Forwarded from Survive the Jive: All-feed
Picts were not brown.
Picts were not trannies.
This does not help you learn about Picts
Picts were not trannies.
This does not help you learn about Picts
We just had our first patch of light snow come in over night last night with most of it melting away through the day. Winter is truly here and the hearth is roaring.
The winter is always welcoming to the swans of Ygg. Here they choose to rest after a storm in our great oak tree dubbed "Old Hurler" for his throwing down of huge acorns each year. Pictured by my wife.
Forwarded from Stiðen Āc Heorð
Ræd sceal mon secgan, rune writan, leoþ gesingan, lofes gearnian.
One should speak counsel, write runes, sing poems, earn praise.
Old English maxim from the Book of Exeter.
One should speak counsel, write runes, sing poems, earn praise.
Old English maxim from the Book of Exeter.
Forwarded from Holles-Brauch
Holles-Brauch would like to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Now is the time to be thankful for the abundance we have, for family, kin and a beautiful homeland.
Our German and Dutch(PA German) forefathers would have held a similar celebration known as Erntedankfest around this time of year with the two harvest celebrations of Erntedankfest and Thanksgiving in competition with one another in early colonial America between the New Englanders and Pennsylvanian Germans.
Noting this history I also look at Thanksgiving/Erntedankfest as a time to recognize and be thankful for the tenacity and sheer grit our forefathers had that allowed their descendants to prosper in this new world. Without them this land would still be a savage continent with our bloodline ended by either being driven to the sea or at the hands of an Indians blade.
We must also be grateful for the Great Lady Holle and give her all thanks for bringing her children to this new land so that they may carve a new hemaat (homeland) for themselves after the wake of the destructive 30 years war.
A Drankopfer (drank offering / Toast) will be held in her honor today.
Happy Thanksgiving
Heilicher Erntedankfest
Heil Holle
Our German and Dutch(PA German) forefathers would have held a similar celebration known as Erntedankfest around this time of year with the two harvest celebrations of Erntedankfest and Thanksgiving in competition with one another in early colonial America between the New Englanders and Pennsylvanian Germans.
Noting this history I also look at Thanksgiving/Erntedankfest as a time to recognize and be thankful for the tenacity and sheer grit our forefathers had that allowed their descendants to prosper in this new world. Without them this land would still be a savage continent with our bloodline ended by either being driven to the sea or at the hands of an Indians blade.
We must also be grateful for the Great Lady Holle and give her all thanks for bringing her children to this new land so that they may carve a new hemaat (homeland) for themselves after the wake of the destructive 30 years war.
A Drankopfer (drank offering / Toast) will be held in her honor today.
Happy Thanksgiving
Heilicher Erntedankfest
Heil Holle
"I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing."
- Second Mate Stubb, Moby Dick
“I wish to make an end. Dísir are welcoming me home, the ones Óðinn has sent me from the hall of Herjan (Odin > Valhall). I shall gladly drink ale with the gods in the high seat; hopes of life are past; I’ll die laughing.”
- Krákumál
A bit off topic except there is something truly raw and pagan in the act of whaling. I don't like the idea of commercial whaling, but more the Primal hunt in such an extreme space and concerning extreme prey.
I'm reading Moby Dick and found some neat old pictures of whaling from a naturalist book in the early 1800s. There are also a couple other pictures of the topic.
I'm reading Moby Dick and found some neat old pictures of whaling from a naturalist book in the early 1800s. There are also a couple other pictures of the topic.
It's very interesting how the name Nick in general is used many times in Folklore to refer to "the Devil." It bears considering what is the significance of that name as opposed to other Odinic names?
There is the old "water demon" known as nykr in Old Norse and the name Hnikarr might suggest some lordship over such creatures.
There is the old "water demon" known as nykr in Old Norse and the name Hnikarr might suggest some lordship over such creatures.
Forwarded from Stiðen Āc Heorð
One of the figures who supposedly led the Wild Hunt was ‘Old Nick’. In English lore, Old Nick or Old Harry was said to be the devil. However I doubt this was the christian devil but a demonised heathen god, namely Woden. The church often referred to our gods as demons, the Old Saxon Baptismal Vow names Thunor, Woden and Seaxnot and their followers as devils.
The name Nick may well be connected to Woden’s name of Hnikarr. The name Harry has Norman origins but the English word harry comes from herġian meaning army and scholars including Rudolf Simek suggest this is connected to the (ein)herjar which included the followers of the Wild Hunt.
