Tribes, peoples and their leaders

[Ingemar Nordgren]

Hails Ualaraus!

I must confess I am a little confused after all different
interpretaions  of PGmc name forma. I am as I wrote not a linguist.
Still I feel that the opinion of Michael Erwin might have some
relevans concerning the translating situation of Wulfila.

In short I refer to fertility cult in connection with a sacral king
who is responsible for the cult of the whole people. Odinistic - i.e.
the cults of Gaut and later Óðin-gaut - kings are primarily
responsible for the cult of warriors and chieftains and represent the
God towards the warriors and members of schamanistic leagues.Of course
an Odinistic king also uses the means of the fertility cult and
performs similar rites et c. as the former sacral king. He can however
not claim his power on being divine, but instead he acts as pontifex
maximus-the highest priest and claims ancestry from a god.A classic
sacral king is the guarantor of the fertility of the ground on a
divine basis and claims himself to be a reincarnated god. The
Odinistic kings, as remarked, just claim to be ancestors of a God,
i.e. heroes. The Swedish Inglings claimed to be divine, to be the
reborn Frejr, but the later Skilfings just claimed ancestry from Óðinn
but kept as well Ingr in the form of Yngve-Frejr as grandson of
Óðinn.I have treated this extensively in my book and I suggest you
read closer there.

Typical of a genuine fertility sacral king is that he is not allowed
to remain outside the realm and he has no real political power. If it
comes to war he leads the defense but all activities outside the
borders must be carried out by his chieftains. If the tribe/people
however is moving without a territory he gains total political and
military control. That is the reason I consider the þiuðans to be a
sacral king. This indeed excludes the necessity for appointing a
special war leader.Another matter is that he is hereditary and not
elected.
The referred kings of the army still could be the *_xarjanaz_ or
drauþins I presume.They are as well absolutely nessecary when the
people lives within permanent borders of course. 

Maybe Getica calls Ermanaric a þiuðans just because Cassiodorus meant
he ruled a great area and fought the Huns, but we have no information
at all about a possible organisation of this claimed realm. Hence nor
do we know how many 'kinds' were involved but, as you suggest, the
Greutungi sure must have been 'a kind' with that much people. Still
there are other tribes/peoples mentioned at least marginally. Also the
Crimean Goths are of discussed origin and might as well be 'a kind'.
Wether they were within the same realm is as well discussed.

The reason I see the kindins as the keeper of the functions of the
sacral king, and not as a genuine sacral king, is the fact he is
elected. The construction with a council has, as far as I know, no
similarity in a classical sacral king context. 

I agree there must have been a 'kind'organisation, which I never dared
claim before, and with your linguistic support the kindins must be the
chief of this 'kind'. Accordingly he later might be called a king, but
maybe as well reminds of a clan leader- who is elected. He may very
well always have had the functions to guard the fertility cult as a
means of ethnicity, and as well the responsibility for leading defense
war, but I really doubt he was a genuine divine sacral king. He rather
was head of his own related 'kind'.

The reiks, which I regard as 'kuningas', if the title existed of
course, were pure Odinistic chiefs who led the local warrior cult and
the ancestor cult of the kuni. Within every kuni there was as well a
goðe and a 'guðja' and each kuni had their own holy relics.These two
concerned themselves with the fertility cult. As I remarked before the
'kuningas', 'reiks','arcons','basileios' et c. could be compared with
clan chiefs. In war they locally represented the god, and in that
respect they took oaths from the warriors. Jens Ulrich has shown that
oathtaking was obligatory for a warrior - aiþs.

I really could write a lot more but it is already much space used and
still more text comes below. I tried to attach a file but was not
allowed since the nessecary buttons were not available. Instead I glue
the file directly in this message. It is an excerpt of my book
covering some basics on my analysis of the classical sacral kingdom. I
suggest you try to get the book- it is available as e-book as well -
or else nobody else will have space to send messages for a good while.

