget their origin and live their lives as humans. Others would return back to their wight parents without warning. The human changeling would usually stay with the wights forever.

John Bauer: An Illustration to Helena Nyblom's The changelings
in anthology Among pixes and trolls, 1913

Once one had a changeling, there were still a couple of things one could do. For example, one could force the changeling to laugh or to make him utter an expression of surprise by doing something very absurd: brew beer or cook stew in an eggshell or acorn, or make sausages of a dog with all hairs and skin. (I don't know why this would be so awfully strange.) Seeing this craziness, the changeling would expose his true identity, jump up laughing or shouting: Many things I have seen, but never anything so stupid. I'm out of here!

The human mother could also throw the changeling into a hot fireplace or stove, throw them into water, beat them severely with a switch, leave them unfed and crying in an open field. Actually, there is evidence that these things really happened to the suspected changelings, because people believed that the mercilessness towards the changeling would bring the troll mother. She would return the human child and take her own baby with her: Here is your own child. However, I was never as evil towards your child as you were towards mine!

Arthur Rackham: The Changeling 1905

In the Celtic, more violent version, the mother throws the changeling into the fireplace, and the changeling then flies screaming up through the chimney. In the English, even more violent version, it is described how the changelings would burn as wood if one put them into fire. (I don't even want to imagine how many deviating real babies lost their lives in that way in the past.)

The best thing one could do to prevent getting a changeling was to baptize the baby, for after that trolls could no longer take him away. Iron scissors or a knife on the top of the cradle would also protect babies, because nature spirits in folklore don't fancy iron. In practice, this also meant that the family and neighbours took it in turns to keep eye on the infant's cradle throughout the first weeks at nights, so that the baby could not be stolen away or replaced by a changeling.

Can the concept of a changeling teach us anything? Folklorists and antropologists have already concluded that changelings were merely some congenitally handicapped children. Thus these fairytales would just be a long and agonising illustration of West European family massacres.

The earlier truth leaves us in a world without magic. Therefore, I can't belive it would be the truth in its entirety.

Megalithic Stories 3: Whispers from the Age of Dynasties

2009-02-12T18:00:00.003+01:00

You remember 'Lord Thorkel' and his barrow from Megalithic Stories? I previously tried to find out who he was, and why he received such an exceptional funeral. I recently got a small step closer to truth, when I acquired some forgotten pictures from the dusts of the National Museum.

I can't leave my body and physically be at Thorkel's Mound, when it was more than a bump on a field.
   I can't see how and when all those people were buried inside the barrow.
   I am not able to understand how big and high the barrow complex originally was.
   I can't imagine how the place was once decorated and how the surroundings appeared.
   I can't hear what people spoke when they performed their sacred rituals and funerals.
   I am so far away in time.
   However, I feel I am being so close to them both in my heart and in space.

After Flemming Bau's exhibition Det skapende menneske, 2006

And the pictures? What else are they than some ugly shadows of some dead people and dead time? Black and white, no taste or smell, nothing else than illustrated remains of physical remains. There are but motionless and meaningless pictures left of something that once was meaningful and important.

However, the pictures are my only chance to get closer to a world taken away from us. I have to accept that they show bones and skulls, not real persons in flesh and blood. Thus, it is our task to built a bridge between life and death, past and future: a bridge made of magic and wisdom. We have to see further and deeper. We have to dream for ourselves all the colours, smells, tastes, sounds and feelings in a lifeless picture. At one point the magic of the fantasy exceeds its boundaries, unveiling the reality...

Above is a cross-section of the Thorkel's barrow as it was in 1877. It tells its sad tale how only fifty years taking of gravel, greediness of mankind, and the Industrial Age, ravaged everything. The barrow, which was earlier called 'a noteworthy ridge', was at that point only half a meter high according the picture. However, it was still noteworthy for its length. The megalith grave was located in the east end of the mound, and its opening faced towards the rising Sun in north-east, as they used to. This must be the grave of the most important person. Thorkel?

But what about the others?
There are other skeletons drawn in the pictures. They all have their knees bent and are surrounded by sacrificial crocks. Are they relatives, who died peacefully and were buried beside their family? Or are they slaves murdeded and buried as a present for their deceased master, serving him in the Otherworld as well? Or are they the most sacred sacrifices for gods, namely human sacrifices?

It is not easy to say something definitive about a place, which at least has been a Stone Age round barrow, a Bronze Age urn graveyard and an Iron Age ground burial place. The 20th century archeologists estimated there were a minimum of 5-30 graves in the barrow, and it must have been in use for thousands of years. Almost fifthy exceptional artefacts were found at the place, and they all were taken to the National Museum due to their archeological value.

However, not even the most valuable golden item can supply us with the most essential story or a full picture of the past. It can only be concluded that prehistorical people owning golden jewelry were prosperous, but what did they think and believe? What stories would they tell, and which songs would they sing to me if they could? What was their greatest wisdom?

Urd Magazine by Andreas Bloch and Olaf Krohn, 1900-1905.

I don't know, but I am hoping that I some day would become less ignorant and a little more like Wyrd (Urðr in Norse, meaning Fate or Become), the norn of the past. She waters and sustains the World Tree Yggdrasil, that is, the whole universe with the wisdom from her clear well. This well, Urðarbrunnr, is actually the well of the past, meaning that wisdom comes from past. Besides this, it represents the past affecting the future by setting up the laws, the dharma that sustains the universe.

The description of Urðarbrunnr inspires me, and I would eagerly wish to acquire even a tiny drop of that well.

To be continued in a subsequent blog.

Megalithic Stories 2: The Greatest Troll Castle

2009-02-08T23:00:00.008+01:00

Something Dreadful

The Lamb Mound (Lammehøj) is the only more or less existing barrow in Varpelev. Its fame is due to the rather unpleasant fact that it was being used as an execution place. Last time this happened was in 1853, when a murderer was executed, giving rise to a ghost story:

There was a tramped path from the Lamb Mound to the place where the victim was found, but this path was tramped by non-living beings.

Inger M. Boberg: Stevns gravhøje i sagnoverlevering, 1931

A local author, late Martin A. Hansen, describes the horrors of the Lamb Mound:

When I was a child passing through Varpelev in a wagon, I would tremble every time I saw the fogs of the meadow. My father would point with his whip the route to the Lamb Mound in the darkness, of which my grandfather had something dreadful to tell about. As a young man he was forced to stand and watch by as his old play mate was executed. It was the last public execution around here. After that the villagers could hear his ghost by night. He would drive throught Varpelev and everybody could hear the sounds of the horses and a wagon, although nothing could be seen. One night my grandfather experienced this himself in the middle of the village road.

Martin A. Hansen: Sidste Noveller og Skildringer, 1959. Translation: Author

It is possible that it was due to these unpleasant memories that nobody would resist when the final disaster came. It is described in the archeological investigation from 1900 how the Lamb Mound was raped, robbed and disgraced:

According to a informant, gravel had been taken for building the railway in 1879. The railway workers found many ancient items [and gold], which however disappeared. It is suggested that the Lamb Mound is a natural ridge with Iron Age graves.

Det Kulturhistoriske Centralregister: Fund og fortidsminder. Translation: Author

Impudent methods were used when the local railway was built near the Lamb Mound in 1879.

It Is Much More

However, the history of the Lamb Mound is much longer than this, having nothing to do with its appearance, executions or lost discoveries. Its importance is concealed in the mythological values, for there are many folkloristic themes around it. These folklores were so deep-rooted that they still effect local people's collective consciousness. For this reason, I believe the Lamb Mound must have been an ancient sacred place.

Therefore the Lamb Mound was respected and not completely forgotten, although it was almost removed.

There are still trolls in the Lamb Mound, even if it was dug away. One auntie saw one of them jumping around some 16-18 years ago [1885].

One day a man plowed near the Lamb Mound. This time he was plowing closer the barrow as usual and could hear a noise coming out of the barrow. A voice told him that if he wouldn't fill in the plowing track, his best animal would die. The man ignored the voice. On the next day his best horse died, and then he fixed the track near the barrows. Everybody knows this story in the village and consider it true.

Inger M. Boberg: Stevns gravhøje i sagnoverlevering, 1931. Translation: Author

Martin A. Hansen writes:

At the meadow outside the village, there are remains of the Lamb Mound. Perhaps a Bronze Age grave. In fact, it is much more: A cult place and the home of the dead.

Martin A. Hansen: Sidste Noveller og Skildringer, 1959. Translation: Author

The Lamb Mound is also mentioned in a recent book of famous barrows:

The mound is the greastest troll castle in Stevns.

Mads Lidegaard: Danske høje fra sagn og tro, 1998. Translation: Author

Some Strange Celebrations

All these stories paint a picture of the Lamb Mound as more than an old graveyard. First, the archeological investigations indicate it was a natural ridge. There were only few hills and ridges in the vicinity, and the Lamb Mound was the biggest of them. Therefore it is likely that people have been using the place in their holy rituals since the Ice Age. It was important that the sacred places were elevated from the ground and closer to the heaven. For example, it was easier see and to welcome the returning Sun on a hilltop than in the bottom of a valley.

One cannot underestimate the function and value that ancestors had for people in earlier times. Even if the religion changed, the worship of ancestors was an important practice for thousands of years. Therefore the ancestors, or at least the best among them, had to be buried in a most safe and holy place, namely the cult place. The late forefathers became a part of the holy place's sacred power and could better help the descendants and other deceased buried nearby. This idea was so strong that the same burial places were used again and again, and they still are.

There is also other evidence for the Lamb Mound being an old cult place:

It is told that some strange midsummer celebrations took place there.

Martin A. Hansen: Sidste Noveller og Skildringer, 1959. Translation: Author

Youngters living in the area are celebrating the Whitsun there.

Thorkild Gravlund: Herredsbogen 1-3, 1926-30. Translation: Author

If this is true, it is certain that a heathen bonfire has been burned there for chasing away evil spirits and bad luck. This happened especially at May Day and midsummer, but also when alerting of danger. The heathen bonfires at annual festivities were the most difficult thing for the Christianity to get rid of, and they are still being obstinately lit in the Nordic countries.

Jørgen Sonne (1801-1890): Sct.Hansaften, 1860, Ribe kunstmuseum

Thus Lamb Mound was not only a Christian execution place, but rather an ancient place of gathering for as long as people have been living in the area. It had an important religious, juridical, geological and social function in the village.

More Barrows?

There used to be a rumour about another barrow next to the Lamb Mound. This would have been a burial mound from the Stone Age, which the National Museum tried to explore in 1900, but could not come near due to the growing corn on the field.

A shallow ridge can still be seen where the burial mound once was. The Lamb Mound on the right.

A map from year 1835 confirms the existence of the barrow in question along with another barrow next to it. Today they are destroyed and forgotten, but one can still see two light bumps on the field south of the Lamb Mound. This fits together with the theory of smaller mounds being always placed south of the main holy place or a grave, because this was the most beneficial point of the compass.

To be continued in a subsequent blog.

Megalithic Stories 1: Where the Trolls Dwelled

2009-02-04T12:00:00.017+01:00

The intention of the following description is not to tire the readers with irrelevant facts about non-existing barrows in a tiny village. Rather, I want to show through these stories something interesting about the historical continuation and illustrate the previous blog Megalithic Marvels with some practical examples and folklore.

Once upon a time there were at least ten burial mounds in the parish of Varpelev, but they have all been destroyed, and have disappeared. In the map below, one can see where at least some of those holy barrows were once located.

It is worth noticing they all were situated near the river or the main road, additionally on top of natural ridges. It was impossible not to to notice them, while sailing by on the river or travelling by the road, which was according to the plan.

The intention was not to hide the dead away. They were a part of the tribe, just as the living were.

Klaus Ebbesen: Gravhøjenes mennesker, 1989. Translation: Author

The other explanation for the location near traffic routes is the fact that rivers and roads were sacred. Therefore all the holy barrows would be situated near these other already sacred places, so that the holy effect of all the holy things would accumulate and spread. The burial mounds were considered to protect roads, rivers, travellers and fords with their holy power.

Where the Trolls Dwelled

North of the village, at the roadside, there were three barrows near each other on the both sides of the road. They were all round barrows and were used as burial places from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. An archeological exploration was done there in 1900 with a statement about the first barrow:

Seriously damaged. According to the informant, there had been a burial mound. It was evened out in around 1850, and in the same time crocks with ashes, burnt bones and a bronze sword were found.

Det Kulturhistoriske Centralregister: Fund og fortidsminder. Translation: Author

About the two other barrows, it was stated in 1900:

A plot with two barrows evened out. Nothing left. (Ibid.)

However, bronze items and urns were found at the plot. The names of the all three barrows seem to be forgotten, but at least one of them was called the 'Gravne' Mound (Gravnehøj) in the literature, whatever it may mean:

In Varpelev there were some mounds, where the trolls dwelled [...] Gravne Mound.

Local historian Anna Pedersen: 1917. Translation: Author

I believe this was the barrow on the western side of the road, while one of the eastern barrows has been the North Mound (Nordhøj), because the farm next to them is called the same. In the old times the roads and the farms were always named after the adjacent mounds. This indicates their importance.

There were one barrow on the left western side of the road and two on the right eastern side.

Actually even the Christian peasants had a very special relationship with the barrows next to their farms, despite the fact there was a furious church opposition against the megalithic culture. The peasants no longer understood that their ancestors were buried in the barrows, but they could not help feeling that there lived some nice and helpful beings in the barrows.

