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J. Hargis
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 Posted: Tue 24 Feb, 2015 1:02 pm Post subject: First Viking Temple in 1,000 Years Coming to Iceland |
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Not exactly swords, but IMO relevant to myArmoury's interests.
There is no doubt that things Viking have a certain lure and now after a thousand years Asatru (Viking based, but not literal) is on the upswing. I had a dear friend who found what he was looking for in Asatru and I was privy to some actual events & rituals. There is something to be said for it.
poignant excerpt: | Quote: | | Although nearly 80 percent of Iceland’s population belongs to the Lutheran Church, the Asatru Association has become one of the country’s fastest-growing religions. According to Statistics Iceland, membership in the neo-pagan religion has grown nearly eightfold in the last 15 years, from just over 300 people in 1999 to nearly 2,400 last year. In a country of approximately 325,000 people, the Asatru Association claims more followers than the Mormon, Buddhist, Islamic and Russian Orthodox faiths combined. |
Comments invited.
Jon
source: http://www.history.com/news/first-viking-temp...to-iceland | Quote: | First Viking Temple in 1,000 Years Coming to Iceland
A neo-pagan revival of the religion practiced by the Vikings has become one of Iceland’s fastest-growing faiths. Now, plans are under way to build the country’s first shrine to the ancient Norse gods since Iceland converted to Christianity more than a millennium ago.
Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, high priest of the Asatru Association, leads a 2102 procession near Reykjavik, Iceland. (Credit: STRINGER/Reuters/Corbis)
Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, high priest of the Asatru Association, leads a 2102 procession near Reykjavik, Iceland.
When the Vikings first settled in Iceland in the 9th century, they brought with them a deep devotion to a pantheon on Norse gods. Wooden carvings of deities such as Odin, Thor, Freyr and Frigg adorned their temples, and Viking warriors charged into battle confident that their faith would reward them with a trip to Valhalla if they were felled on the battlefield.
Paganism thrived in Iceland until around A.D. 1000 when lawmakers agreed to make Christianity the country’s official religion. While the polytheistic religion of the Vikings was driven underground, it was never totally extinguished thanks in large part to 13th-century Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson, who recorded the ancient Nordic mythology in the “Prose Edda.” Even among Christians, Nordic beliefs in elves, trolls and nature spirits were handed down from generation to generation.
Secrets of the Vikings – The Great Halls (Video)
Around the time of the return of medieval Icelandic saga manuscripts from Denmark in 1971, interest in Old Norse mythology in Iceland began to grow. In 1972, a small group of believers seeking a faith rooted in the nature of Iceland and their Viking ancestors formed the Asatru Association in a Reykjavik café. The following year, the association received recognition from the Icelandic government as an official religious organization, which allowed it to conduct legal marriages, burials and other ceremonies as well as receive a share of the country’s tax money earmarked for official religions.
Although nearly 80 percent of Iceland’s population belongs to the Lutheran Church, the Asatru Association has become one of the country’s fastest-growing religions. According to Statistics Iceland, membership in the neo-pagan religion has grown nearly eightfold in the last 15 years, from just over 300 people in 1999 to nearly 2,400 last year. In a country of approximately 325,000 people, the Asatru Association claims more followers than the Mormon, Buddhist, Islamic and Russian Orthodox faiths combined.
With its ranks growing exponentially along with its share of Iceland’s religious taxes, the Asatru Association has announced plans to begin construction next month on the country’s first temple to the ancient Norse gods in more than 1,000 years. The oval-shaped shrine, designed by Asatru member Magnus Jensson, will be built into a wooded hillside near Reykjavik’s domestic airport. The Iceland Review reports that the capital city donated the land for the temple, which will cost nearly $1 million to build. Following the tenets of the religion, the 4,000-square-foot temple will coexist in harmony with nature. The natural rock of the hillside will form one of the walls while light will pour in through a south-facing glass wall and a skylight atop the dome ceiling.
Haukur Dor Bragason, a member of the Asatru Association, attends the 2012 ceremony.