Best regards
Iggwimer


FREJA-THE DISÞING

The cult of Frejr/Freja - Frö/Fröja is the only one where formalized
sacrifice-priests and -priestesses, called a goðe/gyðja, exist. The
king is höggoðe, the highest priest-Pontifex Maximus. To Freja
specially pigs and horses are sacrificed. Sejdr-women singing galdrs
and reading the future is also typical for her cult. These deities
give good crops to the fields as well as good fertility for the
humans. In the Icelandic republic the goðe also headed the Alþing.
Freja has a special function as Vanadis – ruler over the disir being
minor fertility spirits ruling parts of the nature. They also
functioned as fylgias – personal protection spirits –
following a
human, e.g. a warrior. If he at some occasion caught sight of his
fylgia he knew for sure that he soon should be fetched to Freja and
her Hadjings, her army of dead fighters opposing the chaos and
fighting to keep the plant cycle going.
The disting was in Sweden held varying between the middle of january
till middle of february and was ruled by the moon. It was organized
like a general fair and at the same time there was a sacrifice to the
disir. In South-Eastern Norway a great, yearly disablot-disir
sacrifice – was held earlier during the winter and besides disablot
was also held in the local farmyards during the winter. (Folke Ström,
Nordisk Hedendom, p.194) Göran Henriksson has studied this question
more thoroughly, and he states that John Granlund writes in i
Kulturhistoriskt lexikon för nordisk medeltid that :
The time of the disting was mobile and has varied between 21/1-19/2.
It was fixed every year  according to the so called distingsrule tied
to the full moon following the first newmoon after the Holy King’s
day. It was suitable to use the moonlight both for travelling to the
disting and when performing the different ceremonies and businesses.
The distingsmarket dured one week concerning to Heimskringla chap.77:
'Där var också marknad och köpestämrna’…The visitors of
the market
constituted primarily hence a pagan sacrifice convent and secondary a
thing-gathering for a ”ting allra svia”. E. Hjärne has made it
probable that this thing has been a ’common thing’ for the
lawcommunity of all the three folklands (Attundaland, Fjärdrundaland
and Tiundaland) in it’s full older extent. (Svethiud, en kommentar
till Snorres skildring av Sverige: Hjärne 1952) (Henriksson 1995).
According to the law of Uppland, Tingmale XIV, the thingdays should be
protected. From this law you can also conclude that the intentions
with the disting were three: A major sacrifice should take  place in
Uppsala in the month of Goe. You should then sacrifice for peace and
for victory for your king. Also the thing of all Svear should be held.
After that the fair is mentioned. (Granlund 1958)
Henriksson has after careful calculations confirmed an eight-year
cycle between 21/1-19/2  Iulian time reckoning. After that you started
again the 21/1. At the time for Snorres information 1220 we should add
seven days to reach the Gregorian time reckoning. The whole procedure
was dependent of the moon.(Henriksson 1995, p.337)
The disting started the cultivation of the year with the first,
symbolic plough lines. You placed a bread or similar in the first
plough line as a sacrifice to the earth goddess, who was Freja or one
of her dises because Freja was both Earth- and Moon-goddess, and maybe
the sacrifice also included the elementary spirits. Gefion also has a
place in this story in connection with the myth of how Zealand was
ploughed out and moved. It may also be noted that Þórr had an evident
fertility-function. P.V. Glob tells in connection with the
rock-carving at Litsleby in Bohuslän, where he sees a man with a hughe
phallus holding a hammer or an ax in one hand and a tree in the other,
just starting to plough the third line, and he means that he is
restoring the fertility of the soil after the winter and quotes a
say-word from Bornholm, Denmark, saying ”tre fåror åt Þórr ger
en grön
vår”(three lines for Þórr give a green spring). (Glob 1969, p.150)
In places including the element Åker- in the name there has with great
probability been performed ritual intercourse in connection with the
cult of Freja or any of the earlier fertility deities. Such ritual
intercourse has also been reported in modern time at so called
“älvkvarnar“ (elfven grinding holes) or
”skålgropar”, i.e. a hollow
carved dot in the stone in connection with rock-carvings or single
stone slabs. It has traditionally been regarded customary to place fat
or similar in these hollows as a sacrifice still till the end of the
19th c.

THE CULT OF FREJR AND THE SACRAL KINGDOM- THE CULT OF BALÐR

In connection with the cult of Frejr there is reason to mention the
sacral kingdom. The Ynglinga-family claims, as is well known, heritage
from Frejr and every single king was in old myth regarded to be a
reincarnation of Yngve-Frejr at the same time as he was a human. He
was, hence, a living god. Later on Frejr is replaced in the first line
with Óðinn who so becomes the predecessor of Yngve-Frejr via Njorðr.
Svíakonungr is primarily the höggoðe (Pontifex Maximus) for the cult
of Frejr and he has no real power-functions during time of peace. This
problem-complex has newly been examined in connection with the
Norweigan branch of the Ynglingar and certain Norwegian jarls
’earl’s
by Gro Steinsland, who has reached a number of extremely interesting
results.(Gro Steinsland 1991)
She starts with an analysis of Skírnismál, which is regarded to be
medieval and hence can be dubious as a primary source. However she
makes comparisons with Hyndluljóð, Háleygjatal and Ynglingatal and
this combination makes the best foundation that we can find today
concerning the content of the cult – at least during the last
stage of
the Nordic religion, fornsíðr.
The story deals with Frejr sitting in the presumed high-seat
Hliðskíalf- traditionally seen as the seat of Óðinn – and from there
he sees everything that happens in all worlds. (Cf. hjallr under
schamanism below!) He catches sight of a giant’s daughter,
Gerðr, down
in Jotunheim and becomes filled with desire for her. He sends a
proposer, Skírnir, to speak for him. He is  equipped with both the
horse of Frejr, his sword and also proposal gifts. These gifts are not
regular stuff indeed. They consist of the ring Draupnir, which Óðinn
placed on the funeral pyre of Balðr but later got back from the
underworld, and of 11 golden apples- presumably those of Idun. During
the trip down to Jotunheim the sword is lost in a mysterious way, but
Skírnir gets instead hold of a fresh branch with magical powers,
Gambanteinn, regarded as the wand of Óðinn. At first Gerðr refuses to
respond to Frejr’s love, but after having been threathened with
ghastly consequenses through the magic of Gambanteinn she agrees to
see Frejr in the grove of Barre after nine days. A marriage in a
juridical sense is not intended but rather a love-meeting
simultaneously being a wedding. This is presumably also enacted as a
cultic performance. The actors are, then, the new king and a peasant
girl who originally may have had actual intercourse with each other.
This is not possible to interpret from the text. Steinsland writes
about this:

The important thing is that the introduction of the prince is
connected with a hieros gamos, a holy wedding, between the god and a
Jotun-woman (giantess). The analysis has concluded that the female
partner in the wedding alliance may be interpreted as a
personification of the land area the prince incorporates under his
domain. The god’serotic conquering of the Jotun-woman is
simultaneously a symbol for his acceptance of political power and for
his intimate unification with the land area.. This myth model is
recognizeable in scaldic poetry which in different contexts mention
the earth as the the god’sbride.

