207
Bodies Become Stars: Numinous Transformation of Physical Damage in
Heathen Cosmology
Ross Downing, University of the Highlands and Islands
Thesis project undertaken for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Viking Studies at the University of the Highlands and
Islands, completed 30
th
September 2016.
Supervisor: Alexandra Sanmark (University of Highlands and Islands).
This study is borne out of the recognition of a
pattern in Old Norse mythology where figures
lose a body-part but gain a positive attribute.
The classic example is Óðinn, a god who gave
his eye for wisdom. The study’s introductory
section deals with previous attempts by
scholars to understand Old Norse cosmology.
From a thorough discussion of current
methods, models, and theories, I define several
parameters that allow for a study of the
corpus’s complex body of religious stories.
Having established a ground for discourse, my
analysis section lists a number of major
instances of body-damage in the myths and
interprets these events in emic terms. My
observation is that there are several variations
of a transformative pattern of the physical to
the spiritual. There are two main appearances
of this motif: First, fólginn, an emic concept of
physical loss which leads to a change in the
soul-types ( hugr, hamr) of the individual and
second, transpersonal empowerment, whereby
the physical damage of one individual provides
power ( megin) to another individual. Finally, I
conclude that there are several possibilities in
which this religious language could be
expressed in Old Norse cosmology, and that
this language fundamentally serves as a means
to understand communication between the
material and the numinous.
A Heathen Mecca: Interpreting the International Germanic Contemporary
Pagan Response to the Icelandic Temple
Ross Downing, University of the Highlands and Islands
Thesis project undertaken for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Religious Studies at the University of Gothenburg,
completed 20
th
January 2017.
Advisor: Åke Sander (University of Gothenburg)
In 2008, Ásatrúarfélagið, Iceland’s largest
Germanic Contemporary Pagan (Heathen)
organisation, purchased land to build a partly
state-funded temple in Reykjavík. The
structure
was
commonly
covered
by
international media as ‘the first Viking temple
in 1000 years’. As of January 2017, the temple
remains unfinished, but in the last eight years
since its announcement, four Heathen temples
have been built or purchased and converted by
groups in the United States, United Kingdom,
Spain, and Denmark. All used the same
headline in their promotion. All four groups
share a folkish (racialist) interpretation of
Heathenship
which
is
opposed
by
Ásatrúarfélagið and many other Heathens
around the world. A number of events within
the Heathen community in the last two years
show a growing polarisation and division
between Folkish and non-Folkish Heathens.
This thesis uses data from interviews with 78
Heathens in North, Central, and South
America; Africa; Europe; Australasia; and
Asia, and from a questionnaire that received
responses from 110 Heathens in the United
States. The data shows that many Heathens
M
ASTER
’
S
T
HESES
208
perceive Folkish Heathens as in competition
with the Icelandic temple. Moreover, the
Icelandic temple is a beacon for change and
inspiration among Heathens. Nearly all of my
188 informants intend to visit the temple,
proving it is a significant turning point for this
New Religious Movement, bringing a sense of
strengthened confidence and international
community. The data also indicates that
racialist organisations’ own temples are
representative of competing religious ‘market
forces’. This, in turn, has led to non-Folkish
Heathens becoming more confident and
communicative, and closing ranks against
racialist Heathens. This activity indicates that
many Heathens believe the temple itself will
improve public relations along with their social
standing, numbers, and ability to practice
publicly, ultimately allowing them to live more
open and influential religious lives.
Weaponry from the 9
th
to 11
th
Centuries from Watery Locations in North-
Western Poland
Klaudia Karpińska, University of Rzeszów
Thesis project undertaken for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Archaeology at the University of Rzeszów, completed
September 2016.
Supervisor: Marcin Wołoszyn (University of Rzeszów, Leipzig University).
Reviewer: Michał Dzik (University or Rzeszów).
Since the early twentieth century, numerous
early medieval weapons have been found in
lakes and rivers in northwestern Poland. These
include complete and fragmentarily preserved
swords, saxes, axes, battle axes, spears,
javelins, and helmets as well as a chainmail.
Several of these weapons are decorated with
fine and elaborate ornaments. Interestingly,
some of these weapon finds were accompanied
by everyday objects such as tools and utensils,
jewellery, costume elements, horse tack, and
riding equipment.
Over many years, numerous researchers
have sought to explain the circumstances
which might have led to the weapons ending
up in lakes and rivers. Two primary
explanations for the presence of these weapons
are proposed in Polish academic literature. The
first explanation sees them as accidental losses
and as objects that fell into the water during
battles while the second associates them with
ritual practices. In my opinion, however, this
problem is more complicated than it seems. In
my master’s thesis, I attempt to analyse and re-
interpret all weapon finds from water contexts
in a manner never before attempted.
The first chapter (Introduction) includes
basic
information
concerning
the
chronological and territorial scope of the
thesis. It contains a detailed description of the
regional geography of the five current
voivodeships
1
.
The
chapter
additionally
provides a chronology of Poland in the early
Middle Ages.
Chapter 2 (A History of Research and
Interpretations) provides an overview of past
interpretations of weapons from thirteen lakes
2
and five rivers.