Those creatures had to be treated well, for otherwise they could ruin the fortune and the prosperity of the farm. The barrows were taken care of exemplarily, and the holy hawthorns on top of the barrows were given food and drink sacrifices still in the 20th century. If the beings in the barrow were happy, everthing was going fine at the farm, in the same way as before the Christianity, when the ancestors in the barrows took care of their descendants and the other way around.

Treasures in the Light of the Moon

Pors Munch (1626-1668) was the protestant parson in Varpelev, and in 1667 he was asked about the ancient local monuments. He told there existed only one burial mound, namely The Silver Mound (Sølvhøj):

Regarding the burial mounds, the kinds with stones, there is only one left and it is called the Silver Mound.

Inger M. Boberg: Stevns gravhøje i sagnoverlevering, 1931. Translation: Author

However, maybe the parson, living in another village, didn't know Varpelev well enough? It is also amazing that he tells nothing about all the other barrows, which he should have passed every time he travelled to the village for the High Mass. Maybe he believed they belonged to the adjoining parish?

A natural shallow ridge where the Silver Mound once stood.

The Silver Mound was a round barrow from the Stone Age. An archeological exploration was done there in 1900 with the statement:

A mound, the Silver Mound was evened out by taking of gravel a long time ago. Seriously damaged.

Det Kulturhistoriske Centralregister: Fund og fortidsminder. Translation: Author

At that point, it was not entirely forgotten, because the neighbouring yard is named after it and it is mentioned twice in the literature in the beginning of the 20th century. However, it had been destroyed about a hundred years before, because it does not exist in a map from year 1835.

John Bauer for Alfred Smedberg's: Trollen och tomtepojken, 1909

The name of the mound suggest there could have been a folklore around it, as around other barrows with a prefix of noble metals. Silver leads one to think about a treasure. It was a general idea, or actually an old remembrance, there were huge treasures hidden in the barrows. Often this was true, for in old times the dead got the most valuable things with them in the burial mounds. Later on as well, at times of war or danger, people hide their articles of value in the barrows, which were the only safe place at the time.

There are numerous folklores describing so called treasure barrows and optical phenomenons around them. Mysterious nocturnal lights were seen around mounds, and people believed it was caused by the mound dwellers airing their treasures in the moonlight. Additionally, one could sometimes hear how the cover of a treasure chest was slammed.

The Swallow Mound

South-East of the Silver Mound, another prehistorical barrow was situated, directly translated as the Swallow Mound (Svalehøj). I have no idea where the name comes from. However, it is possible that svale could refer to a male name Svale rather than a swallow. An archeological exploration was done there in 1900 with the statement:

A mound, the Swallow Mound [/Svale's Mound] was evened out by taking of gravel a long time ago. Seriously damaged. (Ibid.)

The place where the Swallow Mound once was located. One can sense a gently sloping terrain in front of the firs.

The Swallow Mound is mentioned only once in literature in the beginning of the 20th century by Inger M. Boberg, and it is not drawn in a map since 1835. However, suprisingly its name is preserved in another connection: The road next to the mound is called Swallow Mound's Road, and the neighbouring yard is named after it.

The Royal Dynasty

Part of the treasures found in Thorkel's Mound.

Thorkel's Mound (Thorkelhøj) next to Thingstead Yard cannot be found in literature, but there were archeological explorations at the place in 1877 and in 1900. In 1877 the museum made a drawning of the mound. Most of the discoveries are from the Roman Iron Age, but originally the round barrow was from the Stone Age:

A gravel pit, where we discovered forty finds. There had been a natural ridge at the place, but it was taken away in time. According the informant nothing had been found after 1880.

Det Kulturhistoriske Centralregister: Fund og fortidsminder. Translation: Author

All the dead had some specials skills, but not everybody could be buried in the holy barrows. It was absolutely essential to know who laid in which mound. Therefore the names of the barrows named after a person are preserved through thousands of years to this day.

Note the Thingstead Yard and Thingsted Road next to Thorkel's Mound. A thingstead was always an important place in the whole district. An insignificant person would not be buried at such an area.

Part of the treasures found in Thorkel's Mound.

Here we have a male name Thorkel, and we can play with the thought that he really was buried in Thorkel's Mound. Only extraordinary persons could get this kind of elevated burial, so Thorkel must have been important either while living, or — in death.

Those who died for others, for their tribe, homestead, land or religion, owned a kind of holy power after their dead. [...] The same kind of power as those, who were sacrificed to gods for the public good as martyrs.

Mads Lidegaard: Danske høje fra sagn og tro, 1998. Translation: Author

There were certainly many who received a mound burial for their bravery towards dead. However, if Thorkel wasn't a martyr, he might have been the ancestor of ancestors, the founder of the village. Such an elevated person will automatically achieve the respect of the living.

There is only a little bulge left on the field of the great Thorkel's Mound.

Thorkel could as well have been a local chief. In the old days, a chief of the village didn't only have the worldly, but also the spiritual authority. A Nordic lord had to be a contact person between the gods and the people. He was responsible for there being corn on the fields and fish in the sea. He had to win the battles and so maintain peace. He had to take care of weather being good. Additionally, the Nordic lord had to be just, rich, handsome, athletic, articulate and clairvoyant. His hands and touch had to be healing. In other words, it was not easy to become a chief, but if it happened, it was likely his son would inherit this position.

The River Valley was actually the place of the first kings in the country:

The power triangle of the first king dynasties.

The graves of the first [..] kings are the rich graves of the kings of Stevns. There was a king dynasty that moved a bit later close to Lejre, which could be more easily defended.

Mads Lindegaard: Danske høje fra sagn og tro, 1998. Translation: Author

A local chief or a tribal king was buried in Varpelev. He had his whole household and slaves buried alive with him [...He] must be seen as a representative of the country's oldest kings.

Lone Hvass: Oldtiden i Danmark: Jernalderen, 2001. Translation: Author

Part of the treasures found in Thorkel's Mound.

There is also a third possibility. If Thorkel was not a martyr or a king, he could have been a holy man or a shaman. That kind of person would surely receive a fine burial place, owing to his healing ability and religious power. The descendants would share his holy powers by worshipping his burial mound.

The Fire Mound and the Great Cult Site

Flaming pillars at a barrow.

There have been massive megalithic Stone Age structures next to the Mound Yard's still existing Great Mound (Maglehøj), which sadly nowdays belongs to the next parish. The foremost of the burial mounds was called the Fire Mound (Ildhøj).

I presume the name has something to do with the folklore about flaming pillars: Always when elves were celebrating, their mound came open, rose up and stood on flaming pillars. It is also possible that fire in the name points out to the barrow's use as a place for bonfires, either for warning or for celebration.

A reconstruction of the Fire Mound at a museum.

The Fire Mound was located a shot from the Great Mound. Nowdays it is merely called the Stone Pile. It was damaged for ages ago. Still in last summer stones were blown up there and transported to the bridge over the Tryggevælde river, [where they were used as building material for the railway and the road]. Many bones and other artefacts were found at the Fire Mound. Now only the undermost stones are standing at the burial place.

Parson P. Holm in 1823 for the Royal Commission for Preservation of Archeological Findings. Translation: Author

Some of the items found on the floor at the Fire Mound: Amber pearls, white burned flintstone and sacrificial crocks. Køge Museum

Archeological explorations in 1991 at this place found remnants of an Iron Age burial place and at least two Stone Age mounds. Skeletons, flintstone tools, arrow heads, stone tiles, white burned flintstone, sacrificial crocks and traces of settlement (or a cult house?) were found. Almost all of the thousands of items were burned before the burial. It was calculated that the total diameter of the mound was 20 meters and the chamber was 19 m², thus the biggest mound in the river valley.

Modern plow traces on a field nearby the Fire Mound.

Additionally, ritual plow traces were found under the barrow. They were parallel and systematic. The Earth was identical with Mother Earth, and therefore these kinds of plow traces were considered as her holy feminine fathom, while the plow itself was masculine. Together they unite in a holy cosmic marriage. No evil spirit could cross plow traces as it is explained in many folklores. Before the barrow was built, the earth under the it was ritually plowed and burned for purification. This would give energy, protection and strength for the mound.

It seems like these destroyed structures had been a part of some kind of large cult center together with the Great Mound.

The Great Mound alone at twilight

The Great Mound is also called a passage grave, in Danish a giant's dwelling (jættestue). Many burial mounds are named as Giant's cave, Giant's grave or Giant's Tomb. These names were invented by people of later times, who couldn't see how normal human beings could been able to built the megaliths. They were convinced that only giants with supernatural powers could have constructed them. For a long time it was believed there were giants buried in the barrows, for no human could be as tall and big as the barrows are.

To be continued in a subsequent blog.

Candlemas - The Light Grows Longer

2009-01-31T01:36:01.029+01:00

Sulamith Wulfing (1901-1989): The Candlemas. Light and darkness,
new and old, summer and winter are dueling.

Now it is the middle of the winter. The darkness of the autumn and the festivities of the Yule are past. There is more and more sunlight every day. However, the light is not yet the warming light of the spring, but a cruel light exposing the dead season in the nature; plain grey fields, black naked trees and birdless skies.

The climax of the great Yule celebration has faded after forty days, and there is nothing to wait for for a long time. The new year has begun, but new life is still sleeping in the womb of Mother Earth. What to do? Where to get strengt and joy from?

The Purification of the Goddess

The second day of February is among other things called The Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, The Feast of the Purification of the Virgin and The Meeting of the Lord (in Greek: Hypapante) with Christian terms.

It originates from the Jewish custom (in Hebrew: Pidyon HaBen, redemption of the son), where the firstborn son is taken to the temple forty days after his birth to complete the mother's purification after childbirth, and to perform the redemption of the firstborn in obedience to the law of Moses.

Because it is thought that Jesus Christ was born on Yule, then his redemption would have been the second of February. It is told that Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple on this day. They met Simeon the Righteous and elderly prophetess Anna, who both prophesied the redemption of the whole world by Jesus.

However, there is no reason to believe in Christmas being Jesus's birthday, because it only is a christianized pagan celebration. Thus the second of February as the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple is also merely a part of Christian propaganda. However, there is no fable without a little truth in it: Here we have the first hints of the real purpose of the day, the goddess in form of Virgin Mary and purification.

The Celebration of Light

Another name for the second of February is Candlemas. I am not entirely convinced whether it originally is a Christian term, even if it is used as such. In Danish it is kyndelmisse, kærtemisse or Kjørmes Knud, in Swedish kyndelsmässodagen, in Finnish kynttilänpäivä, in Latin festum candelabrum or missa candelarum. All these names can be translated as the candle mass. In practice this was (and still is) the day when Christian priests blessed candles for use throughout the year and torchlight processions were held.

Here we have another hint of the true meaning of the day, that is, Candlemas has something to do with candles. In other words: The celebration of returning light and life.

The Return of the Goddess

The idea of the returning light and life can best be considered in terms of an ancient Greek(-Roman) myth of Kore aka Persephone (Proserpina). It is a part of the Eleusian Mysteries explaining the change of the seasons by the abduction and return of the goddess. The Eleusian ceremonies were, not suprisingly, held on the day of February second.

Persephone together again with her mother Demeter in Eleusis, admiring sacred ergot mushrooms.

In brief, Persephone is the daughter of Demeter (Ceres), or Mother Earth. She is the embodiment of the Earth's fertility. The god of the underworld, Hades (Pluto) fell in love with her, abducting her to the underworld as his captive. At the same time Demeter mourns the loss of her daughter and the earth is having an eternal drought.

This threatened the natural balance in the cosmos, and the gods decided to release Persephone back to her mother. However, Hades was not pleased; he planned an intrigue giving Persephone a pomegranate. She managed to eat six pomegranate seeds and as a result, Persephone had to remain in the underworld with Hades for for six months every year. The other six months she could stay with her mother in the world of the living.

When Persephone returns to the surface on the second of February, her mother becomes joyful, winter ends, light increases and the cycle of life and growth begins anew.

The Field Penance

So far the ancient Greece, the ancient North-Europeans called the second of the February Æcer Bót (Old English), or Akr Bod in Old Norse and Holy Penance Day in medival Norse. Æcer Bót means Field Penance, meaning that one makes penance for the field in hopes of getting a good harvest.

The penance here consisted of some flat cakes of corn, buried in the field so that the field could give them corn in return. These cakes were called placentas, representing the female organ. In Danish the cakes were not called placentas, but afterbirths (moderkager), which actually means Mother's cakes. This stands to reason, for it was Mother Earth who would get them both the cakes and the afterbirths.

The same kind of plowing ritual is described in the Indian Rig Veda, although the Mother has here become the male Lord of the Field:

1. We through the Master of the Field, even as through a friend, obtain what nourisheth our kine and steeds. In such may he be good to us. [...]
3. Sweet be the plants for us. [...] May the Field's Lord for us be full of sweetness [...]
4. Happily work our steers and men, may the plough furrow happily. Happily be the traces bound; happily may he ply the goad. [...]
7. May Indra press the furrow down, may Pūṣan guide its course aright. May she, as rich in milk, be drained for us through each succeeding year.
8. Happily let the shares turn up the plough-land, happily go the ploughers with the oxen.With meath and milk Parjanya make us happy. Grant us prosperity, Śuna [Vayu or wind] and Sīra [Pūṣan or Sun].

Rig Veda, Book 4. HYMN LVII. Ksetrapati

The Day of Goddesses

We can understand from the previous examples that the day of Candlemas is originally a holy day of Mother Earth, who in the course of time received many other names and figures. In Scandinavia there were sacrifices on this day for Freja, the goddess of love, beauty, fertility, harvest, domestic animals, (child)births and death.

