Once again a shout-out to the grassroots heathen publication, Óðrœrir, who has recently released the greatly-anticipated 2nd volume. Lots more going on in here than in the previous volume, and hopefully that trend continues!

http://odroerirjournal.com/?p=335

Feel free to contact them at their email submissions@odroerirjournal.com if you would like to make a contribution or have questions.

Living as I do between the cities of Chicago and Kenosha, I have access to one of the world’s largest freshwater systems, the Great Lakes. There are also numerous ponds, lakes and rivers, many of which have established names and are natural to the area (meaning they weren’t built as reservoirs or water-retention sites for the suburbs). I live in a relatively very wet area. Recently I had the opportunity to visit St. Louis for a few days and got to visit the Mississippi River, and that’s when the differences between the rivers really struck me. Sure, they’re obviously different through their ecosystems, sizes, and locations, but there was something else about them as well. Like with people, one person can give off a different impression than another person, even if they look the same. For starters, the Mississippi really did feel like an old man, tired and worn; it was a bit depressing to see it actually, because I felt bad for it.

This is going to be a bit more personal of a post, and not entirely focused on Central Europe, as the title suggests. I’ve been interested in bodies of water lately because of how central they are to my region, and through that the folkloric and cultural depictions of them. Lately I’ve been wanting to do more to acknowledge them, outside of an ecological perspective; I wanted to understand them as beings, or understand the beings within them.

As far as local perspectives go, the best I can do is what the Great Lakes tribes have said (and made publicly available to non-Natives); particularly the Ho-chunk and the Potawatomi, since they were the most recent Native inhabitants of this area. Non-native perspectives tend to be that of the scientific persuasion, where water is simply a non-living resource that’s essential to life. Or the business persuasion, which ranges from tool to travelway to dumping place for waste. As you can probably tell, I don’t care much for the latter, and the former, while is useful for research purposes, is limited in scope. I have yet to find anything that suggests the immigrant populations developed their own perspectives on the local rivers; it is possible that some applied their “Old world” views initially, which I will touch upon later.

First off, the Ho-chunk “Waterspirits”, named Wakčéxi in the source I’m using (I’m not even going to try to pronounce that).

"Water Panther" from Wikipedia. You can see the characteristic long tail and horns/antlers described in recordings from Great Lakes and Midwestern tribes.

They seem to be beings that are mostly made OF water that living in rivers and other water-based dwellings. Their bodies are serpentine, although in other sources they are allegedly described as “water-panthers” by an old observation of a Potawatomi ritual. The cat-like and snake-like personifications make sense to me when taking into account how water moves as it flows. Both animal types and water have that “slinky” or curving look about them, yet can also lash out unexpectedly. These are beings that are unique to whatever river/lake system they live in, have different “ranks” or roles indicated by their colors, and can be neutral, harmful or benevolent to humans, depending on a variety of factors. It seems that they particularly like tobacco and the color red, if the stories are any indication.

A different interpretation of the "water panther", with the artist giving it more catlike features. Obtained from Cryptomundo.com.

Compare to different “species” of water spirits, the rusalki/rusalka, vodnik, hastrman, and the nix. From Russian, and Central European folklore, these are often depicted in humanoid form in modern times, but through their descriptions they have a variety of forms (as varied as their names, many of which were not listed) and may be able to shapeshift from one to another. In some tales they are actually human in origin, such as being the souls of girls who committed suicide through drowning (rusalka).

A female depiction of the rusalka; made by Boris Zabirokhin and obtained from http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/tales/images.html

They have been compared to mermaids and sirens of Greek mythology and modern folklore, for reasons of both personality and location (water sources). It has been said that millers and fishermen are usually in league with these “devils” (in modern folklore) because they are the people who’s profession forces them by or in water constantly. Naturally then they would be making offerings in order to go about their jobs without problems. However, sometimes the stories get a little crazy and end up suggesting that humans are drowned by millers and fishermen in order to make a sufficient offering for the water spirits. The image of the water spirits is not limited to the humanoid, however. European cultures have also associated mythological snakes and snake-like beasts (such as the Hungarian zomok) with swamps and rivers, making them water-spirits as well.

That is not to say that all depictions of water spirits are malevolent. Indeed, they can be quite helpful to humans, as depicted in the High German saga, the Nibelungenlied, with the Rhine river and Danube river water maidens. Numerous folktales also reveal a beneficial side to the water spirits, so long as the humans are respectful in return. That’s pretty much the lesson behind most folktales involving other beings, you leave them alone or hold up your end of the bargain, and you’ll survive just fine. Interestingly enough, in Polish and some other Slavic countries people will tie offerings on the trees to appease the water spirits, or give garlands and food, which is similar to how humans interact with the Ho-chunk water spirits.

So what does this mean? This means that the view of water-spirits on both sides of the pond seems to be that there are beings living IN the water, much like the fish or plants. It seems less like the river itself is alive, however that could be a European influence rather than something inherent to the Great Lakes tribes. There is also agreement that these beings can be interacted with in certain situations, and those interactions can be good or bad for a human.

As far as personal experiences go, I don’t go into the lakes and rivers around here, so I haven’t interacted as much as I would like. The heavy human presence due to urbanization also seems to “tame” the rivers, although not as much as the southern parts of the Mississippii. In Poland, Russia, and Slavicized areas of Central Europe they tend to have celebrations connected to rivers and lakes (and therefore the water-spirits) sometime in the Summer or late Spring (in parts of Russia it’s called “Rusalka Week” or Semik”, early June). The time of year when everything is most active, and it makes sense that the water-spirits would also be active at this point. I can imagine them hibernating or going into torpor in the winter like other beings. The Ho-chunk waterspirits apparently had festivals in their honor, but I have yet to find when that occurred.

