by Leif Nordholm
HWAET MIN VENNER!
Is it already out ninth day of Jul? WASSAIL!
Gather around, for I have a tale as old as iron and as deeply-rooted as Yggdrasil.
Kvöldvaka, translated literally, means “evening wake”. It was practiced most notably in Iceland, and it speaks to a time when homesteads were sparse along the vast stretches of the magickal terrain below Hekla, Eyjafjallajökull, and the other landmarks that sit in the world’s newest landmass. The evening wake was a time to pass on cultural traditions and enliven spirits, especially in the gloam of the cold winter nights.
You see, homesteads in the medieval period of Iceland could catch fire or endure periods of famine and drought. The most important figures in these homesteads were those who carried with them the histories of their people and knowledge of the practices of their kin. These people were elders, crones and sages, and much as with many of the world’s collectivist cultures, they held the science, agricultural knowledge, stories, and collected wisdom of the homes in which they resided. If disaster visited a homestead, it was the elder who moved on to the next farm with knowledge of their previous home.
In short, the elders’ knowledge included everything necessary for the survival of the people and their customs.
In this time, many people had abandoned their ancestral customs, their forn sed, for a foreign religion we simply referred to as nyr sed, or “new customs”. The problem with the new customs was that they didn’t seem to have any custom. They had no way of speaking with the spirits or the gods, they did not acknowledge our place in the cycle of all life, they had no rituals for the assurance of abundance, and they had no mysteries, sacrifices or, it seemed, anything spiritual in nature. In fact, they referred to our customs as superstitious, primal, atavistic, simple-brained, non-sensical, and worse, diabolical and even evil.
Author Robert Burton, in his “Anatomy of Melancholy” even went so far as to claim that the Icelanders had personal devils who’d climbed out of hell through the mouth of Mt Hekla. This was not altogether untrue: there were Icelanders who believed that land spirits, “landvaettir” and house spirits, “húsvaettir” were all around, and could be of use to a homestead if properly honoured. The nyr sed forbade any spiritual practices of this nature.
It seemed the purpose of the nyr sed was simply to ensure that citizens kept loyal to the Roman Empire. The new customs did not provide any spiritual support beyond the vague mention of an intangible sky-father whose avatar resided in the Vatican and dispensed grace only to his close friends. In exchange for a life of suffering to improve the lives of the people of the Vatican, we were promised an eternity of bliss after life. The nyr sed used labels like “Catholic” which means “universal” and “Christ-ianty” which translates as “king-worship”. This is not to say that the nyr sed was bad or wrong. It’s just that universal king-worship was not helpful for our relationships with our spirits, and many of us were not willing to spend our whole lives suffering, simply to feed the emperor and pope on a promise of an afterlife that probably didn’t exist.
There is an account of a very experienced seidkona (Norse witch), detailing even the specifics of the clothing she wore, who stopped by a homestead that had been experiencing a great drought and famine. This homestead had adopted the nyr sed and their spirits had abandoned them. When this seidkona visited the homestead, she said that she could do a ritual that would return abundance to the land, but it would require someone to sing the vardlokk, the old pagan songs that would call the spirits home.
One girl named Gudrid said she knew the songs, but it would be heresy against her nyr sed to sing them. The seidkona told her it was up to her. After considering it, Gudrid consented and the ritual was performed. Soon after, the homestead experienced much abundance and prosperity.
This Jul season, remember that singing the old songs, welcoming in the wise, and honouring the spirits is of utmost importance. Hold onto the customs you value, and share frith and joy with your loved ones.
Tusen takk!
Din bror,
Leifr.
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