Inside the 250-seat temple—or “hof”—the group’s four priestesses and five priests will preside over followers’ marriages, funerals, name-giving ceremonies and other rites. The Guardian also reports that members will use the shrine for feasts on the solstices and equinoxes in which they will gather around a central fire to recite passages from the ancient mythological texts, dine on sacred horsemeat and make sacrificial drink offerings to the gods. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2016.
Asatru high priest Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, a film composer and musician who has collaborated with Icelandic superstar Bjork among others, is quick to point out that the group’s religious practices are different from those of the ancient Vikings. They do not read the medieval texts literally and eschew a strict interpretation of Norse mythology for its more spiritual qualities. Unlike the Vikings, Asatru members do not worship the deities of Asgard such as Odin, the god of gods who sacrificed an eye to gaze into the well of knowledge and rode on an eight-legged steed. “I don’t believe anyone believes in a one-eyed man who is riding about on a horse with eight feet,” Hilmarsson told Reuters. “We see the stories as poetic metaphors and a manifestation of the forces of nature and human psychology.”
The belief system may have evolved, but the religion’s Viking roots are undoubtedly part of its appeal. “We see this as so much part of our heritage,” Hilmarsson told FoxNews.com. “Some people love the idea, they really want to go back to the Viking era.” |
A poorly maintained weapon is likely to belong to an unsafe and careless fighter.
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Matthew Bunker
Location: Somerset UK Joined: 02 Apr 2009
Posts: 483
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| Posted: Tue 24 Feb, 2015 1:21 pm Post subject: Re: First Viking Temple in 1,000 Years Coming to Iceland |
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| J. Hargis wrote: | Not exactly swords, but IMO relevant to myArmoury's interests.
There is no doubt that things Viking have a certain lure and now after a thousand years Asatru is on the upswing. |
I'm pleased that they've got a temple if that's what they wanted and I'm pleased that it works as a belief system for those people that need one but Asatru isn't an ancient religion (it's not the religion of the pagan Norse, as the quote below makes clear), it's a modern one, so it's not 'on the upswing'.
Is it any more suitable a topic of conversation on this forum than any other religion, modern or otherwise?
| Quote: | | Unlike the Vikings, Asatru members do not worship the deities of Asgard such as Odin, the god of gods who sacrificed an eye to gaze into the well of knowledge and rode on an eight-legged steed. “I don’t believe anyone believes in a one-eyed man who is riding about on a horse with eight feet,” Hilmarsson told Reuters. “We see the stories as poetic metaphors and a manifestation of the forces of nature and human psychology.” |
"If a Greek can do it, two Englishman certainly can !"
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J. Hargis
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| Posted: Tue 24 Feb, 2015 1:44 pm Post subject: Re: First Viking Temple in 1,000 Years Coming to Iceland |
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| Matthew Bunker wrote: | | J. Hargis wrote: | Not exactly swords, but IMO relevant to myArmoury's interests.
There is no doubt that things Viking have a certain lure and now after a thousand years Asatru is on the upswing. |
I'm pleased that they've got a temple if that's what they wanted and I'm pleased that it works as a belief system for those people that need one but Asatru isn't an ancient religion (it's not the religion of the pagan Norse, as the quote below makes clear), it's a modern one, so it's not 'on the upswing'.
Is it any more suitable a topic of conversation on this forum than any other religion, modern or otherwise?
| Quote: | | Unlike the Vikings, Asatru members do not worship the deities of Asgard such as Odin, the god of gods who sacrificed an eye to gaze into the well of knowledge and rode on an eight-legged steed. “I don’t believe anyone believes in a one-eyed man who is riding about on a horse with eight feet,” Hilmarsson told Reuters. “We see the stories as poetic metaphors and a manifestation of the forces of nature and human psychology.” |
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Yes, I realize Asatru (as I stated: "Viking based, not literal") is relatively new, I see I didn't make it as clear as I should have. It is however a growing movement, hence "upswing".
We all adhere to some belief system, call it 'religion' or whatever you like. However, it was not my intent to make a big thing of it or to even discuss that aspect of the article at this forum. I found the piece to be interesting, that's all.
I assume the moderators will decide whether it is suitable or not.