An old illustration depicting the ribbons and garlands strung on the tree during Rusalka Week/Semik to appease the water spirits. Obtained from wikipedia.

For me, Summer is the time I interact with the water the most, as I am out in the preserves for work and there is no ice to block the water from me. That would be the time that I give offerings then, primarily food such as hard-boiled eggs (I didn’t realize that was something given to the Rusalki until reading the book linked below, I just guessed). I have never bought tobacco before, so I plan on doing a bit more research to obtain some good stuff before using that as an offering. However, food works in the meantime.

~~~~~~~

References

Richard L. Dieterle. “Waterspirits (Wakčéxi)”. Retrieved from http://www.hotcakencyclopedia.com/ho.Waterspirits.html

Linda J. Ivanits. (1989). Russian Folk Belief. Google Excerpt: http://books.google.com/books?id=-s36xYcqG1EC&pg=PA80&lpg=PA80&dq=rusalka+week+offerings&source=bl&ots=Y0ByQTEOrG&sig=UskqpXSbdr7VJA_bxw08kwckQvk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GPVxT86yJ4q8qgHl-rWVDA&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=rusalka%20week%20offerings&f=false

The Germanization of Early Medieval Christianity: A Sociohistorical Approach to Religious Transformation by James C. Russell (ISBN 0-19-510466-8)

If the title didn’t already clue you in on this, this is a very dense book (here’s the google book excerpt to demonstrate). Which makes sense, as this is an expansion of the author’s doctoral dissertation. However, this density, among other aspects, means that a book like this can be highly appreciated by some, and greatly disappointing to others. My review is from the perspective of someone who is interested in European history/culture for both personal hobby and pagan religion/culture purposes.

The main purpose of the book is to show how Christianity, and the European cultures (primarily German tribes in the case studies selected) influenced and changed each other. As the title suggests, the author is in support of the idea that Christianity was modified to suit the Germanic tribes (and Celtic tribes too, it was hard to tell them apart back then), rather than the people adopting the Christian belief systems as it was initially.

As mentioned by Dr. Russell, the book is divided into two parts, with the first being used to set up and explain the players in the game of Christian history. There is a lot of discussion on the early Christian church’s interactions with Greece, Rome, and the rest of the Mediterranean world, which is used as a model to compare to later interactions. The second half of the book zooms in on the efforts to spread Christianity above the Alps through the Roman empire, and focuses heavily on the Germanic tribes and later Germanic or Germanized states.

In the first 2 chapters, the author provides an overview and some definitions to initiate the set-up of his religious transformation model. He starts with contemporary instances where Christianity is trying to convert people through missionaries (such as in Africa and East Asia), and why they are not successful. He touches upon aspects of these cultures that share traits with the old tribes of Europe, primarily the Germanic ones. The main aspect he finds is that lack of any need that Christianity could serve to fill, as stable societies and clans tend to not want to give up the good life in order to be saved and taken away to another, unknown world.

This eventually leads into his discussion of Greece and Rome in Chapter 3, and the nature of world-rejecting (the belief that existence occurs beyond the world or state of being we see; this includes Christianity, Islam, Wicca, and Buddhism) vs. world-accepting religions (basically, what we see is what we get; this is present in lots of traditional pagan cultures). A brief history of Classical Greece and Rome is utilized to explain how they went from their (supposedly) original Indo-European culture to the Mediterranean types. This is important because this sets them up to accept Eastern mystery religions that included newly formed Christianity into its ranks (thanks to Alexander the Great). This also shows how the early Churches came to incorporate philosophies, such as Plato’s and Aristotle’s that was not mentioned in their scriptures.There is a lot of philosophical and religious terminology that is defined in this chapter.

He ends his focus on Greece and Rome in Chapter 4, after describing how the spread of the empires and increased urbanization ultimately destabilized the societies (and therefore their political religions) and allowed Christianity to take root as a viable option to non-mainstreamers, with its initial focus on being a brother/sisterhood catering to the poor of society.

Chapter 5 starts the second half of his dissertation, discussing Germanic culture in greater detail than in his 1st chapter (particularly the warrior, king and kinship traditions). He essentially describes the Germanic tribes at the time of the Roman empire (some of which stayed officially true up to the Middle Ages) and what obstacles the newly organized Church had to deal with in order to incorporate the tribes into their empire.

Chapter 6 and 7 go in chronological order from 376 A.D. to 754 A.D. and describe in detail how the Church leaders managed to modify their ideologies in order to bring the lords and kings of the pagan tribes to their side. Conflicts and dramas galore, enough to fuel soap operas for years to come. Even after baptism occurred, the majority of the population in Europe, according to Russell’s sources, didn’t know (and probably didn’t care) about Christian orthodoxy, they simply followed the cult* patterns that were enforced by law to appease the bishops. Much of the religious life ended up being a syncreticism of Christianity and their cultural religion with a very pagan base. There is quite a heavy focus on the Franks (Merovingian and Carolingian kings) due to their long association with the Church, and some mention of the Gothic tribes that once ringed the Roman empire can be found.