The Celts and other West-Europeans had another name for the same kind of goddess: Brigid (or Brighid, Brighde, Bride, Brigantia, Brigandu, Bridget and so on, nowdays St. Brigid), who was worshipped on the second day of February: Imbolc. Brigid is the goddess of poetry, love, inspiration, art, Moon, women, childbirths, healing, light, fire, cows, wells, wisdom, perfection, intelligence, craftsmanship and warfare.

Left: John McKirdy Duncan (1866-1945): Semele [a Greek goddess who lookes like a classical Brigid here]. Right: John Bauer (1182-1918): Freya

One Celtic midwinter tradition still continues, namely Brigid's Bed. The unmarried women create a corn doll Brideog to represent Brigid on the eve of Imbolc. On the following day, the girls carry the corn doll through the village, from house to house, where she is welcomed with great honour.

In Russia the same kind of corn doll is called Kostroma or Maslenitsa. After the worship she is actually burned in a bornfire. Afterwards her ashes are spread over the fields in hopes of good harvest. I suppose this kind of corn doll originates from some very old religious practices requiring human sacrifices.

However, back to the pagan goddesses: Even Pope Innocent XII believed Candlemas was invented as an alternative to ancient Roman traditions:

Why do we in this feast carry candles? Because the Gentiles dedicated the month of February to the infernal gods, and as at the beginning of it Pluto stole Proserpine, and her mother Ceres sought her in the night with lighted candles, so they, at the beginning of the month, walked about the city with lighted candles. Because the holy fathers could not extirpate the custom, they ordained that Christians should carry about candles in honor of the Blessed Virgin; and thus what was done before in the honor of Ceres is now done in honor of the Blessed Virgin.

William Shepard Walsh: Curiosities of Popular Customs and of rites, ceremonies, observances, and miscellaneous antiquities, 1898

Peasant Traditions

The European post-medieval peasants were not too interested in the theological themes of the Christian Candlemas, nor did they remember how and why the day was celebrated before Christianity. They only knew that some things had to be done on Candlemas and that was the way it should be.

First, the Yule was completely gone. If one hadn't removed Yule decorations yet, now was the last moment to do so. However, lots of candles were burned exactly in the same way as on Yule.

This day was stock raisers' great day, because the cattle breeding began. It has been traditionally associated with the onset of lactation of ewes, soon to give birth to the spring lambs. It was also a day for grinding the whole year's flours.

There was a feast on the eve of Candlemas in the same way as on the Yule eve. The main dishes were the previously mentioned (buckwheat) pancakes, soup, cabbage and beer. Pork was eaten to prevent hunger as they also did on Yule in Scandinavia.

Peasants stood up very early on the morning of Candlemas. They would eat again and go to a field for plowing a little patch. A maid would lead a horse, while a male farm labourer would plow. They should have their gloves on for the ritual to succeed. Of course, this procedure has no pragmatical agricultural value, but it is a way for preparing the female earth, so that it can receive the fertile and lifegiving rays of the male Sun. Even the fruit trees were whipped with twigs for getting a good harvest. Both of these traditions were certainly some distant memories of the original Candlemas, the day of Field Penance, Æcer Bót.

A plowing man in a Danish 15th century painting, Elmelunde church. Link

According to an old folklore St. Peter was throwing warm stones into the water on this day, so that the ice would melt and the spring would come.

Divination, watching omens and weather prognostication for the next year were as popular as on Yule and the New Year. For example, if the midwinter day is bad, then the harvest will be great and the spring begins earlier. Old Norse proverbs say: As many days as a lark sings before the Candlemas, as many weeks it shall be silent afterwards. And another: If it blows so much on Candlemas that eighteen hags can't hold the nineteenth on the ground, then the spring is surely coming.

It was also believed that bears emerge from hibernation and wolves and serpents come out from their burrows on the day of Candlemas.They would check the weather, going back to sleep if the winter was to continue. In the United States and Canada, Candlemas evolved into Groundhog Day, when groundhogs are supposed to come out checking the weather.

As the light grows longer
The cold grows stronger
If Candlemas be fair and bright
Winter will have another flight
If Candlemas be cloud and snow
Winter will be gone and not come again
A farmer should on Candlemas day
Have half his corn and half his hay

This old Scottish poem features another strong belief of the Candlemas, which was known in the western and northern Europe: A farmer should have half of the harvest back, otherwise he could have problems. Thus, one used to examine stocks and depots on the day of midwinter.

What to do?

Life feels so fragile and depressing at midwinter. Only the strongest will survive and see the new spring. However, everything is how it should be and it couldn't be otherwise. Seeds in the ground need frost, silence and darkness to be able to shoot again.

We too need this time, just as the nature does. We can prepare our life, body, mind, soul, home and environment for the new experiences by resting, cleaning and contemplating. We can make plans and new goals, because Persephone is coming back from the underworld, bringing the promise of spring with her.

By doing this, we are following the way of the nature and do the same on Candlemas: Turn own glance within, concentrate, work under the surface, hear the soft whispers of the Mother Earth and hope for a new spring. We should be inspired of the ancient goddesses and follow them in purification, wisdom, visions and healing.

One should keep in mind that there are holy days in the same way as there are holy places. The holy places are doorways to other worlds, while the seasonal holy days are like doors, which bring us closer together with the nature, the ancestors and ourselves. Therefore we shouldn't like one season or celebration more than the others. All have their right places and we should try to feel ourselves home in the present time and the present season: Feel this very moment of life, observing the ancient powers in the nature.

Sulamith Wulfing (1901-1989): The Purification, which crystallizes the meaning and the feeling of the midwinter.

Stone dead?

2009-01-25T01:21:00.012+01:00

An Erratic Granite Block

There lays a big erratic granite block on the southern beach of Stevns. It glances silent and alone over the long sandy shores to the eternity. The tall beeches shelter its back from the ruthless sea. There is nothing special with its colour or surface, it is just a plain rock, little greyish and a bit grooved. The speciality is due to the fact that it merely stands there.

The Mouse Stone

Where did it come from during the Ice Age? Did it see how the land was formed by the fierce forces of the nature? Why did it stop right there, while the others of its kind moved forwards? Why was is allowed to stay on the beach even if it could have given economical profit for the 19th century peasants as a building material?

The stone cannot answer in verbal language. However, it gives one a feeling, a quiet touch of something unchangeable, permanent, ageless, mightly, massive and unshakeable. The seasons follow each other in the world, where everything is in a constant cycle of life and death, everything but the stones. Apart from that, there are only few rocks in this land of sand.

No wonder, that the first people inhabiting the area considered erratic blocks as sacred. And they certainly didn't say stone dead or have a heart of stone or as cold/dump as stone/rock, because even if externally lifeless, the rocks were regarded living entities with their own will. This had some practical consequences; for example every person, farm and village had their own sacred stones for protection from all kinds of evil things.

This rock has a name: the Mouse Stone. Presumably because it looks like a giant mouse. But there is more: It is also a cast boulder and a child stone.

John Bauer: Pojken som aldrig var rädd

Annoying Church-Bells

The local folklore explains how the Mouse Stone came to its present place: An abbey (still-existing) was built not so far away from the beach and the church-bells started to chime. However, there was a female troll, either from the island of Møn or Sweden, who became so annoyed at the ringing that she took the Mouse Stone and threw it towards the abbey with her garter. But he missed and the stone didn't reach the abbey.

The Vemmetofte Abbey after the Reformation

This is an extremely popular and common folklore about rocks, which can be heard everywhere in Europe. It sounds silly and naive, but it actually deals with some very deep religious and archetypical issues. The church-bells are not just church-bells, but a Christian long-distance missile, announcing the bliss of the new God, the Saviour Christ and a new order all over the land: Believes could be in peace, and confident that the old gods had lost their power. The non-believers could not stand the ringing, so they either had to either emigrate towards the north or destroy the church.

Nor is the female troll just a troll, but the heathen Mother Earth worshipped thousands of years before the Christianity. Thus the folklore is actually a Christian propaganda contributing an idea of all the old gods as demons, witches, giants or trolls. Apart from that they (and thereby their followers) are always described as evil, ugly and stupid losers in the battle of the two religions. The stones thrown towards churches then symbolize the resistance given by the followers of the original gods.

Venus of Willendorf - Earth Mother

Sacred Stones

The folklore insinuate these stones had originally been sacred and connected to the worship of the Mother Earth; otherwise, the trolls might have thrown something else towards churches. At least the Christians were sincerely afraid of the stone worship and forbade it with a law at the first opportunity. They even attacked the erratic blocks hitting a corner of them for 'killing' them, or used them as building materials for churches.

The Mouse Stone is also a child stone. In other words, it was believed that babies came from it — instead of being brought by storks! This is due to its location on a beach and its round shape. A shore is a place where the elements meet: water merges into the earth giving fertility and nourishment to everything growing in the dirt.

A stone on a shore is thus a fertility deity, who was given bread and butter sacrifices from the Stone Age until the early 20th century. It is told how these kinds of stones could even smell newly baked bread and turned themselfes towards the scent. If one wanted to have a boy child, one had to offer white bread to the stone, while whole wheat bread would yield a baby girl.

On the right: Vilhelm Petersen for H. C. Andersen: Aarets Historie, 1852

Young virgin girls used to dance around the child stones and sacrifice for them for getting fertility and happiness in their future lives as mothers and wives.

Young couples went to the child stone when they got engaged or married, for otherwise their union was not legal, moral or valid. Additionally they spent their first night making love upon or in vicinity of the stone. There was no need for a priest or a big wedding party, just the couple pledging themselves to love each other forever before the stone as their silent and eternal witness. Thus this agreement between the lovers became as solid as a rock, which is a very beautiful thought. I like it.

Megalithic Marvels

2009-01-16T10:07:00.085+01:00

For People's Delight

The Christians left behind great churches, impressive buildings, books and everyday utensils in Scandinavia. Runes and archeological discoveries illuminate the life and religions of the Vikings. All of those and many other things demonstrate an old romantical time of greatness, which can make us proud.

However, the time before the Vikings appears to be very confusing, and too complex to grasp. Some may consider it even boring and irrelevant. People living before the Vikings didn't write books or runes about their thoughts and life. They didn't built houses, which would last the corrosion of time. All that is left behind of them is some scattered pieces of flintstone, bones and crocks, which are not too thrilling. The story these discoveries tell is often experienced as alien and agonizingly primitive.

J. Th. Lundbye: Efterårslandskab, Hankehøj ved Vallekilde, 1847 (Den Hirschsprungske Samling)

However, something besides this still exists from this incredible long and difficult period of time. What I mean with 'this period of time' is the unchanging and continuous time from the first man of Ice Age to the Vikings. This era left some important things behind, namely the burial mounds or barrows (Latin: tumulus), that is, dolmens or megalithic structures.

They defy the landscape with their hemispheric forms. They are a greeting from the time of myths, dreams and folklore, being an essential part of our collective consciousness. We simply coundn't imagine our scenery without them. Their symbolical message, even if we can't understand it, stimulates our fantasy and fills us with questions that have no conventional answers.

However, our ignorance and inability to give answers to the ancient mysteries does not deprive the value of prehistory. It is just a part of the magic of life. It was said about the 19th century romanticism, that it:

[...] considered the old times as new way to view the present. [...It] displays the past making it beautiful, fascinating and informing, above all visible, and in that way [...] worth protecting and for people's [...] delight.

Karsten Kjer Michaelsen: Politikens bog om Danmarks Oldtid, 2002. Translation: Author

I have the same wish, because these qualities of aesthetics and cultural history are being underestimated in our society based on pragmatic values. The connection between mankind and their experience of cultural nature is still far from being harmonious.

A Mound Should Be Raised

Odin established the same law in his land that had been in force in Asaland.[...]Thus, said he, every one will come to Valhalla with the riches he had with him upon the pile; and he would also enjoy whatever he himself had buried in the earth. For men of consequence a mound should be raised to their memory [...]which custom remained long after Odin's time.

The Ynglinga Saga: 8. Odin's Lawgiving

The burial mounds can be classified according to their materials, location (of the entrance), form, and date of construction. They can for example be called bank, bell, bowl, D-shaped, fancy, long, oval, platform, pond, ring, round, saucer and square barrows, and so on. These categories have no practical relevance for normal people. However, it can be told that the tree mounds were the first ones being built. The chamber inside that kind of mound has walls made of wood. Later on stone chambers replaced the wooden constructions.

In practise, huge stones were dragged and put together to form walls for a chamber. Some of the biggest stones, many of them weighing over twenty thousand kilos, were pulled up atop the other ones, creating a fully balanced ceiling. Then earth was assembled around and upon the chamber, and the mound was fenced in by standing stones.

J. Th. Lundbye: En gravhøj fra oldtiden ved Raklev ved Refsnæs, 1839, Thorvaldsens Museum

It should be remembered that the barrows today are a sad remnant of brilliant ritualistic constructions. Originally they looked completely different. In the picture above, there is only a ruin of a burial mound, not the building itself.

At their own time, the mounds were impressive structures, which could be compared with castles or skyscrapers:

When the burial mounds were holy places, they looked different than today. Often the sacred area was surrounded by a wooden fence, and the foundation of the barrow was encircled by some heavy blocks of stones. An elaborate stony decoration covered the base of the mound.

Jørgen Jensen: Oldtiden i Danmark: Bronzealderen, 2001. Translation: Author

A restored megalithic structure, Newgrange, Ireland

It can be imagined that the row of flat kerbstones [around the mound] are like a wall of granite. It was made of red slates between the bigger stones. Above this was the convex top of the mound, decorated with white burnt flintstones. A real play of colours was made of the red sandstones, grey granite and white flintstones.