3
Chapter 3 (Typological Analysis of
Weaponry) discusses the typology of weapons
from waters. It compares dating and the shape
of particular weapons from lakes and rivers
with the types of military equipment included
in Andrzej Nadolski’s (1954) and Jan
Petersen’s (1919) typologies.
The next chapter (Weapons in Watery
Locations) is divided into three parts (1.
Losses?;
2.
Traces
of
Cult?;
and
3.Weapons in lakes and rivers) and provides a
new analysis and re-interpretation of military
equipment from watery locations. The first part
places a particular focus on finds from Lake
Lednica and explores the possibilities of
interpreting weapons from watery locations as
accidental losses.
4
The second part of Chapter
4 examines all weapon finds from lakes as
potential traces of early medieval Slavic
rituals. It also considers the potential sacral
function of these objects in the context of
medieval textual sources (such as Chronicon
Thietmari) and accounts from folklore. In the
last part of this chapter, finds from lakes and
209
rivers in northwestern Poland are compared
with
those
from
old
Denmark
and
Mecklenburg.
The last chapter (Conclusions) includes
some concluding remarks and presents future
research possibilities. I suggest that the
weapons found in watery locations might
reflect various events not necessarily of
military nature.
This master’s thesis also features a detailed
catalogue of all weapon finds from watery
locations in northwestern Poland and is
supplemented by plates presenting selected
artefacts mentioned in the thesis.
Notes
1. The thesis describes regions of the current West
Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomeranian Voivodeship,
Lubusz Voivodeship, Greater Poland Voivodeship,
and Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship.
2. The watery locations (lakes) analysed in the thesis
include: Bnin (site no. 1), Bobięcino (site no. 3),
Giecz (site no. 2), Gwieździn (site no. 54),
Hornówek (site no. 8), Izdebno (site no. 5), Łoniewo
(site no. 1), Nętno (site no. 38), Niedźwiedź (site no.
5), Orchowo (unnumbered site), Pszczew (site no.
2), Rybitwy-Ostrów Lednicki (sites no. 3a and 3b),
Świeszyno (site no. 48), Trzynik (site no. 12), and
Żółte (site no. 33).
3. The thesis examines weapons discovered in the
followings rivers: Dziwna, Maskawa (Moskawa),
Noteć, Odra, and Rega.
4. Artefacts form Lednica Lake discovered in the
context of charred wood and among the remains of
bridges are in majority interpreted as the remains of
one episode: the invasion of Greater Poland by the
Czech Duke Břetislav I in 1038 or 1039.
In my
thesis, I disagree with this statement. I argue that
these finds could be the remains of several different
events rather than a single battle.
Works Cited
Nadolski, Andrzej 1954. Studia nad uzbrojeniem
polskim w X, XI i XII wieku. Łódź: Zakład im.
Ossolińskich we Wrocławiu.
Petersen, Jan 1919. De norske vikingesverd. En
typologisk-kronologisk studie over vikingetidens
vaaben. Kristiania: Dybwad.
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The 11
th
Annual Aarhus Student Symposium on Viking and Medieval
Scandinavian Subjects
25
th
–26
th
April 2018, Aarhus, Denmark
We are delighted to announce the eleventh
annual interdisciplinary Aarhus Student
Symposium on Viking and Medieval
Scandinavian Subjects. If you are a student
with an interest in a topic related to Viking and
Medieval Scandinavia – such as Religion,
Literature, History, Language, Art, Material
Culture, Ideology, Mythology, Reception
History, or any other relevant subject – we
hereby invite you to submit a proposal for a
paper presentation.
Students at all levels, from BA to PhD, are
invited to participate. The only requirement is
that you are enrolled as a student at a
university when the deadline for call for
papers expires. The symposium will be in
English, and each paper will be 20 minutes
long. The Student Symposium is a great
opportunity to present your research and
interests to a group of academic peers working
in the same field as you. Moreover, it is a great
opportunity to network and establish contacts
with like-minded scholars.
All students who are interested are
encouraged to send a short abstract of no more
than 250 words in English to the Organising
Committee no later than the 26th of January
2018. The abstracts will be reviewed by a
selection committee. The committee reserves
the right to choose participants according to
the Symposium’s requirements of quality,
internationality, and interdisciplinarity. For
further information, please contact the
Organising Committee: Simon Nygaard, Mai
Nørskov Nielsen, Line Korsholm Lauridsen,
and
Johan
Sandvang
Larsen
( studentsymposiumaarhus[at]gmail.com).
For more information, please visit our
website at:
http://vikingoldnorse.au.dk/activities-and-
events/student-symposium/
or find us on Facebook:
fb.me/aarhusstudentsymposium.
C
ALLS FOR
P
APERS
211
Would You Like to Submit to RMN Newsletter?
RMN Newsletter in an open-access biannual
publication that sets out to construct an
informational resource and discourse space
for researchers of diverse and intersecting
disciplines. Its thematic center is the
discussion and investigation of cultural
phenomena of different eras and the research
tools and strategies relevant to retrospective
methods. Retrospective methods consider
some aspect of culture in one period through
evidence from another, later period. Such
comparisons
range
from
investigating
historical relationships to the utility of
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activities,
developments
and
technologies, and research which is ongoing
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212
Published by Folklore Studies of the Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies, University of Helsinki
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