The main Germanic tribes acknowledged are those on the Continent (particularly Gaul), rather than the modern UK or Scandinavia, and very little referencing the Iberian peninsula outside of the Visigoths. This is an excellent book to help get at the heart of what it meant to be pagan vs. Christian, or to have a pagan worldview in the European sense (it would be rude to assume that other academically pagan cultures in the world had the same cultural values as the European tribes). The references are numerous and heavy, with the majority of sources drawing upon old texts, letters, and laws to give insight into how people thought at the time. The way Russell presents the evidence allows for flexibility in interpretation as well, which means that his personal bias does not rigidly control the texts. He is not trying to hide or twist anything that may undermine his own hypothesis. Since this is a history dissertation that focuses mainly on the shifts and uses of political and social power, this is not a book to pick up if you want details on traditions and customs of the people themselves. There are only brief references to festivals that serve as an example of how the Church culture changed through Germanic influence. The main reference is to the Catholic liturgy adopting the agricultural seasons (Winter, Summer) into their originally Roman-based list of holy days.

If you love European history and want to know how the Western world came to be, this is a book to add to your collection. If you are trying to reconstruct European religions/cultures, then this is definitely a must-have to your collection. If you don’t enjoy having modern assumptions of religion and culture be smashed, then this is not the book for you. There is no dancing around bushes in this book, and details that may make some uncomfortable are stated quite plainly. Personally, I love history AND breaking misconceptions, so this book is a win-win for me.

5 ivory-tower scholars out of 5

*I am using the academic and correct form of “cult” in this statement, not the Hollywood/Sensationalist media version that turns the stupidity of drunken teenagers into news headlines. Essentially, most every religious group is a cult or has cults and it is not a derogatory term.

Hello all, it’s hard to believe that it has already been half a year since my last post here, but I really was that busy. Thankfully my thesis is done and I can do a bit of personal stuff, like this blog.

Something that I have been wrestling with this past year is the title of this post, “Hungarian Paganism”, and the fight is far from over. People have been living in Central Europe since Neanderthal times, and the land has seen many tribes migrate through and/or settle on it over the ages. These people include at least some of my ancestors, as I have two known Great-grandparents that came from Hungary in the late 1800s/early 1900s. This includes a Budapest connection, which was a pretty colorful city back then.

So naturally, in my personal quest to form a “paganism” through my heritage, Hungary’s ancient past becomes relevant. The problem is the lack of English sources, as Hungarian does not translate as well as German does into English. On top of the fact that Hungarian myth and religion does not seem to excite a lot of scholars outside of Hungary itself, so as an American my options are extremely limited. What little I have found so far, I have to be wary of, in case it’s just 19th century Romanticism and other modern bullcrap that is made to fill in the holes.

Life is just so difficult sometimes.

Frustrating aspects aside, I’m slowly piecing together some sort of cosmology, deity list, and ideas of customs. There are things from English and a few Hungarian sources that are repeated often, and can be seen in collected folklore. One idea is the concept of a Tree of Life or a World Tree, which is depicted in various ways in folklore. Often it is a gigantic tree that seem to grow up into the heavens and carries the houses and special horses of various beings in the branches. These include the Sun, Moon, witches, dragons, trapped princesses, and stopping points for the táltos or tátos (a term that is roughly translated into English as “shaman”, because the role shares some characteristics with Mongolian shamans…however, “shaman” is misleading, so I will continue to use the Hungarian term instead). The tree may also have the Turul falcon roosting at the top, alongside the Sun and Moon being carried in the branches (rather than living in houses). Supposedly the world tree is divided into 3 sections or worlds, which is basically Upper world/Heaven, Middle World/Earth’s surface, and Underwold/Hell (Heaven and Hell are mentioned because the tree has been incorporated into folk Christianity over time). The entire tree is said to grow out of the skull of a horse or a deer (Wikipedia says a reindeer, which doesn’t make much sense given the geographic location of Reindeer).

I’ve seen this World Tree concept be used as a bit of evidence for the Magyar-FinnoUgric connection theory in linguistics, because those cultures also seem to have a World Tree concept. I’m no professional in either linguistics or ancient history, so I don’t know how sturdy this theory is, but the tree does look similar to concepts usually seen in Central Asia.

This link has a translation and scanned images of some information about “Hungarian Shamanism” made in the 1800s, so it is necessary to keep a bag of salt nearby. However, there are some interesting details about the World tree and the táltos there. They have been recorded to exist up to the 20th century (and if any legit ones still exist today or realize what they are, I highly doubt they would mention it to anyone).

