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Easter Island
Two anthropologists, Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo, from the University of Hawaii, are advancing a new theory about the collapse of society on Easter Island. It is in some ways complementary to what Jared Diamond previously suggested in his book Collapse.
Diagon Alley in Google Maps Street View
No giants on motorcycles to be found, but I think I spotted a Death Eater.
The Lost Colony of Roanoke
It’s still lost, apparently, but historian Eric Klingelhofer has proposed a new theory that suggests the colony split up to better survive whatever catastrophe befell it. Some of them, he says, may have relocated westward to the mouth of the Chowan River.
A clue uncovered in a long-forgotten, centuries-old map of the area called “La Virginea Pars”—drawn by the colony’s governor John White—kicked off a reexamination of the fate of the lost colonists. An artist and employee of explorer Sir Walter Raleigh, White was later appointed governor of the new lands; he was also the grandfather of Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the New World.
Two patches on the map made Brent Lane of the First Colony Foundation (the group behind the latest archaeological trip and a National Geographic grantee) in Durham, North Carolina, wonder if they might hide something beneath.
Scientists at the British Museum looked into the patches and discovered a tiny red-and-blue symbol. Could it have indicated a fort or a secret emergency location?
Christmas in the Reich
Matt Soniak has posted a fascinating article at Mental Floss about Christmas in Nazi Germany.
Wherever possible, in both public and private spheres, Christmas’ religious aspects were de-emphasized and replaced with nationalistic and pagan symbolism. “People’s Christmas trees,” were erected in many towns and cities with the traditional star topper replaced by swastikas, Germanic “sun wheels” or the Nordic “sig runes” used by the SS as their insignia.
These trees became the subject of numerous Christmas carols rewritten with no reference to Christ or religion, as well as the focal point of Christmas celebrations, events and activities organized by like the Hitler Youth, the League of German Women and the German Workers Front and the state. The Nazi Party organized massive celebrations across the country where the Hitler Youth reenacted solstice rituals and soldiers swore “oaths of fire” before huge bonfires. Joseph Goebbels often appeared at celebrations like this at the tree in Berlin, handing out presents to children like a jackbooted Santa Claus.
Santa, of course, still existed in Nazified form, as someone had to bring gifts to good National Socialist children. Instead of St. Nick in the red robe of a bishop, though, he came in the form of the Norse god Odin, riding around the planet on a white horse to announce the coming of the winter solstice. Presents were still exchanged among families, friends and co-worker, sometimes with a depraved twist: the special Yule lanterns that SS leader Heinrich Himmler handed out as gifts to his officers were made by the inmates at the Dachau concentration camp.
Bronze-Age Irish Kings Had a Very Responsible Position
If anything went wrong, they were held responsible:
Cashel Man suffered violent injuries to his back and a sword or axe wound on his arm, but this level of violence is not unusual for bog bodies. Keeper of Irish Antiquities, Eamonn Kelly, who has worked on all the major bog body finds, theorizes that the bog bodies died violent deaths as a form of sacrifice.
He explained to the BBC, “When an Irish king is inaugurated, he is inaugurated in a wedding to the goddess of the land. It is his role to ensure through his marriage to the goddess that the cattle will be protected from plague and the people will be protected from disease.”
He continues, “If these calamities should occur, the king will be held personally responsible. He will be replaced, he will pay the price, he will be sacrificed.”
(H/T: Celtic Myth Podshow)
Sunday Inspiration: Courage
I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
—Nelson Mandela
Elves and Ladies
Nils Blommér, Meadow Elves, 1850
Originally, the Old Norse term álfr may have connoted exclusively masculine beings. There must have been female members of this group, however. If Alaric Hall is right that vanr is synonymous with álfr (Elves in Anglo-Saxon England, 27, 36), then we can even propose the names of some of these females: the names of female vanir such as Freyja, Jörd, etc.
In Icelandic, a female álfr is called an álfkona. But there are also certain named beings that seem to correspond more directly to “elves” as they are generally understood.
Hall (Elves in Anglo-Saxon England, 29, 43) suggests that dísir and nornir were the female counterparts of álfar. You can decide for yourselves whether this means that dísir is simply the term for female álfar or that dísir and álfar are naturally paired entities, perhaps like nymphs and satyrs are paired in Greek mythology.
