Two interpretations

The three Norns are called Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld. One interpretation of these names is to see them as conjugations or word forms of the verb “verda”, to be or to become. Another interpretation focuses on the meaning of the names or words as they are used.

If we begin with the first interpretation, which paints the Norns as representing the past, the present, and the future, this idea relies on a grammatical analysis of the word forms of the verb “to be”: Urd from urdo, which is past tense; Verdandi from the same, which is progressive grammatically and can be translated as “being”; Skuld from skulo which is seen as expressing future. The Scandinavian languages are Germanic and do not have a grammatical future tense, so future is formed with auxiliary verbs like in English (another Germanic language in its structure despite the many words of Latin origin.) Henning Kure claims to find no corroboration for this interpretation in the source material.

The second interpretation removes fate from any connection with time and relies entirely on the meaning of the words behind the names as seen in their use or context. Urd seems to mean both fate and death. Henning Kure says it is not possible to distinguish between the two meanings in surviving examples of usage and suggests that they should therefore be understood as connected (Kure, p.229). Verdandi is come into being or birthing.
Skuld is used to mean debt or what is owed (duty). Henning Kure sees this as meaning what one is answerable for or under obligation to do; something inescapable or necessary; the responsibility one has in one’s life.

In the Scandinavian languages we have the verb “skulle” equivalent to “should”. Now if you think about the nuances in that word, the meaning Kure is talking about is also present in English: What should we do = What ought we to do = What would be the right thing to do. Do you see the connection to “duty” like I do?
We also have the noun “skyld” meaning “debt”, “sake”, “fault/doing” (as in: the reason for something happening, the catalyst) and its related verb “at skylde” meaning “to owe”. All of these meanings lend credibility to Kure’s interpretation of Skuld as more than a simple understanding of future.

What I like so much about Henning Kure’s thinking is that he continually questions the reliability of the sources because they are not truly contemporary. This is the sore point for me with so many of the forwarded perceptions of fate and the Norns. I strongly disagree with the idea that the Norse people should have been utterly fatalistic. I seek to explain why in the following.

Death is portrayed as predetermined; but not fate in the broader sense.

So, what did the Norse people believe?

We cannot absolutely prove what they believed. There are no sources from the period written by these people themselves. What sources we have are either later (and also post-Christianity) or from outsiders (English, Frankish, Arab). The problem with this is obvious: the writers come to the material with their own world view and agenda.

I believe that the Norse understanding of fate (Ørlǫg) is not fatalistic. Fate does not indicate absolute pre-determination, but rather the potential in each life. And I am not alone in this belief.

My take on the Norse concept of fate is based on the meaning of the names of the Norns provided by Henning Kure, which I presented and discussed above; and also on something as unscientific as feeling or intuition.

Complete fatalism just doesn’t ring true, and it is also foreign thinking to the current ethnic Scandinavians. Of course, Scandinavian culture today is fundamentally Christian and has been for centuries; but still – again very unscientific here – I feel an underlying connection to our pagan roots present in our thinking. One need only consider attitudes to sex and public nudity to immediately see how the Scandinavian culture differs from many other Christian cultures.

The Eddas, Saxo’s Chronicles, and the Icelandic sagas are the main sources to our understanding of the earlier Nordic beliefs and the old religion. But while they deal with events from the Viking Age, they were written down in the 13th century – so, much later. It is possible to read a belief in pre-determination into some of these stories and poems.

How I see the Norse concept of fate

First, I would like to pose a couple of rhetorical questions in answer to this. Then, I will move on to explain my views using the story Signy Kráka.

My first rhetorical question:

How could anyone take pride in their achievements if one’s own will and choice of action played no part, if everything that happened was preordained?

Honour and reputation are thought to have been of uttermost importance to the Norse. Not just one’s own, but the honour of one’s whole family through the ages. Drive and ambition, courage and gumption, these are the admired values.