Deities/honored beings are a tougher area to figure out. So far the most commonly mentioned one, and the one that still maintains some relevancy to contemporary Hungary under a Catholic guise, is Boldogasszony. Apparently that name is really a title grouping 7 individuals together, and the mother of them all is called Nagy Boldogasszony. The roles ascribed to her, or them, includes common “Mother Goddess” ideas such as fertility (of family and land) and agriculture (which is basically another form of fertility concerns). She also seems to play a part in enforcing social taboos against women, such as what days to wash clothing on. Interestingly, that day is Tuesday, which is also a day linked to a being enforcing social taboos in German, Austrian, Polish, and other countries’ folklore. In a most creative fashion, these beings are called “Tuesday women”. Just something about Tuesdays I suppose, not sure why that is.

Nowadays [Nagy] Boldogasszony is another Virgin Mary, acting as the Queen of Hungary. It is unclear if this means that Mary corresponds greatly to traits that Boldogasszony already had back then, or if it is a superficial correspondence made through the two of them being (relatively) big deals in their respective cultures.

It is possible that the people of legend, such as Emeshe and Nimrod, were not humans at all but were actually the names of old deities or highly powerful ancestors. Nimrod in particular, since his name seems to suggest being a wind or storm person, but I have little evidence to support such a thing. There is a linguistics argument for Emeshe to be a reference to the magical stag of legend, as the stag is actually a horned doe in Hungarian origin stories. So perhaps a representation of another deity that once had an animalistic form, maybe like the Turul? I realize that’s grasping at straws though, given how difficult it is to understand how people viewed the world back then.

I am also not sure if the Sun and Moon would be considered deities in their own right, or just be some balls that move around in the sky. Personification does occur in folklore, but lots of things get personified in that without any deeper meaning behind the act.

The most frustrating deity discovery by far is that of Xatel-Ekwa, supposedly a sun goddess that travels across a sky by being pulled by horses. I cannot find a single scrap of information on such a being that is not a copy-pasted one-liner on personal websites. Though the horse thing I can believe, as horses were quite a big deal to the old nomads. Their economic importance is reflected in art and stories, and they may have been used in major sacrificial rites at one point. As much as filling in the blanks using cross-cultural analysis is a tricky thing to do, the prominence of horses in the lives of humans all over Eurasia (and eventually, all over the world) suggests to me that divine uses or origins of horses in Hungarian culture is not improbable.

Finally, there is a suggestion, through linguistics, that Ördög, the Devil in contemporary usage, was once a sort of underworld or death deity. Not much on that unfortunately, I don’t think there is much in the way of folklore or old texts to suggest such a thing.

Now, regarding old Hungarian/Magyar customs, I did find a few so far that seemed to have a unique purpose (i.e. not something built with later Westernized Christianity’s influence). As I mentioned before, Boldogasszony is considered to be the Virgin Mary, and so she’s taken on the church’s holidays for Mary as well. This includes a day in May (often considered Mary’s Month, as one of her titles is the Queen of May in association with the springtime), where the English translation means “fruit-grafting”. This is May 25th, a little later than the Catholic holiday for Mary that occurs in Chicago but still close. What we do here is a May crowning ceremony during the first week of May, and the specific date changes slightly each year. People would bring flowers and rosaries to be blessed, and this time of year is when planting for most food crops could occur (winter lasts until April around here). This probably isn’t unique to the city though, but I digress.

Back to holidays, there seems to be another holiday in Boldogasszony’s honor on December 26th, for families. This I find interesting, because within Germanic heathenry there is a practice called “Mothernight” (various spellings) that typically occurs on December 24th. This comes from Bede’s 8th century account of the pagans he lived with in what is now known as the UK. Many Germanic reconstructionists have adopted this practice, and it may have existed near Central Europe before Christinization occurred. So I wonder if this is one of many Germanic influences on the Magyars over time, or if it existed independently. I cannot say. I personally like the idea though, as that time of year seems to be heavily associated with ghosts and scary beasties (a la’ Wild Hunt stories).

In one origin legend, where the sons Hunor and Magor (founding fathers of the Huns and Magyars, respectively) chased the magical horned doe, they happened upon a group of women dancing in celebration of some sort of holiday. It is said that this was in celebration of the magical doe, but I’m sad to say that the date is completely unknown. This has piqued my interest though, and I will not stop searching out for this possible custom (mainly because I have a personal fondness for deer, having had many interesting interactions with our White-tailed deer when out in the fields).

That’s about it so far. If you have kept up with my ramblings then you definitely deserve a cookie. Since this is a recent attempt looking at only Hungarian/Magyar sources, I may be more fruitful later one with including other known ethnicities that may have contributed to Hungarian culture. Those like the Scythians, for one, as according to Heterodous they had a settlement in Central Europe. In addition, the Scythian stag from archeological remains found in Hungary also points to a cultural contribution (and perhaps a genetic one as well). There are also a number of journal articles regarding Hungarian culture that I have sitting around in my room unread, and there might be tidbits of info in them

I have hope that a sort of Hungarian paganism can be dug up and explored, however. It’s just a matter of being patient. There’s many sources to look into of course, but it’s the separation of Christian and outside influences from the “native” paganism (as native as possible at least) that takes a long time to do.