She underlines that:  
…The strange thing with the Nordic myth is however that the
partner of
the god/the prince is a Jotun-woman and not a goddess. Typical for the
Nordic hierogamic myth is the strong dimension of polarity.
She continues:
. . .  the life and shape of the prince has been mythologically
anchored in the creation-myth…A wedding alliance between a deity
and a
Jotun-woman will result in an offspring who will not have the right of
heritage – neither in the divine world nor in the Jotun-world. The
hieros gamos will create a strange, new type – the prince.
(Note: Steinsland all the time uses the abstract word prince , fyrste,
German Fürst, Italian principe  et.c. which must not allways be
understood as royal. My remark.)

Let us return to Frejr in his high-seat. He is, as mentioned, sitting
in the presumed seat of Óðinn (Cf. hjallr below) and has access to
apple, ring and wand/staff (Gambanteinn). In some mysterious way the
sword is turned into Gambanteinn, but in the same time Frejr maybe
looses part of his manhood, since the sword may be regarded as an
expression for his phallus.(Bodil Heide Jensen 1991). The ring
Draupnir has the ability to multiply itself eight times during as many
days. It is handed over to Gerðr with the remark, that this was the
ring Óðinn gave to his dead son. When the time of waiting for the
meeting in the Barre grove has expired there are nine rings –nine
days. The apples are according to Steinsland’s interpretation 11
– one
for each of the remaining, still living gods. The  twelfth is Balðr
who dwells in the realm of the dead – the underworld – and
by all
signs to judge I mean that even Gerðr should be there. The apples
represent among else youth, life and resurrection. The ring is
symbolically given back to Balðr but he is not reborn according to
Steinsland. This is a consequence of his father’s Oðinn heritage
from
the giant Bor. (Hýndluljód). The cooperation with the chaos-forces
leads to this tragical result. In same manner every new king and all
the gods suffer from this failure at last resulting in Ragnar at k. You
can’t balance the chaos-forces. I regard it short-sightedly slightly
different but what the total structure concerns I have no objections.