At any rate, Hall perceives a distinct group of goddess-like beings in Norse mythology that go by a number of names. He contends that dís (plural, dísir), norn (plural, nornir), and valkyrja (plural, valkyrjur) are partial synonyms with largely overlapping meaning. Of these three terms, dís is the most inclusive. Just as the Norse religion had the custom of álfablót, a votive offering to the álfar, there were also sacrifices to the dísir called dísablót.
Dísir (“ladies”) are female warrior-spirits who choose who will live or die on the battlefield—and often intervene to ensure their choices come to pass. Valkyrja (“chooser of the slain”) is a kenning or poetic nickname for dís.
The derivation of the word norn is uncertain. It may, however, come from a verb meaning “to twine,” a reference to these beings’ twining the thread of fate. Another possibility is to connect the word with a later Swedish word meaning “to communicate secretly.” This etymology evokes images of shadowy, mysterious entities that deal in secrets mortals rarely comprehend—until it is too late.
Scholars speak of “the three Norns,” but Old Norse sources never do. According to the Prose Edda, “there are yet more nornir, namely those who come to every man when he is born to shape his life.” The nornir are thus a close counterpart to the fae women of other cultures who take an interest in the destiny of human beings.
World’s Largest Gingerbread House
The community of Bryan, Texas has constructed a gingerbread house Guiness-certified as the largest in the world. The project is now being used as a tourist attraction to fund a new facility to for the trauma program at nearby St. Joseph Health System.
The 39,201.8-cubic-foot structure was built on the grounds of the Texas A&M Traditions Club. It is nearly 3,000 cubic feet larger than the previous record holder built in 2006 at the Mall of America in Minnesota.
Other than requiring a tarp to protect it from the elements, the only drawback is the bees: a cluster of about 2,000 bees has moved in to avail themselves of the free sugar.
The Elves of Scandinavia
Now it’s time to unpack more fully what Norse mythology can tell us about elves and related supernatural beings. Since the last Germanic culture to be Christianized was that of Scandinavia, the pagan practices of that region give us perhaps our best shot at piecing together the mythological world that gave us elves.
The “Good Guys”
The first thing to note, then, is that this culture gives us a basic vocabulary for identifying a number of different types of supernatural beings.
On the one hand are human-like beings that are generally well disposed to humans. In the Proto-Germanic language, these beings are called:
- Ansuz (plural, ansiwīz): “gods” or “life forces”
- Albiz (plural, albīz): “elves”
In Old Norse, ansiwīz are called aesir (singular, áss) and albīz are called álfar (singular, álfr). There is another Old Norse word that comes into play here, and that is vanir (singular, vanr).
In Norse mythology, there are two groups or tribes of gods, the aesir and the vanir. Vanr, however, is actually a fairly rare word in Old Norse. Nor does there seem to be a clear Proto-Germanic basis for this word, although some have suggested possibilities based on an even earlier parent language, Indo-European. Most of the time, the pairing is in fact presented as áss–álfr, not áss–vanr.
Based on this and other linguistic evidence, Alaric Hall (Elves in Anglo-Saxon England, 27, 36) raises the possibility that vanr and álfr were originally synonyms. If this is correct, then perhaps in the Proto-Germanic period, these two tribes of gods would have been called ansiwīz and albīz.
According to Norse mythology, these two tribes went to war in the far distant past. The war ended with a truce, the exchange of hostages, and a unified pantheon.
Aesir
In Old Norse, the word áss is often used of a god generally, without reference to his or her specific tribe. A female áss was an ásynja (plural, ásynjur). The most famous aesir are Odin, the king of the gods, and his son Thor, the god of thunder. Also in this group are Tyr, a war-god; Frigg, Odin’s wife; and many others.
In general, the aesir were, for lack of a better term, more “Olympian” in outlook. They valued order, masculinity, and power. With a few notable exceptions, they were closely connected with the themes of power and warfare.
Álfar
My main interest, however, is with the álfar (or vanir). In contrast with the aesir, these beings were more “chthonic” or earth-centered. They were generally associated chaos, fertility, femininity, and wealth. Again with some notable exceptions, they were more closely linked with the earth’s material and sensual gifts.
The most notable vanir were Freyr, the ruler of Álfheimr (“Elf-land”); his sister Freyja, the goddess of love and fertility; and Jörð, the earth-goddess.
In pagan times, álfar were offered sacrifices called álfablót. These sacrifices were conducted in late autumn, when the harvest was in and the animals were fattest. They were local observances mainly administered by the lady of the household. Other forms of entreating álfar, such as for healing of battle-wounds, were observed at any time of year.
