Werewolves of the Norse World

Ancient World, Mythological Creatures, Norse/Viking Mythology & Religion, Vikings

Werewolves

Vikings believed that some gods, giants, dwarves, elves, spirits, and even human beings could change shape. Examples of such shape-shifting includes Odin turning into an eagle to steal the mead of poetry; Loki turning into a mare and becoming mother to the 8-legged horse, Sleipnir; Fafnir, a dwarf whose greed turned him into a massive dragon; and other incidents of characters becoming salmon, snakes, otters, falcons, seals, swans, or bears. But one of the most common – and most terrifying – of these shapeshifters were werewolves.

Stories of werewolves and similar human-animal shapeshifters have been around for thousands of years and are found throughout the world, and so it could hardly be said that the Norse invented them. Yet, the werewolf holds a very special place in Viking lore. In their stories, we see these dark manifestations of humankind’s animal nature better explored than ever before.

The Vikings had different types of werewolves. Several appear in The Volsunga Saga.  In the fifth chapter of this long epic, Sigmund and 9 other sons of the heroic Volsung family have been captured by an evil king and bound in massive timber stocks out in the wild, black forest. Every night, an enormous she-wolf comes and devours one of the brothers while the others watch helplessly. This continues until Queen Signy – the wife of the evil king and the sister of the hapless Volsungs – smears her favorite brother’s face with honey. When the demonic wolf comes to kill Sigmund, she is distracted by the honey, and – as she licks her victim’s face and sticks her long, lolling tongue in his mouth, Sigmund bites hard and holds on. As the wolf thrashes to get free, she smashes Sigmund’s fetters – and rips her own tongue out. The hero breaks loose as the creature bleeds to death. It is later revealed this unworldly wolf is the mother of the evil king who had transformed her shape using dark arts.

Later in The Volsunga Saga, Sigmund and his son, Sinfjotli, are outlaws in the woods. Using enchanted wolf skins, Sigmund and Sinfjotli become werewolves for 9 nights at a time. While thus enchanted, young Sinfjotli is so terrifying and powerful that he can kill 11 armed men at once. This transformation affects more than just their physical strength though – in a fit of savage rage while in wolf form, Sigmund rips his own son’s throat out. Realizing what he has done, Sigmund uses all his willpower, magic, healing skill, and a little help from the gods to break out of his wolf trappings and heal his son before it is too late. The two burn their wolf mantles after that and do not go back to being werewolves.

The Volsunga Saga is one of the legendary sagas, and so is full of dragons, dwarves, and the like. Did the Vikings really believe these things, or for them, was it just a good story? Werewolves also appear in the more “realistic” Islandasagur sagas, suggesting that Vikings (or at least, many of them) did really believe in the existence of werewolves. For example, in Egil’s Saga, the hero’s father is called Kveldulf (“Evening Wolf”) for his lupine personality and the rumors that he runs with wolves by moonlight.

There were also real-world examples of Viking “werewolves.” Viking warbands featured berserkers – the frenzied bear-inspired warriors devoted to Odin. They also had another type of elite known as úlfheðnar (literally, “wolf-skins”). Not much is known about these Viking wolf warriors, aside from what clues appear in poetry or in art from the Viking Age and earlier Vendel period. In the depictions, these warriors appear as fearless and savage in the extreme. They take on all the qualities of the wolf and strike dread into the hearts of their enemies.

So, the Viking image of werewolves is diverse and ranges in its believability. Missing in Norse lore is the direct association between werewolves and a full moon. Indeed, one does not become a werewolf by being bitten by another werewolf. In the stories, though, one sees a clear relationship between the wolf nature and night. Especially in the case of Kveldulf, we see the “werewolf personality” of a mysterious, reclusive, abrasive, dangerous loner. As in the story of Sigmund and Sinfjotli, we see how the savage nature of the wolf takes over human nature and how the human spirit struggles to achieve some kind of control over it. All these themes are still present in the better werewolf tales of today.

Source: Sons of Vikings

Witches of the Norse World

Ancient World, Norse/Viking Mythology & Religion, Scandanavia, Vikings, Witchcraft

Witches

Belief in witches stretches across almost all cultures in history, and the Vikings definitely did not invent them. Vikings believed in magic and never took it lightly. There are about 40 different words for magic and magic users in their language of Old Norse, showing the range of understanding and the importance they placed on it. Freyja, the most venerated of the Norse goddesses, was a goddess of magic and taught her arcane arts to Odin. Freyja is sometimes called a witch in the Eddic poems and was much maligned for this by later Christians.  Freyja traveled in a chariot drawn by black or gray cats. These quiet, intelligent, ruthless creatures are her familiars or messenger spirits. A Viking who looked up to see a raven might see it as an omen from Odin, just as he might see a black cat as a sign that Freyja was watching.