The ring:
A ring can symbolize many things. In connection with Draupnir  it is
claimed that it is mainly a magic ring. A religion of mystery, which
the cult of Frejr according to Skírnismál in fact is, is characterized
through working with circumlocutions and symbols gradually bringing
the adept to a clearer insight. Exactly like that this poem is
constructed. One of the most important symbols is the ring Draupnir. A
ring may be three-dimensional – a real object – but when it is
reproduced in  drawn or carved form it becomes two-dimensional, but
still it has exactly the same symbolic value. A drawn ring is
identical with the geometric figure called circle. Nobody could deny
that the circle in a number of different contexts has been interpreted
as eternity, divine symbol, symbol for gold and for the sun. The
carved circles we find in the rock-carvings equipped with four spokes
are generally called sun-crosses. Gold was in all times a metal
compared with the sun – not least within  alchemistry. A ring
also may
 be interpreted as an oath-ring – a sign you have pledged fealty  to
somebody or at least are bound by duties towards somebody. The ring,
accordingly, quite well may symbolize that  it’s owner disposes
of the
sun – alternatively personifies the sun. That Draupnir in our known
sources normally is connected with Óðinn does not mean it allways was,
since it’s name ’the dripper’ primarily depends on
it’s ability  to
reproduce, drip, eight as massive rings during as many nights. What,
then, is it in fact reproducing if not eight days with sunlight, and
in the night this is mirrored by the moon. This symbol fits exellently
to any sun-god. Göran Henriksson has, however, pointed out that  the
Germanics all the time count the new day from sunset the evening
before, and hence count the number of nights in stead of days, as
people do in the Mediterranean area.(Henriksson 1995) If you look at
it in that way it could be possible the ring might be the moon,
regarding the fact that the moon mirrors the light of the sun and
keeps it alive during winter time. The meaning so becomes the same.
Still I prefer to regard it as the sun since this is the only way it
fits into the scheme.
Skírnir:
The meaning of the name Skírnir is disputed. There is an agreement it
is a nominal form of Skírr and it has been interpreted as a
circumlocution for Frejr himself in the sense of
’radiating’,’shining’. It also may mean
’pure’,’clear’,’ethereal’,’light’.
The ending-nir represent a young
form.(Sahlgren 1927;Tegnér, 1922) Skírnir might be a nomen agentis to
skírn, f.
’cleaning’,’purification’,’baptizing’.
If so it means ’the
one who purifie’s, ’the one who
baptize’s.(Ebenbauer, 1973)
(Steinsland 1991, p. 49) I have personally no restrictions to
understand it as a circumlocution for a sun-ray – ’the
bringer of
light’ – and more so since Skírnir himself states that he
is neither
of the tribe of gods, nor of elfvens and giants.
Apples:
Apples are recognizedly a symbol of youth, life-force and
reincarnation and, of course, of knowledge. 
Gambanteinn:
A branch cut from a living tree and which has magical properties. It
is taken from a tree in Barri lundr and used to enforce Gerðr. Other
branches also called teinn showing extraordinary areas of use are
mistilteinn and hlautteinn. Mistilteinn is the weapon with which Balðr
is killed by his brother H@ðr, and hlautteinn is the tool used to
sprinkle sacrifice-blood on the parttakers in the sacrifice.
If we consider that this actual sacrifice to Frejr takes place during
the autumn, somwhere around November, and that the old winter started
the 21th October Gregorian time reckoning it is then not so very long
time left to the wintersolstice, occuring the 20th December Gregorian
time. It answers to the 13th December Iulian time reckoning at the
time of Snorri. You must add seven days to get Gregorian
time.(Henriksson 1995, p.345) The winter stands on the edge to begin.
What actually happens, I mean, is that Frejr sends a sun-ray down into
the underworld, bringing along the sun in shape of the ring Draupnir.
The ray-Skírnir - besides also brings life-force in the shape of
apples, and the sword of Frejr he carries disappears in a strange way
during the trip. Instead he breaks in Barri lundr a fresh, growing
branch, Gambanteinn. Where then did the sword, the phallus, go? It is
indeed still there in the shape of Gambanteinn. How to find a living
branch in the realm of the dead unless there has been a fertilization
of the crops? Gambanteinn now all the time delivers new force to the
coming new vegetation and to the presently almost dead sun, which in
time will be reborn into full power. You experience here, indeed,
something faintly reminding of the cult of Osiris with the disappeared
phallus – Harpocrates was born in spite of all. The sun-ray
delivering
Draupnir gave light to the magical plant and to the underworld, and by
means of the life-force of the apples both the vegetation and Balðr
–
the sun-god himself – will get nourishment and continue spreading
still more light in the realm of the dead. This namely happens to be a
symbolical burial of Balðr, the sun-god. He is confined in the shape
of Draupnir in the care of Gerðr. Here she really becomes the one
mirroring the light of the sun and keeping it alive during winter time
–she now reveals herself as a Moon-goddess, as Njärðr, as Freja.
Eight
days later, then, Hieros-Gamos occurs and later, after the end of
winter, is born not only the new king, the prince and son of the god,
but also Balðr-the sun-god- is reborn in his shape together with the
vegetation having been preserved through the light- and nourishment
addition of the bridal gift. This king can righteous name himself svía
konungr – sun-king. He is in fact both god and human.
For long there has been discussed the meaning of Gerðrs fears about
who the stranger seeking her really is. Shet utter in this strophe: þó
ek hitt óumk at hér úti sé minn bróðurbani. Steinsland means that
Gerðr expresses fears that it is an enemy of her family who stands
outside the door. She also means that the alternative to manslaughter
is alliance and peace, and that marriage was the strongest alliance at
this time.(Steinsland 1991,p.89) As I regard it, however, there is a
clearly more convincing interpretation of the sense of this phrase. I
want you to recall that according to both the version of Saxo and the
one of Snorri concerning the death of Balðr, he is killed by H@ðr
– in
Snorri’s version besides with a mistilteinn. I have above
claimed that
Balðr and H@ðr in fact are two dualistic halves of the same deity. In
the Helgikviðae they are adressed alternatively with their  own
aliasis, i.e. Helgi and Hunding, and alternatively as
Heðinn-’hamr’,’guise’(Helgikviða
Hjörvarðssonar, Helgikviða
Hundingsbana I and II). I suppose Dumézil wants to call them
twin-gods, but I mean they are just two halves or aspects of the same
god representing summer and winter.
When Gerðr reveals her fears she thinks of one of two possible things.
Maybe she means that outside the door stands Höðr, he who rules during
the winter, but who at the same time is his  brother Balðr’s
(i.e.his
own) slaughterer. This is however not the most probable alternative. I
am convinced she here refers to the weapon, Mistilteinn, by which Höðr
killed his brother Balðr. This name is also possible to interpret as a
sword and Bróðurbani – ’Brotherslayer’ is indeed a
fitting name of a
sword, which in Saxo’s version was used against Balðr. I have
already
shown that the sword of Frejr seems to have been replaced with
Gambanteinn. These two accordingly must be identical. It also is this
teinn – under name of Gambanteinn – that crushes her
resistance, since
she knows that she has no other option but being impregnated by her
brother Frejr (also herself). Fertility deities namely have the
quality that they may be married to their sister, who merely is just
another aspect of the same deity.
 Since, however, Gerðr in fact mentions minn bróðurbani ’my brothers
slayer’, and we do not know of a sister of Balðr, she evidently in
this version refers to Frejr in the guise of Skírnir. The symbolic
death of Balðr in the cult saga means that the sun dies and the winter
takes over the rule, and this shows definitely that also Frejr
personifies the sun- Draupnir is as much a symbol for Frejr as for
Balðr and earlier surely even for Ingr. Since all of them essentially
also are vegetational gods you can accordingly interpret their death
also as the death of the growing crops, the vegetation. Thats why
Frejr must travel down to Freja/Gerðr to solve the problem with the
dead crops – there is need for fertilization. This presentation
with a
double meaning is indeed typical  for religions of mystery, and
similar double messages occur even in modern times within secret
societies resting on old traditions. 

Bodil Heide Jensen  has treated the lost phallus in her work about the
mutilation-motif in Nordic mythology, and she regards it as an
sacrifice of Frejr in the same manner as Åke V. Ström sees the
V at lsesacrifice in V at lseþattr. (Ström 1975, p.147; Bodil Heide Jensen
1991, p. 51) Frejr accordingly sacrifies all attributes to which he
has access to secure the return of the sun and the vegetation.