Jon
A poorly maintained weapon is likely to belong to an unsafe and careless fighter.
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Adam Simmonds
Location: Henley On Thames Joined: 10 Jun 2006
Posts: 169
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| Posted: Wed 25 Feb, 2015 9:37 am Post subject: |
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For me Mr Bunker's comments are perfectly reasonable. No doubt the various interests of the members of this forum are very diverse indeed however it is historic arms and armour with which it concerns itself, not religious practices or beliefs, regardless of whether they be of ancient or modern fabrication or bear some relation to a culture which also produced weapons.
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Shahril Dzulkifli
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| Posted: Fri 27 Feb, 2015 7:16 am Post subject: First Viking Temple in 1,000 Years Coming to Iceland |
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It seems to me that Scandinavian pagan beliefs have started to gain more and more followers in modern-day Iceland.
“You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength”
- Marcus Aurelius
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Niels Just Rasmussen
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| Posted: Fri 27 Feb, 2015 8:19 am Post subject: |
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I think it is important to note that some Scandinavian “Asatro“ followers are more “New Age“, than basing it on a ritualistic collective view of the world. Old Norse religion was not a belief system with dogmas, but a set of cultural norms and where the gift exchange between humans & humans and the supernatural were sacred.
What I mean with New Age is that the religious belief becomes a personal choice. It is often a saying NO to the current world, and you demonstrate it with changing dress and holding public rituals (an advertising element or subculture).
The old ways were above all tradition based and bringing the whole community together in sacrifice, no matter what you believed. So Danes still having a Yule party with the whole family and close friends is much more old ways, than going to blót with people from outside your local territory.
So the New Age version is (often) a subculture based on people, that has all as individuals taken the personal choice of their beliefs and meet together (which actually looks what early Christians did or people following mystery religions).
I have also met people that takes the old customs and worldview seriously, but does not in any way advertise it OR change their dress (but might wear a Thor's hammer secretly under their shirt).
So officially registration only takes into account the first group that officially change religion to “asatro“, and those who are not into this “New Age“ version are not registered in the statistics.
Many academics are secret about it (since they fear they will no longer be taken seriously), so this second group is undetected. At least according to this Danish article from 2005 (page 8-9): http://www.nbi.dk/~nygard/astro_universitetsavisen.pdf
Then you have a third group on unknown size. Farmers that might regard themselves as Christian, but still perform they old rituals as they have done for countless generations as they feel it's their duty or since it helped my ancestors I better continue. In a way they are the real deal. The Nordic ritual system has no problem incorporating Jesus into the Norse religion, if you still have a focus on ritual as the glue that keeps the world running (off course without the Christian regard for these things as demonic).
The old ways is also felt in the army, so the Defense Academy (Forsvarsakademiet) has even made an official “brief“ on Asatru and the Danish soldiers (Asatro og de danske soldater):
http://forsvaret.dk/FAK/Publikationer/Briefs/Documents/Asatro.pdf
No statistics has been conducted on the amount of soldiers attracted and following asatru , but the article says the number is rising.
In Iceland in 2007 a study showed that 54% of the population believed it's likely or probable that elves exists, yet 79% see themselves as Christians. So these things are not mutually exclusive in Scandinavia.
The belief in Elves is actually on the rise - since in 1974 it was only 48%.
Source (Danish): www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/kirke-tro/de-island...-og-trolde
The supernatural element is probably not there to the same degree in Denmark; it's more the Norse culture that is the attraction as it seems more “genuine“ to the world we live in.
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Shahril Dzulkifli
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| Posted: Fri 26 Jun, 2015 9:51 pm Post subject: First Viking Temple in 1,000 Years Coming to Iceland |
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The Ásatrú faith has been mentioned but briefly in an article on Iceland in the February 1987 edition of National Geographic, where a priest-turned-farmer chants a curse against nuclear weapons to protest NATO´s presence in Iceland at that time.
“You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength”
- Marcus Aurelius
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John Hardy
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| Posted: Sun 28 Jun, 2015 1:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Niels Just Rasmussen wrote: | I think it is important to note that some Scandinavian “Asatro“ followers are more “New Age“, than basing it on a ritualistic collective view of the world. Old Norse religion was not a belief system with dogmas, but a set of cultural norms and where the gift exchange between humans & humans and the supernatural were sacred.