Witches, sorcerers, and wizards were taken seriously and respected in the Viking world. This is further attested by the many Viking Age graves archaeologists have discovered that have grave goods (valuables deliberately interred with the body) associated with magic users. One tell-tale sign of a witch’s grave is an iron staff. It is thought that these iron staffs were used by Völva sorceresses in certain magic rituals, held between the thighs as the witch entered a shamanistic trance. At such times, it was thought that the witch’s layers of inner self left their outer body (what occultists now refer to as astral projection).

One passage referring to this is in the Havamal:

I know a tenth spell
If I see witches
at play in the air
I can cast this spell
So that they get lost
So they can’t find their skins
So they can’t find their minds

If the Viking Age, witches used their iron rod as a means of traveling across levels of consciousness, it is easy to see how later Medieval Christians would say that witches “flew through the air riding on brooms.”

So, the pagan Vikings respected (and feared) witches and often turned to them for help, but when the Vikings gradually became more Christian, witches were targeted as public enemies by the Church. Witchcraft never wholly died out, though. In Iceland, in particular, witchcraft survived in a well-documented line from early Viking times until the present – though it certainly changed and took on elements and influences from other cultures.

It is not just the Medieval Christian that shifted the perspective of the witch from medicine woman and soothsayer to evil, hexing hag, though. Viking lore is replete with frightening or “wicked” witches. There are at least three Eddic poems in which the speaker is a dead witch awoken by Odin or Freyja’s necromancy, and forced to lend her wisdom to the gods though she is full of spite for them. The worst of the evil witches were sometimes referred to as “Troll Wives” and were Jötnar rather than human. Like many fearsome beings in Norse lore, Troll Wives are seldom described in detail. However, the impression given fits the Halloween image of a lank-haired, green-skinned disfigured distortion of the elderly.

But it is clear that there is a broad range of witches. Only some of them could really be classified as good or evil – which is typical of the moral complexity and honesty that has made Norse lore so poignant and enduring.

Source: Sons of Vikings

Steve Ross (né Szmulek Rozental)

Anti-Semitism, History, Survivors, The Holocaust

Holocaust survivor Steve Ross (né Szmulek Rozental) was born in 1931 near Łódź, Poland. He spent five years in ten different concentration camps, including Budzyń, Auschwitz, and Dachau. He survived medical experiments, starvation, sexual abuse, and brutal beatings on a daily basis. When Ross was liberated from Dachau in April 1945, he was 14 years old and weighed 50 lbs. Among the American troops who liberated the camp was Lt. Steve Sattler, whose act of kindness restored Ross’s hope in humanity, even after everything he had been through. When Lt. Sattler saw Ross, he jumped down from atop his tank, hugged the emaciated child, and shared his food rations with him. He also gave the boy a handkerchief decorated with the American flag. After the war, Ross settled in the Boston area where he became a social worker and spent his life helping at-risk youth. When speaking to students about his experience, he would carefully unfurl the American flag handkerchief, and share how one small act of kindness can transform a life.

Photo: Steve Ross holding handkercheif (Getty Images)

Source: American Society for Yad Vashem

Poached Salmon with Dill Sauce

Culinary, Fish, Main Course, Nordic Cuisine

For the Salmon:

1 tablespoon white vinegar

Table salt

4 (6-ounce) fillets salmon

For the sauce:

1 cup packed fresh dill

1 small green onion

½ cup mayonnaise

½ cup sour cream

1 tablespoon white vinegar

Special equipment:

Blender or food processor

To poach the salmon, in a wide, deep skillet with a lid, add 1 inch of water. Add the vinegar, and bring the liquid to a boil over medium heat.

Lightly salt the salmon, and add it, skin side down, to the poaching liquid.

Cover, reduce the heat until the liquid barely simmers, and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until the fish is cooked through. The cooking time will depend on the thickness of the salmon fillets.

While the salmon is cooking, make the dill sauce. In a blender or in the bowl of a food processor, combine the dill, green onion, mayonnaise, sour cream, and vinegar. Process until smooth.

Using a slotted spoon, remove the cooked salmon from the skillet. Serve topped with the dill sauce.