In the light of the above results , however, I can sense  some 
possible implications. As we saw above Skírnir has been interpreted as
an circumlocution for Frejr himself, and Frejr evidently has
disposition of the sun/Draupnir or personifies the same. It could
possibly mean, as I presumed above, that he himself could possibly be
the sun and before him also Ingr, who supposedly has fullfilled the
same function earlier. In any way he seems to be that during the
winter when the sun-god, Balðr, is indisposed. Frejr fullfills the
sun’sfertilizing task of the crops. Balðr, besides, is just a name
meaning exactly the same thing as Frejr – the lord. Already here we
have an identity in the same mysterious way as the earlier remark
about ’my brother’. Before Frejr was Ingr, also meaning
’the lord’,
performing the same task. You should consider that the Ynglinga-family
in fact claims heritage from Ingr  (Langfeðgatal from Íslendingabók;
Historia Norwegia) and that every new Yngling-king traditionally has
been regarded as the reincarnated Yngve-Frejr, i.e. Ingr and later
Frejr. First Snorri in an early 13th c. manuscript tells Óðinn as the
first ancestor.(Steinsland 1995, p.180) Höfler establishes that both
Ingr/Frejr and ÚllR are dualistic. (Höfler:Das Opfer im Semnonenhain
und die Edda in Edda, Skalden, Saga, Heidelberg 1952, p.1-67.) This
can also be confirmed in e.g. the Haddingssaga. That Balðr is
dualistic I have already forcefully demonstrated. This makes also ÚllR
an interesting candidate as sun-god, and Gerðr, hence, could be Njärðr
at an earlier stage. You could think that Gambanteinn definitely shows
towards Balðr, but a magical teinn quite sure can be connected with
all sun- and vegetational gods. Also the Balðr-myth exist in different
versions with and without a mistilteinn.
      If Frejr(Ingr) himself also is the sun/ the ring it should be
still more evident an explanation why his phallus – his
fertilization-power – rests in the underworld during the winter
time,
in the same place as  he himself. It is indeed where it is best needed
to secure the new crops. Besides, Balðr probably is a later adding as
a sun-god. Grønbech, interestingly enough, means Skírnir is a
circumlocution for Frejr – interpreted as ’the
radiating’ – as a
noa-name (guise). He means that the keeper of the name is embodied in
the person who (occasionally) carries his name.(Grönbech 1968, p.18;
Bodil Heide Jensen 1991, p.41) It also fits with the interpretation of
Skírnir as carrier of Frejr down to Gerðr. You must also consider that
a sacrifice to Frejr does not occur during winter time, and that the
Disting-sacrifice in Uppsala in January/February is dedicated to
Freja. Since Ingr/Frejr in the sense of sun-god of course must be
considered ”dead” at this time it is only natural that the
moon-goddess Freja, who essentially also is Frejr, is the active part
during the winter.
Skírnir, however, means as already stated ’the radiating’
and the god
ÚllR is translated with wulþus, ’the radiating’. Here is
maybe the
reason why the poem is called Skírnismál. Was it maybe earlier the
sun-god ÚllR – the ring-god – who was buried together with
Draupnir
with Ingr personifying this god with the noa-name Skírnir in exactly
the same manner, being himself a sun- and fertility god.
When Balðr possibly instead was introduced as a sun-god he maybe got a
name that directly associated to the deputy sun-god Frejr, who
evidently kept the old noa-name – at least in the poem. Óðinn
then no
longer has got any evident personal right to the relics we are talking
about here or to the high-seat Hlíðskíalf. This also can shed a
certain light on the association by de Vries between the cult of ÚllR
and the Yule-tide.
We already know the opinion of the other gods about the wedding plans
of Frejr, namely: :”Mær er mér tíðari en mann hveim ungdom í árdaga;
´ása ok ´álfa þat vill engi maðr at vit samt sém. ” It
is known that
the other kindreds never moralically could accept the marital habits
of the vanir, i.e. incest. That’s why the other gods oppose
Frejr’s
wedding plans.
Interestingly enough the cycle of the ring in days answers to a
sacrifice cycle in  years, and that is why you could suspect a
connection with the lunar phases also here, so that Hieros-Gamos
occurs at full moon. It is in fact the moon-goddess that shall be
enforced. Göran Henriksson also has observed that the ring drips eight
rings every ninth night, and he concludes we at this time might have
had an eight-days week within a lunar year of 13 months, answering to
a solar year of 45 weeks plus an adding of five days after unknown
rules. Parenthetically might be mentioned that the eight rings plus
the eleven apples makes nineteen, i.e. in years a complete metoncycle
of 19 years. Earlier such a cycle was used in Scandinavia and it could
have included also this cult then. It is typical for the religions of
mystery to add such concealed information, but you could of course
never be sure this really  is intentionally made. In any way this
could suggest the old age of the ritual, since the change to the eight
year cycle may have happened around the 6th century (the law of Aun
c:a 476 AD)(Henriksson 1995, p.368 f.) He mentions a little earlier in
the text that the Romans had a day called Nonis which responded to the
first half-moon in the month and the day Idinus that was responding to
the full-moon. Between these it was allways eight days naturally
enough(Henriksson 1995, p.40). This should accordingly mean, that if
Skírnir arrives to Gerðr at the first half-moon it remains a week –
eight days – until Hieros-Gamos, which of course should be
celebrated
at full-moon. The first full-moon of winter occurs around 4th of
November(Gregorian time) being the official start of the
winter(Henriksson 1995, p.10) and the sun, accordingly, already then
should  have been brought into safety with the moon-goddess. On the
evening or night of the 28th of november, one week before full-moon,
the messenger must have been sent to the moon-goddess that everything
should be prepared for the fertilizing of the earth by the king, and
simultaneously Frejr’s fertilizing of  Gerðr/Freja. This was secured
through the sending of Frejr with his phallus and the ring, and his
work had then already started through activating Gambanteinn.
This raises the question of the grove Barri. Is it an expression for
an imaginary meeting place in the underworld or is it the cultic grove
in the real world? This really is worth considering. When Frejr is
informed that the meeting is settled he becomes impatient and utters
the disputed phrase sía h at lf hýnótt. According to Steinsland and many
others, primarily however P.Groth, the first element hý is formed from
hjú – married couple. Hýnótt then should be a marital night and h at lf
should indicate that it was of less good quality – just half a
night.
(Groth 1928, p.240-43; Steinsland 1991, p.84) Hjalmar Falk is of
another opinion and interprets it as ’the winter time’,
and connects
it with the earlier mentioned nine nights which he regards as a
symbolic expression  for the winter.(Falk 1928) He understands
accordingly Draupnir itself as the ninth night, and he does not
consider that the whole first night by the Germanics is included in
the following eight in the same way as we say ’in eight
day’s instead
of ’a week’ – which is seven days.
I decidedly mean that Falk is on the right track, but there is no
reason to include all the winter. Here it deals with a strong
love-desire that must be satisfied very soon. If not the whole
developement of nature comes to a stop. Suppose according to above
that new-moon occurs in the evening the 20th of October and the
full-moon the 4th of November. During this time-period the moon is
only partially visible  - or it is with other words partly covered or
hidden. Both the word hölja and hy has the basic meaning
‘skin’,’to
hide’, ’to cover’(Hellquist, Etym.  Ordb.) and it is
exactly the same
meaning as in English hide, meaning both ‘skin’,
’hide’ and ’to
cover’. I understand Hýnótt  as the nights lying between
new-moon and
full-moon who are named with a common name in the same way as the
English  fortnight. Accordingly it indicates a period of two
eight-days weeks= 16 nights. One eight-days week then should be a half
hýnótt. This is exactly the time Frejr has to abide until his
scheduled love-meeting.
We should also in Sweden at this time – the 4th of November
– have had
a similar sacrifice and at the sacrifice by full-moon around the 5th
of May the reincarnation should have occured. This also explains why
only Freja is adored at the Disting sacrifice in January/February. The
sun then is dead or almost dead.
This might perhaps be a suitable occasion to take a closer look on the
Barri lundr. It has by Magnus Olsen been interpreted as a field of
barley. He interprets Barri as dat.of barr,
n.=’bygg’,’barley’. (Olsen
1909, p. 24 ff.) Other researchers have preferred to regard it as a
grove consisting of real trees. Again we have two schools. Johan
Fritzner claims in Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog I-IV that  barr
 can have the meaning of ‘de yderste Skud af Naaletræets Grene,
Bar’(Steinsland, 1991, p.93). Lexicon Poeticum translates with
’náletræets blade’. (Sveinbjörn Egilsson/Finnur Jónsson
1966). All
those translations mean basically pine-trees. Jöran Sahlgren also he
talks about a groove of pine-trees but refers to Skáldskaparmál 43,
where barr occur as a kenning for gold. Hví er gull kallat eþa lauf
Glasis? Sahlgren claims this is the only one occasion that  gold is
called lauf Glasis, else it allways is barr Glasis.  (Sahlgren
1927-28, p.256 ff.; 1928, p.16; 1926, p.200 f.) F.L.Läffler means that
barr and lauf  signifies different types of blades, and that they
cannot be mixed with each other. (Läffler 1911, p. 672 f.; 1914, p.
112 f.) Hjalmar Lindroth on the contrary means that Snorri’s writing
baR is confirmed when he in Gylfaginning 8 lets 4 stags graze  baR in
 the foliage of the ash-tree. Lindroth suggests the meaning leaf-shot,
young shot, newly leafed branch, and suggests it easily can be
misunderstood as pine-tree bars.(Lindroth 1914,p.218-226). Steinsland
comments Lindroth by referring to Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar  16 : vaxa
barr á baðmi. She means it supports his interpretation as
’leaf-shot’.
She also says that the poet uses the thistle as a threath against
Gerðr being the opposite to bar in the sense of  a  fresh shot.
(Steinsland, 1991, p.95). Thereafter she starts a longer examination
of the concept of groves and she ends up without taking a firm
position. She hints however towards an erotic connection  to the words
lundr(grove) and hult (glade) being mentioned in different myths and
sagas. (Steinsland 1991, p.95 ff.)

