NEW EPISODE — Radio North Sea International — Voyage to the Land of the Sagas

https://hearthfireradio.com/watch?v=RCOpLGMM

In February this year Tom journeyed to Iceland to make a film about the sagas for Survive the Jive. In this episode of RNSI, he recalls the events of the wonderful adventure based on his diary notes.

Hail Ostara / Ēostre!

Find it hard to keep up with all the different archaeological cultures, matching them to regions and periods etc?

My friend has created a Holocene periodic table for all of West Eurasia. He is going to keep updating it so this link will always be the latest version.

Twin saxon kingdoms

A Norseman beneath the Northern lights by Anders Kvåle Rue

Anders Kvåle Rue depicts a scene from Flateyjarbok in which an idol of Þorgerðr is honoured

The statue 'Tors Fiske' by Anders Wissler in Stockholm (1903) depicts Thor fighting the Midgard serpent. Photo 2013

Sweden's tallest runestone stands at 4.6 m (15'). The runes reveal it was raised by Herulfr in memory of his sons Var and Thorgut. I visited it ten years ago.

Anders Kvåle Rue - A moonlit reconstruction of the Oseberg ship burial, Vestfold, Norway, AD 834

It is profane to offer meat to the Gods that has been slaughtered and blessed under the Kosher and Halal laws, as these are ritual slaughtering methods which include prayers to dedicate the animal to a foreign god.

If you are going to offer meat, find a farm that does it without such methods — or raise it and slaughter it yourself.

In Egils saga einhenda ok Ásmundar berserkjabana, a simple offering format is outlined in a statement by a jötunn woman who is being tormented by her sisters:

Hét ek þá á Þórr at gefa honum hafr þann, sem hann vildi velja, en hann skyldi jafna með oss systrum.

I then vow to Þórr to give him a buck of his choosing, but he should make even with us sisters.

The format is:

1) Promise to the deity
2) Dedication of an animal
3) Requested action in exchange for the animal

In the instance of this saga, this is not an explicit sacrifice by the petitioner at that moment, but like in other sagas, the long-term cultivation of an animal to give as a sacrifice to the deity at the appointed time.

This is similar in function to the dedication of Freyfaxi by Hrafnkell Freysgoði in Hrafnkels saga. In a later part of the saga, the horse is sacrificed to Freyr.

A similar event occurs in Flóamanna saga, when Þorgils Þórðarson during his tumult with the god Þórr after his conversion, realizes that one of the oxen he has aboard his ship was one he dedicated to him. He had the ox thrown overboard to propitiate Þórr, as Þórr wanted what he was owed.

Hail Easter!