El fórmulario de aduanas del Apolo 11 - No Solo Viajeros

Fuente:

http://www.nosoloviajeros.com/el-formulario-de-aduanas-del-apolo-11/

Información:

El fórmulario de aduanas del Apolo 11

Agosto 1, 2009 | por Jon Sainz | 21 views

Hay mucha gente a la cual cuando viaja le aburre el ponerse a rellenar los típicos fórmularios de aduanas, que si llevo esto, que si lo otro….

Bueno, pues visto lo visto, en algunos casos este punto puede ser de lo más curioso, y por ello os traigo hoy una imagen del formulario que tuvieron que rellenar los tripulantes del famoso Apolo 11 ( Primera nave tripulada en viajar a la luna ). Ni los astronautas se libran de este trámite.

Una traducción rápida:

Vuelo: Apolo 11.
Salida: La Luna.
Llegada: Honolulu, Hawai.
Carga: Muestras de piedra y polvo lunares.

No me imagino la cara del agente fronterizo al ver este documento.

Fuente y fotografía 2 | Eureka
Fotografía 1 | Space.com

Clases sociales en la India - No Solo Viajeros

Fuente:

http://www.nosoloviajeros.com/clases-sociales-en-la-india/

Información:

Clases sociales en la India

Agosto 6, 2008 | por Jon Sainz | 6,928 views

La India es una gran nación, de ello no hay duda, miles de años de historia y tradiciones lo confirman. El problema surge cuando algunas de estas tradiciones, aunque sobre el papel extintas, se mantienen vigentes; me refiero a las castas.

Las castas son las clases sociales en las que esta dividida la sociedad India, la pertenencia a una u a otra depende de la familia en la que se nazca. Teoricamente desde 1952 este sistema discriminatorio esta prohibido, pero la realidad es bien diferente.

Existen cuatro castas, que de mayor a menos pureza son las siguientes:

• Brahmanes: son los sacerdotes encargados de interpretar y enseñar los textos sagrados.

• Kshatriyas: son guerreros y gobernantes encargados de defender su sociedad.

• Vaishyas: son artesanos y comerciantes, encargados de alimentar a la sociedad.

• Sudras: campesinos y gente trabajadora, cuya única labor es servir a las demás castas.

Por debajo de estas 4 castas están los intocables, a quienes no se les incluye en el sistema de castas, son personas consideradas impuras desde su nacimiento. Representan un 25% de la población India (más de 160 millones) y hacen los trabajos sucios que los demás no quieren hacer, como: limpieza de letrinas, incineración de cadáveres, limpieza de pozos sépticos, trabajos que implican un contacto físico con sangre , excrementos…

Los intocables suelen ser en demasiadas ocasiones víctimas de violaciones, linchamientos o asesinatos por miembros de castas superiores.

Lo oficial es que toda la sociedad India es igual ante la ley y ante el prójimo, la realidad es esta:

• Cerca del 90% de las personas pobres y el 95% de las personas analfabetas son intocables.

• Unos cuarenta millones de personas son intocables. De esos cuarenta millones 15 son niños y niñas que trabajan por un salario mínimo.

• La mitad de los niños y el 64% de las niñas no pueden acabar la escuela porque son humillados por sus profesores /as.

Fuente y mayor información | Wikipedia

The Nordic Roots Of Tolkien's Middle Earth

Fuente:

http://www.amscan.org/tolkien.html

Información:

The Nordic Roots Of Tolkien's Middle Earth

The recent release of the first of three maior films based on the British writer's medieval fantasy novels has prompted curiosity about where Tolkien sought the inspiration for his highly imaginative yarns. The answer, in large part, is in the Old Icelandic sagas and the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala.

By Tom DuBois and Scott Mellor

---

JOHN RONALD REUEL TOLKIEN (1892-1973), perhaps the most successful and most influential fantasy author of the 20th century, is known for his lively and varied chronicles of Middle-earth: the endearing children's book The Hobbit (1937), the sprawling trilogy The Lord of the Rings (1954-55) and his posthumously published Silmarillion (1977). These, along with a handful of shorter works, comprise an opus which animates and sustains a richly alluring, yet wistfully remote world, one which has captured the imaginations of millions of readers in print, and is reaching even larger audiences through the recent film Fellowship of the Ring.

Where did Tolkien come up with his fantastic beings and their strange, multisyllabic names? The answer lies in Tolkien's day job, that of an Oxford medievalist who specialized in Old and Middle English literature but who was endlessly fascinated by the cultures of the Nordic region. Particularly important to Tolkien's writings, in fact, are products of Nordic imagination: the Old Icelandic sagas, medieval Old Norse, Elias Lönnrot's Finnish national epic Kalevala, and the Finnish language. It is the influence of these Nordic sources that we explore here.