Klaus Ebbesen: Stendysser og jættestuer, 1993. Translation: Author

It should be remembered that the burial mounds are an ancient and long-term tradition. They are a result of thousands of years of architectural and religious activity, being built and used for almost six thousand years, from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age, and from the Iron Age to the Viking Age. Despite practical life, burial forms and the social structure differing and changing in the course of time, burial mounds were being built.

Distribution of the megalithic culture in Europe.

Apart from that, megalithic barrows are to be found everywhere in the West Europe. It is amazing how similar these stone structures are, despite thousands of kilometers and years between them, and the builders having belonged to different cultures and tribes. Thus, it can be concluded that the mounds were a part of something huge, international and important.

The Devil Should Move those Barrows

In the beginning of the 19th century, the western society went throught some great innovations, reforms and changes in many ways. The ideas, born in the Age of Enlightment a bit earlier, bore fruit as people began to look forwards, no longer upwards to the gentry or backwards to old beliefs. An old peasant tells in 1807:

I have had my farm for already thirty years. As everybod knows, I have cleared huge stones away from my field, but never has any little stone or a lump of dirt given me as much agony and expence as the mounds of the Old Ones. I have had to level them down and plow them. I wish the ancestors would have understood how much annoyance these rocks and barrows have given me and the other descendants. If they had known this, they wouldn't have done such madness.

Carsten Henrik Bang: Guide til danske fortidsminder, 1994. Translation: Author

Or as in the play of Adam Oelenschläger:

The devil should move those barrows for they are standing there as futility.

Adam Oehlenschläger: Sct. Hans Aftensspil. Translation: Author

Due to this rather unsensitive irritability the barrows disappeared. The only thing keeping them erect was people's fear of revenge by the dead ancestors. Therefore the sanctity of the grave was sometimes given. The folklore is filled with examples of the horrors meeting the plower of the mound. However, the temptation became often greater than the respect for ancestors and warnings.

Originally the mounds were built in astronomical numbers in the West Europe. It is estimated there were at least 300,000 burial mounds spread over 43,000km² in the Country (seven per every square kilometer!). As the megalithic mania was most active, about a hundred mounds were erected every year. Now there are only 25,000 left and they are still vanishing, despite the protection programs.

TStevns was the place in the country having most mounds, and as such also the place of most destruction. This is due to its very fertile fields, and people craving to cultivate every inch of them in the name of efficiency. The mounds simply disappeared under the plow, or were ripped up for getting stone and gravel.

Sacred Architecture

An official guide for ancient monuments tells:

Thousands of burial mounds are memorials for the deceased.

Carsten Henrik Bang: Guide til danske fortidsminder, 1994. Translation: Author

This opinion emphasizes the barrows as dead. The guide continues:

One had to put enormous amounts of manpower for constructing these monuments that didn't even have any practical meaning. (Ibid.)

Thus the barrows are considered here both lifeless and nonprofitable, both in their own time as at ours. This modern understanding underestimates the life and death of our ancestors. For understanding people who lived thousands of years ago, one has to understand their relationship with the earth, the nature and the seasons they depended on. For the Earth was a living and life-giving body for the ancestors; it was a source of holy energy, fertility and vitality.

The ancient people wanted to use the visible materials from the earth for being able to display the invisible aspects of life understandable for themselves. Everything in the material nature had a natural aspect of spirituality. The ancestors wanted to optimize this powerful contact between the physical and the divine world by building sacred architecture, which really demanded great manpower. These sacred structures were meant to last forever, reflecting the human need for unchangeability in the changing world.

The endurance of the mounds or their use as tombs is not as essential. It has to be understood they were sacred, and therefore it is futile to say they have no productive or practical meaning. Especially when thinking about the huge amount of time and work people have invested in these structures. We can conclude that the meaning of the barrows has been colossal, and this meaning has penetrated the entire society. Therefore, it is naive to believe the barrows were built only for honouring a couple of dead, worldly chiefs.

In the beginning there were no class distinctions in the argicultural society. There is no reason to assume a local prehistorical chief could mobilize all the people of the land to build a great and difficult construction only for himself. Thus, the mounds have been sacred buildings, and the eagerness for building them originates from the feeling of being a part of something eternal and divine. People believing in this kind of divinity will gladly built a sacred structure.

Closer to Heaven

But why a mound of stone, gravel and peat?

Early people considered the mounds and the hills being closer to heaven, divine heavenly bodies and the heavenly gods. They created a connection between the Earth and the heaven, giving a feeling of being closer to the world of eternality and immortals. Additionally the mounds could be seen from afar in the terrain as signposts, usually even located on hilltops.

As regards to stones, they can be considered as eternal, unchangeable and powerful in this changing world. They were even believed to be personal living beings.

The modern man is used to the electrical light and is afraid of dark caves that gave the ancient people a feeling of safety. The narrow corridor leading inside the barrows is like a vagina leading to Mother Earth's round womb, the chamber itself. Thus the mound brings us back to the place we came from. This theory is supported by the burnt white flintstone on the floor of the chamber. It conjures an image of being inside a big egg. The egg is an old symbol of rebirth.

Futhermore, the Sun and astronomy are added to this rebirth. The location and the position of mounds is carefully chosen and calculated in proportion to the heavenly bodies. For example, almost all mounds have their doorway in East, where the Sun rises. Sometimes the doorway is placed so that the first ray of the Sun, on the day of winter solstice, meets a particular point on the back wall of the chamber. Thus the dead ancestors buried in the chamber could be born again by the rays of the rising and returning Sun. In the same way the living could calculate when the time was to plow, to sow, to harvest and to celebrate.

Of course, the dead were not lifeless or dead or powerless in any way. They were living in another place, where they continued their lives as well as possible. Their safety and comfort was vitally important for the descendants, because their task was to help, support and energize the living. Therefore the dead were as essential part of life as the Sun and the Moon. Without their goodwill life coudn't continue.

Outsitting

In folklore it is told how people used to 'sit ouside on the barrows for gaining wisdom', which is called outsitting, wake or omen-taking (Norse: útiseta, in Danish: udesidning, vågenat or varselstagning). In other words, one went to the burial mounds by night for meditating and consulting the ancestors. This happened especially at times of emergency or grief or when a decision had to be made. Additionally this was done at the solstices, equinoxes and at other annual celebrations.

The first thing the Christianity forbade by law in Scandinavia was exactly this social togetherness with the barrows. Therefore it can be concluded that it was a very popular and necessary part of the life in the old days. The mounds were places of energy for our forefathers. Not just did they protect the ancestors, but they also took care of the needs of the living, giving them wisdom, strength and peace of mind.

Not even legal or political decisions could be made without the burial mounds. Only those decisions, judgements and choosing of the king that were made at the vicinity of the mounds — and therefore before the eyes of the ancestors — were valid.

Thus it is wrong to consider the barrows as being only memorials of the dead. They were a part of the life of the living.

The Realm of the Elf King

2009-01-15T14:46:00.026+01:00

Gylfe Was Pleased With Gefion

The overlord Odin needed more land and sent one of the goddesses, Gefion (the donor; a name of Freja) to find it for him. She went to visit king Gylfe, who was so pleased with her sexual favours that he promised to give her as much land as she could plow in one day. That is not particularly much land, but Gefion was clever and travelled afterwards to the land of the giants. There she made love with a giant, giving birth to four oxes, which she leashed before her plow. The four great oxes plowed the sea so furiously that a new land, originally called Sealand, came up.

Homestead

At one place the plow went a little deeper, revealing the white limestone. This region was called Stethyumsheret, containing old words steði, heim and heret. Some believe steði should be translated as an anvil, for the limestone's profile on the coast resembles that of an anvil. According to another more plausible, but a rather unknown interpretation, steði is place and heim means home, therefore the region should be called Homestead.

I love this place more than any other places on Earth. This is my home and the home of the Elf King.

Limestone Cliffs

I love the blunt limestone cliffs falling into the turquoise sea as if a giant had angrily cut them. The ominous sea eats the cliffs with a everlasting hunger and the fossils of marine animals, petrificated in the limestone, are washed back to the sea. The powers of the sea will one day conquer both the cliffs made by the Mother Earth, and the man-made church on the edge of the cliffs. Once Stevns was the bottom of a tropical ocean, and some day it is again going to rest at the bottom of the sea...

Beeches on the Beach

I love the Great Beech Forrest by the beach. It gives feeling of how Stevns once was: Wild and impenetrable, covered with tall deciduous trees. Under the green dusk of the trees lies a myriad of old barrows like strange sleeping animals, whispering with ancestral voices. Sand on the beach is silvery and soft, like the dust on the Moon.

Elf Girls by the River

I love the small babbling streams and brooks, and the slow Tryggevælde River, which are winding between the emerald green ridges, gentle valleys and fruitful fields. The slender elf girls (elverpige) are dancing and playing captivatingly in the alder groves near The Tryggevælde; therefore they are also called alder girls (ellepiger). Tryggevælde separates Stevns from the rest of the Country, protecting its speciality. In the old times, people really felt that everything and everybody on the other side of the stream was strange and dangerous. It was better to be safe between the Tryggevælde and the sea, in the kingdom of the Elf King.

The Elf King

The Elf King (Elverkongen) is the one and only, beloved Lord of Stevns, accepting and tolerating no other kings.

In summertime or when it is storming, the Elf King resides at the coastal limestone cliffs, where he has his own cave and thrown. There he is called The Cliff King (Klintekongen), and he scares away all enemies, as in the case of the Englishmen in 1807, who could conquer other places, but not Stevns:

If a tempest rages and waves are wild
There he sits on the white cliffs of Stevns
As th Cliff King, with a scepter in his hand
And seing with pleasure how the ships are wrecked

Johan Ludvig Heiberg: Elverhøj, 1828. Translation: Author

Sometimes the Elf King is having his court on the Elf Mound (Elverhøj), being called the Alder King (Ellekongen). The Elf Mound is somewhere in the inland, but is not localized, despite there being one village claiming to have the honour of hosting the place. At the Elf Mound, the beautiful elves are dancing, singing and drinking from a golden drink horn. The whole mound is as if standing atop flaming pillars. If a human passes by their festivities, he can be taken by the elves, never to return to the world of men:

At night-time he wanders around the bushes
in the light of the Moon and mild summer winds

(Ibid.)

A church in the vicinity of the limestone cliffs has a chamber (Ellekongens Kammer), where the Elf King is believed to be spending his time now and then:

In a wall of a church there is a vault bricked up
it is called the dark chamber of the Elf King
Common men believe he has his hiding place there by day

(Ibid.)

At nights, the Elf King rides as wildly as Odin through his kingdom, inspecting every village and grove. This is his hobby, especially when it is dark and cold. Therefore the time from the middle of November to Yule is called the season of the Elf King, and all the gates should be left open for him and his horse.

I laid my head on the Elf Mound
my eyes went to sleep
then two maidens came to me
and enchanted me with their song and speech
O, such an exceptional dance!

(Ibid.)

The Headless in the Ghost Wagon

2009-01-12T21:42:00.059+01:00

Skalk nr. 1, 1990

Once upon the time the following story really happened in Varpelev, shaking the little farm community seriously, and causing a collective mute shame upon the village for over a hundred years. It should be understood this occurred at a time when murder was not an obligatory element of the daily entertainment in television, but a sinful and diabolical act of a freak, whom the god had forsaken. Therefore the painful truth was forgotten, the historical episode became a folklore, and finally the folklore became a fairytale.

This is also a story about a real young man, once very living and alive, flesh and blood. He had to give up his life, family and friends. There is no picture of him, his body was hidden away and his name was erased. Still he refused to die in the collective consciousness, resurrecting as a ghost of all that we have forgotten in the past.

Christening of the Two Babies

In spring 1833 there was a big christening in the village. The freeholder of the farm of Beech Grove, Hans Pedersen, and his wife Kirsten Jensdatter, took their seventh child and only son for christening in the church. The baby got the name Jens Hansen, and all the neighbours were chosen as his godfathers and godmothers.

Gunnar Knudsen: Dansk Bondeliv i forrige århundrede, 1975

One of the godfathers was Hans Jensen, who became a father of a new baby boy on the next day. Thus there was a new christening in the village soon after the first. All the same guests, godfathers and godmothers were invited as in the previous christening. Incredibly, the second baby got exactly the same name as the first: Jens Hansen.

In other words, these baby boys were both sons of freeholders, they were born in the same village, had the same name and had similar preconditions for lifes. They were so identical, but their lives became so different. The younger Jens Hansen became a good-natured and highly respected person, who is remembered as the grandfather of a national author. The first Jens Hansen became a rapist and a murderer and was executed at the age of twenty.

An ancient stone font in the church of the Village

There is a fairytale by H.C. Andersen, where a mother picks up two identical flowers. She is told these represent two different lives, which she can see by looking down in well: One of the lives causes happiness and joy for the person himself and all the others, while the other life is filled with sadness, horror and misfortune. This is the same kind of story.

People in the Summer Night

Julius Exner: Et bondegilde på Hedeboegnen, 1855, Statens museum for kunst

One Sunday in the summer of 1852, the farmer Peder Hansen of Crookbrook Yard was having a little party. There were many young people having fun, and everybody was making their way back home first thing in the following morning.

Jens Hansen of Beech Grove and a maid, Ane Kirstine Jørgensdatter, walked quickly hand in hand ahead of the others. Suddenly they were so far away that the others couldn’t see them anymore, but they could hear some loud screaming. Then they saw Jens Hansen running in the horizon after Ane Kirstine, catching her up and pushing her behind a bank of earth. Afterwards there was only silence. Unluckily the others thought everything being in order again, and they went off.

