Landvættir
Landvættir ("land spirits" or "land
Landvættir have been variously connected by scholars to other beings believed to inhabit the land such as
Name and etymology
Vættr (pl. Vættir) can be translated as "wight" or "being" and is derived from
As a compound, land-vættir has been variously translated as "guardian spirits of a country", "land-spirits", "landwights" or "nature spirits".[4][5][6][7]
Medieval period
Offence through human actions
In Úlfljótslǫg, a law aiming to prevent upsetting landvættir:
Þat var upphaf inna heiðnu laga, at menn skyldu eigi hafa höfuðskip í haf, en ef þeir hefði, þá skyldi þeir af taka höfuð, áðr þeir kæmi í lands sýn, ok sigla eigi at landi með gapandi höfðum eða gínandi trjónum, svá at landvættir fælist við. |
It was the beginning of the preamble of the heathen laws that men should not take ships to sea with carved figure heads upon their sterns, but if they did, they should take them off before they came in sight of land and not sail to land with gaping heads or yawning snouts lest the guardian feys of the land should be scared thereat." |
—Old Norse text[8] | —Modern English Translation[9] |
Eyrbyggja saga depicts human waste is depicted as scaring elves, identified by some scholars as landvættir. In this account, Þórólfr Mostrarskegg sets aside a skerry that he names Dritsker ("Shit-skerry") so that they would not defile with their faeces Helgafell, which he held holy.[10]
Harming and scaring humans
Landvættir are often depicted as deeply connected to a particular place and as being willing and able to harm people who live there if the landvættir do not consider them welcome.
They further feature in saga literature, for example in the Heimskringla version of Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar when they drive away a possible invasion from Harald Bluetooth:
Haraldr konungr bauð kungum manni at fara í hamförum til Íslands ok freista hvat hann kynni segja honum. Sá fór í hvals líki. En er hann kom til landsins, þá fór hann vestr fyrir norðan landit; hann sá at fjöll öll ok hólar váru full af landvættum, sumt stórt en sumt smátt. |
King Harald told a warlock to hie to Iceland in some altered shape, and to try what he could learn there to tell him: and he set out in the shape of a whale. And when he came near to the land he went to the west side of Iceland, north around the land, where he saw all the mountains and hills full of guardian- spirits, some great, some small. |
—Old Norse text[14] | —Modern English Translation[15] |
After this, the man in whale-shape swims around Iceland and each time he reaches a new part he is driven away. First by a large
In
Association with fertility
In
Banning and criticism of belief and worship
The Norwegian
Further scholarship
Relation to other beings
Landvættir have been discussed in relation to landdísasteinar (
Relationships between people and landvættir have been further linked to a wider pattern of people in the same cultural context worshipping and receiving advice from spirits living in waterfalls, woods, and rocks at which they would make offerings. This is attested in Landnámabok, which records settlers giving offerings to a waterfall and a holy grove.[5] Beyond this, Þorvalds þáttr viðfǫrla and Kristni saga recount a tale in which an Icelandic farmer named Koðrán has a partnership with a spirit living in a stone referred to as a spámaðr or ármaðr which is eventually driven away when a bishop sprinkles the stone in which it lived with holy water. It has been noted that the being is likely modelled on landvættir and bergbúar, closely resembling their portrayals in other sources.[21]
Some scholars have suggested that landvættir are chthonic and spirits of the dead, but others have interpreted them as nature spirits, since they sometimes live in land that has never been populated.[22][5]
It has been argued that in early 12th century Iceland, álfar and landvættir were conceived of as distinct beings, with landvættir living in fells and hills, and elves being more similar to gods. The account of a
Absence of mythological importance
Landvættir have been argued to not have had any role in
Modern period
Modern Heathenry
Jörmundur Ingi Hansen, former High Priest of the Ásatrúarfélagið, said that landvættir are "spirits and they in some way control the safety of the land, the fertility of the land, and so on."[25] According to him, they are "tied to a spot in the landscape, to a huge rock, to a mountain, or to a specially beautiful place" and that place can be recognized by being more beautiful than "just a few yards away."[26]
Popular culture
The four beings identified as the landvættir of Iceland are depicted on the Icelandic coat of arms, on the obverse of the Icelandic króna coins, and the team crest of Iceland's national football teams.[27][28]
See also
- Animism, religious belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence
- Cofgod, Anglo-Saxon household gods
- Genius loci, spirits of a place in classical Roman religion
- Kami, venerated beings in Shinto, often associated with natural sites
Notes
References
- ^ OID-Vættr.
