Old Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives

Anders Andrén is a professor of archeology at Stockholm University, Sweden. Kristina Jennbert is an associate professor of archeology at Lund University, Sweden.

The study of Old Norse Religion is a truly multidisciplinary and international field of research. The rituals, myths and narratives of pre-Christian Scandinavia are investigated and interpreted by archaeologists, historians, art historians, historians of religion as well as scholars of literature, onomastics and Scandinavian studies. For obvious reasons, these studies belong to the main curricula in Scandinavia but are also carried out at many other universities in Europe, the United States and Australia a fact that is evident to any reader of this book. In order to bring this broad and varied field of research together, an international conference on Old Norse religion was held in Lund in June 2004. About two hundred delegates from more than fifteen countries took part. The intention was to gather researchers to encourage and improve scholarly exchange and dialogue, and Old Norse religion in long-term perspectives presents a selection of the proceedings from that conference. The 75 contributions elucidate topics such as worldview and cosmology, ritual and religious practice, myth and memory as well as the reception and present-day use of Old Norse religion. The main editors of this volume have directed the multidisciplinary research project Roads to Midgard since 2000. The project is based at Lund University and funded by the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation.

The conference and its context; Old Norse religion; Can archaeologists study prehistoric cosmology?; Narrative worlds, human environments, and poets; The case of Bragi; Centrality in Old Norse mental landscapes; A world of stone; Bound animal bodies; The imperative way; Homogeneity and heterogeneity in Old Norse cosmology; The gendering of death in eddic cosmology; The Askr and Embla myth in a comparative perspective; The edges of the Old Norse world-view; Hanging on the world tree; Rituals, witnesses, and sagas; Iron in the making - Technology and symbolism; The origins of Old Norse ritual and religion in European perspective; How to sort out ritual from context of practice; Escaping the allure of meaning; Myth and metallurgy; Humans and gods interacting at Augusta Treverorum in Late Antiquity; Performing death; The Roman Iron Age in perspectives and perceptions; Harnessing the hunger; Wolves, serpents, and birds; The horse and its role in Icelandic burial practices, mythology, and society; The heroised dead; Cemeteries and ritual meals; The universe container; Scandinavian burial rites on the southern Baltic coast; Grinding processes and reproductive metaphors; Spinning seidr; The concept of shamanism in Old Norse religion from a sociological point of view; What's in a name?; Bridging mythology and belief; Ornaments, ornamentation, and female gender; Among trees, bones, and stones; My home is my castle; Ancient building cults; Odin and Mithras; Thor's hammer in Norway; The temple in Rhetra-Riedegost; Parchim-Loddigsee - late Slavonic temple and trading site; Pre-Christian cult at Arkona; Rituals and power; Ritual building and ritual space; The Uppakra beaker; Guldgubber; Myth and the psychology of memory; Theories, explanatory models and terminology; Poetry and Practice; Where does Old Norse religion end?; Archaeology and sacrifice; Misconceptions concerning paganism and folklore in medieval art; Voluspa and the tree of life; On wind and waves; Potentialities of Loki; Love among gods and men; Past memories; Ancient mounds for new graves; What shall we do with Reinaert the Fox?; Heroes, kings, and gods; The advent of the esteemed horseman-sovereign; The use and abuse of Old Norse religion; Kings, cowpies, and creation; The "Allgermanische Heidnische Front" and Old Norse religion; The organism within; From queen to sorcerer; Drudgery dwarf; The measures of Old Norse religion in long-term perspective.