--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Patricia"
<originalpatricia@...> wrote:

> for iþrottr could we consider - qualities or skills -

I think you're in the right ballpark...

> ahem did they play football

Well, they did have some kind of ball game didn't they? Bit hazy on
the details. Wasn't young Egill Skallagrímsson involved in an
Alarming Incident (ah, now I'm capitalising; addictive isn't it) at
ball game?

> Glad you liked grim, after all in those days some grim things came

to pass, of course we are civilised now aren't we ? No?


About the same, I reckon, but with more explosive toys, bigger
prisons and fancier mind control.

> and for the Oath making/taking, do you believe there was a blood

letting, so they are blood brothers, did they do that kind of thing


In Gísla saga Súrssonar, a strip of turf called a jarðarmen (neuter)
is raised up somehow like an arch. The parties to the oath step
underneath this. They swear to avenge each other just as brothers
would and called on all the gods as their witness. In Fóstbroeðra
saga, the oath is that whoever lives longer should avenge the
other. There they have to go under three jarðarmen, but nothing's
said there about mixing their blood. Orms þáttr Stórólfsonar
mentions the rite in language suspiciously reminiscent of Illuga
saga Gríðarfóstra: "Svá kom at þeir sórust í fóstbroeðralag at
fornum sið (according to the old custom) at hvárr skyldi annars
hefna sá er lengr lifði ef hinn yrði vápndauðr." (...if the other
should die by weapons). The Norwegian Gulaþingslög (Law(s) of
Gulaþing) states that a man is entitled to compensation from the
killer of his sworn brother [ http://visindavefur.hi.is/svar.asp?
id=4515 ]. In Hrólf saga kraka, Elg-Fróði makes a depression in the
rock with his hoof (he's half man, half elk) and says to his brother
Böðvarr before they part: "Til þessa spors mun ek koma hvern dag ok
vita, hvat í sporinu er; mold mun verða, ef þú verðr sóttdauðr,
vatn, ef þú verðr sjódauðr, blóð, ef þú verðr vápndauðr ok mun ek þá
hefna þín, því at ek ann þér mest allra minna." ("I will come to
this footprint every day and see what's in the mark. It'll be earth
if you die of sickness, water if you drown, and blood if you die
from weapons, and then I will avenge you, because of all men I love
you the best.") So maybe the stipulation about weapons in the oath
is specifying death by human violence? ...as opposed to accident,
natural or supernatural causes: if there's someone to take vengeance
on, vengeance there will be.

Incidentally, Laxdoela saga mentions a similar ritual of going under
a strip of earth in order to clear oneself of accusations [
http://www.northvegr.org/lore/northmen/023_02.php ]. The other
context where appears this "heathen rite of creeping under a
sod...", as Cleasby & Vigfússon call it, is as a sort of ritual
humiliation imposed on an enemy as a condition for ending a dispute,
e.g. in Vatnsdoela saga, where three jarðarmen are set up, at
various heights, the intention being to make whoever goes under them
bow lower and lower. Maybe get soil on them as well. The person in
question in Vatnsdoela saga manages to get under one, but a snide
remark about being made to bow like a swine puts him off and he
refuses to do any more. CV cites Njáls saga ch. 119 too, but the
incident mentioned there seems to be more of an expedient for hiding
than a ritual. Ah, gratuitous Njála quote time (bracketed
translations coutresy of Hermann Pálsson & Magnús
Magnússon's 'Penguin Classic'). Skafti has just refused to lend his
support to Ásmgrimr and Njál's sons:

"Hver er sá maður," segir Skafti, "er fjórir menn ganga fyrri,
mikill maður og fölleitur, ógæfusamlegur, harðlegur og tröllslegur?"

Hann svarar: "Skarphéðinn heiti eg og hefir þú séð mig jafnan á
þingi en vera mun eg því vitrari en þú að eg þarf eigi að spyrja þig
hvað þú heitir. Þú heitir Skafti Þóroddsson en fyrr kallaðir þú þig
burstakoll (you once called yourself Bristle-Head) þá er þú hafðir
drepið (when you had just killed) Ketil úr Eldu. Gerðir þú þér þá
koll (you shaved your head then) og barst tjöru í höfuð þér (rubbed
in tar). Síðan keyptir þú að þrælum (bribed some slaves) að rísta
upp jarðarmen og skreiðst (crept) þú þar undir um nóttina. Síðan
fórst þú til Þórólfs Loftssonar á Eyrum og tók hann við þér og bar
þig út í mjölsekkjum sínum (smuggled you abroad in his flour
sacks)."

Eftir það gengu þeir Ásgrímur út.

Skarphéðinn mælti: "Hvert skulum vér nú ganga?"

(Coolest saga character ever? That man gets my vote, no
question. "Where shall we go now!"--I can just see the smug twinkle
in his eye. Anyone got any other other nominations? Hey, let's
have a POLL.)

Llama Nom