12/27/2018
That time we appeared in one of Iceland’s national papers 😎 Hildur, Paul
Translation courtesy of Kevin French
“Yule-Blót in Brooklyn
Hildur Loftsdóttir
More and more people in North America and Europe are taking up heathen customs based on Old Nordic religion. These are most often small groups of people who are in reality fashioning their own religions based on what they read in Snorra-Edda, Heimskringla and more. Each group interprets these components in their own way and fills in the gaps in sources by their own methods.
One of these groups calls themselves “New York City Heathens” (‘Heiðingjar New York-borgar’). The group meets monthly to discuss heathen customs and Norse gods, and they also meet during holidays, of which Yule is the greatest.
The group consists of a small core of people who invite friends and other ásatrúar-folk to celebrate with them. This journalist falls into the “friends” group and was able to enjoy this special holiday celebration in which the Old Norse past takes over the American present for one long night.
To get ahold of the gods’ power
“We began our celebration today at 4:30 with the sunset and it will continue until tomorrow when the sun rises again,” explains Ethan Stark, who along with Erika Palmer, Paul Mercurio and Ryan Androsiglio form the core of the group. Ethan is in an Icelandic-style wool sweater with Thor’s hammer Mjölnir and the magic stave Ægisjálmur on his neck, and has had the stave Vegvísir tattooed on his arm.
“With this Yule-blót we wish to welcome the coming of light on the darkest day of the year. We light thirteen candles which symbolize the thirteen nights over which Yule takes place. And each time we blót this evening and tonight we light another candle. We’ll begin by blóting F***g, who is the goddess of protection and family to get the right atmosphere.”
Ethan says that there is great variation in what light each person sees the Norse gods and goddesses in and in what they get out of their own religious expression.
“Some of us believe that the gods exist in another dimension, some of us see them as archetypes which stand for certain values that we wish to acquire, but it can be said that all of us are trying get ahold of a certain power that the gods are endowed with.
Ásatrú and racial discrimination
Then it’s come time for the meal wherein the yule-boar is brought to the table and sacrificed for Freyr’s blessing: good harvest and peace. Ryan is distinguished as he drinks to Freyr, dressed in medieval clothes and with handmade leather pouch which he bought at East Coast Thing, which is a holiday of American ásatrúar-people held yearly in Pennsylvania.
The topic of discussion at the table is religion but with differing emphasis [in the individual conversations]. This group concerns the national heathen organization The Troth, which was formed from another national organization, the Asatru Folk Assembly, which is considered to lay too much emphasis on the Germanic origin of their members and have racist beliefs.
Erika says among other things about how her friend who is a black woman was torn down for worshiping Freyja, because she doesn’t have the right-colored skin. Ethan agrees that it’s ridiculous that people’s race or origin should have anything to do with religion, because to identify oneself with religion and connect to it is a spiritual experience. Paul also points out that while he himself does not worship Loki, he as a gay man is grateful for his presence within Ásatrú for how he bends the definition of gender and gender roles in many of his unbelievable schemes.
“I saw Loki as my friend”
In order to avoid sleeping after such a great and heavy meal Paul suggests that the group go out to Prospect Park to sing for the landvættir, the spirits which dwell in nature.
“We walk about and wake up the landvættir, treat them to song and small sacrifices while we honor our gods. We sing traditional Yule-songs without Christian content,” explains Paul.
While the others sing Ethen stays inside and begins to set candles in a ring on the coffee table. “This is our version of a hearth, which we can set in a ring for the blót,” he says and sets a green apple with a candle in it on each corner of the table. “I saw the Icelandic Ásatrúarfélagið arrange apples like this in articles about some occasion and thought it came out really well, so I’m going to steal the idea,” says Ethan and laughs.
When the singers return they begin to prepare for Lokablót. Erika worships Loki and runs the blót to him. Erika’s father is a heathen and she grew up with stories about the gods. “I was an outcast in school like Loki was in the Æsir’s society and I quickly came to see him as my friend. When people attack Loki I always defend him because he got me through my childhood. Today I have an altar at home where I pray to him,” says Erika, who begins to pass the horn around the circle where everyone says a few words and drinks to Loki.
Rune-reading with Óðinn’s help
Then it’s time to drink to the Allfather Óðinn himself and Ethan runs this. “Óðinn is my god, though I wouldn’t say that I worship him. Rather, we are equals, and to me he is a role model as the wanderer in search of wisdom,” explains Ethan, who first became interested in Ásatrú after researching the influences of the author Tolkien and found himself there right away.
Ethan has written text about Óðinn which he recites over his own drum-beating.
“We don’t know what our forefathers were reciting. We have to make our own poetry to full in the gaps, something which we find appropriate. It’s like the Norwegian Einar Selvik who writes music that to his mind could have been used for example with both Völuspá and Hávamál as text,” says Ethan, who then goes to read runes which he made himself. Before he begins to tell his comrades what the next year will bring, he pricks his index finger and smears a drop of blood on his eyelid and says in this fine Icelandic: “Óðinn, ljáðu mér auga, svo ég geti lesið þessar rúnir af nákvæmni og skýrleika” (‘Óðinn, lend me your eye, so that I can read these runes with precision and clarity’).
After the rune-reading is held a “sumbel” in which homebrewed mead and other appropriate beverages are drunk and stories told to the end of the night. As this journalist sees it, people should sit at sumbl, give thanks for a good feast, and go out into the dark night with light in their hearts and partially-digested pork in their bellies.”