Silence Behind the Bank

However, the yougsters would have done well to check the situation: Jens Hansen choked Ane Kristine with his bare hands and then raped the dying girl. To be sure, he even took her garter afterwards and choked her once more with that. Finally he dumped the body behind a bank of earth, and walked to his work to the next village, chatting calmly with an acquaintance.

The field where Ane Kristine was found.

At five a clock in the morning Jens Hansen arrived at work, meeting his boss, who was angry him being away without permission. The young man was not shaken by the questions, but looked normal and began working as usual.

While this was happening, the farmer Jens Jensen of Willow Yard wondered where his maid Ane Kristine was. After a couple of days, Jens Jensen contacted the public authorities and tried to search the maid in the vicinity. Some days later two little girls walked by his newly sown fields, making the dreadful discovery of Ane Kristine's body lying in a ditch. Jens Jensen was alarmed.

At the home of the murderer Jens Hansen, his parents heard about the case and were having some suspicions. They begged their son to come home and cross-examined him. They couldn’t however find out anything, because Jens denied everything, sounding reasonable and imperturbable.

The Arrest

Five days after the murder the authorities arrived, examining all the young people who had been at the party. Then they travelled to the next village to arrest the working Jens Hansen. His boss told later on:

He [Jens Hansen] looked little depressed hearing what was happening, but he didn’t say a word. Then he ate his sandwich and took a shot. After that he was taken away [to the court house].

The old municipal court in a town

In Store Heddinge, a town with the municipal court it is written down:

19 years, tall, blond, blue-eyes, upright, athletic, ruddy-faced

Jens Hansen was examined at the court. He began to deny everything. However, a bit later on, he confessed the murder and the rape, telling he held his knees on her chest. This was only time he looked a little touched under the whole process. Otherwise, he was described as indifferent and cold.

After the confession Jens Hansen is taken back to Varpelev to show the place of the crime, where a track of a boot was found. The track is identical with Jens Hansen’s boot. Afterwards there was Ane Kristine’s autopsy, where the accused, physicians and authorities participated. Her mutilated body was later given to her mother to be buried in the churchyard of the village.

Old, abandoned gravestones behind the graveyard of the Village

Jens Hansen never explained or told any reason for killing Ane Kristine. Even his version of the incident changed many times. In any case, it is quite clear he wanted to have sex with the maid and she didn’t agree, even if she first had promised that.

However, the murder was not the only case Jens Hansen was about to be accused of.

The Rape in the Beachforrest

Some months before a ten year old daughter of a blacksmith, Johanne Rasmusdatter, was left alone in a strange trading town. She was confused and wanted to walk back to her home village alone. Outside the town, a young man on a wagon catched her up and Johanne begged a ride from him. The man was actually Jens Hansen, and he kidnapped the little girl, raping her in the forrest nearby. Johanne screamed, but nobody heard her. After the rape she tried to run away, but the man was not giving her cloak back. Suddenly a wagon approched them, and Jens Hansen gave the cloak back, driving away fast.

The farmer in the other wagon picked the crying Johanne up. She told him she was hurt and bleeding. The farmer took her to her mother's place in the same village, where Jens Hansen was working. Arriving at the village, they were passed by the rapist on the road and Johanne recognized him, while the farmer didn't know him.

Afterwards Johanne's mother took her to the doctor, and he could tell she was telling the truth. The doctor demanded the mother to contact the authorities, but she wouldn't, because there were no witnesses and she thought it was better for the girl to forget everything.

Later on when Jens Hansen was arrested, he easily confessed to this crime, too.

The Witnesses

The authorities interviewed everybody for understanding the murderer. They had three kinds of witnesses: condemning authorities, the accepting boss, teacher and family, and finally the mute villagers.

Parson Neess from Varpelev tells about Jens Hansen:

Extremely simple and mentally very limited dull person.

Dean Seidelin Birch. (Vallø Lokalhistoriske Arkiv)

Dean Seidelin Birch, who was visiting the prisoner at the municipal court, continues in the same way:

He is certainly not without knowledge of the right and wrong or of the religious truths. He has rationally understood this knowledge and remembers it, but this knowledge is totally fruitless and dead in him, having no effect on his mind or nature. Discussions about his sin towards God and other people have no emotional influence on him. He is always calm, dull and cold, without any regrets or need for consolation. He is not confused, but answers the questions shortly, fragmentarily and coldly, however not improperly or in a confused manner.

All the other authorities had the same opinion of Jens Hansen. However his teacher Dahl from Varpelev had a slightly different opinion:

The accused has very limited intellectual gifts, but he is always polite and obedient.

According Jens Hansen's boss and workmates, he was:

Lazy, but decent. There is no evil in him. He gets along very well with other people. At work he has never harassed any girl or been cruel towards the others.

According to Jens Hansen's family, he didn't get along with them and wouldn't obey. That is why they sent him away to the other village for work. When he was ten years old, a foal had kicked him badly and his mother considered him being mad after that incident. His father wouldn't agree. According to him, his son's mental capacity was normal, even if they had had some violent father-and-son house spectales. Generally the whole family told of Jens as being decent and even-tempered, but they might have had their own reasons for telling this. For if one digs little more in their family history, one finds stories of quarrels, violence and alcohol abuse. For example, just for a couple of years ago Jens's uncle shoot and killed his neighbour in Varpelev.

The authorities couldn't get any answers from the villagers. They kept their silence and refused to know or say anything about the family or Jens Hansen. It is understandable, because the party was held by Jens's godfather, the path he walked with Ane Kristine belonged to his other godfather, and finally the murder happened on his godmother's field. Everybody knew everyone, and everybody was related to everyone. Therefore nobody had seen or heard anything.

The Trial

At the trial the prosecutor Rye described Jens Hansen as a lustful, egoistic and morally corrupted person, who only wanted to satisfy his bestial desires in disregard of all other people, because he had no human feelings. According to the prosecutor, Jens Hansen deserves a threefold death-sentence.

The bleak window of Jens Hansen's cell at the municipal court

Jens Hansen's defence lawyer Barfoed began his presentation by begging forgiveness for himself. He explained it only was due to his job he had to defend the monstrous person. However, according Barfoed the immoral peasant parties and the pampering at home were to be blamed instead of Jens Hansen. He demanded a mild sentence for Jens, whatever he might have meant with that.

The sentence, however, was harsh. Jens Hansen got the death penalty, for he had previously raped Johanne Rasmusdatter, and therefore the murder was not his first offence. The times were changing and this sentence caused so much disagreement that the charge went through all the court instances.

Even dean Birch and other clergymen got scared and changed their previous opinions. They wrote a new report about Jens Hansen, telling how his cultivation and education were totally neglected at home. Never did he get love or Christianity for his part, but only quarrels, bitterness and brutality.

The old home of Jens Hansen outside the village

Despite the petition of pardon and the resistance from eight judges in the highest court, the death-sentence remained. The case continued to the council of state, and even the minister of justice asked for imprisonment in the penitentiary instead of the death-sentence. However the king Frederik VII disagreed owing to the previous rape. He concluded Jens Hansen could not be pardoned and wanted the sentence be executed right away.

Frederik VII. Painting by I.V. Gertner, 1861.

Head on a Stick

In the 19th century, it was decided that public executions were to be implemented by an axe instead of a sword. It was no longer allowed to cause the convict any pain or suffering.

In some cases, as here, the chopped head was to be hanged on a stick as a warning. However, this was not done in practice anymore after 1843. In the 19th century 137 civilians were executed in the country. The amount of executioners was declining, and after 1866 there was only one executioner left.

Skalk 1990 p. 100

In 1882 there was an execution where the executioner screwed up so badly that he had to chop the neck of the convict three times before the head finally dropped off. People became furious, demanding a stop to death-penalties. In 1892 the last death-penalty was executed, and in 1930 the death-penalty was rejected by a law.

However, this was to be later on, and we are still living the summer of 1853 and the end of July. Schmidt, the executioner, arrives at Varpelev a couple days before the planned execution. A carpenter makes a coffin and a grave-digger is working at the graveyard. Jens Hansen is allowed to be buried in the holy earth of the church, but this should be the place furthest away from the church and on its north side, because he is a criminal.

An ancient burial mound, Lamb Mound (Lammehøj) near Varpelev, is chosen as a place of execution.

All that is left of the great Lamb Mound

It is impossible to know what Jens Hansen was thinking while waiting for the execution. So far he had been sitting one year alone in a cell, without any toilet or heating.

Very early on the morning of the day for execution, a wagon brings Jens Hansen from the town with the municipal court. There are two guards, a driver and a public servant with him. After a couple of hours they arrive at Varpelev, and Jens sees his homestead again.

Villagers are awake at that point, but nobody is working. Cattle bellows and moos under the burning sun, because nobody is feeding or milking them. All unmarried boys and men are commanded to stand around the Lamb Mound, including the other, more fortune Jens Hansen. Later on, he describes this as the most awful experience in his life, because the executed was not only his namesake, but also his good friend.

A curious crowd is surrounding Lamb Mound. There are even teachers from afar, who have brought their pupils to come and see the 'educational performance'. It is told Jens Hansen's parents drove away from the village, but his sisters climbed up the roof of their house to be able to see the execution.

Finally the wagon with the convict arrives at the main road of the village. Passing by the church, Jens Hansen asks them to stop for a while. He stands up, seeing the hole of his future grave, before the wagon drives to Lamb Mound where parson Neess and the executioner are waiting for him. Neess and Jens have a short discussion, after which the executioner binds his hands behind his back, helping him to bend down on the block. Some of his old friends turn their backs, when the axe rises in the air...

Only in the evening is the family allowed to bury their executed son in the graveyard, leaving flowers on his grave. Silence falls. Even the parson writes nothing about Jens Hansen or his grave in the parish register. No tombstone is erected on his grave. Villagers will hide both the murder and the execution deep in their hearts, keeping silence. Everything is over now, or almost.

After a while people began claiming they were hearing screaming from the place of the murder, and that the earth around it was always 'trampled by non-living'. Many respected villagers were telling about a ghost wagon arriving every evening at eleven o'clock.

An old wagon left behind in the village

The wagon drove scratching through the main road of the village, stopped by the church and continued to Lamb Mound. Some claimed they had seen a strange and translucent wagon, but most could only hear the scratching sound of a rolling wagon that had no explainable cause.

The nocturnal visit of the ghost wagon became so famous and popular that everybody was waiting for the wagon every evening with great anticipation. Especially children refused to go to sleep before the wagon had driven by.

However, over the years the execution and Jens Hansen were forgotten, and the ghost wagon was supposed to belong to somebody nameless and headless. This is how a real episode became a fairytale whispered by black-dressed old women with white bonnets.

Old Yule 6: The Helping Spirits of the Yule

2009-01-11T23:08:00.007+01:00

Beloved Creature

An old Danish Christmas card

As long as there's been permanent settlement in the history of human race, people have believed in a building and a lot having a spirit of their own. This spirit is in the best case protecting, managing, advicing, healing, helping, taking care of and enriching the place, its habitants and domestical animals. In the worst case, if he gets offended (and he gets easily offended), he will tease everybody and ruin everything, for he possesses immense strength and magical powers, even if he is very small.

There exist no prospering farmhouse without a gnome taking care of the house. In particular, the kitchen maids and stall boys benefit from the gnome's goodwill when he carries the water inside and sweeps up the floor for the maids, and brushes horses for the stall boys. However, if the gnome sees any disorder, he will punish the habitants. Usually he wears gray clothes and a red tapered cap.
Thiele, J. M.: Danmarks Folkesagn, 1843. Translation: Author.

As beloved children children have many names, so does this very beloved creature. In Scandinavia, no other mythological creature has as many names.These names can be divided in two cathegories; first those which mean a farm-yard resident or protector like in Icelandic: ármaðr, or in Danish: gårdbo and gårdbonde, or in Swedish: gårdsrå and gårdsbonde, or in Norwegian: gardsbo, gardsvord, gardbo, tunkall or tunvord. And in the same group belongs the Swedish and Norwegian tomte, the Norwegian tufte and the Finnish tonttu. They are derived from the words tomt, tuft and tontti meaning a house lot. Usually the word 'old man' is added to these names, like in tomtegubbe, tuftekall or tonttu-ukko.

In English he should be called goblin, which comes together with the German Kobold from the old Anglo-Saxon word cof-godas (gods of the house). But unfortunately the nisse/tomte/tonttu is usually mistaken to be a pixie, a brownie or a (Christmas) elf, which really are completely different kind of creatures.

All the previous original names insinuate we are dealing with a being living at a building ground or a house, taking care of it. He is nowdays associated with Christmas and Santa Claus, but it is probable his roots are in a time before such concepts even existed in any forms.

Harald Wiberg: Tomten

Good Lad of the House

Many things point out to the possibility of his being a remnant from the Stone Age cult of Mother Earth, so being one of our oldest deities. So important and beloved, he was easily included both in the patriarchal Bronze Age religions (as the servant and helper of Odin as Father Yule) and in the medieval Christianity, and finally in the Industrial Age atheism as a beloved fable.

The gnome's association with Christianity has given him the other cathegory of names. The Scandinavian nis and nisse are nicknames for the male name Niels, which in turn originates from Nikolaus. This was the most popular male name in the medival times, owing to the popular Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors and small children.

However, gnomes have nothing to do with Saint Nicholas, sailors or children. It was more a case of people giving the most popular name for the most popular creature. Thus in Germany the gnome was called Heinze, Heinrich, Chim or Wolterchen, in France Maître Jean or Thomas, and in English Robin Goodfellow. Many times the word 'good lad' is added to this type of names, like in Nisse Goddreng.