Tolkien's creative genius cannot be underestimated. Yet his creations also show influence from the medieval materials and colleagues he knew at Oxford. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis were friends and belonged to a group of Oxfordians called the Inklings, who met regularly to read from their works in progress. Lewis's creation was the Chronicles of Narnia series, which he based on biblical stories. As a number of scholars have shown, Tolkien based his works in large measure on the myth and sagas of Scandinavians; indeed, even the name of his fantasy world, Middle Earth, derives directly from the ancient Scandinavian name for the human realm between the heavens and the underworlds, Midgard.

Each of Tolkien's major works shows a slightly different set of Nordic influences. His children's tale The Hobbit draws its form in part from folk-tales--we know from the start that everyone will live happily ever after, even if frightening things may happen before then. Yet even in this work, Tolkien drew liberally from medieval literature. The names of Bilbo's 13 dwarf companions and his wizard friend Gandalf are taken from the Old Norse poem Völuspá, which was written down during the 13th century.

On the other hand, the tale's dragon, and Bilbo's awakening him when stealing a cup from his hoard, derive from the Old English epic Beowulf. In his The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien drew on Old Norse saga literature, particularly The Saga of the Volsungs. At the center of this multigenerational tale of fearless heroes, we find a cursed ring, created by the dwarf Andvari. Andvari curses the ring when it is stolen by the gods, Loki, Odin, and Hoenir to pay compensation for Otter, a giant's son whom they have killed. When the Volsung warrior Sigurd kills Fafnir, Otter's dragon-shaped brother, Andvari's
gold (and the cursed ring) pass into the Volsung family. Often in folklore rings represent fertility. Yet, in this case, the fertility has been cursed, and therefore, rather than becoming a source of life, it becomes associated with death, drawing everyone who comes into contact with it to a treacherous and untimely demise. In The Niebelungenlied, the Middle High German version of this ancient tale, the ring and all the gold from Otter's blood price are eventually thrown into the Rhine to end the curse. While The Saga of the Volsungs clearly served as a primary inspiration for Tolkien, many of the trilogy's battle scenes resemble accounts in other Icelandic sagas.

Power of a Viking Age saga
Tolkien was not the first to use The Saga of the Volsungs as the basis for a modern artistic creation. In the 19th century, Richard Wagner wrote his operatic Ring cycle, influenced by both versions of this tale. However, Tolkien made his adaptation relevant to his own time. As Tolkien explained later in life, for him, the ring in The Lord of the Rings represents warfare and the industrialization of England and the wider world. At the outset of the 20th century, industrialization seemed to offer unbelievable good fortune, yet in short time it led to war and the destruction of the natural beauty of England. The great battles described in Tolkien's work recall the events of World War I and II, through which Tolkien lived. Tolkien fought briefly in WWI until suffering an injury. Toward the end of WWII, in 1944, Tolkien wrote: "For we are attempting to conquer Sauron with the Ring. And we shall (it seems) succeed. But the penalty is as you know, to breed new Saurons, and slowly turn Men and Elves into Orcs." So, Tolkien's literary saga adapts the timeless power of a Viking Age saga to comment profoundly on the excesses and violence of his own day.

Tolkien also drew on the Finnish epic Kalevala, and this shows up most clearly in his last work, Silmarillion. In the beginning of the Silmarillion, Ilúvatar (whose name recalls the Kalevala's primordial Ilmatar) creates the world by conducting the Ainur, the greatest of the Valar spirits, in song. Melkor, the most beautiful of the Valar (reminiscent of Lucifer, the most beautiful of the Angels), tries to insert his own melody into the chorus. Three times Melkor interrupts the chorus and three times Ilúvatar must regain control of the song; those three interruptions will represent the three wars of Middle Earth. The mystical power of song in Tolkien's creation myth is reminiscent of the role song plays in the Kalevala. The conflict between Ilúvatar and Melkor may have its origins in the singing match between Väinämöinen and Joukahainen. In the Finnish epic, Joukahainen, a young upstart, challenges the old and venerable Väinämöinen, who has existed since before the world. In their resulting singing match, Väinämöinen is able to sing Joukahainen down with ease, his singing magically subduing and immobilizing his opponent.

Just as the core of The Lord of the Rings lies in the jealous desire for a ring, so the core in Silmarillion lies in the lust for a set of three magic jewels, the Silmarils, which resemble the Kalevala's magic Sampo. Forged by Fëanor, a handsome but broody smith character reminiscent of Kalevala's Ilmarinen, Tolkien's Silmarils lead to a protracted feud. The Silmarillion has its accidental incest scene also, and a character (Túrin Turambar) who takes his own life when he discovers his misdeed. As Vesa Sisättö has shown, the character of Túrin closely parallels that of the Kalevala's Kullervo: even Túrin's final words to his sword echo those which Kullervo speaks to his own sword when asking it to take his life. Such parallels reflect Tolkien's fascination with the Finnish epic.