The “Bad Guys”
There are also numerous monstrous beings that are generally opposed to humans and their interests. There are three important Proto-Germanic terms for these beings, each with a corresponding Old Norse term:
- Etunaz (plural, etunōz): “giants” (Old Norse, jötunn, jötnar)
- Dwergaz (plural, dwergōz): “dwarves” (Old Norse dvergr, dvergar)
- Thurisaz (plural, thurisōz): “ogres” (Old Norse thurs, thursar)
The Old Norse terms jötunn and thurs were often used synonymously. The “frost giants” that play an important role in the myths are, for example, technically “frost ogres” (hrimthursar). Furthermore, some jötnar are not “gigantic” at all, but human sized, and female jötnar are sometimes even described as beautiful creatures, desired as wives by both aesir and álfar.
“Giants” and “ogres” were creatures of the wild, lords of nature often possessing great magical powers. They were usually hostile toward gods, elves, and humans. But there are also times of truce between these “monsters” and the more human-like creatures. And, as I just said, some gods and elves even married female giants.
Finally, “dwarves” were crafty miners and metalsmiths, associated with both the underworld and death.
Tolkien’s Elves
The elves one encounters in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings draw heavily from Norse mythology: they are tall, beautiful, powerful, and strictly aligned alongside humans and against humanity’s monstrous foes.
It should be noted, however, that even humanity’s allies in Norse mythology are not necessarily safe to be around. Odin, the king of the gods, is a case in point. The “historical” Odin delighted in war both to feed the wolves and ravens that were his companions and to fill his hall, Valhalla, with heroes who would stand beside him at Ragnarök, the Norse “apocalypse.” He was, in fact, a ruthless and conniving wizard. The fact that the Norse placed him at the head of their pantheon should reminds us that the aesir and álfar/vanir play by their own rules, even if they are more kindly disposed to humans than, for example, the frost giants. They are good (for certain values of goodness), but they are not always safe.
All About Elves
Elves do not figure prominently in Children of Pride, although there are a couple of them in my planned sequel, The Devil’s Due. There is, however, reference to “elf-shot,” and a number of elfin extras, though none explicitly identified as such.
Elves and faeries go well together. In fact, they are essentially different names for the same sort of supernatural creature from the northern European sphere. For some time, they have also been wrapped up with the mythology of Christmas—the compatriots of Saint Nicholas (himself described as “a jolly old elf”) who make the toys he delivers to good little girls and boys on Christmas Eve.
But where do elves come from? As we’ll see, they were not always the diminutive toy-makers or shelf-sitting tricksters we’ve lately associated with the Christmas season. They were once a much-feared aspect of our ancestors’ lives. And before that, they were hailed and even worshiped as powerful protectors of humankind.
In the next few weeks, I’ll look a bit at the history of elf-lore. To do this, I’m afraid we’ll have to delve a bit into the field of linguistics.
So let’s begin at the beginning. Elves are products of Germanic (mainly Norse) mythology, just as the daoine sídhe are products of Celtic (mainly Gaelic) mythology. Both groups of beings were once worshiped as gods, but with the Christianization of their cultural regions, they became “demoted,” as it were, to lesser status.
Of the various Germanic cultures of the ancient and medieval worlds, we learn most about elves from the Norse: the people of medieval Scandinavia. (Norse is a Germanic language, closely related to German, Dutch, English, and several others). Eventually, the Norse language itself branched out into Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Faeroese, etc.) But before we turn there, let me first say a few brief words about the earliest conceptualizations of elves that may have been shared by all early Germanic peoples.
Before the Norse became Norse, their ancestors spoke a language from which all Germanic languages descended. Scholars call this language Proto-Germanic, and believe it was spoken from around 500 BC on in northern Europe. There are no written records of Proto-Germanic; scholars have reconstructed the language by comparing the various daughter languages and making educated guesses about how its grammar and vocabulary may have worked.
Little can be said with certainty about the culture or beliefs of Proto-Germanic-speakers. There are a few references in Latin sources to the Germanic tribes during the time of the Roman Empire, but by this time Proto-Germanic had already split into numerous language and culture groups that would shortly appear on the stage of history as the Vandals, Goths, Franks, Angles, Saxons, and others. They definitely believed in elves, however, because they had a word for such creatures—just as they had words for gods, giants, dwarves, and ogres.
In the next post, I’ll look at the elves as we first encounter them in the written traditions of Scandinavia. The point to make here, however, is that much of what we’ll discover about these Norse elves sheds light on how these beings were perceived in even earlier times.
Darrell J. Pursiful 