The name Nick may well be connected to Woden’s name of Hnikarr. The name Harry has Norman origins but the English word harry comes from herġian meaning army and scholars including Rudolf Simek suggest this is connected to the (ein)herjar which included the followers of the Wild Hunt.
"Real strength never impairs beauty or harmony, but it often bestows it; and in everything imposingly beautiful, strength has much to do with the magic."- Herman Melville discussing the elegance and power of the Sperm Whale's tail, Moby Dick
What a quote. It holds true to his meaning, regarding how often the beauty of a thing lies in its strength or at least is aided by it, but we can also see more in the thought. It is always strength which upholds beauty. In this age we can actively see what a lack of strength creates, or rather breeds in a sort of diabolical workshop where the weak and "misunderstood" mad scientist happily conceives all of his sickest and most base creations - those hideous and malevolent monsters which scorn all that is beautiful and strong for both of those things are always despised by the one that knows nothing of them in himself.
"ginn inna gráleik ok ferr með skolli"
"Deceit confirms ill will and e'er fares with the skulking fox"
- Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson, lausavísa
Forwarded from Stiðen Āc Heorð
Hāl Woden's Ravens, hāl Hyġe and Myne.
Some new Raven lino prints I've recently finished, as always they will be given away to friends and family.
Some new Raven lino prints I've recently finished, as always they will be given away to friends and family.
Dating Yule/Midwinter
I found an interesting excerpt concerning the dating of Midwinter (our Yuletide) from Rímbegla 1, as cited by Svante Janson in the work The Icelandic Calendar, which explains the reckoning of time for the Icelanders and is dated to somewhere around the 1100s.
It should first be noted that their calendar moved away from lunar reckoning and simply used calculations focusing on weeks to mark a year and adding extra days as needed (aukanætur). This is presumably because of the difficulty of marking the moon shifts that far North, but we aren't totally sure if that was the reason.
In Rímbegla 1, it states that
This means that Midwinter would fall either between January 9-15 in a regular period, or otherwise January 16-22 in the case of rímspillir, a period of calender correction.
What is most interesting is that this dating quite closely matches our lunar reckoning for the tide of Midwinter/Yule. The standard is that Yule generally falls somewhere around mid January on the first full moon after the first new moon after the winter solstice, but this means it can fall as early as about January 4 (although this is pushing it with the new moon falling butt up against the solstice), and as late as about February 1.
This makes a lot of sense when we consider an old rhyme from Scotland which runs,
Candlemass is Feb. 2 today which also marks a similar holiday for weatherlore called Groundhog day. Both have a means of reading how much longer winter has to last before we can start planting. If we mark the weather at Yuletide, I suspect that it would fit along with this lore as well (although we have to account for local variance).
I found an interesting excerpt concerning the dating of Midwinter (our Yuletide) from Rímbegla 1, as cited by Svante Janson in the work The Icelandic Calendar, which explains the reckoning of time for the Icelanders and is dated to somewhere around the 1100s.
It should first be noted that their calendar moved away from lunar reckoning and simply used calculations focusing on weeks to mark a year and adding extra days as needed (aukanætur). This is presumably because of the difficulty of marking the moon shifts that far North, but we aren't totally sure if that was the reason.
In Rímbegla 1, it states that
"There should always be one Wednedsay between Christmas and Midwinter, except in rímspillir, then there are two Wednesdays."*Christmas was marked to end with Epiphany on January 6th.
This means that Midwinter would fall either between January 9-15 in a regular period, or otherwise January 16-22 in the case of rímspillir, a period of calender correction.
What is most interesting is that this dating quite closely matches our lunar reckoning for the tide of Midwinter/Yule. The standard is that Yule generally falls somewhere around mid January on the first full moon after the first new moon after the winter solstice, but this means it can fall as early as about January 4 (although this is pushing it with the new moon falling butt up against the solstice), and as late as about February 1.
This makes a lot of sense when we consider an old rhyme from Scotland which runs,
"If Candlemas day be dry and fair,
The half o' winter's to come and mair; ¹
If Candlemas day be wet and foul,
The half o' winter gane ² at Yule."
¹ "more"
² "gone"
Candlemass is Feb. 2 today which also marks a similar holiday for weatherlore called Groundhog day. Both have a means of reading how much longer winter has to last before we can start planting. If we mark the weather at Yuletide, I suspect that it would fit along with this lore as well (although we have to account for local variance).