I regard it rather as an imaginary object – a place in the
underworld.
Gerðr tells Skírnir: Barri heitir, er vit bæði vitom, lundr lognfara.
Frejr accordingly is well aware of the location and evidently has an
established habit of going there, and this also goes for Gerðr.
Since Gerðr is a moon-goddess, but also a representative for the
underworld, the earth, in the classical connection between
moon-goddess and mother earth, it is obvious that Barri lundr must be
her bosom, which was well known and explored by Frejr. From there also
Skírnir/Frejr has taken the Gambanteinn, which contains the life-force
needed when the sun shall rest in Gerðr’s care, and that is
essential
also to secure a sucessfull continued fertilization. From where shoots
namely the bursting branches of spring, if not from the bosom of the
mother-goddess, mother-earth? In the classical culture there is a
connection between the female bosom and the Tree of Life. Some have
interpreted the Tau-cross, which is the Tree of Life, as a formation
of the womb. Also the bosom of mother-earth contains a Tree of Life.
>From this tree Gambanteinn is taken. Skírnir threats Gerðr with the
most terrible consequenses to her womanliness due to the fact, that in
Gambanteinn is included not only the impregnator of the god, the
phallus, but also essential parts of Gerðr’s female qualities and
specially so the fertility. Gerðr knows that her grove now is barren-
i.e. infertile – and that the only one who can cure that is
Frejr. You
could suspect that  the author of Skírnismal had a great interest in
word plays since the presumptive meaning in this case of Barri lundr
should be ’the infertile’or ’unfertilized’
grove, since English barren
just means ’infertile’. In old Scandinavian there are
traces of the
same meaning too. This must, of course, merely be considered as a
speculation but still it seems convincing. It is however quite in line
with  the spirit of the mystery religions.

