| Einherjar's Around the World by Frodvard Adalbrikt Heilsa one and all, When I started sending out inquires about how you celebrated Einherjar's feast earlier this season I had no idea that I would end up hearing from 29 kindreds in both North America, Europe,South America and New Zealand. Where to start. I am going to try to include the information and elements which came back in a way which I hope will capture the heart and wit of your responses without being wordy. If I fail in this attempt please do not shoot the messenger ....lol) The most interesting thing which I learned from this was the differences between the practice in North America and U.K. and Asatru Kindreds in Scandinavia. I can understand why the date of the Armistice for the First World War was chosen here in the U.S. (it later became our Veteran's day). I can also understand why others find no connection with this choice. I think that there is enough president in the sagas for this kind of remembering for those who through their courage in all kinds of endeavors were heroic (as well as our own heroic ancestors and cultural heroes). Here is what I heard in this regards.... "I believe that the so called "Einherjar's day" is an American invention (veterans day celebrated by American Asatruar). In Scandinavia we do not have any knowledge of such a day in our tradition, and neither do we celebrate it." and... " this is unprecedented where I comes from. It is not a custom in the tradition people within the Nordic countries practices". But from one of the Swedish kindreds came this thought on those who would stand up to oppression no matter what their background.... "People who stood up against oppressors are always worth our respect. In mediaeval Sweden two men stood up and revolted against the king; Nils Dacke and Engelbrekt. I would have no problem drinking to their memory. Nor I might say would any of the Asatru I have ever met. The Danes do celebrate "a blót to celebrate our dead ancestors around the 1. of November called alfeblót or Ætteblót." But details of this blot were left out as it is done differently in each kindred. From the United Kingdom I received several replies including one kindred who wrote that they would . . . "meet up, usually outdoors, about 8.00-9.00pm. Previously we've celebrated this feast on a wooded hilltop, looking out northwards over a steep scarp. The ritual would proceed with an invocation to the protection of the Gods whilst we worked, followed by a declaration and invocation about the heroic dead, fallen warriors etc. Some members would read out their own poetry, others make spoken declarations. Rune chanting often broke out at this point! We would then give offerings to the dead, to the gods, and to the landspirits. After this any wishing to would make oaths or boasts, as the horn went round. Finally we would end up with a closing praise of the fallen, of the gods, and of the landspirits. The deities invoked would be those which each Tribe member present thought appropriate, subject to agreement with the rest of us!" while another group celebrated by . . . "holding an open festival in honor of the ancestors...The ceremony is based on the tradition of ‘beating the bounds’ which in Christian times involved leading the community around the boundaries of the town and reciting prayers at boundary stones and trees. We have developed this idea and rather than walking the boundaries of Wycombe (which is now huge!) we will be walking between the sites of historical interest. Ancient monuments are of great relevance to our respect for the ancestors.( following this was a ceremony and party) The emphasis of the ceremony will be on the turning of the year, our links to the ancestors and the perils of winter. Also, in honour of bloodmonth, the traditional time for animal sacrifice we will offer clay figurines of animals to the gods and goddesses and bury them beneath the floor of the hof." I thank you for your detailed explanations as I am sure do others reading this. There were also those in England who were unfamiliar with this feast as well. From Canada and the United States came the following..... "We usually have a pot-luck feast and then a Sumbel with entirely too many long winded speeches and poems." , "This is a day for honouring Heroes, both living and dead. Veterans, current service men, those who have died in wars, and those who look to serve should all be noted in some way.", " Before the blot itself, we usually have some kind of discussion about the nature of heroism, or sacrifice, or something similar, and most toasts during the blot proper would be dedicated to the Einherjar, personal heroes, and Odin and Freya.", Many kindreds in the U.S. do a Tyr's blot as part of this feast " I've traditionally done a Tyr blot, feast and sumbel ". Other creative approaches include the Kindred who tried .. "One thing we did one year, as sort of a more