In Orkney in 1774 the churchman George Low wrote:
"There was a custom among the lower class of people in this country which has entirely subsided within these twenty or thirty years. Upon the first day of every new year the common people, from all parts of the country, met at the Kirk of Stainhouse (Stennis), each person having provision for four or five days; they continued there for that time dancing and feasting in the kirk... The parties agreed stole from the rest of their companions, and went to the Temple of the Moon, where the woman, in presence of the man, fell down on her knees and prayed the god Wodden (for such was the name of the god they addressed upon this occasion) that he would enable her to perform all the promises and obligations she had and was to make to the young man present, after which they both went to the Temple of the Sun, where the man prayed in like manner before the woman, then they repaired from this to the stone [known as Wodden's or Odin's Stone], and the man being on one side and the woman on the other, they took hold of each other's right hand through the hole, and there swore to be constant and faithful to each other. This ceremony was held so very sacred in those times that the person who dared to break the engagement made here was counted infamous, and excluded all society"
We have record in the 1690s of requests for foreign clergy to be sent to Orkney to deal with their "immoral practices" which quite seemingly refered to their not so subtle pagan beliefs. If Mr. Low is correct it only took 50-60 years to stop this practice, but from my study of the rather late erasure of pagan remnants in Baltic and Finnic societies it seems much more likely that the pagan elements entered a crypto-state before being lost. Based on European parallels this crypto-faith must have lasted at least 100 years but based on other evidence it seems quite possible this survived all the way to the early 20th century before being destroyed not by priests, but by modernity.
Orcadians swore their sacred oaths on the Odin stone until the day it was destroyed by an outlander in 1814. Even after its destruction weddings and other oaths were done in the area among the other nearby stones well into the late 1800s. The main fragment of the Odin stone was used as a mill anchor and when in the 1940s the mill was replaced with modern argicultural machinery the farmers son was unable to move the stone and smashed it. His father was furious with him for this, showing at least some reverence for it.
http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/odinstone/index.html
Woden worship wandered onward til the 1750s, and likely later
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Luigi wrote:In Orkney in 1774 the churchman George Low wrote:
"There was a custom among the lower class of people in this country which has entirely subsided within these twenty or thirty years. Upon the first day of every new year the common people, from all parts of the country, met at the Kirk of Stainhouse (Stennis), each person having provision for four or five days; they continued there for that time dancing and feasting in the kirk... The parties agreed stole from the rest of their companions, and went to the Temple of the Moon, where the woman, in presence of the man, fell down on her knees and prayed the god Wodden (for such was the name of the god they addressed upon this occasion) that he would enable her to perform all the promises and obligations she had and was to make to the young man present, after which they both went to the Temple of the Sun, where the man prayed in like manner before the woman, then they repaired from this to the stone [known as Wodden's or Odin's Stone], and the man being on one side and the woman on the other, they took hold of each other's right hand through the hole, and there swore to be constant and faithful to each other. This ceremony was held so very sacred in those times that the person who dared to break the engagement made here was counted infamous, and excluded all society"
We have record in the 1690s of requests for foreign clergy to be sent to Orkney to deal with their "immoral practices" which quite seemingly refered to their not so subtle pagan beliefs. If Mr. Low is correct it only took 50-60 years to stop this practice, but from my study of the rather late erasure of pagan remnants in Baltic and Finnic societies it seems much more likely that the pagan elements entered a crypto-state before being lost. Based on European parallels this crypto-faith must have lasted at least 100 years but based on other evidence it seems quite possible this survived all the way to the early 20th century before being destroyed not by priests, but by modernity.
Orcadians swore their sacred oaths on the Odin stone until the day it was destroyed by an outlander in 1814. Even after its destruction weddings and other oaths were done in the area among the other nearby stones well into the late 1800s. The main fragment of the Odin stone was used as a mill anchor and when in the 1940s the mill was replaced with modern argicultural machinery the farmers son was unable to move the stone and smashed it. His father was furious with him for this, showing at least some reverence for it.
http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/odinstone/index.html
![Image](https://media.tenor.com/images/1374dfb7289fa808bc52d9f224f66246/tenor.gif)
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Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.