According to Hellquist Etymologisk Ordbok there is still another
meaning of barr, bar, namely ’beam’, ’pole’
and also ’gin-beam’. NE
defines gin-beam as an within heraldics used name of a so called
heralds picture, in the shape of a from the heraldic upper, left
corner diagonally placed field, consisting of two parallel straight
lines of the same tincture. A beam goes from the opposite, upper
corner of the shield.(NE p.476) About ”bastard-string” NE
says:
”Heraldic  term to indicate illegitim ancestry. The
bastard-string is
formed as a line (narrow gin-beam) diagonally over the content in a
weapon shield and is extant specially within French heraldics. For
e.g. an  illegitimate son of a royal person the bastard-string was a
status symbol.(NE p. 328)

The above awakes some interesting associations. The meaning
’pole’ can
mayhap be tied to ”the grove”, i.e. the bosom, as receiver
of the
phallus of the god. The possible meaning of bastard beam/string indeed
supports Steinslands opinion about the illegitimacy of the offspring
of the Hieros-Gamos what concerns the worldly prince, while the
heralds picture goes exellently well together with the presentation of
Skírnir as a messenger-herald. If these connections are intentional
they must be regarded as relatively late, and must not nessecarily
have existed within the original mythpresentation. I am not prepared
to claim that there is a conscious intention to stress the heraldic
importance of the name Barri, but this possibility can indeed not be
excluded. 
After having published the Swedish edition I came across the works of
Einar Pálsson, and especially his Allegories in Njáls saga. By this
means I have got a decisive confirmation that most Icelandic sagas are
built on an allegoric base and that they gradually and cryptic reveals
information. My observations about Grímnismál, hence, seem to imply
that the associations I made depend on  pure intention  of the writer.

Magnus Olsen (1909) has earlier claimed, that the basic meaning is a
classical Hieros-Gamos, where the unification between heaven and earth
is the essential part of it. So also Turville-Petré(Turville-Petré
1977, p.174) and Åke V Ström. (p.143 f.) I totally agree with this,
but I also mean that Steinsland’s emphasizing of the importance
of the
genealogy of the  prince for his claim of land, sealed through
Hieros-Gamos, sheds still  more light on the Nordic kingdom and must
be regarded as a definite break-through.
Ring gods:
Above I have treated the ring Draupnir. The ringsymbol occurs in the
sources connected with certain gods - Óðinn, Balðr, Frejr and ÚllR.
Concerning Oðinn Draupnir usually is mentioned as his ring, and also
when he places it on the pyre of Balðr it is regarded as his.
Balðr’sship is called Ringhorne, which applies the ring-symbol
also to
him. The höggoðe – Pontifex Maximus – of Frejr, svía
konungr, carries
the ring Svía gris ‘svía pig ’ and claims himself ancestry
from Frejr.
Frejr himself in Skírnismál is pictured as disposing the ring
Draupnir,  and the reasoning above ties it still firmer to him. Also
ÚllR is named as ring-god. (Turville-Petré 1977, p.183; Grímnismál
v.5) As mentioned above the ring may be interpreted as well as the
sun, an oath-ring and a magical ring. Ohlmarks interprets it also as
the sun. (Ohlmarks, Fornnordiskt lexikon, p. 368) The ring of the
god-king, the magician and the shaman Óðinn naturally has been
interpreted mostly as a magical ring, but since he is god-king –
with
the same rank as the god of the celestial dome – he of course also
exercises power over the sun. He is seen as a creator god. Balðr, the
official sun-god, must of course be tied to the sun and Ringhorne
hence is the sun-boat of that time. Concerning Frejr I have stated
above why his ring must be associated with the sun, and this most
surely also goes for his predecessor Ingr. ÚllR at last is since long
time back regarded as a sun-god, or, as has been shown in the section
about him, as a sky-god of the same rank, or identical with, Týr
and/or Heimdallr, but with a close connection to the vanir.
Accordingly also here a close connection with the sun. Ohlmarks and
many other regard the sun-boat of the rock-carvings as ÚllR’s ship.