Jörmungandr and the ouroboros through world mythology

Ancient World, Mythological Creatures, Mythology, Norse/Viking Mythology & Religion, Vikings

Of all the gods, giants, beasts, and spirits that stalked the Viking mental landscape, Jörmungandr – the world-coiling serpent – remains one of the most renowned. Jörmungandr is also known as the Midgard Serpent because he was a sea monster so large that he wrapped all the way around Midgard (the world of humans). When this gigantic beast stirs, storms, earthquakes, and tidal waves erupt. Jörmungandr lies in the depths of the sea, encircling the earth, holding his own tail in his mouth, waiting for the day of Ragnarok. It is said that when the serpent releases his tail and begins his attack, Ragnarok – the ‘final’ dark day for the gods – will begin.

Jörmungandr is not the only world-coiling serpent across the thousands of years and hundreds of cultures that color the human imagination. In fact, the image of a tail-swallowing dragon can be found worldwide and throughout history. This symbol of the circular snake is called the ouroboros. The earliest known ouroboros depiction is from the grave of Pharaoh Tutankhamen from the 13th century B.C. Since that time, similar images have shown up in ancient Chinese, Persian, Hindu, Greek, and Mesoamerican sites and artifacts. The ouroboros was also prominently featured in the language of mysticism amongst the Gnostics, Hermetic, and alchemists throughout Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

In most of these settings, the ouroboros signifies time – depicting the living, breathing cycle of ages that have no real beginning and no real end. In Roman sources, the ouroboros symbolized the god Saturn (the Greek Kronos from where we get words like chronology and chronometer). Saturn/Kronos was a god of time. He was considered by the Greco-Romans to be especially savage and terrifying. He was lord of the Titans – spirits of elemental chaos that were something like the giants (Jötnar) of Viking lore. In all this imagery, the ouroboros represents the endless cycles of creation and destruction. In fact, many scholars believe that our mathematical symbol for eternity – the sideways figure eight (∞) – is a shorthand adaptation of the ouroboros symbol.

Source: Sons of Vikings

Herbed Cream Cheese and Baby Cucumbers Open Sandwich

Appetizers, Culinary, Nordic Cuisine, Sandwich

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 scallion, finely minced

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon snipped fresh chives

1 tablespoon finely snipped fresh dill, plus more for garnish

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Pinch of table salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Crispbread crackers or thinly sliced rye bread, for serving

Baby cucumbers, for serving

In a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese, scallion, parsley, chives, dill, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Reserve a small amount of fresh dill for garnish. Mix until everything is evenly distributed. Cover and chill the mixture at least 1 hour before serving.

Spread 1 to 2 tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture on a crispbread cracker. Repeat until all of the cream cheese mixture has been used. Top with the baby cucumber slices, and sprinkle with the reserved fresh dill. Eat immediately.

Other ideas for open sandwiches:

• Instead of the baby cucumbers, top the herbed cream cheese mixture with smoked salmon and very thinly sliced red onions.

• For a heartier snack, use thin slices of European rye bread instead of the crispbread crackers. It can be found in the bread aisle of higher-end grocery stores, and is usually packaged in little bricks. It tastes best lightly toasted.

• Goat’s cheese, fresh herbs and shaved asparagus and cucumber.

• Rare roast beef with horseradish cream, quick-pickled onions and cornichons.

• Smoked mackerel, crème fraîche, pickled rhubarb and watercress.

• Boiled eggs with dill and chive herb mayo, anchovies, capers, red onion and cress.

Bircher Muesli

Breakfast, Cheese & Dairy, Culinary, Nordic Cuisine

2½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats or rolled rye flakes

Scant 1 cup milk or soy milk, warmed

½ cup plain skyr

2 tablespoons raisins

2 apples, cored and diced or thinly sliced

½ apple, cored and shredded

2 handfuls of fresh berries

2 tablespoons chopped almonds

2 tablespoons chopped skinned toasted hazelnuts

2 tablespoons honey

Put the oats in a bowl or jar and pour in the warm milk. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, add the skyr and mix to combine. If the mixture is too thick, add more skyr. Mix in the raisins, diced apples, and berries, then serve topped with the almonds, hazelnuts, honey, and shredded apple.

Time to take back Viking history and Symbolism from racists and white supremacists

Ásatrú, European History, Norse/Viking Mythology & Religion, Politics, Vikings

“All manner of Viking symbols and misconceptions about a golden age of Nordic racial purity have been appropriated by racist extremists looking to justify their xenophobia and acts of violence, according to the University of Alberta researcher.