Now by all means, it is entirely plausible that also back then, people would sometimes chalk their failures up to fate and not take ownership for their own shortcomings. Why would people at that point in history be any different from people now in this respect? Excuses, excuses. (A trap even the best of us can fall into; but which really takes our power away if one thinks about it.)

My second rhetorical question:

If your destiny was completely predetermined, why would the Norns be continuously weaving and spinning your thread in the web throughout your life?

The imagery of the weavers and spinners of fate shows us how our choices and actions influence our future and our past. In my opinion, this image also shows something else fundamentally important; how our life thread is part of a bigger web, how it joins other life threads and sometimes leaves them again to join new ones. In other words, it shows how connected lives are. How our actions and choices impact others and the whole.

I fully acknowledge that some of my thinking is very speculative and may indeed be faulty. I do not claim to know any absolute truth. (Does such a thing even exist?) This is just a presentation of my ideas.

You are likely to find that my take on the Norns and the concept of fate differs somewhat from the portrayal by a number of other fiction creators who set their stories in the Viking Age.

As a reader and viewer, I have certainly received the impression that the idea portrayed was one of absolute pre-determination and unavoidable fate. I believe that this thinking comes from the understanding of Greek mythology. I almost cringe when I read or hear of the Norns or gods laughing at someone’s joy or at a hero basking in their own glory. To me that idea smacks far too much of Nemesis, and is far removed from Odin and company.

But let me repeat: I do not claim to hold the truth. Everyone is free to think of fate as they wish, and to believe of the Vikings what they will. After all, my ideas are just as coloured by my values and experiences as every other perception. I listened to my heart as I read varying accounts of the Norns and of fate.

The Role of the Norns in Signy Kráka

*** Fear not – No spoilers ***

If you have read the story – or just opened the book really – you will have seen these lines:

The Norns know
The Norns know who you truly are
and who you long to be

The Norns know you
better than you know yourself
The Norns know all

I wrote these lines to help myself understand how I saw the role of the Norns. When I plotted the story, they were not part of the plan; but they appeared in the scene in Uppsala when I wrote the first draft. If you have read the story, you will know what scene I am talking about. (Like Signy, I failed to recognise who they were at first. Writing is an adventure for me like that. And I feel very thankful for it. The mysticism is not planned, it creeps in all by itself as I type.)

What I imagine is that the Norns can see the big picture. They can see our potential even when we cannot or do not. This is why I say: “The Norns know […] The Norns know you […] The Norns know all”. That “all” is deliberately double in meaning. They know all of us, everyone, and they also know all about each one of us. We may lack not only knowledge of how the actions of others impact or will influence our lives, but also self-awareness; so we need the Norns to nudge or push us.

Now, back to fatalism… and the two main reasons I refute the idea that the Norse were fatalistic. Firstly, when the names of the Norns are considered in context, fate is removed from any connection with time. So, the three Norns are not simply representations of the past, the present, and the future. The most interesting Norn in this respect is Skuld. Skuld is used to mean “debt” or “what is owed”. In the sense of a catalyst, the reason something happens. A cycle or chain of causality in which our own actions and those of our ancestors play their part.

Secondly, complete fatalism just doesn’t ring true when one considers central values in Norse culture. Honour and reputation are thought to have been of utmost importance to the Norse. Not just one’s own, but the honour of one’s whole family through the ages. Drive and ambition, courage and gumption, these are the admired qualities in the literature passed on to us. So, I ask: How could anyone take pride in their achievements if one’s own will and choice of action played no part, if everything that happened was preordained?

What role does fate and the Norns then play in my argument here? Well, I see it as one’s path in life being a combined effort of will and fate. It’s that element of the big picture that I mentioned earlier. The Norns are a mythological representation of the obvious concept that past actions impact our present; but also, because of the all-seeing and all-knowing ability of the Norns, the more mystical, yet just as obvious notion that our future likewise influences our present. We have a debt to our future that we need to keep in mind.

The characters in my story have free will, but their path in life is not solely influenced by their own choices.