~~~~~~~

References

“Hungarian Myth and Legend”  http://users.cwnet.com/millenia/legend.htm

“Orkneyjar- Helya’s Night” http://www.orkneyjar.com/tradition/yule/yule3.htm

I am a horrible blogger, aren’t I. So much for upholding the “post once a week” goal (and I keep ignoring that series I started earlier), but I guess that goes with the territory of being a bio major. If everything goes as planned and I get into one of my choice grad schools, it’s going to be even harder to get any free time due to the nature of my fields (arachnology- hence my username, and ecology).

But it’s not like I’m giving up this blog completely, as I do love history and culture (I’m so well-rounded person ). It’ll just continue to be sparsely populated with posts for a while.

Now on to today’s little topic before I potentially disappear for the next 4 months…

~~~~~~~

Archeology!

Or a couple of key pieces from or near Austria and Hungary at least, for now. Hey, at least it’s not dead people again, though that’ll sure to be a topic soon once I get my hands on Eva Pocs “Between the Living and the Dead”. But I digress.

While I haven’t been able to confirm much of it for my personal satisfaction, the Hallstatt dig site located near Hallstatt, Austria is popularly considered to be a homeland of sorts for the Celts or proto-Celtic people. As a result, a lot of these following sculptures are considered to be Celtic art.

One of my favorites is the Strettweg cult wagon, found near Strettweg, Austria and dated to be from the 7th century BCE.

Strettweg Wagon, image (C) Britannica Online Encyclopedia

The sculpture consists of a central female figure holding the plate that’s further supported by rope-like sticks, with the smaller figures being women and soldier-like men holding shields, horses, and a fully-antlered stag at each end, all situated in an almost symmetrical fashion on top of a flat wagon. It is assumed that the top plate is meant to carry larger objects, such as a jar, though the exact use is not certain. My guess is that offerings and the dead (as ashes in an urn) were the objects that sat on the plate.

The reason why I love this is that, A) the woman literally takes center stage, B) wagon-cults are interesting in general, and c) Stags. Anyone familiar with folklore and symbols of Austria and Hungary should know that the stag appears rather often, and in what I would consider to be prominent positions. I take the appearance of such animals on the sculpture to support the idea that they were important to my ancestors as a symbol. Same with the horse and the shields, they fit the idea of wandering, warrior-like people that goes with being steppe nomads and herdsmen of cattle. That, and I just find this one to be the most aesthetically pleasing out of all the wagon-cult objects due to the detail.

The next one is less fancy, but contains the bird-head detail (seems to be waterfowl in specific) that seems to be typical of the era and location: The bird wagon.

Urnfield Bird Wagon, Image (C) Ninomiya

Both the Urnfield and the Halstatt cultures/eras had examples of wagons and urn-wagons with birds decorating them. Why the birds are there are speculative at best. Since most of them seem to be waterfowl (because of the broad, flat beaks), there may be associations with lakes, marshes and bogs, which could have been a site for various traditions. Bodies or ashes could have been dumped in them similar to the later (and further north) bog mummies that were discovered in Denmark. Maybe they were  symbols of a nameless deity (or to many deities) that was important to people during those times. Perhaps, because of their ability to fly, they were somehow messengers, being able to travel to places that humans can’t. Having them as part of the wagon’s decor could then symbolize the travel of whatever the wagon carried to its intended target. I’m sure scholars have come up with more concrete and better-supported ideas, and I intend to find those, but that’ll have to wait until I manage to get my hands on some more obscure and expensive books later on. One of those is Wagons and Wagon-Graves of the Early Iron Age in Central Europe by Christopher Pare.

thejei.org has provided additional drawings and a photo of other bird wagons found all over Central Europe.

Late Bronze Age cult vehicles. A: 1, Milavec, Bohemia; 2, Acholshausen, Bavaria; 3, Orastie, Romania; 4, Burg-im-Spreewald, Brandenburg. Adapted from Piggott (1983) and Muller-Karpe (1980). Not to scale. B: Dupljaja, Serbia. Inv. No. 4533. Photo: the National Museum in Belgrade. (Image and Text (C) www.thejei.org)

I’ve only recently started to become interested in these cult wagons after learning about some heathens trying to bring back the practice of wagon processions as a means to honor the god of the occasion. Some inspiration came from Tacitus’s description of Nerthus being pulled around by wagon in his Germania, though Nerthus is not the only deity to be receive this treatment by contemporary groups.

Like with many aspects of pre-Christian European life, the use of the wagon in apparently religious ways was likely because of its importance in the “mundane” lives of people. It provided a practical way to carry items around for long distances, so it’s not too much of a leap for that travel aspect to be used symbolically as well.

More to come later. Someday, much much later, hopefully with better references.

~~~~~~~

References

Ninomiya, M. (1998). Wagons in Hallstatt Period: Its Technology and Use. http://www.unc.edu/celtic/catalogue/chariots/index.html#Strettweg (click on images for description)

I’m going to step aside from my personal business for a moment to make a shout-out for a promising new publication made by recons that have been instrumental in my own research:  Óðrœrir, at http://odroerirjournal.com/

A heathen publication that focuses on the reconstruction of historical cultures, Óðrœrir is made to be by heathens for heathens, but also offers up pieces of literary meat for the non-heathen that wants to know more about their ancestors. The first issue touches on a variety of topics that go beyond the “typical” Viking Iceland stereotype, such as “Frankish Heathenry” and “Women in Heathenry”. There are also articles explaining what the authors mean by the terms “reconstructionism” and “heathen”, which shows readers what to expect in later issues.

Each article has a bibliography, some of which take up a page even (which I love, the more the merrier!), and there are book reviews at the end. True to their word of being by heathens, there are also works of art, photos, and comics scattered throughout the text. There is a hope to get additional literary works added in future issues, such as heathen poetry and fiction, and additional sections for things such as heathen businesses and crafts.

Keep an eye out for the next issues, and feel free to contact them at their email submissions@odroerirjournal.com if you would like to make a contribution or have questions.