Tolkien and language
As his career attests, Tolkien loved languages: the more mellifluous and grammatically complex the better. As a young man, Tolkien learned a variety of medieval Germanic languages, including Old English, Old Norse, and Gothic. He also discovered to his delight the Celtic language Welsh, which was to eventually become the inspiration for his "younger" Elvish language Sindarin. Another turning point, however, came when he obtained a copy of a Finnish grammar. "It was like discovering a complete wine-cellar filled with bottles of an amazing wine of a kind and flavour never tasted before. It quite intoxicated me" he wrote years later. This interest in Finnish would lead not only to his use of the Kalevala, as detailed above, but also to the form and details of his "high" Elvish language, Quenya.

One of the most obvious signs of Finnish influence on Quenya lies in its words. Tolkien borrowed some Quenya words directly from Finnish: for example, tul- "to come," derives from the Finnish verb of the same meaning, tulla. Similarly, the Quenya word for "path," tië, finds an exact counterpart in the Finnish word tie, "road." Other loans are evident, but less direct: for example, the Quenya word for "gift," anna, probably derives from the Finnish verb root anta-/anna-, meaning "to give." Helge Kåre Fauskangor, a Norwegian Tolkien enthusiast and a prodigious scholar of Tolkien's Elvish languages, has suggested that even the name Quenya (derived from the Quenya verb quen, "to speak") may owe its origin to the medieval Scandinavian word for Finns, cwenas, kven. Still other Quenya words look tantalizingly Finnish, albeit with a shift in meaning: for example, Quenya cirja is phonologically identical to the Finnish word for "book," kirja. But the Quenya word means not "book" but "high-prowed ship." Perhaps for Tolkien, as for his millions of readers afterward, books are truly "ships" of the imagination.

Tolkien's real indebtedness to Finnish, however, becomes apparent when we look at the grammar with which he endowed his high Elvish language. Like Finnish, Quenya is rich in suffixes that alter the meaning of the noun or verb to which they are attached. Many Quenya suffixes are drawn directly from Finnish. Finnish is also an agglutinative language, which means that it may add multiple suffixes to its words to further augment or refine their meanings. Noun suffixes can be used to convey location, number (singular or plural), and even ownership. Thus, for instance, the Finnish word kirjoissani is made up of the following parts: kirja (the noun "book"), -i- (a plural marker), -ssa (a case ending meaning "in"), and -ni (a possessive marker meaning "my"). Together, these syllables express the same meaning as the English phrase "in my books." Tolkien's Quenya follows its source closely, although it requires that the suffixes be added in a different order. Thus the Quenya parmanyassen can be broken down into the components parma ("book"),nya- ("my"), -sse- ("in"), and -n (plural marker).

Quenya is no slavish copy of Finnish, however. Other grammatical features are drawn from sources like Latin, Old English, and Old Norse. For instance, Quenya has a dual form for nouns; i.e., an ending can designate a pair of things rather than merely one or more-than-one, as in modern English and Finnish. Dual forms for nouns occur in medieval languages like Old English and Old Norse, and Tolkien probably drew the feature from these. In his system of verb endings, Tolkien also altered the Finnish -mme ("we") to have two different forms: where Finnish lensimme means "we flew," a Quenya speaker can distinguish between lendemmë "we went, but without you" and the possible lendelmë "we went, and you came along." This distinction between "exclusive" and "inclusive" we is found in various languages around the world, but not in Finnish. Picking and choosing from among the diverse languages and linguistic features of the world, Tolkien was able to craft a language full of the nuances and eccentricities he found most appealing. Quenya, indeed language in general, plays a key role in the cornplex history and mythology of Tolkien's Middle Earth. Like the sagas, Tolkien's texts are peppered with poetry, sometimes written in Tolkien's invented languages. Tolkien even goes so far as to create two writing systems, one for the dwarves and one for the elves. The writing system for the dwarves is based on the English, German, and Scandinavian system of writing known as runes. The origins of the Elvish writing system are harder to ascertain. It may have been based on the old roman cursive writing found from the later half of the Roman Empire, or possibly an old Celtic writing system. Given Tolkien's primary influences, the latter is more likely.

Pronunciation guide
Of the poems found in the The Lord of the Rings arguably the most influential in Quenya is found at the end of the first book, in the chapter "Farewell to Lórien." "Ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen!" writes the bard, quickly followed by the translation for those of us whose Quenya may be a bit rusty, "Ah! like gold fall the leaves in the wind, long years numberless as the wings of trees!" In 1967, Tolkien was recorded reading a number of the poems from his trilogy, among them poems written in Elvish. By recording these, Tolkien gives voice and a pronunciation guide as to how he envisioned his languages sounding. He read two of his Elvish poems, one written in Quenya and another in Sindarin. While the Sindarin text sounds like Welsh, the Quenya texts echo the vowel harmony, stress pattern and syllable quantity of Finnish.