Henning Kure, I begyndelsen var skriget: vikingetidens myter om skabelsen, (Gyldendal, 2010)

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Solstice - the standing of the sun

The time when the sun seems to stand still in its cycle before beginning a new. The shortest day of the year and the longest night.

Here in the north, this day falls in December, around the 21st, give or take, from year to year.

Where I live, this means about 7 hours of daylight and 17 hours of darkness. Basically, the further north you live, the shorter the day and the longer the night.

However, solstice is not necessarily the day with the latest sunrise. (I used to think so, and this is why Helga marks the sun poles the way she does in my novel.) Nor does the day always have the earliest sunset.

So, the ancient people must have worked out the shortest day by the sun’s position in the sky when highest. Today its high point is the lowest of the year. Of course, ancient people may also have relied on the gods or spirits to tell them.

The turning of the sun as the Norse called it (and many Scandinavians still do) has long been celebrated or marked in some way.

Ways to mark this day

People have lots of wonderful rituals or traditions surrounding solstice celebrations. Lighting outdoor fires, jumping over fires (away from what you want to leave behind or toward what you want), singing, and of course offerings or blót if we are talking Ásatrú.

Is there a correct way to celebrate? Ideas of strict doctrine seem highly unnatural to me. Other life around us is in constant flux. So I favour the opinion that one should do what feels right, and also feel free to change.

Sun worship is an ancient tradition

What I do

The special thing I do for both solstices is to share offerings, but since I do not call on the gods, I do not consider this blót proper. I give in thanks to the landspirits where I live. At this time, I also thank the spirits for the lessons I have learned and for the blessings in my life.

Everything else I do is something I may do at any time whenever I feel called to do so. My favourite spiritual practice is walking or being in nature. I feel the trees and the land, the air and the water. We communicate but not with words. I can best describe it as sharing energy or feeling.

Seeing strong

Seeing the world strong is the intention I bring with me if I want to interact and not just be part of our whole.

Some days I feel a need to do. It is all too easy to get caught up in the bad state of our world, in all that is so wrong and destructive and painful. But I don’t want to have my focus there.

The academic training in me does of course. It wants to analyse and problem-find. And this approach is important if indeed I then follow up with problem-solving action; but if I just stay stuck in spotting all the bad, it is my belief that I merely expand the bad, that I feed it with my energy and focus.

So for all the issues that I cannot take action on, I like to change my methodology to the shamanic approach of seeing things as they should ideally be. I truly believe that if we are enough that focus on the same good outcome then no matter how big a change seems required, this is possible.

A mid-morning moment in the sun

Today when the sun was at its strongest, I walked out into the middle of the stubble field behind my farm buildings and felt the sun on my face. Here I stopped and, turning slowly, I connected with the forests on all sides. I felt how strong the land and trees are.

Happy birdsong sounded from a number of slight depressions where the stubble stood taller, and from one nearby, two little birds flitted up in the air a few feet before again hiding in the grass and stubble. It reminded me of the sound of early spring. The joy of life growing.

When I walked back towards the house, exuberant splashing came from the garden pond followed by quacking. Wild ducks. Putting the two together, I first wondered if these were signs of yet another mild winter. Great news for heating expenditure, not so much for controlling sheep-worm and tick population.

But then I got the clear message in my head that they simply enjoyed the now. That was the lesson for me, should I absolutely need to see a message in anything. I often get the impression that the spirit world laughs at me when I want to read meaning into everything. So I am working on that, on less searching and more just being.

A time for quiet

Dawn and nightfall have always reminded me of the magic in our world. And I find those times of day to be especially conducive for inner silence. I like to pause and just be at those times of day if at all possible. And should I need help, watching my chickens roam and scratch for food, or sitting among my sheep as they graze, never fails to quiet my mind and my mood.

What do you do?

I wish you well with whatever way you choose to celebrate life or be in this world. Whatever your beliefs, and whatever your religion.

