Heill Konrad!

Something interesting I came across in Landnámabók is the word "brandr",
which can mean the beak of a ship used as an ornament before the door of a
household. This bears at least a superficial similarity to the totem pole,
and seems to perform a similar function, not just to represent the family,
but also to announce it to passers-by, even at considerable distance (ie. for
those travelling by on the sea - most totem poles are found in coastal
villages with a view to the sea). I've seen quite few of these, having grown
up in Vancouver. There is indeed a considerable geological and climatological
similarity between the Pacific Northwest and Scandinavia, and I think this
has led to many similarities between the peoples of both areas, as they
adapted to this environment.

Of course, if "Götuskeggjar" is just meant to mean "the men of Gata", then
the musings on the "beard" meaning may be moot... ;)

Having studied the Indo-European material extensively, I feel that I must
make a point here. While the Nordic peoples are certainly heirs of
Indo-European language, culture and religion (at least until the Conversion),
there is no case for the idea that they are Indo-European by blood.
Considerable work has been done in the field of genetics (notably by
Cavalli-Sforza and others), that shows that any Indo-European input into the
genetic composition of Europeans is negligable at best. Fully half of the
modern population of Europe is more or less directly descended from the very
first (Cro-Magnon, or early modern human - as opposed to Neanderthal)
settlers of Europe, from about 40-50 000 years ago, according to studies of
mitochondrial DNA. The Aryan myth dies hard even today (not that I'm accusing
you of perpetuating this), if one thinks about it in purely biological terms,
physical features like fair skin, which is an adaptation to an environent
with lower levels of direct sunlight, are more likely to appear in
populations that have been in that environment longer and have had more time
(in terms of generations) to adapt to it. This means that that Indo-Europeans
(or Aryans as they were called not too long ago), as relative newcomers
(about 4-6000 years, according to best estimates), are least likely to have
possessed these traits. A tangential point, but one I felt had to be made.

It is indeed true that modern Western culture owes more to Israel and Rome,
but for what it's worth, Rome was an Indo-European culture, too, although
influenced by non-Indo-European cultures (notably Etruscan and later
Christian, and many others from around the old Empire). Everywhere
Christianity was imported, it was influenced to a certain degree by the
native culture, and in the Germanic world, this can be seen by works like the
Heliand, which turns traditional Christian narratives into something
resembling saga literature, and the figure of Jesus into one of the old
Heathen heroes.

Today, only religions such as Hinduism (and its offshoots Buddhism and
Jainism) and Zoroastrianism can claim continuity from Indo-European
antiquity. Although they have developed in different directions, I think they
can offer much towards understanding the old Heathen ways. Although not
everyone these days grows up as a Christian, we are indeed raised in a
culture heavily mediated by Christianity, which makes a real understanding of
Heathenism difficult, but not impossible. Language goes a long way towards
understanding the cultural conceptions underpinning old Heathen culture.
Thanks to the efforts of some, year by year it is becoming more and more
intelligible to more and more people. :)

Just my tveir penningar worth...

Dan

konrad_oddsson wrote:

> "Inn mest kynþáttr Færeyinga" are called "Götuskeggjar" (the beards
> of Gata). ON skegg means beard. ON skeggi (pl. skeggjar) means man.
> The ancestral male "head" of a family could as well be called the
> "beard" of the family (the greybeard of the clan). ON "stólbrúða"
> or "stólbrúðr" means chair-bride and refers to a chairpost with a
> carved head (the bride of the chair). Such usage reminds me of other
> coastal fishing peoples like the Native Americans of the Pacific
> Northwest, Vancouver Island, and Alaska. Some of these tribes have a
> custom of carving "totem-poles", whereby suceeding generations of a
> family are represented by carved figures on a large vertical pole.
> Such a pole typically stands at the enterance of a "long-house", a
> long wooden (often cedar) home similar to many ON homes. At the top
> of a "totem-pole" one typically finds a "totem-animal", which is
> emblematic of the "clan" or extended family. Several generations of
> one and the same family live in the same "long-house" and are given
> quarters in the home according to their age and rank. Examples of
> "totem-animals" are the raven, the eagle, the bear and so forth. The
> traditional Native Americans inhabiting these regions today are
> usually very proud of their native non-Christian and non-European
> culture, often wearing traditional dress and displaying their family
> totems and other religious symbols at spiritual gatherings. These
> coastal peoples have a lot in common with the old Nordic people,
> probably more so than any other Native Americans, north or south. On
> the bases of such and other considerations, some linguistic and
> others cultural, it seems fair to assume that designations like "the
> beards of Gata" are in one way or another connected to religious and
> cultural traditions. Grímr was the spiritual "greybeard" of the
> family, the spiritual "bride" of the ancestral chair (although gods
> could also be engraved in a similar fashion), and his descendants
> were the "beards" who inherited his seat after him. Grímr was also
> the father of a nation and would thereby be the object of sacrifice.
> Even the Father of All Men is sometimes refered by names meaning or
> employing terms for "beard", thus again linking "beard" to worship
> of the "fathers" and veneration for antiquity in the Nordic faith.
> These are just some random thoughts which occurred to me while in
> the process of preparing my last post. In trying to understand Grímr
> and his descendants, we must not forget that they grew from a branch
> of the Indo-European tree. They belonged to a faith and culture that
> remains foreign and unintelligible to modern westerners, who are the
> spiritual and cultural heirs of Israel and Rome. While it is true
> that the majority of us are largely "Indo-Euro" by blood, that does
> not mean that we can easily understand those who are "Indo-Euro" by
> faith. According to the apostle Paul, Cristians were "grafted onto
> the tree of Israel", thus becoming a "new" people. While I doubt if
> Paul and Grímr ever met, I suspect that Grímr would understand what
> Paul meant by these words were he to meet with those of his modern
> descendants who believe in the teachings of Paul - the "beard" of
> the Christian branch of the tree of Israel. So whatever tree you may
> belong to, whatever branch you may belong to - may the blessings of
> your "beard" be upon you.
>
>
> Sumir hafa kvæði...
> ...aðrir spakmæli.
>
> - Keth
>
> Homepage: http://www.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/
>
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--
Daniel Bray
dbray@...
School of Studies in Religion A20
University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia

"Nobody believes the official spokesman... but everybody trusts an
unidentified source." Ron Nesen