I’ve been thinking of adding book reviews to this blog for a while, as there’s a lot of reading involved in this search. The following review is pretty much just my opinion, as I do not have any degrees or similar pieces of paper to suggest that I’m an expert reviewer.

~~~~~~~

The Return of the Dead: Ghosts, Ancestors, and the Transparent Veil of the Pagan Mind by Claude Lecouteux (ISBN 1-59477-318-1)

The title of the book is a bit misleading. This is not a book that focuses on the “pagan” mind, but instead is almost exclusively focused on Germanic literature, traditions and folklore from the Viking era to the Middle Ages. Geographically, that means modern-day Scandinavia, Iceland, UK, and Northern-Middle Germany. Scattered throughout the book are bits and pieces of other locations and cultures, such as Ireland, Hungary, Bavaria, and France as comparisons to Germanic traditions. Something different from the usually Greek (and to a lesser extent, Roman), and Egyptian focuses on pagan concepts of death and the dead.

There are 12 chapters organized into 4 parts. Part I sets you up with an introduction to the Germanic view of death by first looking at the (mostly Christian) concepts that still exist today, and going back in time to where the syncretism originated. Part II goes into detail on the dead themselves, and going over the different folkloric forms the dead have taken. While doing this, he analyzes what is modern and/or Christian, vs. what was typical to the heathens. That’s why Part II is divided into the “True Revenants” and “False Revenants” chapters for comparison.

Part III takes what was discussed in Part II and analyzes the placement of the dead in the world. The concept of an afterlife (or the lack thereof), hauntings, souls, and the spirits/gods that are associated with all that are discussed here. Near the end of Part III the author starts segwaying back to modern-day via noting the changes the dead take on over time. He goes through the decline of ancestor worship and changes in the importance that the dead take in the lives of the living via the change in attitudes shown in the lore.

For a book with 229 pages of content, it is packed with sources. Unfortunately, some of them only get a vague sentence of reference, and the quoted sections are only a paragraph or two at the most of whichever saga or legend he translated to show a point. This is not a book to get if you’re looking for the stories and traditions themselves, nor is it going to sit well with you if you expect every argument the author makes to be with solid support. Additionally, most of the sources in the bibliography are not in English, so it will be difficult for some to access them for further information.

That’s not to say he does a bad job of backing himself up however. It’s one of those books that has different chapters supporting each other and intertwining. The author also assumes you’ve read the preceding chapters, because he builds upon each one with the next. It’s a book best read in order rather than flipping around.

Now the quality of the book really depends on your reading level, scholarly background, and your interest for obtaining this book to begin with. I’m used to (and prefer) reading dry, dense, academic books, and I already had a basic understanding of the lore beforehand, so this was not a difficult book to read. For those that are only used to the metaphysical section of the bookstore, or for those that hated history class in high school, are going to have problems. I’m also able to see where he is coming from when he presents his interpretations without direct citation and he’s often spot-on (though obviously don’t take my word on it).

My gripes with the book are minor and come from being a heathen that uses historical sources for her information and inspiration. He speaks from the modern, Christian-influenced worldview, so he sometimes slips into that during interpretating and labeling. That mostly shows up in the afterlife and soul sections, and it’s subtle, so for most other readers this is not going to be noticeable. He’s not necessarily WRONG, I feel that he is just not clear enough in his definitions of the afterlife, other realms, souls and spirits. He uses those terms in reference to heathen concepts, when they are words heavily associated with Christian ideas, so some readers may be mislead.

For example, he regularly translates the “landvaetter” (or land wights in english) as tutelary spirits or genius loci, which suggests a non-corporeal, supernatural, otherworldly form. From a modern perspective, that’s not a problem, but from an ancient, heathen perspective, that doesn’t fit. A landvaetter could be the tree, the bird in the tree, or even a human buried on that land. A corporeal being that can be touched, seen, and heard, in other words. The “other worlds” are not some far off place in the sky or space, or located in another dimension, they are here on Earth. For the Miyazaki fans out there, “Princess Mononoke” illustrates that perfectly. The guardian of the forest is not a ghostly spirit, it’s a solid being that can live and die, that resides in a physical forest on the Earth.

Otherwise, I enjoyed reading this. The style of writing is conversational (and you can’t even tell that it was translated from French), so it’s accessible to those that aren’t academia-oriented, and it also keeps the text from feeling dry. There is also no religious agenda or orientations to the text, it’s purely focused on intellectual understanding. From a historical perspective, this book offers a good introduction to the culture of death and provides a means in understanding why the heathens behaved and believed the way they did. There is a lack of accessible books that allow the reader to get into the old worldview, and “The Return of the Dead” is helpful for that (despite my earlier complaints).

For those that are looking at this book from a Neopagan perspective (rather than a historical/cultural interest), this can be both rich in material to work with, and disappointing. The gods don’t really care about you unless you’re a king or hero, there’s no peaceful or magnificent heaven-like realm to go to, Nature is not considered a peaceful, pretty place, and there’s little reincarnation occurring. That is what the book reveals about the heathen minds of old. For those that aren’t bothered, the stories and interpretations can lend a unique perspective on the “dark half of the year” (as that’s when the dead are most active, especially around Yule) and the idea of ancestor worship.

Reconstructionists, especially seasoned ones, aren’t going to get anything new out of this though. Those that are testing the water in the recon pool, however, may find this book a good place to start. The ancestors and the dead were a big part of the European’s (and much of the world’s) old worldviews, and had remained so for quite some time after Christianization. Up to the 18th and 19th centuries even in some places.

4 zombies out of 5.

I found a possible new resource to use for information: youtube. These two videos below are wonderful to watch for those interested in Hungarian legends and tales (with the timeline referring to what’s generally understood about the history of the Magyars).

The narrator is speaking Hungarian, but you should be able to follow the animation well enough to get the idea. At the very least, the animation and music is beautiful, and I look forward to when the account puts up the 3rd video in the series.

I’m not very good at staying on schedule am I…oh well, Part II will come soon enough but I want to talk about something else real quick. This has been on my mind recently for art; nothing like digging into folklore to find inspiration.