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Have you heard of the blessing associated with Winter Solstice, "Til árs ok friðar, skál!"? Read more

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Photo: Kurt Winkler

Data for Winter Solstice (Danish Meteorological Institute)

Trundholm Sun Chariot (Danish National Museum)

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The landscape of Viking Scandinavia is not all mountains and fiords.

I love the look of the Viking homelands in the tv-series Vikings; but if you visit Scandinavia, you will be amazed at how different most of the landscape is to that look. Only the west coast of Norway has those famous fiords of crystal waters held in the deep embrace of mountain slopes.

But even for someone familiar with the other parts of Scandinavia, it takes some imagination to picture what it must have been like in the 9th century.

For my historical fiction, I needed to be able to see and sense the world inhabited by Signy in the 9th century. This note is an attempt at putting some of my findings into words, and hopefully, make it accessible to others interested in the world of the Vikings.

Here, I am going to focus on Denmark where Signy is from, and where I was born and now also live. Signy is the narrative voice and point of view in the story, so even though Denmark is not the main setting of the story, everything she sees and notices will be influenced by what she knows – and that is her home in Denmark, her known world.

Denmark – Landscape and People

A landscape shapes its inhabitants (and vice versa, of course). Denmark is a land of many islands and fairly friendly seas and coasts. The myriad of little and larger islands lie in relatively shallow and sheltered water between Jutland and Sweden, and the shores are not rocky. Much of the east coast of Jutland is likewise onto calm water. No raging waves to contend with.

It is no wonder the people became a seafaring folk. That over water became the way to travel and transport, I mean. So, a tiny hamlet like the place where I envisioned Signy growing up would have been connected to its surrounding area and to other people easily by boat. The five families would not have lived in complete isolation. Hence, the stories about her cousin, uncle, and father having visited their earl and a smith.

The Danes in those times would have been a people living by the water, so either along the miles and miles of coasts or near the shores of rivers and their lakes, and firths. The waterways functioned like roads. This is what we have to picture to see the world they inhabited.

No Wilderness Today

Denmark now is very much a cultural landscape. If true wilderness exists at all in Denmark, it is in small pockets of what is left from the vast forest that once covered the land.

Don’t get me wrong, Denmark is a beautiful, green country. Fields and forests cheer the eye everywhere one goes outside the towns and cities. And on the whole, it is also a very clean and tidy place. But – there is always a but, isn’t there? – every corner of the landscape is managed by us, people, and not by nature alone.

I think it is because the land is so accessible. Denmark is a flat country compared to most. We have no mountains. None. As in zero. We have hills; friendly, rolling hills. The highest point in Denmark is “Yding Skovhøj” at 172,54 meters (about 556 feet) above sea level – and its top is man made: a burial mound from the Bronze Age. The highest natural point at 170,86 m is “Møllehøj”. (Danish Geo Data Agency). Both are located near the town Skanderborg in Jylland (Jutland).

Landscape Features of Viking Denmark

As mentioned earlier, Denmark was originally very much a forested landscape. Knowledge of what the landscape was like historically is based on pollen data and archaeological finds. In 2014, I attended a lecture by Peter Friis Møller, research fellow at the Institute for Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland with a Master of Science (MSc) in Forest and Nature Management.

A quick summary of the landscape types in Viking-Age Denmark:

• Forested areas with beech, birch, alder, hazel and oak; also lime, poplar, elm, hawthorn (pretty much same species as today)
• Wild, mixed forest, but also forested areas influenced by grazing and coppicing. Charcoal-making to smelt iron.
• Meadows, wetlands and bogs
• Settlement areas with grass and grains – and in certain geographical areas of western Denmark (Jutland) also heather due to geology (heath)

By 1800, only 2-3% of Denmark remained forested and conservation laws were put in place. An estimate from 2009 puts the current figure at 13,5%. In 1989, the Danish Parliament decided on a goal of 25% by 2100.

Much of the Danish landscape is naturally wet. The water table is high. Ground water (or the aquifer) is not far away. The map on this link shows heights.