Further we know that warriors have been sworn and initiated to Óðinn,
and as a token of this they carried a golden ring – a bracelet
– on
their arms. Also what ÚllR concerns we can see indications of
initiated warriors in the Torsbergsinscription, and in Grímnismál, v.5
he is connected with the oath-ring. (Turville-Petré 1977, p.183) The
cult of Balðr is of course connected with Draupnir and Ringhorne but
if his warriors wore a ring is not specificially known. (Cf.however
later in the Helgikviðae) In the case of Frejr we know he is connected
with  Draupnir and that the king as Pontifex Maximus carries a
bracelet but we know nothing about induced warriors and nor do we of
Ingr. The name Ingemar is by Hellquist interpreted as ’the rumoured
Ingr’ alternatively ’the famous spear-or
lancethrower’ and somebody
seems to have made the connection ’the warrior of Ingr’
out of this.
This could possibly imply that both those gods had sworn warriors but
on the other hand the spear is originally the attribute of Týr and
later Óðinn, and so there is nothing saying they had rings as symbols
in this capacity. Frejr might have had a share of Freja’s
Hadjings. In
any case we can comfortably settle the fact that the symbolism with
oath-rings occur in connection with Óðinn and most probably also with
ÚllR and Týr-the god of the þing.

On the Continent Tacitus mentions induced warriors with the Chatti
carrying rings of iron, which is more thoroughly treated by Höfler.
(Höfler 1934, p.193 ff.)
Concerning the problem with oath-rings Stefan Brink newly demonstrated
a considerably older origin of the Forsa ring, earlier dated as
medieval. (Brink 1996, p.27-52) He fixes it in the period 800-1000 AD
and interprets the inscription as an early law paragraph.

The runic inscription sounds, according to  Liestøls newer
interpretation, as follows:

: uksatuiskilanaukauratuastafatfurstalaki :
uksatuaaukaurafiurataþrulaki :
: inatþriþialakiuksafiuraukauratastaf :
aukaltaikuiuarRifanhafskakiritfuriR
: suaþliuþiRakuatliuþritisuauasintfuraukhalkat :
inþaRkirþusikþitanunratarstaþum :
: aukufakaahiurtstaþum :
inuibiurnfaþi :

Brink translates litterally:
Oxa at vis gil[d]an ok aura tva staf at fyrsta lagi, 
oxa tva ok aura fiura at aðru lagi, 
en at þriðia lagi oxa fiura ok aura atta staf; 
ok allt æigu i værr, ef hann hafsk ækki rett fyriR, 
svað liuðiR æigu at liuðretti, sva vas innt fyrr ok hælgat.  
En þæirR gærðu sik þetta Anundr a Tarstaðum
ok OfagR a Hiortstaðum.  En Vibiorn faði.  

In modern shape he interprets it:
One oxen and two öre (in fines) to ”the staff” to restore 
the ví (the cult place)in legal order the first time;
Two oxen and four  öre for the second time;
but for the third time four oxen and eight öre;
and all property in sequestration, if he does not fullfill his
obligations.
What the people owns to demand according to the law of the land, 
this was earlier prescribed and confirmed.
But they made this to themselves, Anund in Tåsta and Ofeg in Hjortsta.
But Vibjörn carved(wrote).

Alternatively he might accept Ruthströms (1990 p.54) introduction:”
One oxen and two örar (in fines) for restoring of (fence around) the
ví into legal order for each pole the first time it has fallen.”
(Brink 1996, p.39)

It deals accordingly in his interpretation with an oath-ring tied to a
ví, and  also with a confirmed decision refering to the law of the
people. Hence we have a clear connection between sacral and secular
power, which is one of the leading topics in this book. (Brink 1996,
p.39) He understands further the two persons mentioned in the
inscription as ”two law-men (judges),‘ minnunga
mæn’, i.e. two
law-knowing  men in the Viking Period Hälsingland.” These persons
might for sure also be chieftains or maybe goði. To what god the ring
might possibly be tied is not possible to confirm, but Týr might be as
good  a guess as any other since he was thing-god. That the staff,
however, belongs to the sacral function, as is also indicated by
Steinsland who as well has connected it with the initiation of the
king, seems quite evident. Gambanteinn lies here as tempting close as
the tube-stalk of the Odinistic initiations. You might also recall the
guldgubbar (tiny goldplates with figures) found on e.g. the island of
Bornholm and in Slöinge, Halland, who also were equipped with staffs.
The staff, hence, might have been the power symbol of the goðe.

Finally it is suitable to mention, that the author of Skírnísmal has
made a very subtle and clever esoteric literary work showing a deep
understanding of  mystery-religions, and  how they tend to express the
content of the cult with a formulation demanding a careful analysis
and skilled  knowledge of the myst to reach final understanding. This
suggests that the poem in it’s present shape may be relatively
young,
but still it might, as indeed it seems, build on genuinely old
traditional stuff. The cult of Frejr evidently deals with a real
classical Hieros-Gamos, but the question about the actual name of the
sun-god during different time epochs is with this material impossible
to decide. In the present shape, however, the cult of Balðr is
doubtlessly included. Besides Steinsland has meritoriously indicated
that the prince is born as son of a  earth-deity – if giantess or
earth-goddess might be disputed – and of a god. The prince claims in
this way, within the human cult, the land for his kindred and besides
he is a hero – a  human child of gods. He is however also, according
to my own analysis, the reborn Ingr/Frejr and ÚllR/Balðr. The
classical opinion of the Ingling/Yngling-kings, in Sweden or Norway,
as reincarnated gods who all, at least in Sweden, carried the Noa-name
Yngve, is actually confirmed in this way by Skírnísmal! Svíakonungr
was indeed in a literal sense ’the sun-king’ , the reborn
sun-god!








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