More stuff about the Vikings...

[lph]

I'm on a roll here, but figured I needn't fill up channluv's excellent thread completely with irrelevant info But I've been looking this stuff up, and it's fascinating, and I know there are TE'ers with various connections to Scandinavia who might want to read.

Time: the year was divided into 2 parts, winter - skammdegir, literally "shame-days", or short days, and summer - nottleysa, "nightless", the time of no dark. They used moon-months too, but weren't fussy about counting them in summer, because the moon could be hard to see in the light nights.
Blót/sacrifice: the autumn or harvest blót was held on the first day of winter, for the fertility god Frøy. The harvest was then safely in. One wished winter welcome (!) and sacrificed for a good year.
The midwinter blót was not necessarily at the solstice when the days were shortest, but when the animals were at their fattest and the autumn chores were done. Maybe they just didn't have much to do Beer/mead was important ritually, it could not be stored for long. Some of the oldest laws specify that each farmer has to brew a certain amount of beer or mead within a certain date, or pay a hefty fine, and drink it with at least 2 neighbours. There was also a specific law governing the beer, blessed on christmas eve, that a farmer and his wife were obliged to brew and drink together. These laws are post-Christianity, but probably relics of fertility and harvest rituals for the old norse gods.
The midwinter alveblót was a private affair, one of the kings storytellers tells in a saga that he was travelling but was not allowed in anywhere because it was Christmas: "Do not come in, poor fool! said the crone, here we are all heathens, afraid of Odins wrath. Out! said the nasty old woman, like a wolf she chased me to the forest, said in the house they were holding alveblót".

[zoom-zoom]

Very interesting...I will have to find your earlier posts on channluv's thread (been gone all day). I'm of Scandinavian descent (my name's Kirsten, my brother is Grant, my sister is Nissa...if that says anything) and we have our 2 "Norse" cats, Thor and Erik. I've always found the history and mythology of that region to be really fascinating. Someday I hope to visit parts of Scandinavia and see where my ancestors emigrated from.

[lph]

I'll add a few doodads here as I come over them, for anyone who might be interested.

The nisse is in fact remains of a kind of ancestor worship (I had no idea). He was also called "haugbonde", which means "mound farmer".
In this context farmer is more correctly translated to just "man", or "free man". Just about everybody lived on farms, but the head of the household was "The Farmer", i.e. he was not a servant (or nobility), or a craftsman. A "storbonde", or great farmer was pretty much a minor king of his region.

Anyway. The first owner of the farm, the first settler, was buried beneath a mound on the farm when he died, and presumed to hang around the settlement thereafter. It was common to sacrifice a little beer by the mound, and in general try to stay on his good side

Other remains of the harvest worship: Norwegians still hang up sheaves of oats around Christmastime, for the birds to eat, and decorate by the door with a large goat-figure made of sheaves of oats.

Christianity was definitely forced through by the sword, but I think they were pretty flexible and laid-back about integrating it with existing customs

[shootingstar]

Anyway. The first owner of the farm, the first settler, was buried beneath a mound on the farm when he died, and presumed to hang around the settlement thereafter. It was common to sacrifice a little beer by the mound, and in general try to stay on his good side

I think I remember seeing vessels for some form of drink when I was at the National Museum in Copenhagen last year. But didn't spend a huge time reading the text in their fantastic, recently modernized permanent exhibits on Viking history. Before, I had never been to any major Viking history/museum exhibit.

What a tough, sometimes violent bunch they were, those Vikings.

[smilingcat]

What is the proper etiquette for serving lutefisk? Is it permissible to serve indoor or outdoor only. And must you serve it with Aquavit?

I had a colleague who lived in Tampere for a while. He was even thinking of relocating his family there for two/three years. Every time I saw him, he would joke about Aquavit and Lutefisk. He was appaled once when he ordered a medium sized pizza and Coca Cola and his bill came out to around US$30.00. Expensive, if you don't eat local cuisine. From his photos, I was so mesmerized by its beauty, mostly photos of fjords. And all that beautiful trees and forest!!

BTW, he loved Tampere. Water everywhere he said. And he did dine on reindeer. POOR RUDOLPH!!

And oh yes another colleague had a grandmother from Sweden I think it was. And she said her grandmother would serve Lutefisk. She didn't want to disappoint her grandmother so she willed her self to eat the dinner.

[lph]

Lutefisk is awful stuff, so I sure wouldn't eat it without quantities of akevitt I'm American/Norwegian, brought up in Norway by, uh, untraditional parents, so I managed to avoid lutefisk throughout my childhood. Most people do eat it though, with joy, so one Christmas I decided to be brave and go eat lutefisk with my colleagues. They all told me of the wonderful "tilbehør", side-dishes - melted butter, sweet goat's cheese, crispy bacon, stewed peas. They were right, the side-dishes were great. The lutefisk was still horrible

It's normally eaten indoors in quite fine restaurants, not an easy dish to serve outdoors. Besides it would get cold within minutes.

Yup, eating out is expensive, but still a lot cheaper than it used to be, with lots more cheap restaurants now. Norwegians home-cook a lot more than Americans, I think. But basically wages are higher.

Oh, and reindeer is excellent meat. We eat it a lot, it's plentiful, very tasty even though it has little fat, and it's ecofriendly.

Yup, shootingstar, the Vikings were a very violent bunch. I don't feel any need to identify too much with them... but their mythology is pretty cool, and a nice balance to the Greek/Roman.

zoom-zoom - do you know where your ancestors came from?

[zoom-zoom]

zoom-zoom - do you know where your ancestors came from?

I think mostly Trondhjem. It's interesting, my best friend did a year of HS there. We met years later. I love when she speaks Norwegian to her kids and dogs.

I've never had lutefisk. My mom was forced to eat it as a kid. SO glad neither of my folks like the stuff.

[lph]

Trondhjem is a really lovely town, you should definitely visit if you have a chance. Have only been there a few times, but just got back from a work trip there and had a few hours to explore the town, very friendly. The area around is not the most stunning Norway can offer as mountains and fjords go, but rolling countryside and lush forest in heaps and bounds.