Bogs or boggy ground would have been pervasive in many parts before all the ditches and drainage was established to allow for extended farming.

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Solstice is upon us

Feed the light

The shortest day of the year is drawing to an end, and before us lies the longest night. It is a time to feed the light through fire and ceremony. Life is reliant on light. This night marks the return of the light. The days will now grow longer again.

Til árs ok friðar

Til árs ok friðar means for year and peace. In modern Danish is looks like this: Til år og fred. Not that far from the original Norse, eh? It is a formulaic expression often used in connection with celebrations like blóts (offering ceremonies). The concept is basically one of giving thanks for fertility and abundance. (Source; Danish)

Skál

When Norse has an accent over a vowel it indicates that the vowel sound is long. Skál is skål in all modern Scandinavian languages and it simply means cheers as in raise your glass – or horn, or whatever vessel you fancy – and drink to life, family, good friends etc. An expression still very much in use today.

Read more about solstice and its celebration.

Photo by Jan Erik Einarsen, Norway

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Have a go at speaking like a Viking. Go on! I dare you!

Hey, I’m not saying you have to do it in front of anybody

Might be more fun if you do though. Why not dare someone you’re with to do it too?

You’ll find the dare at the bottom of this post. It’s not hard. You can do it.

Click here to go straight to the dare and skip the boring brainy stuff

I have tried not to be boring, I promise. Gonna give me a chance? Good on ya! Read on, kind soul.

First up, a little background on the language of the Vikings. You may already know this. But in case you don’t know everything, here’s a bit of info for you:

Language of the Vikings

In 830 when Signy’s story begins, one main Scandinavian language was spoken throughout the Viking world. This common tongue is sometimes called Danish tongue in Middle-European and English Medieval sources. Today we call it Old Norse.

Based on findings of runic inscriptions, researchers have found an east-west divide forming during the Viking Age. Around the year 900 there are examples of Danish rune stones where some of the old diftongs have been replaced by single vowels:

stein -> sten

Sources consulted:

Image database of runic finds (Copenhagen University)

Danish Museum of Language

Anyone who pays attention to spoken language knows that regions have dialects. I think it is only natural to assume that this was also true in the Viking Age. This is why Signy can tell that Gunnar and his men are not from her area.

The modern-day Scandinavian languages Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish are still so similar that we can understand each other. A few words differ, but on the whole we can communicate without problems. Written it is even easier.

(If you don’t know this about me already, I am bilingual: Danish and English).

If your native language has Germanic roots, you will be able to recognise and understand at least some Old Norse when written with normal lettering.

Hear Old Norse spoken

In this short video, the language coach on the tv series Vikings talks about Old Norse and how they handled language on the show:

If you find Old Norse fascinating and want to learn and not least hear examples of it spoken, a good place to start online could be Dr. Jackson Crawford’s YouTube channel. He teaches Scandinavian Studies at University of Colorado Boulder (formerly UC Berkeley and UCLA).

It does strike me as somewhat amusing to be taught Old Norse be a very American man, but dude knows his stuff despite the stetson look
He is a great language teacher and uses all the best tricks of the trade to make things clear.

How to pronounce Old Norse

Here is a good video where he teaches you how to pronounce Old Norse:

The Dare

So are you ready for the dare now?

Here we go: Count to at least 12 in Old Norse.

Just the basic set in the beginning. Don’t worry about the grammatical details that follow unless you want to go full nerd. If so, more power to you.

If you like Dr Crawford’s work, you might consider showing him some support on Patreon.

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www.wardruna.com

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Here’s how!

See, nothing to it. Good balance – and perhaps a tiny bit of practice – is all you need. Probably also helps if you can swim and aren’t afraid to get wet.

Now, here’s a dare for you: Balance like a true Viking.

No, no, you don’t have to run from oar to oar off the side of a longship. I mean, who has a longship handy?

Find something to test you in a similar way. It could be a felled tree that you run along on, or the back of park bench. I’m sure you get the idea.
Go on! I dare you

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