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Regret won't waste my life again
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Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.
I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
I won't look back I'll fight to remain
Another highly significant piece of evidence: The Charm of the Wreestin Threed(wresting thread)
This was a charm found in Orkney folk magic which was used to heal strains and accompanied the tieing of 9 knots in a thread(9 is the most sacred number in Germanic Paganism, the number 3 and its multiples are the holy numbers of all Indo-European faiths). It goes as follows:
Oor Savior rade,
His fore-foot slade;
Our Savior lichtit down.
Sinew to sinew, vein to vein,
Joint to joint, and bane to bane,
Mend thoo in Geud's name!
As you can see the charm has been Christianized, but this charm will be quite familiar to Germanic pagan folk, as one of very few pieces of evidence for Germanic paganism from Germany is the Madgeburg Incantations, in which Wotan uses a charm to heal the injured horse of Baldur:
Phol and Wodan rode into the woods,
There Balder's foal sprained its foot.
It was charmed by Sinthgunt, her sister Sunna;
It was charmed by Frija, her sister Volla;
It was charmed by Wodan, as he well knew how:
Bone-sprain, like blood-sprain,
Like limb-sprain:
Bone to bone; blood to blood;
Limb to limb -- like they were glued.
I got the information on the charm of the wreestin threed from the same Orkney site, here is the link: http://www.orkneyjar.com/tradition/wreestin.htm
However one thing the author did not note, but will be well known to scholars of Indo-European comparative studies, is that this charm is also found in the Sanskrit Vedas and is likely the only instance of full sentences which can be traced all the way back to Proto-Indo European sentences(as opposed to the individual words). If I remeber correctly in the Vedas it is also used to cure a wounded horse. All credit to J.P. Mallory for noting this co-occurance and realizing its significance.
This was a charm found in Orkney folk magic which was used to heal strains and accompanied the tieing of 9 knots in a thread(9 is the most sacred number in Germanic Paganism, the number 3 and its multiples are the holy numbers of all Indo-European faiths). It goes as follows:
Oor Savior rade,
His fore-foot slade;
Our Savior lichtit down.
Sinew to sinew, vein to vein,
Joint to joint, and bane to bane,
Mend thoo in Geud's name!
As you can see the charm has been Christianized, but this charm will be quite familiar to Germanic pagan folk, as one of very few pieces of evidence for Germanic paganism from Germany is the Madgeburg Incantations, in which Wotan uses a charm to heal the injured horse of Baldur:
Phol and Wodan rode into the woods,
There Balder's foal sprained its foot.
It was charmed by Sinthgunt, her sister Sunna;
It was charmed by Frija, her sister Volla;
It was charmed by Wodan, as he well knew how:
Bone-sprain, like blood-sprain,
Like limb-sprain:
Bone to bone; blood to blood;
Limb to limb -- like they were glued.
I got the information on the charm of the wreestin threed from the same Orkney site, here is the link: http://www.orkneyjar.com/tradition/wreestin.htm
However one thing the author did not note, but will be well known to scholars of Indo-European comparative studies, is that this charm is also found in the Sanskrit Vedas and is likely the only instance of full sentences which can be traced all the way back to Proto-Indo European sentences(as opposed to the individual words). If I remeber correctly in the Vedas it is also used to cure a wounded horse. All credit to J.P. Mallory for noting this co-occurance and realizing its significance.
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/z6eVYLr.jpg)
An interesting fact I recently discovered, when the German speaking patrilinieal line entered the English royal family in the early 1700s English people were divided on whether they were confortable with it or not. Those in favor stressed the common Teutonic origin of English and German people. During this climate, a set of sculptures were made for the Stowe House gardens depicting the deities for which the English days of the week are named, most of which are Germanic. This included the namesake of Wednesday - Woden.
