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Hugrunar - The World of the Vikings
A group for the discussion of all aspects of the culture of the Vikings - their wars, voyages, art, literature, language and legacy. Hugrunar means 'Thought Runes' and encompasses discussion of the Viking Age from the Fifth to the Eleventh Centuries.

Valhalla jeg kommer: Viking Religion and Mythology (1 threads, 28 posts)
    Norse legends and sagas (17 posts)
    Historical Thread

    The largest body of saga material comes from this people. In fact, the so-called Icelandic sagas are really Norse. Many of the sagas include Norway in the characters, scenes and plot. ...
    5 Members have made 13 Posts here to date.
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    On that tree of which none know
    Harald.gif
    Author: * Harald Egilsson - 5 Posts on this thread out of 216 Posts sitewide.
    Date: May 14, 2004 - 05:25

    I’ve found a translation of the story of Odin’s ritualistic hanging on a tree, where he undergoes some form of ‘death’ in order to gain knowledge in the form of magic runes. It is found in the poem Havamal from the Elder Edda, translated here by EOG Turville-Petre:

    I know that I hung
    on the windswept tree
    for nine full nine nights,
    wounded by a spear
    and given to Odin,
    myself to myself;
    on that tree
    of which none know
    from which root it rises.

    They did not comfort me with bread,
    and not with the drinking horn;
    I peered downward,
    I grasped the ‘runes,’
    screeching as I grasped them;
    I fell back from there.

    I learned nine mighty songs
    from the famous son
    of Bolthor, father of Bestla,
    and I got a drink
    of the precious mead,
    I was sprinkled with Odrerir.

    Then I began to be fruitful
    and to be fertile,
    to grow and to prosper;
    one word sought
    another word from me;
    one deed sought
    another deed from me.


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