- ^ a b *wihtiz.
- ^ wight.
- ^ OID-Landvættr.
- ^ a b c Davidson 1988, pp. 103–104.
- ^ Noetzel 2018.
- ^ Gunnell 2007, p. 116.
- ^ Landnámabók (4).
- ^ Þorgilsson & Ellwood 1898, p. 177.
- ^ Phelpstead 2014, pp. 8–9.
- ^ a b c d e f Meyland 2013.
- ^ Schanda 2018, p. 4.
- ^ a b Turville-Petre 1975, p. 232.
- ^ Saga Ólafs Tryggvasonar.
- ^ a b Sturluson 1961, Chapter 37.
- ^ Gunnell 2007, pp. 116–117.
- ^ Schanda 2018, p. 5.
- ^ a b Turville-Petre 1975, p. 233.
- ^ Sanmark 2010, pp. 167–168.
- ^ Simek 2008, pp. 185–186.
- ^ Hughes 2022, p. 132.
- ^ de Vries 1956, p. 260.
- ^ Gunnell 2007, pp. 119–121.
- ^ Nygaard 2021, p. 150.
- ^ Blain 2000, p. 7.
- ^ Blain 2000, pp. 7–8.
- ^ Steven.
- ^ si.
Bibliography
Primary
- ISBN 0460008471.
- Þorgilsson, Ari; Ellwood, Thomas (1898). The Book of the Settlement of Iceland: Tr. from the Original Icelandic of Ari the Learned. T. Wilson.
- "Landnámabók (Part 4)". heimskringla.com. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
- "Saga Ólafs Tryggvasonar". heimskringla.no. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
Secondary
- Blain, Jenny (2000). Wights and Ancestors: Heathenism in a Living Landscape. Wiltshire: Wyrd's Well. ISBN 0953904407.
- Davidson, Hilda Roderick Ellis (1988). Myths and symbols in pagan Europe : early Scandinavian and Celtic religions. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-2207-4.
- de Vries, Jan (1956). "Das heilige Amt". Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte. 1: 260.
- Gunnell, Terry (2007). "How Elvish were the Álfar?". Constructing Nations, Reconstructing Myth. Making the Middle Ages. 9. Brepols Publishers: 111–130. S2CID 163209884.
- Hughes, Thomas Andrew (2022). "[Dixit] non se carere posse consortio praedecessorum suorum, 'He said he was unable to be without his predecessors': Attitudes towards the damnation of heathen ancestors in Old Norse-Icelandic literature" (PDF). Sagas and the Circum-Baltic Arena. 18: 128–134.
- Meyland, Nicolas (2013). "The (Re)conversion of the "Spirits of the Land" in Medieval Iceland". Revue de l'histoire des religions. 230 (3): 333–354. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
- Noetzel, Justin T. (2018). "7 Outlaws and the Undead: Defining Sacred and Communal Space in Medieval Iceland". Dealing With The Dead. Brill. pp. 175–200. ISBN 978-90-04-35833-1.
- Nygaard, Simon (2021). "ein lǫg ok einn siðr: Law, Religion, and their Role in the Cultivation of Cultural Memory in Pre-Christian Icelandic Society". Scandinavian-Canadian Studies. 28: 144–177. S2CID 246009592.
- Phelpstead, Carl (2014). "Ecocriticism and Eyrbyggja saga" (PDF). Leeds Studies in English.
- Sanmark, Alexandra (2010). "Chapter 8 Living On: Ancestors and the Soul". Signals of Belief in Early England: Anglo-Saxon Paganism Revisited. Oxbow Books. JSTOR j.ctt1cd0nf9.14.
- Schanda, Flora (2018). ""fjöll öll ok hólar váru fullir af landvéttum":: The Old Norse landvættir and related mythological beings". University of Vienna.
- ISBN 9780859915137.
- Steven, Rachael. "Iceland's national football team gets a new identity". Creative Review. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
- ISBN 9780837174204.
- "Old Icelandic Dictionary - Landvættr". Old Icelandic Dictionary. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
- "Old Icelandic Dictionary - Vættr". Old Icelandic Dictionary. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
- "wight". Wiktionary, the free dictionary. 6 September 2023. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
- "Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/wihtiz". Wiktionary, the free dictionary. 9 April 2023. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
- "Iceland's Goalkeeper-Film Director Makes Reveal Video for Bold New Crest". Sports Illustrated. ABG-SI LLC. 1 July 2020. Retrieved 6 July 2020.