The gnome was the good lad of the house, and one had to keep him good. In ancient times in Europe a little statue of a gnome was worshipped by rubbing him with butter and drying him before the hearth. Later on it was enough just to serve him porridge with butter and beer, especially at Yule. If that didn't happen, the gnome would surely become furious, tie cows' tails together, turn objects upside-down, break things and finally leave the farm, taking its fortune away.

Jenny Nyström: An old Swedish Christmas card

The European gnome is always depicted as a small old man with a long beard, dressed in the everyday clothing of a farmer from the 18th century: gray kneepants, red cap and wooden shoes as depicted below:

Roman and Vedic gnomes

In the ancient Rome there were small house genies called as lares or genii loci (Latin: the spirits of the place), appearing together with ancestors (penates) and with Vesta, the goddess of the hearth and home. Their statues were holding a bowl and a drinkhorn in their hands, and they were daily worshipped with prayers and food at the home shrine. Compared with the northern house spirits, the lares were youthful and social, while the former were old and solitary. However, as in the other cultures, the happiness and wealth in a house was totally dependent on the lares' goodwill.

Lares. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

In India this kind of gnome-like spirit is called vastu-purusha or vastospati, which in Sanskrit means the lord of the house. As Rig Veda (book 7, hymn LIV, Vastospati) describes:

1. Acknowledge us, O Guardian of the Homestead: bring no disease, and give us happy entrance. Whate’er we ask of thee, be pleased to grant it, and prosper thou quadrupeds and bipeds.
2. Protector of the Home, be our promoter: increase our wealth in kine and steeds, O Indu. May we be ever-youthful in thy friendship: be pleased in us as in his sons a father.
3. Through thy dear fellowship that bringeth welfare, may we be victors, Guardian of the Dwelling! Protect our happiness in rest and labour. Preserve us evermore, ye Gods, with blessings.

Vastu purusha or vastospati sketched inside the house or the lot.

Both in India and in Europe the gnome was believed to already live at the particular place or house before any people move there. Therefore there should always be a pacifying sacrifice before settling down to a new place. The Grihya-Sutras: III Adhyaya, 4. Khanda:

1. At the sacrifice to Vastoshpati;
2. Having established the sacred domestic fire outside with the words, 'I place here Agni with genial mind; may he be the assembler of goods. Do no harm to us, to the old nor to the young; be a saviour to us, to men and animals!'
[...]4. And spoken over it the words, 'Unhurt be our men, may our riches not be squandered!'
[...] 8. The four Mahâvyâhritis, the three verses,'Vâstoshpati!', 'Driving away calamity,' and 'Vâstoshpati a firm post'
9. Taking with himself his eldest son and his wife, carrying grain, let him enter the house with the words, 'Indra's house is blessed, wealthy, protecting; that I enter with my wife, with offspring, with cattle, with increase of wealth, with everything that is mine.'

House Spirit with Many Forms

As shapeshifter the Indo-European gnome could take any kind of form. In most cases he is a dog as here in Rig Veda (book 7, hymn LV: Vastospati):

1. Vastospati, who killest all disease and wearest every form, Be an auspicious Friend to us.
2. When, O bright Son of Saramā, thou showest, tawny-hued! thy teeth, They gleam like lances' points within thy mouth when thou wouldst bite; go thou to steep.
3. Saramā's Son, retrace thy way: bark at the robber and the thief.
[...] 4. Be on thy guard against the boar, and let the boar beware of thee.

Left: Böksta-stone, Balingsta, Uppland, Sweden from 1000 CE. Right: Olaus Magnus: Carta Marina, 1539.

The Scandinavian gnome was also a shapeshifter as in Landnámabók: A gnome came to a man called Bjørn and offered him a liaison. Bjørn accepted this right away. After this a new billy-goat suddenly appeared at his barn and the she-goats becan to reproduce tremendously. Bjørn became a very rich man and he was called Goat-Bjørn.

However this tendency to grand riches to the farm by the gnome's unseen work could lead to some problems with the neighbours. If one farmer was more succesful than his fellow, this would lead to accusations of him having a gnome who was stealing from the others.

Morover, Christianity considered gnomes as false gods and devils, telling their worship would put the fate of one's soul at risk. Therefore the direct worship of house spirits died out with time, but they are still remembered and beloved. At least I can not think about the Yule without imagining there are small gnomes peeking behind windows like small agents and checking whether I have been good enough to deserve some presents.

To be continued in a subsequent blog.

The Original Old Nick

2009-01-08T22:21:00.014+01:00

I was born in a place surrounded by thousands of small, not too deep yet dark lakes. Water was always near; usually it was beautiful and fun, but sometimes I felt there was something mysterious and dangerous lurking under the surface. As a child I was quite the sissy, and hearing a story about an evil water spirit I became so scared I was afraid of swimming for many years. That notwithstanding, the story kept fascinating me over and over again. Was it only a fine example of a fable enlisted by concerned parents to guide children away from the dangerous element of water?

And the story? There exist a shapeshifting, singing and playing creature in many European lakes and rivers, demanding human flesh. He is the nix or the neck. His demonization in medieval Christian times mixed him with the devil, and that is why the devil is called the Old Nick, actually meaning the old nix. Thus both of these creatures are characterized by the ability of shapeshifting and musical wizardry.

Ernst Josephson (1851-1906): Näcken, Nationalmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden

In Scandinavia he is called nøkken or näcken, or with other names meaning ‘the river mand’. In Icelandish he is nykr, in Finnish näkki or vetehinen, and in German Nix or Nickelmann. All these and many other European names derive from the Indo-European neig* relating to Sanskrit nenekti, meaning ‘he washes’.

Olaus Magnus: The nix of the river playing violin in a Finnish town Nyslott or Savonlinna, 1555

It is usually believed if the nix appears and screams "the time has come", it is a sign he needs to eat a human again. That means somebody is going to drown in the near future. In many tales it is described how the nix had the 'right' of getting one person every year. If he could not get his victim one year, he would surely kill two the year after.

Sometimes he is just waiting for somebody to fall in the water and drown, and at other times he lures young children and women by his enchanted songs on violin or harp, pulling them into the depths. That is why it was advised one should stick a knife in the ground on the beach before swimming to protect oneself, or if already in the water, one could speak the nix's name aloud. That would kill him.

Because the nix is a shapeshifter, there are many kinds of depictions of him. Some say he is an ugly old man, some others think he appears in the form of an attractive, elegantly dressed or naked young man. The third possibility is that the nix is very beautiful from the front, while his backside is hairy and extremely hideous. In every case the nix could be recognized by the wet hem of his clothes.

Theodor Kittelsen (1857-1914): Nøkken, 1904

If not having a human form, the nix may show up as any kind of animal, usually a horse-like kelpie being called åhesten (in Danish) or bäckahästen (in Swedish), meaning the brook horse. This horse is white and very beautiful, appearing near rivers during foggy weather. If somebody would climb onto its back, he would never be able to get off again. The brook horse would take him to the water and drown him.

Theodor Kittelsen (1857-1914): Boy on a White Horse

There are many stories where the nix falls in love with a human girl or vice versa. Some time they would live together, but sooner or later some of them would return to his or her home. These love stories never have a happy ending. For example, once a girl refused to be together with the nix, killing herself with a knife. Then, her blood coloured the water-lilies red, and from that day the water-lilies have been reddish, known as nix roses in Scandinavia.

There are other stories where a human wants to learn the nix's magical form of music, which mesmerizes people to dance so violently that they throw themselves into the water. Before teaching, the nix always wants total control over the disciple along with a proper sacrifice, which could be for example meat or a treat of three drops of blood, a black animal, some vodka, or wet snuff. Then the nix usually tries to pull the disciple into the water, but if the disciple survives, he will become the best musician in the world. There are many folk melodies believed to originate from the nix in Scandinavia.

The nix is far from being dead. In 2006, a manga-cartoon about the nix based on the poem (Under strandernas granar) of the Finland-Swede J.L. Runeberg (1804-1877) was published. Here the nix is potrayed as evil and attractive as in folklore:

Nina von Rüdiger, Karim Muammar. Otava (2006). Original published as Across the Water

Old Yule 5: The Lord of the Yule

2009-01-01T15:25:00.036+01:00

Pagans Honored Odin

The Lord of the Yule, or the Santa Claus known by all, is believed to have his roots in the 5th century Christian saint, Nicholas of Myra — but he is in fact of a much older origin. The long-bearded and red-dressed Father Yule (ancient Scandinavian: jólnir, the Lord of Yule, or jölfuðr, Father Yule), who makes his annual appearance in giving gifts, is none other than the ancient Scandinavian god Odin, or the ancient Fenno-Ugrean Ukko Overlord.

Nicholas of Myra

The Christian view on Father Yule is described in the Flateyjarbók (þáttr Hálfdanar svarta), an old Nordic scripture:

Let it be known to all why the pagans celebrated Christmas, for it was for a reason very different from the Christians. The Christians celebrate Christmas for the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereas the pagans honored the evil Odin. Odin had many names: He was Viðrir and Hár, and Þriði and Jólnir. Viðrir for he lorded over the weather; Hár for he proclaimed to be able to ascend one and all; Jólnir for this occurred on Christmas;and Þriði for he held knowledge of the past, present and the future.

Below is an old illustration of the one-eyed Odin with a sword in his hand, his crows on his shoulders. He wears a red dress. In his left hand, Odin holds the Sacred Thread connecting him with Mother Earth, and thereby containing the wisdom of the ancestors, and of future precognition. In the illustration, Odin seems to have quite a few similarities with the contemporary Santa Claus.

Ólafur Brynjúlfsson: Gudeskrift m. bl.a. Edda Sæmundr & Snorre Edda (1760)

Red Clothes

The red clothes of Odin, the Lord of Yule, owe to the clothes’ having been a compulsory dress for the ancient and high cast of Nordic warrior priests. The following archeological reconstructions bear witness to this:

On the left is Gerry Embleton’s drawing of the chief of the Aorsi-tribe of Nordic connection, who was buried in the current Ukraine in the 2nd century. The tomb contained a red leather coat bearing semblance to Santa Claus’s coat, red pants and golden ornaments. On the right is the dress of a Danish chieftain from the 7th century, recreated by the Bornholm museum. Both bear a striking semblance to contemporary Santa’s dress.

Agni, the Indian god of fire, is also dressed in red, like Odin. He too was celebrated and worshipped on winter solstice. These sacrifices were made by the hearth as in the North. Below is the god of fire, Agni, using a goat for transportation like the Scandinavian god of lightning, Thor.

It then seems like the Christian Saint Nicholas of Myra is older than the commercial Santa Claus. The Nordic Odin/Ukko in turn seems older than Nicholas of Myra, and the Indian Agni seems older than The Father Yule or Odin/Ukko. And before that? Before the migration of Nordic tribes from Indus Valley to North through Ukraine? There is evidence of Santa Claus look-alikes before that time as in 1978, Chinese archeologists found the three (first) blond and light mummies in the South-West China.

Jeffrey Newbury: Discover Magazine, vol. 15, 4. april 1994

Above is the mummy of a so called Cherchen-man from 1000 BCE. He lived in China but he was genetically related to Finnish and Swedish people. He had beard and red leather clothes in the best Santa Claus-style.

Pavel Filatov: http://www.pavelfilatov.com/gall/Altai_People/

A Siberian shaman is drumming in the picture above. It is a summer festival. He too, is having a red dress, red hood, and even a grey wig and a false beard. I wonder whether he is symbolically imitating the Father Yule.

Hunt of Odin

What is Father Yule’s function and meaning? First, according to Nordic people, he was one of Overlord Odin’s forms. Second, the local priest-kings and shamans had to imitate and dress like Odin, and travel to the land of gods and ancestors, bringing people the gift of wisdom.

This travel is called the Hunt of Odin (or Wodensjäger in German). Odin rides to Asgård located beyond our world. He was believed to ride in the skies together with his valkyries (see the picture below and a later chapter) at night time during the whole Yule. Odin starts his hunt on the evening of the winter solstice, chasing down the evil creatures coming out at this time of the year. There had to be beer waiting for him and all the gates had to be open for his ride, a sheaf left outdoors for his horse. His eight-legged horse Sleipner demanded water and a sheaf of corn left for him. We are still doing that by giving the sheaf to the birds at winter time.

Peter Nicolai Arbo (1831 – 1892): Oskorei/Åsgårdsreien (1872), Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo
Odin riding with his valkyries

It is possible the priest-king of the tribe was imitating this myth in the real world, and thus there were some real hunts at the old Yule. Still in medieval times the Danish, the German and the French kings were participating in the Yule hunt with their dogs. In the North, the hunt was usually for wild boars.

In Ectasy

The local priest-king or shaman was not only imitating Odin/Wotan, but he was the odin/wotan, the common name of shamans and kings. It means the leader of a shamanistic ectasy, the woð. On Yule the shaman had to make a journey to the other world and bring the ancestral wisdom back as a gift (ancient Skandinavian: jólagjöf) for the coming new year.

How was this possible? The Skandinavians and Fenno-Ugreans explained this with the World Tree: In trance, the shaman climbed up to the World Tree crossing through all the worlds and skies. Physically, he climbed up to a roof on winter solstice and crawled down through the fireplace. Inside the house, he made his rituals and climbed back through the chimney again. Even nowadays, it is believed this is the case when Father Yule comes with his presents.

Presents and Sleigh

The tradition of giving Yule or New Year presents is a very long one. For example, it is documented that Hákon Aðalsteinsfóstri the Good (920–961 CE), the third king of Norway, gave lots of presents to his guests after his Yule feast. This originates from the fact that kings at that point still had the divine position inherited from Odin, the Lord of Yule.