Van Deusen said the age of racial purity never existed and she is determined to debunk the corrosive myth at every turn, especially in the classroom.

Viking symbols are everywhere among the ultra-right. When the Unite the Right rally took place in Charlottesville in 2017, some protesters carried banners featuring the Norse god Thor’s hammer, popular among the Nazis and neo-Nazi groups.

The perpetrator of New Zealand’s Christchurch massacre last year wrote, “See you in Valhalla”-referring to the great hall where heroes of Norse mythology go after they die-at the end of his manifesto.

Closer to home, the Soldiers of Odin-a Finnish white supremacist movement named after another Norse god in 2015-have recently emerged in Alberta and throughout Canada.

“The precedent was set with the Nazis,” said Van Deusen. “National Socialism and Hitler idealized the Norse people-those who lived in the Nordic areas. Even the swastika is based in part on a symbol based on Viking artifacts.”

Source: https://www.ualberta.ca/folio/2020/07/white-supremacists-are-misappropriating-norse-mythology-says-expert.html

What does the word Viking even mean?

Ancient World, Norse/Viking Mythology & Religion, Scandanavia, Vikings

Viking in Old Norse

Viking in Old Norse is víkingr. The ‘r’ on the end is essentially a grammatical feature of Old Norse for denoting a masculine noun. It is often dropped in English transliteration (for example, people may write the name of the god Freyr as Frey). In Old Norse, víkingr was someone who was a seaborne raider/adventurer.

Noun or Verb

Víkingr and plural forms of the word, such as víkingum or víkingar, appear as nouns describing Scandinavian seaborne raiders in the sagas, Eddic poetry, and runestones.

We see literally carved in stone the term “Viking” being used as a noun and to denote people. From the context, it does not seem that “Viking” referred to everybody, though, but to some type of traveling warrior.

Viking’ also used as a Verb in Old Norse

Viking could also be a verb in Old Norse. This verb meant the act of seaborne raiding or adventuring. So, a víkingr would víking, or in other words, a seaborne raider would raid by sea. In many historical fiction books, this is rendered “to go viking.”

There is no evidence to suggest that the verb was more prevalent than the noun or adjective. However, it is fair to say that Vikings used the terms víkingr and víking differently than we use these terms.

What Vikings Called Themselves, and What Other People Called Them

It is essential to remember that in our ancestors’ times many of the current cultural values did not exist. ideals, concepts, and information we now take for granted had not developed yet. Today, one of the strongest ways people identify is by their nationality – we are Americans, Norwegians, etc. While many of Europe’s nations began to form and organize in the Viking Age, national identity was then only in its embryonic stages. 

As the Viking Age dawned, the Nordic peoples of Scandinavia shared a common language, culture, and faith. However, they did not share a strong sense of common identity, as evidenced by their constant wars, raiding, and competition – even within the geographical boundaries of their homeland. They were divided into numerous tribes or clans.

Their societies were arranged in small units united by kinship and their allegiance was to local chieftain. The first “King of All Norway,” Harald Fairhair, did not consolidate power until a century into the Viking Age, and the political boundaries of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden would not solidify for several centuries after that.

So, while Vikings used the term víkingr for a seaborne adventurer, early medieval Scandinavian peoples had no overarching name for themselves. They did not think that way. Instead, they identified themselves by family, clan, and tribal loyalties. During the Viking Age, these intimate groups formed larger and larger networks and affected greater and greater changes far from home. 

Vikings might not have had a common term for themselves, but their enemies had many. The English and the French tended to call them all Danes. Archeology is abundantly clear, though, that the “Great Heathen Army,” the “Army of the Seine,” and these other large forces were not just Danes but mixed companies from locations wherever Vikings roamed. 

English monks, writing in Latin, also adopted the word, Wiccinga/Wiccingi (the Old English form of ‘viking’ in Latinized singular and plural forms). This capitalization in the manuscripts strongly suggests the Vikings were known by that name, and that it is not just a generic descriptor.

There were other names in other places. In Ireland, the Vikings were called “the Foreigners.” In the east – Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Byzantine Empire, Bulgaria, and the Mediterranean – Vikings were called Varangians (“sworn companions”) and Rus’. To the Moors of Spain and the Arabs around the Caspian, they were called Majūs.

Source: Sons Of Vikings