What I mean with New Age is that the religious belief becomes a personal choice. It is often a saying NO to the current world, and you demonstrate it with changing dress and holding public rituals (an advertising element or subculture).
The old ways were above all tradition based and bringing the whole community together in sacrifice, no matter what you believed. So Danes still having a Yule party with the whole family and close friends is much more old ways, than going to blót with people from outside your local territory.
So the New Age version is (often) a subculture based on people, that has all as individuals taken the personal choice of their beliefs and meet together (which actually looks what early Christians did or people following mystery religions).
I have also met people that takes the old customs and worldview seriously, but does not in any way advertise it OR change their dress (but might wear a Thor's hammer secretly under their shirt).
So officially registration only takes into account the first group that officially change religion to “asatro“, and those who are not into this “New Age“ version are not registered in the statistics.
Many academics are secret about it (since they fear they will no longer be taken seriously), so this second group is undetected. At least according to this Danish article from 2005 (page 8-9): http://www.nbi.dk/~nygard/astro_universitetsavisen.pdf
Then you have a third group on unknown size. Farmers that might regard themselves as Christian, but still perform they old rituals as they have done for countless generations as they feel it's their duty or since it helped my ancestors I better continue. In a way they are the real deal. The Nordic ritual system has no problem incorporating Jesus into the Norse religion, if you still have a focus on ritual as the glue that keeps the world running (off course without the Christian regard for these things as demonic).
The old ways is also felt in the army, so the Defense Academy (Forsvarsakademiet) has even made an official “brief“ on Asatru and the Danish soldiers (Asatro og de danske soldater):
http://forsvaret.dk/FAK/Publikationer/Briefs/Documents/Asatro.pdf
No statistics has been conducted on the amount of soldiers attracted and following asatru , but the article says the number is rising.
In Iceland in 2007 a study showed that 54% of the population believed it's likely or probable that elves exists, yet 79% see themselves as Christians. So these things are not mutually exclusive in Scandinavia.
The belief in Elves is actually on the rise - since in 1974 it was only 48%.
Source (Danish): www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/kirke-tro/de-island...-og-trolde
The supernatural element is probably not there to the same degree in Denmark; it's more the Norse culture that is the attraction as it seems more “genuine“ to the world we live in. |
Along the lines of your comment about "the old ways" being on the rise in the Danish army, I recall a particularly stupid tempest in a teapot that resulted in a senior Norwegian combat commander losing his post due to the Norwegian battalion in Afghanistan using some of "the old ways" as part of their unit's "glue". I think it was almost a decade ago now that a YouTube video surfaced of the Norwegians preparing to go out on a combat operation, with their commander giving them a "we will return carrying our shields in triumph or being carried on them" style peptalk. It ended with the entire unit hoisting their weapons and roaring "Til Valhall" repeatedly before going out to kick Taliban butt clear back to the Stone Age (which they did).
The reason for the furore with questions raised in the Norwegian legislative assembly? A number of nitwits (including the lawmakers raising questions) felt this was all evidence of a improper strand of neo-nazi beliefs in the "unit culture" of the Longships Battalion -- because Valhalla is associated with the pagan German beliefs and rituals of the Nazi Waffen-SS!
(Nearly a decade later, my mind still boggles at that one -- Norse soldiers chanting ancient Norse battlecries are thereby proving themselves to be German Nazi sympathizers....)
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Niels Just Rasmussen
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| Posted: Mon 29 Jun, 2015 9:12 am Post subject: |
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| John Hardy wrote: |
Along the lines of your comment about "the old ways" being on the rise in the Danish army, I recall a particularly stupid tempest in a teapot that resulted in a senior Norwegian combat commander losing his post due to the Norwegian battalion in Afghanistan using some of "the old ways" as part of their unit's "glue". I think it was almost a decade ago now that a YouTube video surfaced of the Norwegians preparing to go out on a combat operation, with their commander giving them a "we will return carrying our shields in triumph or being carried on them" style peptalk. It ended with the entire unit hoisting their weapons and roaring "Til Valhall" repeatedly before going out to kick Taliban butt clear back to the Stone Age (which they did).