It was believed the Father Yule was travelling with a sleigh. It is not that amazing, for people wandered from East-Asia all the way to Europe with a sleigh, which could in summer time be used as a canoe. In the 5th century, the sleigh was still the main transport vehicle in Asia.

It is well-known that Father Yule's sledge is pulled by reindeers. In old times, they were not as exotic for animals as they are now, as they could be found even in the southern Scandinavia. (Rein)deer antlers were supposed to be a symbol of masculinity and rebirth, as deers let their antlers fall and grew them back every year.

Flying to the Lord

How is Father Yule 'flying' in the sky in his reindeer sledge? Perhaps owing to of psychoactive drugs, or specifically for a particular drug from the fly agaric (Amanita muscaria. The name comes from the old English: fleogan aga ric: flying to the Lord asking for advice). This is a common mushroom spread around the whole of Eurasia. It may be the oldest of the hallucinogens discovered by man, and was once the most widely used.

Scandinavian and Fenno-Ugrean Celtic shamans as well as Celtic druids, and other mystics all over the world, were drinking juice made of fly agaric for experiencing ecstacy and seeing the other worlds. The drink of fly agaric was also useful in war, producing a violent animal rage called berserker (old Scandinavian, old English: berserk, without control).

Aryans, who 3500 years ago swept down from the North-East Asia into the Indus Valley in India, brought with them the cult of soma. In the book of Rig Veda, soma is described as a sacred and divine ceremonial drink, made of fly agaric and coming from Paranja, the god of thunder. There are a thousand hymns in the Rig Veda, and 120 of them are devoted to praising and describing soma. With time this ritual and cult died out and fly agaric as the original holy plant was forgotten. First in 1968 an amateur ethnomycologist R. Gordon Wasson proposed, with very substantial evidence from diverse fields, that the sacred soma was in fact the fly agaric.

Mushrooms were collected in July or August and dried up the whole autumn until the winter solstice. Rig Veda explains how the magic potion of fly agaric is made for the holy ceremony of soma: The juice is first pressed out and later on mixed with milk, cheese, mead and oil. The shaman would drink the potion and travel to the heavens to get wisdom and power, curse the enemies and ask for a good harvest for the coming year.

Fly agaric has psychoactive drugs, which will stay in urine, meat and blood. If reindeers have eaten fly agarics, and then people are eating those reindeers, the people will become as intoxicated as the reindeers. Reindeers eating fly agaric can gallop wildly, or in other words be flying as Father Yule's reindeers.

Nowdays it is uncommon to see fly agarics as Yule decorations, but I myself can remember how I used to decorate my grandparents' Yule Tree with their old ornaments. These included small fly agarics wrapped to the tree with a thin iron wire. They had also some decorations on tables, where Yule elves were sitting atop the man-made mushrooms.

To be continued in a subsequent blog.

Corpselamb, Hellhorse and Gravesow

2008-12-30T16:02:00.019+01:00

Church grim

There is a peculiar, but fascinating Scandinavian folklore about a thing called kirkevaren, which means a church guard (or actually a church warning) in Danish. It is a ghost of an animal or human buried alive to protect the church and warn about a fortcoming death. In Swedish this creature is called kyrkogrim, kyrkovård or kyrkrå: the guardian of the church. Outside Scandinavia it is known only in the Northern England, where it is called a church grim or church genius.

In Finland they had something equivalent in plural called kalman väki (death folk) or kirkonväki (church folk). Death folk were ghosts of the desceased or other spirits. They were mouldy, putrid and hollow voiced and they had their High Mass in the church at nights. They were not directly protecting the church, just dwelling there. It is told, that they easily could stick on the living and follow them giving illnesses and other burdens. Sometimes they would come as church grims warning about a fortcoming death.

Illustration by Hans Schmidt for St. St. Blicher's book: Mowns, 1886

Church grim's other tasks were to protect the church treasure and to take care of peace and silence at the graveyard at night-time. It also gave a sign to a priest if the departed person would go to heaven or hell, and had to prevent people burying somebody or something secretely into the graveyard.

The myth originates from a very old belief, according to which all dead creatures are the most luck-bringing amulets for the living. In the best case they are martyrs, who have given up their lives so that others could live. Thus humans and animals buried alive had a very special magic power. It was assumed they could prevent catastrophes and protect buildings and people. They were like seeds sown in the ground and dying, while giving life to a whole new plant. Like Jesus says in the Bible (John 12:24):

I can guarantee this truth: A single grain of wheat doesn't produce anything unless it is planted in the ground and dies. If it dies, it will produce a lot of grain.

Catholics are still worshipping the powerful dead in their churches as martyrs and their relics. However, even before the first Scandinavian churches were built by the Catholics for thousand years ago, someone had to give up his life. While building a church, an animal was buried alive under or in the foundation for protecting the church against evil. (Attacks from the so-called pagans were normal. No wonder, because churches were usually built over old pagan shrines).

Once the church grim was not an animal. It is told in a place called Vejlby the church architect promising to bury alive the first creature walking by the church. Unluckily it was his own son and he had to bury him alive!

This is not as unbelieveable as it may sound. There is solid documentation of common people burying animals alive under their doors as late as in the 19th century. Dogs, cats, snakes, chickens, horses, cows and geese were used for getting their ghost to guard the house.

Corpselamb

The church grim was quite often a lamb, Corpselamb (in Danish: liglam). The Lamb of God - Agnus Dei, is a known symbol of Jesus Christ and his role as a sacrifice. Therefore it is not strange to think of it as a protector of a church. The Christ-lamb is depicted with a gloria and one leg up holding a cross. Occasionally, the lamb may be bleeding from the area of the heart. Usually the picture of Agnus Dei is located just atop the the main door in a church. It is stated in the Bible (Revelation 5:6 and John 1:29):

And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Corpselamb is a ghost of a lamb buried alive. It had only three legs, was shining white and long-haired. It could be seen on the graveyard by night-time, and it was an omen of death. Corpselamb was living in the church in the tower or in domed arches. Once a year people left hay for him inside the church.

Illustration by O. A. Hermansen for Ingvor Bondesen's book: Æventyrets Dyreverden

Hellhorse

Hellhorse (in Danish: helhesten, hellen) had flaming eyes and was a three-, two- or even one-legged ghost of a horse buried alive — sometimes with, and sometimes without a head. The horse was believed to be not only a death omen, but actually Death himself as a horse. Actually one should rather say 'herself', because Hel is an old Nordic goddess of death. When people got mortally ill, they used to say: "Now the Hellhorse is going around!"

However, usually the Hellhorse stayed at the churchyard jumping around the graves. The most well-known Hellhorse is buried under the famous cathedral of Roskilde. It lies under a blue stone inside the church. Every time people went by the stone, they spat on it for shielding themselves from all the disasters the Hellhorse could bring, should he appear.

Illustration by Niels Skovgaard for Drachmann's book: Troldtøj

Gravesow

The third popular church grim was Gravesow, the ghost of a sow buried alive. She is as lethal as the two others, having sharp bristles. In Danish she is called gloso (shining sow), gravso (grave sow), gråso (grey sow) or glumsoen (dark sow). In Swedish she is gräf-, grubb- or gropso. People thought it was easiest to see her at the time of Yule, and they left her the last corn on the cultivated field as a sacrifice. This leads my thoughts to the goddess Mother Earth, whose alter ego a sow is, and who was worshipped by corn products at winter solstice.

Illustration by O. A. Hermansen for Ingvor Bondesen's book: Æventyrets Dyreverden

Old Yule 4: The World Tree

2008-12-19T17:50:00.025+01:00

Origin of Everything

The purpose of all the evergreen Yule plants — mistletoe, fir tree and holly — is to activate the life energy and to remind about the new beginning of the life and the year. Of these three plants, the fir tree is most important. It is an old Indo-European symbol of the World Tree.

The World Tree is a family tree and the origin of everything. It is a cosmic order that supports the whole universe, holding chaos at a distance.

Yggdrasil

The World Tree was called Yggdrasil ash by the Scandinavians, and Irminsul by the Germanic tribes, and its representations were the cross and the gallows. Askr (Adam) and Embla (Eve), the first humans, were born from this tree. Morover, Yggdrasil had three roots, one in every one of three worlds and the three times. The root in the land of the gods got water from Urd’s well of Destiny, which gives the wisdom of the past, in other words, wisdom of the ancestors. The shaman — or actually Father Yule — carried this wisdom in to our world under the Yule rituals as a Yule present.

Here is a Swedish picture stone describing the World Tree having a horned shaman on the top. The shaman is here in contact with the ancestors by means of the World Tree.

The World Tree Yggdrasil was believed to be an evergreen ash, but as we know, ash trees let their leaves fall every autumn. Therefore the fir tree is used in Yule rituals instead of ash. Both the ancient Romans and the Nordic people had fir tree as their holy midwinter tree.

O Yule Tree, O Yule Tree, Your boughs can teach a lesson
That constant faith and hope sublime
Lend strength and comfort through all time.
O Yule Tree, O Yule Tree,
Your boughs can teach a lesson

Fir branches were brought inside the house in the evening of 23rd of December, a day before the reincarnation of Balder. Balder is the representation of the future generations and a crown prince, and he was thought to be born from the base of the Yule Tree. This is the reason why the Yule presents are still being placed under the fir tree.

Cakes, Apples and Candles

The World Tree of an old Yule was decorated with honey cakes as the ash tree is a ‘honey tree’. That is to say it was believed by Indo-Europeans to give honey and therefore mead to gods, humans and ancestors. By means of the sacred honey they all could be in contact with each other across time and worlds.

Before the plastic balls, the Yule Tree was decorated with candied apples. On the Mother’s Night people went out and took the last apples (left behind in the autumn) from the trees. Afterwards, the stubs of the apple trees were wrapped with straw in hope of getting more fruits the following year. Therefore the obligatory apple decorations at Yule are actually a sacrifice to Mother Earth.

The first picture of a Danish Yule tree. Frølunds og Flinchs ABC, 1842

Yule has always been a festival of light, because daylight is increasing after the winter solstice. The Yule Tree was illuminated with wax candles or wood shingles. Candles were actually placed everywhere to attract the Sun, so that its male divine energy would be able to come back in the spring. They would also show the way to the dinner table for the good ancestral spirits. On the other hand, lights and candles would hunt down evil spirits at this most sensitive time of the year.

However, the Yule Tree is not only a decoration to be watched. It is a living tradition; people are still dancing around it and singing. Thus the Yule Tree is the ancient World Tree and a symbol of the whole universe and its fertility, and we are honoring her by celebrating around her.

Viggo Johansen (1851-1935): Glade Jul, 1891

Christenized Tree

Christianity took over the Yule trees by fabricating a story about Saint Boniface (672–754 CE), who had prohibited pagans to sacrifice for their World Tree Irminsul by destroying the whole tree. It was told that a little fir tree grew up from the stub of the pagan tree as a new symbol of Christianity. Candles were placed on the branches of that fir tree to make it possible to preach to pagans also after dark. No wonder that Saint Boniface was finally killed by the pagans.

The first historical evidence about Yule trees was written in Germany five hundred years ago. The first Yule trees found their way to the Nordic countries in 1820s, but became common about a hundred years later.

Martin Luther, the religious reformer, is told to be the first one in the protestant countries who took the tree inside and decorated it with candles. This can hardly be true. It is more likely that the tradition of the Yule tree has always been around, for thousands of years; sometimes in fashion, sometimes forgotten. However, it is true that the Yule trees first came inside people’s living rooms in the beginning of the 19th century.

To be continued in a subsequent blog.

Old Yule 3: The Yule Feast

2008-12-16T18:00:00.011+01:00

Saturnalia

In ancient Rome the saturnalia was celebrated for honoring Saturnus (god of fertility, harvest and time), his wife Ops (Mother Earth), Consus (god of storage bins) and the winter solstice, Dies Natalis Solis Invicti(Latin: the birthday of the unconquered Sun). This happened between 17th and 25th of December.

The Romans used to visit their friends and family, give presents, decorate evergreen trees with stars and suns, decorate houses with evergreen branches, burn candles, gamble and have costume parties. At this time, the normal conceptions of moral and class were abandoned. Furthermore the Romans ate voraciously, drank alcohol excessively and danced exactly the same way as in the Nordic countries at the time of Yule.

All these pastimes were sacred rituals and grave duties guaranteeing the continuation of life. That is why they where same both in the Northern and the Southern Europe.

The Nordic Yule feast (old Scandinavian; jólaveizla) began in the evening of winter solstice 20th-23rd December, when the holy boar (castrated male pig) was sacrificed to Mother Earth. This was ment to give strength to Mother Earth (Frigg, Freja, Nerthus, Erce), so that she could give birth to her Son (Balder) on 24th of December. He was a symbol of next generations, eternal soul and light.

Sacrifice of Atonement

It is the most valuable of all the sacrifices, when a god himself is sacrificed for recreating the divine energy. It was called a sacrifice of atonement(old Scandinavian; sónarblót), and those who ate of it received a part of its divine power. Thus the death of one creature gave live to all the others. For ancient farmers, this was a completely normal idea: they ‘sacrificed’ and sew the seed in spring to earth, where it ‘died’, giving life to so many new seeds in a corn. The principle is the same in the Christian atonement sacrifice of the Christ and the ritual of Eucharist.

The holy boar was carefully chosen. It had been pampered and fed as if it were a god. When he came in the house in the evening of December the 23th, everyone paid him respect. The men put their hands on his back and took holy oaths. Following the boar was blessed, slaughtered and eaten. The participants drank beer to the health of the new year and peace from a holy drink horn.