~~~~~~~

Meet the Turul, one of the more prominent symbols and legends of Hungary as both a cultural and political entity:

Replica of a 9th century Magyar disk depicting Turul holding two small birds (meaning unknown)

While often shown in stylized representations, the real-life counterpart seems to be a falcon. In my hungarian source in the references, the specific species seems to be the Saker falcon, but in other sources the term Turul seems to refer to cognates that mean vulture, hawk, or eagle. But still, it is some sort of raptor overall, and those in general are known to be symbols of sovereignty in many countries, which does show up in Turul legends. There are two main stories that are repeated in a couple of my sources regarding the importance of Turul in establishing the Magyar people. The first regards the king’s birth.

Emese and Turul, Text and Image (c) Hunmagyar.org

A Hungarian legend tells the story of Emese, wife of Ügyek the descendant of Atilla, who once had a dream in which a Turul appeared to her. In this dream, a crystal-clear stream started to flow from her, and as it moved Westward, it grew into a mighty river. This dream represented her symbolic impregnation by the Turul, and meant that she would give birth to a line of great rulers. Emese later gave birth to Álmos, who was the father of Árpád, the great leader of the Magyars and founder of Hungary.   

The second story is chronologically later, after Magyars are already established, though the source for it is in Hungarian and google translate isn’t accurate enough to quote it. Basically, the Magyar tribe’s horses are being attacked by eagles, and the people try to drive the eagles away in vain. Up comes the Turul falcon to save the day by killing one eagle and scaring the rest off for good. The attack by the eagles was taken as a sign that the people hand to move elsewhere, and so the Turul lead them to what is now Hungary. Basically, this is a legend that says “hey, this land really does belong to us”, meaning the Pannonian plains.

So the turul is both an ancestor (to the Magyars and Huns apparently, since Turul is also Attila’s ancestor) and a guide to his descendents. Even today, in heavily Christianized Hungary, it is still a prominent symbol, as well as a source of pride and inspiration, as shown in this modern artist’s interpretation.

Turul by Isaszegen, a Hungarian folk artist. Turul is depicted carrying a shield with the stripes of Árpád and holding the moon and sun on his shoulders.

He’s said to be the messenger and symbol of the god of the Magyars, but I’ve yet to find a name, description or depiction. Later on the Turul becomes Christianized by being a messenger of the Christian God, delivering a divine sword to Attila the Hun. Personally, I have speculations that the Turul itself is the old Hungarian god, or is at least one of his forms, rather than just being an animal messenger. Of course there’s no way I can back that up so don’t take it too seriously.

One more speculation is that the Turul, in the assumption that it is a falcon-like bird that was really a significant part of the Huns’ culture, has connections to falconry. In a quick check on the history of the sport it seems that what scanty resources there are points to an origin in Central Asia, which is also the general origin of the Huns. It wouldn’t be too hard to link the scouting behavior of a living falcon with the guide-like behavior of the second Turul story.

The Turul has personal significance for me beyond the ancestral one. I’m no linguist, but according to what Wikipedia and the Hungarian source it links to, the term “turul” derives from a Turkic word meaning Peregrine Falcon. I’ve had several close encounters (I mean literally close, as in, only an arm’s distance away from my face) with the peregrine kind while walking home from school. They zoomed right in front of my face and gave a quick display of their awesome acrobatic abilities. I’ve never been so close to such an amazing animal before in the wild, and I’ve had a soft spot for falcons ever since. What’s ironic is that I want to get into parrot rescue, and apparently parrots are most closely related to the falcon family.

~~~~~~~

References

http://www.hunmagyar.org/main.html, Hungarian Culture and History

http://www.kiszely.hu/istvan_dr/024.html, Kiszely István: A magyar nép Őstörténete (google translate from Hungarian to English)

http://www.magyarikon.hu/kepek.html, Isaszegen’s art which includes his depictions of the Turul

http://www.stavacademy.co.uk/mimir/turulhawk.htm, The Legend of the Turul Hawk by Fred Hamori

http://www.i-a-f.org/history.html, A Brief History of Falconry

Ok, so I lied. I ended up posting later than I thought…finals wiped me out and I wanted to rest a while before going back to scholarly reading. This will be a multi-part topic because it’s rather expansive even with just a few sources and leaves a lot of room for interpretation, which I want to play with. Consider the following as an introduction to the topic, as I will be expanding on details over time.

~~~~~~~

As a trinket collector, I find amulets and the vast array of designs and meanings attached to them to be fascinating, even if they make no sense at first. Often there’s several layers of meaning attached to a single object, depending on location and personal perspectives (or agendas).

They can be roughly divided into several categories: Protection, Fertility, Removal and Luck. Protection amulets and charms are pretty widespread in their aims, as peasant life was riddled with problems. Protection of the fields/crops, home, and self against maleficent beings (disease, witches, devils and sorcerers) was key to survival. Fertility charms were less varied, as the main focus was to attract a mate and have babies. Both men and women used these, but literature tends to focus on the women’s perspectives for some reason. Occasionally, a fertility charm or amulet would  be used on the livestock and crops as well. Removal refers to the removing of disease and unwanted beings from the body or from a location. Finally, there’s the well-known “good luck charm” that was used in the past too. None of these categories are mutually exclusive though.