elaborate blot, one of our members wrote a brief "play" where several people took turns reading (in first person) about the lives of several people who had died in battle. "I am so-and-so who fell during the battle of..." that kind of thing. At the end, all the people doing the readings said, "Are we forgotten?" And all present responded, "No!" And then the person running the blot said a few words about how those that died in battle were not forgotten, and then we all drank to the Einherjar." The New Zealanders who responded placed their Einherjar's on Anzac Day April 25th ( so named for the Australian and New Zealand troops who fought in world wars I and 2) and they celebrated in a straight forward fashion "The ritual is simple. We assemble before dawn on a North facing hillside. We stand solemnly awaiting the dawn. When the sun arrives we salute it and shout, "Hail the Sun, Hail the Fallen Heroes". We stand facing the sun with at the salute until it feels like the right time to drop our arms. Then we raise horns of Mead and speak of brave men and women. Lest we forget. The New Zealand Asatru Fellowship will never forget!" and there is that kindred in the American west who.. "As with most older western towns we have a “Boot Hill”. There in lays the graves of thirteen unknown US Calvary soldiers from the late 1800’s. These men gave their lives in service to their country and their people, yet their names and stories are now forgotten. Even their graves go untended and unnoted by all except the rare, occasional tourist. (Being a Vet myself, this has always rather irritated me.) This year, we will all treck up to their graveside. There we will lift a horn and leave offerings at their graves to honor these men and the sacrifices that they made. Upon returning home we will place a lit candle, a plate and a horn of mead from our meal in the window. This to let the spirits of our ancestors know that they will always find welcome and guest-rite in our home. " Several Kindreds mentioned the following in one way or another "On the alter we place alot of warrior things from any era, alot of our group have relatives they can trace to many modern wars and sometimes put an article that belonged to them, such as a piece of uniform or something on the alter." Study is important to some kindreds and they include it in most of their rites " (We Hold)a full blot to celebrate the Feast of the Einherjar each year. We make offering to Odin, Frey, and the Valkyries, and then drink the mynne to the Einherjar. After the blot, we have a feast, usually pork - in token of Saehrimnir of course, and then have a lore session, which usually includes some bit of lore regarding the Einherjar or Ragnarok. Lastly, we hold a formal sumble, one round of which is dedicated to them. While this feast is a new one, clearly not 'traditional' but very important to modern day Asatru". We Asatru are a resourceful folk as can be seen in the next two responses one more rural and the other one totally urban .... "we usually make every Kindred gathering a day-long event, if not a camping weekend, if we can.....the day is spent in talking or gaming with the Kindred, then usually around Dusk we have the Blot, where we have the traditional "sacrifice of mead" to Wotan (or whatever deity is proper for the ceremony), invoke the Einherjar and thank them in the Blot along with Wotan, and I share a round of Toasting with the Kindred out of the Bolli......After the Blot, there is usually a Potluck feast, which includes some type of Pork. I have brought Wild Boar (imported from Texas), we have made "stone soup" (where everyone brings an ingredient), or Deer is always a nice treat. After the Feast, we have a Teuton Sumbel (three-round toasting ceremony),rather informal usually, but we always stick to the format: First round to Gods, second to Ancestors, third to Boasts or Hopes for the Future. For Einheriar Day, I'll probably include a Fourth Round, where specific friends or family who have served in the Armed Forces are remembered or saluted (we drink to live people, too, and brag on our families who served)." and from the city.. " (we are) kind of unusual in that we are located in New York City and actually use public parks for blots, so many of our rites are toned down (eg viking dress is STRONGLY discouraged for a Central Park ritual and we are not allowed by law to use fire) and we often do things unconventionally (eg Loki blot at a Casino or at the Coney Island Freak Show, Freya Blot at the Zoo in the garden by the tiger display, Odin Blot in the Zen Garden of the Museum of Natural History, No Frigg blot in a maternity ward--YET). We are also home to literally gigantic cemeteries spanning city blocks. The way we celebrated last year was actually meeting in the cemetery where one of our kinswomen's father (a ww2 veteran buried in a veteran's cemetery in the suburbs) and doing much needed cleanup