The reason for the furore with questions raised in the Norwegian legislative assembly? A number of nitwits (including the lawmakers raising questions) felt this was all evidence of a improper strand of neo-nazi beliefs in the "unit culture" of the Longships Battalion -- because Valhalla is associated with the pagan German beliefs and rituals of the Nazi Waffen-SS!
(Nearly a decade later, my mind still boggles at that one -- Norse soldiers chanting ancient Norse battlecries are thereby proving themselves to be German Nazi sympathizers....) |
Yeah it's very absurd since many of the non-communist resistance groups used Viking Symbolism in their fight against Nazism (the Nazis tried to highjack Norse Religion to their side, by making SS panzer Division Viking for instance).
The famous Danish resistance group "Holger Danske" (which included the "Flame and Citron" -> film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0920458/) is named after "Ogier de Danemarche" from the "chanson de geste" of France (first in the "Chanson de Roland").
Here is the sculpture of him at Kronborg Castle in Elsinore.
He will according to folk mythology awaken if Denmark is in dire need and lead us to victory against invaders!
He is a typically "sleeping hero" in religion science and obviously a Viking and a Christian Knight, which is a perfect fusion for later Danish society.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogier_the_Dane#/media/File:Holger_danske.jpg
Since Norse religion is totally un-dogmatic it is so far from any kind of Totalitarianism as you can possibly come.
Norse religion values individualism/boldness in both actions and thoughts, though ritual is a community thing you must observe to avoid Ragnarok. Not ideological against anyone. Anyone who wanted could join a viking band and often did [whether Irish, English, German, Frisian, Finnish, Sami, Baltic, Slavic].
Who did the Danish Vikings fight quite often: Saxons (later Franks). Who invades us in WW2 (Germans = Saxons). So being Viking is being Danish fighting German invaders, yet again.
The is the start of the Danish Royal Anthem about Christian IV, Admiral Niels Juel and Vice-Admiral Peder Wessel, Thundershield (actually Norwegian) and used every time the Monarch is present (today the Queen). The "Goth" can be attributed to both Swedes and Germans (the archenemies): It is very martial and naval (you could call it viking style!)
1) King Christian stood by the lofty mast
In mist and smoke;
His sword was hammering so fast,
Through Gothic helm and brain it passed;
Then sank each hostile hulk and mast,
In mist and smoke.
"Fly!" shouted they, "fly, he who can!
Who braves of Denmark's Christian,
Who braves of Denmark's Christian.
In battle?"
2) Niels Juel gave heed to the tempest's roar,
Now is the hour!
He hoisted his blood-red flag once more,
And smote upon the foe full sore,
And shouted loud, through the tempest's roar,
"Now is the hour!"
"Fly!" shouted they, "for shelter fly!
Of Denmark's Juel who can defy,
Of Denmark's Juel who can defy,
The power?"
3) North Sea! a glimpse of Wessel rent
Thy murky sky!
Then champions to thine arms were sent;
Terror and Death glared where he went;
From the waves was heard a wail, that rent
Thy murky sky!
From Denmark thunders Tordenskiol',
Let each to Heaven commend his soul,
Let each to Heaven commend his soul,
And fly!
4) Path of the Dane to fame and might!
Dark-rolling wave!
Receive thy friend, who, scorning flight,
Goes to meet danger with despite,
Proudly as thou the tempest's might,
Dark-rolling wave!
And amid pleasures and alarms,
And war and victory, be thine arms,
And war and victory, be thine arms,
My grave!
This was the conservative inspiration to fight Nazism........For God, King and Country.
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Shahril Dzulkifli
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| Posted: Sun 23 Aug, 2015 7:28 am Post subject: First Viking Temple in 1,000 Years Coming to Iceland |
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I never knew that Nazi SS soldiers practice pagan rituals during WWII.
But here is the proof, I guess:
http://m.spiegel.de/international/germany/a-687435.html
“You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength”
- Marcus Aurelius
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