There is no “Religious” category because many of the religious items (such as crucifixes and holy water) were used as magical tools in non-religious ways by people (as in, ways not supported by official Church authorities).

One such religious item that was used for folk purposes was the Caravaca cross, which originated in Spain and was introduced into Bavaria in the 1600s. There, they were put underneath the homes and fields, or on top of steeples as protection against lightening. This is essentially a Christian replacement of the Hammer, Ax, and 6-petal Flower (or 6 spoke wheel) symbols also associated with thunder and lightening in many places in Europe.

From the top-left: Caravaca cross, 6-petal flower, modern rendition of Perun's ax (symbolic axes are also found in parts of the UK). From the bottom-left, 6-spoke "wheel", Perun's "snowflake", and a modern rendition of Thor/Donar's hammer.

Reason being is that storms were a big deal, a double-edged sword that people both welcomed and feared. Storms bring rain and lightening, both of which are beneficial to plants such as crops, but they also can bring damage in the form of floods, hail, and fire (and nowadays, vital electrical systems can go down as well). Naturally, people want the beneficial aspects to go to their crops and rivers while keeping the disastrous aspects away from their homes and stables, hence the protection symbols put on or near the buildings. The cross as a protection against thunder was explained earlier, but I have not found a satisfactory hypothesis on why the circular symbols were used. The ax and hammer use is probably due to how they sound when they hit their target, as well as the sparks that occur from metal hitting metal or stone.

Protection of themselves and their livestock against the Evil Eye, witches* and devils were also vital, as it was a common belief back then that disease or physiological issues were due to a malicious being taking their strength away.  This forms the plot of a great many folktales, though it’s hard to tell how serious the tales are meant to be (probably not too serious for some). One interesting example is the use of the first red egg laid in Spring being buried in the field before St. George’s Day (23rd of April in the West, 6th of May in the East), or the placing of the egg in a prominent location in the house. This was thought to increase productivity of the farm and prevent disease and natural disasters. Another is the Breverl, which is often hung around the neck, on a rosary, or the Fraiskette (a red string to which many amulets were hung in order to prevent different kinds of ‘fevers’ and epilepsy).

Breverl. From the left, a closed breverl and two open ones revealing the miniature icons and a shrine-like center.

Fertility charms are also varied, but their focus mainly is to gain a good mate and have a productive family (i.e. lots of healthy babies). In a world where babies can easily die, and many hands are needed to keep a farm running, getting a productive husband or wife could mean the difference between life and death. Especially the wife, as she needed to have a strong body to birth babies and run the household. Where there is a need, there is a magical tool to fulfill that need.

One example was the use of a small glass bottle (called Geburtsfläschchen) filled with gold lace and tiny relics for the expectant mother. She would hold it in her left hand for a boy, and her right for a girl. Hastening childbirth was also very important, as the longer the labor went on, the more complications occurred. Malachite and clay imitations painted green were used in this fashion (either on their own or embedded into crosses), as well as hematite to help with bleeding. A cap called Fraisenhäubchem, similar to a skullcap, was also placed on a woman in labor for safety. These illustrate why fertility and protection items go hand in hand.

Male fertility charms aren’t as numerous in my current resources, but I’m sure Géza Róheim has plenty to say about that. After all, he is a Freudian psychologist, and those are always fun to read.

Removal items tended to focus on those already sick or in pain, such as the use of the bewitching dolls (rontóbábu) found all over Hungary.

Bewitching Doll (Rontóbábu), from Néprajzi Múzeum, Budapest

They differ in number, sometimes there’s 9 and sometimes there’s 13, and sometimes they’re called the Daughters of Herod, but the purpose is similar. Sticks clothed in rags become the “dolls”, and then they are circled over or rubbed onto the affected area. Then, once they are believed to have absorbed the disease, they are discarded via throwing away. A similar idea occurred with the act of rubbing strips of rags onto the diseased person, then tying those rags to tree branches. The wind is thought to carry the disease away. Water is also used for this purpose, since it was thought to wash away disease.

And then there are lucky items, which seem to be the most personalized form of amulets and charms, as something that is considered lucky tends to be up to the individual and certain circumstances, not just something derived from their culture. Strangely shaped stones and crystals that were found were sometimes kept for this purpose, on top of their use for various ailments and protection purposes. Coins were also used, in order to become lucky and attract money. Like attracts like in this case.

This is, by no means, the end of my exploration into this subject. Stay tuned for Part II: Rituals.

*I’m well aware that some people today, such as those in the NeoPagan groups,  in the Western world call themselves witches. I am NOT referring to these witches, but rather the witch of old folktales and cultural beliefs. There were “bad witches and devils” even before the rise of Christianity in old cultures, they were just re-purposed and renamed for Christian use as well.

~~~~~~~

References

Hoppál, M. (1995).  Symbolic Healing in Hungarian Ethnomedicine. Folk Belief Today, Tartu: 138-149. Retreived from: http://www.folklore.ee/rl/pubte/ee/usund/ingl/hoppal.html

Ettlinger, E. (1965). The Hildburgh Collection of Austrian and Bavarian Amulets in the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum. Folklore, 76(2): 104-117.

Newall, V. (1984). Easter Eggs: Symbols of Life and Renewal. Folklore, 95(1): 21-29.

Knab, S. H. (1996). Polish Customs, Traditions, & Folklore. New York: Hippocrene Books.