in his plot's area as well as a blot on a secluded hill. We then went to a nearby pub and did a long sumbel over dinner reminiscing over our ancestors who've died in battle/who fought in wars, started as 3 round and went into free form. I think this worked out quite nicely. By the cleanup we were honoring the memories of those fallen in battle, esp our kinswoman's father who had passed only months earlier at that time. We are really probably more "urban" then most kindreds are, in that we do not use special dress (though Mother Night is "Black Tie Optional") I think what you have planned sounds good. It depends on what your kindred is doing. How can you make it super relevant to the people in the kindred? What do you think would best honor the gods that is reasonable to do? A fire is always nice if legal and feasts are great so long as the work is shared and one person is not stuck doing all the cooking [eg why with the exception of Yule and Midsummer when we do the formal feasts our group feasts are usually pizza, Chinese, sushi, or at a restaurant] .." One overriding feeling I have from reading these responses as they came in is how much we honor the Gods in our creativity and efforts. Well, last but not least the responses from the low countries as I was taught to refer to them in my youth. From Belgium and Holland we hear " We don't celebrate einherjar's day here in Holland. The fifth of may we still celebrate every year the end of WW II. The day before on may fourth we remember everybody who died during that war. More and more all the things organized on both day become beside the remembering a celebration for peace and to pay respect to the people who still give their lives anywhere in the world." And finally from Belgium... "The Northern countries of Europe (Low Lands, Germany, Scandinavia, Baltic States) have more or less the same structure of rituals, only the contenence may differ. Practically all calendar-rituals are built up around a central fire, that symbolises the link between the Gods and the people, but also between the people and the ancestors. The central fire itself is called Baldr. The rituals are constructed following three levels: underworld-utgard, central world-midgard, higher world-ásgard. This corresponds with the trifunctionality: fertility (inside Mother Earth-Freyja/Freyr), temporal policy (on Earth, how to built your society, Thórr-Loki), and spiritual authority (Heavan, how to join the metaphysical level, Odhínn-Tyrr). This is a space-vision. We add also a timevision in three levels controlled by the three Norns: Urd-past-ancestors, Werdandi-this moment-people's society, and Skuld-future-kids. Practically all starts with a circle of people, central the (not yet burning) fire. Three female figure (Norns) go in sun-direction three times around the fire. In their hand they hold a candle. After the three magical circles they enlighten the fire. This is the time-aspect. A song about the fire is sung. Then we remember our ancestors - those who died this year are named and dry flowers are laid around an empty chair. Because its Einheriars Day, a legend about the Wild Hunt is recited (in some cases members of the group go in the streets as Hunters, knock at the doors and sing Hunters songs). Then the today's society is sanctified by sacrifice (blót) of fruit and beer (mjöd-mede-mádhu) into the fire and the beerhorn goes from person to person, the circle around, to drink (simbel). Important pagan Heroes are mentioned from the four directions: Radboud (Fries King) from the North, Gediminas (Duke of Lithuania) for the East, Julianus (last pagan Emporar) for the South, and Bran Ruz (restorer of paganism within Celtic countries) for the West. Songs about chevalresk behavior are sung. The last level is the link with the Gods, and here is referred to the ragnarök that is coming (see Jul=Era of the Woolf=Ragnarök) and the Edda (Voluspá) is recited. After this, the sanctifying bonfire-jump is made by every member of the group. Closing, 3 male persons (Odhínn, Thórr and Logur) turn trice around the fire in counter-sun-direction (closing sacred time and space) and all go inside to feast with traditional meal (fazant, ever, duke...) and a lot of beer. Traditional dances are played, and people start to sing spontaneously! " I know that I left out many things which people will feel should have been included but I am still new at this. If I did not include your response then let me see if I can get you into the next one of these I do.... Thank you all again and please feel free to let me know what you think of this. I am going to put together one of these for Yule so please send me what special things your kindred does for Yule . In Frith, Frodvard Adalbrikt Heimdall's Lur Kindred This article copyright 1999 by Frodvard Adalbrikt. Copies may be used as long as they are not edited and this notice is included. Back to Writings |