Mother's little piglets are we all, are we all, are we all!
Mother's little piglets are we all, are we all — we all!
You are, and I am — you are, and I am.

(Scandinavian folksong. Translation: Author)

The ham as a Yule dish is therefore not a coincident, because pig is the holy animal and personification of Mother Earth, symbolizing her fertility. In many languages Mother Earth is called sow, like the Scandinavian mother goddess Freja is Syr or So; the sow. Thus the Yule ham is Mother Earth herself.

It's Christmas again, it's Christmas again, and bowls are filled with porridge,
Now one can have it, now one can have it, have his stomach full of porridge.

(Scandinavian folksong. Translation: Author)

The holy Yule porridge was as important as the sacred boar. Originally it was not made of rice, but other cereals. The insane eating and drinking on Yule was thought to guarantee the fields were giving a good harvest and the animals prospered. As told before, there were twelve Yule days, and it was assumed that if one then had food and drink all the while, one would have them the next twelve months of the new year.

Predictions

The old Yule was the time of many kinds of predictions. One could for example tell one’s lifespan by watching how a candle burned. Sounds of the animals might tell about what would happen next year. Peasants made twelve circles on the ceiling for predicting the next year’s weather. The circles symbolized the twelve Yule days and the twelve months of the year. If the first Yule day was cloudy, the peasant filled the symbol with chalk and it meant that the month of January would be cloudy. These circles were called Yule marks.

Concept of Yule

The concept of Yule peace is as old as the Yule itself. Originally it began from the Mother’s Night and continued the next twelve plus one days. At that time any crime was a severe sacrilege and was punished with death or outlawedness. Still the Yule was a time of wild games and uncontrolled sexuality, when the normal moral was forgotten. This duty was meant to strengthen the fertility of all living beings. Nowadays, because of the Christian resistance, there is nothing left of these Yule games but kisses under the mistletoe and the Scandinavian pre-Christmas parties (Finnish: pikkujoulu. Swedish: lilla jul. Danish: julefrokost.)

Yule was also a celebration of ancestors. They were present and participating at Yule as much as the living. A table, for example, was set for them with food and drink. As late as the 20th century, food and gifts were brought to the old megalithic tombs on midwinter.

Even nature spirits were believed to celebrate Yule in the same way as the living and the dead. For example, the holy elder tree had to be given her Yule beer every year. The common folklore about nature spirits tells of them intruding a home at the Yule evening in an attempt to steal the holy drink horns that were originally taken from them. The story might reflect the period of time when Christianity took over the pagan traditions giving, them new Christian names.

Above is a description of Yule from 400 AD. It was carved on a golden drink horn found in Denmark. On the left side one can see the holy boar, a horse and a fish to be sacrificed. The horse would be sacrificed on the Boxing Day. The animals are situated between two octagrams representing Mother Earth. The grains between the man and the horse symbolize the beginning of the new ceremonial year, and the days getting lighter. On the right side the effects of the Yule are to be seen. Nature wakes up from her hibernation and all the animals beget offspring.

To be continued in a subsequent blog.

Old Yule 2: Roots of the Yule

2008-12-15T18:00:00.017+01:00

Pagan Traditions

Despite the common beliefs, the so-called Christmas has nothing to do with Christianity. It was not until year 354 AD when the West Roman Catholic church decided this day to be Jesus’s birthday. However, in the Nordic countries, this time of the year had been celebrated as Yule (old Scandinavian; jólahald, jolu) long before Christianity. In the ancient Rome, this festivity was called saturnalia.

This old pagan tradition has lost its original name in the most European languages, and has a term coming from the latin natalis, which means birthday, like nöel (French), natale (Italian) and navidad (Spanish). The Germanic terms for Christmas are Kers(t)fees(Kristus-fest) or Weichnacht (Holy Night). The Catholic Church tried to change the pagan name also in the North Europe for the better suitable Cristes maesse. However, this worked only in England, where we have Christmas.

The autentical concept of Yule is to be found today only in Scandinavia (jul, yule), Finland (joulu, juhla) and Estonia (jõule). All these words originate from an old Nordic word, iuhula, meaning wheel or turning of the year.

The Winter Solstice

The winter solstice (old Scandinavian: vetrarsólhvarfr; turner of the Sun) occurs between 20th and 23rd of December. This evening was called (Earth) Mother's Night in the Northern Europe (old Scandinavian: Modra-niht), and this was the first day of the twelve plus one days of Yule. The last 13th day was added because thirteen was a holy number.

Sun Enters the Goat

There was a celebration resembling Yule in the old India. This was the most important festival of the year. The new ceremonial year began from the winter solstice (mahāvrata, makara sankranti or uttarAyaNa; a movement or shift), when the Sun enters the makara raasi, the Zodiac sign of Capricorn (the goat).

To be continued in a subsequent blog.

Old Yule 1: The Mother and the Deadly Midwinter

2008-12-14T22:25:00.015+01:00

Turn the whole Universe upside down,
turn all Things upside down.
Turn as well the World upside down,
because it is wrong and empty,
but do not touch my old Yule!

(Danish song: Sikken voldsom trængsel og alarm. Melody and lyrics: Peter Faber 1850. Translation: Author)

How sad it is before the Christmas, snowstorm and short days
Minds bend down, not knowing where to find courage
The light of the day vanishes more and more
Hearts tremble cold and desperate
The year that flourished bright between the flowers of midsummer
is now without the Sun and brilliance,
it lays and decays under the snow
It freezes and feels his strength is finished
And that is how it should be before the Christmas can come

(Danish song: Ind under jul hvor er det trist. Melody: Morten Eskesen 1876. Lyrics: Jonas Lie 1865. Translation: Author)

From Stone Age to the 1850’s, Europeans had the one and the same religious principle: The continuation of life and the species as a whole had to be ensured. Nothing was more important than guaranteeing the fertility of humans, plants and animals in fighting for survival.

It was believed that life and vitality originated from the earth, and earth as a giver of life was the great Mother Earth. She was worshipped with many names everywhere, where people got their nourishment directly from the nature. As powerful and almighty as Mother Earth was, she could not create life alone, but needed help from the heavenly male Sun god. These two in turn needed help from people to be able to join together in giving fertility to the world.

Another of Mother Earth’s weaknesses was that she too was under the laws and cycles of nature, just as all the other living creatures. In other words, Mother Earth was born, grew up, reproduced, got tired and old — and finally died. That is why her vitality had to be renewed in the midwinter, when darkness and coldness take over lands, and everything seems to be dead and inert. Then people’s holy duty and responsibility was to revive the nature again by celebrating the Yule. It was thought the spring could not come without this celebration of midwinter.

When there is snowdrift and lakes are frozen
and the Sun’s eye has passed out
When a swallow is far away
and the forest is deserted and without a song
Then there is a warm breath in the winterweather
when there is Yule

(Finnish song: Kun joulu on. Melody: Kotilainen, Otto. Lyrics: Noponen, Alpo. Translation: Author)

To be continued in a subsequent blog.

North of the Moon

2008-12-11T23:54:00.019+01:00

When thinking rationally, no real place can exist that would be situated North of the Moon. If we were to follow the Moon with our eyes, we’d see it moving and changing its location all the time. North of the Moon is therefore a place that disappears every time one tries to rationally catch it.

Wisdom of the Magical World

For me, North of the Moon is a place where the hero in a fairytale finds his treasure, and a princess her prince. It is a direction to the magical world that our world embodies, a world our existence requires. It is a way to our past, where the creation and her creatures are subconsciously entangled together.

It is not unnatural to bind the past and the nature together — even if it may sound as it were. Death, growth and wisdom form a wholeness dwelling under the earth. The bodies and experiences of our ancestors have become one with earth, and are a part of our phenomenal surrounding. Thus the nature contains the wisdom of our ancestors in every grain of sand and in every drop of rain.

After Die Nornen (1889) by Johannes Gehrts (1855-1921)

Silent Language of the Past

The past is both far away and immanent, just as the present and the future are. Nevertheless, many feel that the past is not as valuable as the latter two. However, none of the Norse destiny goddesses, the norns, is more unworthy than the others. Wyrd (Urðr, Fate, Become) sees the past, Verðandi (What Must Be) the present and Skuld (Becoming) the future. They can’t survive without each other: Together they are more powerful than all the other gods and goddesses together in their wisdom.

Our difficulty is in the most of us having lost our ability to understand the silent language of the past and the nature. This language transcends the boundaries of time and different species of living entities. It is a forgotten language still coded deep in our souls. We can try to remember it again.

One way for understanding the past and the nature may be found in our dreams, fairytales and beliefs. North of the Moon is a world of dusk, where truth and illusion mix together, giving a whole new understanding of the world.

Kingdom of Enchantmend

Our ability to see the past rationally and objectively is as limited as our capacity to predict the future. Still the domain of the nature and the past is unlimited – in time, place and richness all alike, if we just open our heart and intuition.

Our own world is lacking tangible meaning and enchantment, but we can find the enchanted kingdom of North of the Moon inside our own world. We just have to stay still, be quiet, follow the ceremonial cycles in the nature and explore the natural wisdom of old traditions.

Sitting outside

2008-12-08T05:53:00.021+01:00

Udesidning (Norse: útiseta) means ’sitting outside’. It is an ancient nordic hobby, which was the first thing the Christian laws forbade in Scandinavia. But still, generations before and after generations went outside at night for example on the burial mounds, megaliths or to the holy places in the nature to gain wisdom.

You see, if you want to see the essence of the world, the soul of the very being – you have to go outside when it is dark and you can’t see any forms or colours of the world. In fairytales the trolls always turn into stone when the Sun comes up. Therefore one can only see stones and surfaces in the daylight, whereas in darkness there is a different living world filled with magic and wisdom.

There are many things, connections and feelings one cannot see or feel in the light. Only in darkness under the peaceful stars one opens to the hidden secrets of the life.

There is no words for describing how beautiful the world is in the darkness. Everything smells different, no lights other than the stars, no sounds other than grasshoppers and bats. The presence of the Mother Earth is overwhelming around me. The darkness of my daylight sorrows disappears from my heart in the darkness of the night. My tears become twinkling jewels under the glance of the distant galaxies. My mind becomes one with everything and with nothingnes. This isútiseta.

It's alive!

2008-12-08T05:41:00.012+01:00

Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature, gladness akin to rapture, as they were unfolded to me, are among the earliest sensations I can remember It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of things or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupied me, still my inquiries were directed to the metaphysical, or in it highest sense, the physical secrets of the world...

Learn from me[...]how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow[...]Seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries (Mary Shelley: Frankenstein, 1818)

As you can see - I both love and hate my work...

The Chestnut Tree

2008-12-08T05:39:00.005+01:00

This is my dear chestnut tree in the garden. We love each other. She is so old, wise and beautiful. Her long hanging branches touch the ground and the pond giving shelter to the small ducklings - and to me. To sit under her is like to be in a little hut. It doesn't matter even if it would be raining - one will still be dry under her big green leaves.

It is also relaxing to lean towards her smooth trunk and feel how energy flows from her roots to the high tree top in the sky. One can almost hear her heartbeat and her silent voice when the dusk falls and all other sounds cease.

At the moment she is filled with some heavy white flowers, which are like foam in her green ocean.

The Mountain

2008-12-08T05:26:00.011+01:00

One can see the Mountain (Klippinge Bjerg) in the horizon of Varpelev. It has been fascinating me a very long time - always rising from the flat fields like a huge monster of ancient times. So I decided to make a little walk and find out, how it really was like at close quarters.

An old spiral road leads to the top of the Mountain in the middle of the woods. There is some beautiful oak trees and big beeches which cover one in a greenish dusk. The sun gets in on the top of the Mountain and suddenly one can see the almost the whole Stevns down below: undulating fields, ancient stone churches, cute little farmhouses and the Beechforest at the beach.

The Mountain feels like it is an energetic spot of the Stevns. The atmosphere is almost electrical. I wonder if the legendary medieval hero and leader Holger Danske is sitting and sleeping here as the late local author Martin A. Hansen writes in his novel of Varpelev: When he wakes up [to help the country in need], one doesn't know.

There is just a single megalite stone left of the huge stone circle which was on the top of the Mountain, almost like at Stonehenge. Alone and alienated it rises from the forest floor like a finger of a dead giant. Pointing something.

The World Beyond

2008-12-08T05:22:00.014+01:00

The Tryggevælde River moves slowly like a giant and lazy serpent through the valley before emptying into the Baltic Sea. One day for many thousand years ago the Valley was dominated by hundreds of megalithic tombs (dolmens), barrows or burial mounds, which were strategically positioned on ridges and fords, appearing above the landscape dotted with smaller mounds, earthworks and standing stones (menhirs).

Even if 95% of the megaliths are gone today, the remaining continue to be an impressive feature of the landscape. They are among the world's oldest remaining buildings. And - aligned to the position of the rising sun and other astronomical features.

The world as we know it ends when entering the ritual place. Sun, light and heat disappeares. Like in a tomb there is nothing else than a moist and chilly darkness. A smell of ancient times. Almost all sense impressions die. There is no happiness, no joys of the natural world, no pain or no sorrow. Also reminiscences of those disappeares. One can only feel one's bare soul in the darkness surrounded by the spirits of distant ancestors and heavy stones.

Peace. Existence beyond life and death. Heart beyond love and hate. But just for a moment, before entering the world of living again.

The association with the megalithic tomb me 5000 years back in time and makes this increable time frame insignificant. Time explodes. I am right here as my ancestors stood right here. They made this fantastic piece of holy architecture which is still so fresh, magical and powerful. My hands touch the same stones as my ancestors. We are together. It is a great feeling of meaningful continuation.