![Image](https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7325/8733909863_4100cbf8b3_b.jpg)
The statues even had their names inscribed on the bases in runes. The statues were completed and put on display in 1727(!!!). What I really love about this is that for the most part the 1700s are a time where English people romantically reflected on Druids and Greco-Roman gods, but not on those of the Anglo-Saxons. When I was reading the Orkney stuff, and really reading about this stuff more generally, I am often left thinking to myself how nice it would have been if the brothers Grimm and co. arrived just half a century earlier. Finding stuff like this is almost like getting my wish. I cant help but imagine an Orkney farmer heading to the pub after a hard days work and hearing the talk of the day, talk of German kings, Anglo-Saxons, noble ancient warriors, and perhaps hearing a familiar name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stowe_Hou ... well_Field
![Image](https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7325/8733909863_4100cbf8b3_b.jpg)
The statues even had their names inscribed on the bases in runes. The statues were completed and put on display in 1727(!!!). What I really love about this is that for the most part the 1700s are a time where English people romantically reflected on Druids and Greco-Roman gods, but not on those of the Anglo-Saxons. When I was reading the Orkney stuff, and really reading about this stuff more generally, I am often left thinking to myself how nice it would have been if the brothers Grimm and co. arrived just half a century earlier. Finding stuff like this is almost like getting my wish. I cant help but imagine an Orkney farmer heading to the pub after a hard days work and hearing the talk of the day, talk of German kings, Anglo-Saxons, noble ancient warriors, and perhaps hearing a familiar name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stowe_Hou ... well_Field
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/z6eVYLr.jpg)
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Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.
I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
I won't look back I'll fight to remain
Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.
I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
I won't look back I'll fight to remain
Found an island with a similar situation, St. Kilda in the outer hebredes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Kilda, ... nd#History
The first detailed report of a visit to the islands dates from 1549, when Donald Munro suggested that: "The inhabitants thereof ar simple poor people, scarce learnit in aney religion, but M’Cloyd of Herray, his stewart, or he quhom he deputs in sic office, sailes anes in the zear ther at midsummer, with some chaplaine to baptize bairnes ther." -for anyone having trouble with the Scots zear = year and bairnes = children.
Macauley (1764) reported the existence of five druidic altars, including a large circle of stones fixed perpendicularly in the ground near the Stallir House on Boreray.
Despite the chaplain's best efforts, the islanders' isolation and dependence on the bounty of the natural world meant their philosophy bore as much relationship to Druidism as it did to Christianity. This changed upon the arrival of Rev. John MacDonald in 1822.
The first detailed report of a visit to the islands dates from 1549, when Donald Munro suggested that: "The inhabitants thereof ar simple poor people, scarce learnit in aney religion, but M’Cloyd of Herray, his stewart, or he quhom he deputs in sic office, sailes anes in the zear ther at midsummer, with some chaplaine to baptize bairnes ther." -for anyone having trouble with the Scots zear = year and bairnes = children.
Macauley (1764) reported the existence of five druidic altars, including a large circle of stones fixed perpendicularly in the ground near the Stallir House on Boreray.
Despite the chaplain's best efforts, the islanders' isolation and dependence on the bounty of the natural world meant their philosophy bore as much relationship to Druidism as it did to Christianity. This changed upon the arrival of Rev. John MacDonald in 1822.
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/z6eVYLr.jpg)
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Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.
I'll never long for what might have been
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I won't look back I'll fight to remain
Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.
I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
I won't look back I'll fight to remain
The Icelandic manuscript AM 434 seems to be pretty solid proof that syncretic Cristo-Heathenry was alive and well in Iceland c.1500.
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/z6eVYLr.jpg)
Info from the Swedish situation: in 1484 a man named Ragnvald Othinskarl was tried for witchcraft because he invoked Othin:
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/z6eVYLr.jpg)
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Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.
I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
I won't look back I'll fight to remain
Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.
I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
I won't look back I'll fight to remain
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