“It is worth bearing in mind certain differences that existed between the pagan religious situation as it existed in Iceland, and that which people had known in mainland Scandinavia, something underlined by the fact that the belief in the deeply rooted guardian spirit on Scandinavian farms (known in later times as the gardvord, rudningskarl, tomte, or nisse) does not seem to have come to Iceland with the settlers alongside the enduring beliefs in other environmentally related Scandinavian spirits such as alfar or natturuvaettir (elves), the mara (or nightmare), the marbendill (or merman), the nykrar (the nokker or kelpies) and the selfolk (seal people). This is related to the fact that the guardian spirit, or nisse, had very close links to the environment, more precisely the main farm gravemound (often stemming from the Bronze or early Iron Age). As noted earlier, later practices stress that these guardian spirits commonly received nutritional offerings at certain times of the year to guarantee their help in coming times. Interestingly enough, those Scandinavians who settled in Shetland and Orkney (islands already rich in ancient gravemounds) in the early Middle Ages seem to have continued this belief in the form of the protective ‘brownies’ or ‘haugbuar’. **** This excerpt is from Hof, Halls, Goðar and Dwarves: An Examination of Ritual Space in the Pagan Icelandic Hall - written by Terry Gunnell. It can be read at the link provided below: odroerirjournal/hof-halls-godar-and-dwarves-an-examination-of-ritual-space-in-the-pagan-icelandic-hall/ Artwork: John Bauer
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 20:00:01 +0000
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