In 1978, the first attempt was made to produce a film version of Tolkien's complex trilogy. In it, the filmmakers included only one of the Elvish songs, using it as indistinct background music. In 2001, a new version of The Lord of the Rings was produced in three parts, with part 1 already released, and parts 2 and 3 scheduled to come out in December 2002 and in 2003. The filming of The Fellowship of the Ring involved a host of difficult tasks, including the creation of dialogues in Elvish: conversations not found in Tolkien's text. In keeping with contemporary tastes in the world of fantasy literature, the filmmakers used Celtic languages as their modem language model. Interestingly, Tolkien's wistful Finnish-sounding Quenya is conspicuously absent: all the Elvish language seems to be in Sindarin.

Tolkien has captured the imagination of readers and film audiences the world over. Generations to come will enjoy and interpret his works of literature and his linguistic inventions. Perhaps, at least for some, these will lead them back to the Nordic influences and languages that excited and inspired Tolkien in the first place.

---

Tom Dubois is a professor of Finnish at the University of Wisconsin in Madison who has written books on pre-Christian Scandinavia and the Kalevala.
Scott Mellor is a lecturer in Swedish at the same institution and a linguist who has written on folklore and Scandinavian languages.

Vikings - Interesting Facts

Fuente:

http://www.sentex.net/~ajy/facts/vikings.html

Información:

Vikings

"Cattle die, kinsmen die,
the self must also die;
I know one thing which never dies:
the reputation of each dead man." —Havamal

The word "Viking" was originally a verb, describing the action of seafaring, and so applies only to Scandinavians who were seafarers, not necessarily all Scandinavians.

The ancient Vikings navigated by depending on the instincts of birds. They took on board several ravens, releasing them one at a time as they sailed westward. If the raven flew back along the course from which it had come, the Viking ships continued due west. But when a raven flew a different way, the ships would change course, following its flight path in search of new lands. [ Vikings | Animals ]

Because of Iceland's geographical isolation from mainland Europe, no human beings ever set foot on Iceland until mediaeval times. The first humans to arrive on Iceland were Irish explorers, who arrived no later than 795 A.D. They established a colony, but it didn't last. By the time the Vikings arrived eighty years later and established a permanent settlement, only a few hermits remained. [ Exploration | Geography | Vikings ] (source)

In the ninth century, Vikings (known as Varangians in the East) were raiding Constantinople, at the mouth of the Black Sea. These expeditions were launched from Kiev via the Dnieper River. [ Byzantine Empire | Vikings ]

St. Edmund the Martyr (841–869), King of East Anglia, met his death at the hands of the Vikings, either by being spread-eagled (having his ribs pried open to expose the still-breathing lungs) or by being whipped, shot through with an enormous number of arrows, and having his head cut off. [ Vikings | Saints ] (source)

Dublin was founded by Viking raiders in the ninth century.

In a single raid on Britain around the year 1000, the Vikings used a fleet of eighty "dragon ships", each carrying 100 soldiers. [ Vikings | Medieval England ] (source)

To encourage his fellow Norsemen to go to a large land of ice and snow that he discovered in 982 A.D., Eric the Red named it Greenland. In a few years, twenty-five ships filled with eager settlers sailed for the place. [ Exploration | Vikings ] (source)

The Vikings founded a settlement in North America almost 500 years before Columbus "discovered" the New World. In the year 1000, Leif Ericson, son of Eric the Red, sailed from Greenland on an epic westward voyage that took him past "Helluland" (probably Baffin Island) and "Markland" (probably Labrador) to a land called "Vinland" (modern-day Newfoundland). The Vikings later founded a colony on Vinland, near the modern-day fishing village of L'anse-aux-Meadows. However, the Vikings soon discovered that the lands were already inhabited by "Skraelings" (probably Inuit), who were often hostile. After a few years, the first European colony in the New World was abandoned and the colonists sailed home. [ Exploration | Pre-Columbian America | Vikings ]

The replica Viking houses at L'anse-aux-Meadows settlement, with their stone foundations and turfed roofs, are significantly more permanent than the actual buildings built there, and have already been occupied for longer than the original buildings. (source)

At the turn of the last millennium, the world's largest slave market was run by Vikings in Dublin. [ Slavery | Vikings ]

When Viking Leader Harald Hardrada invaded England in 1066, he quickly defeated the northern militia near York and waited for the big showdown with King Harold II who was on the south coast anticipating a Norman invasion. Not expecting the English troops for days, Hardrada and his men camped on meadows on both sides of the River Derwent at Stamford Bridge and, as it was a nice day, many removed their armour and indulged in some sunbathing. They didn't even rouse themselves when they saw approaching soldiers, presuming them to be a detachment of Vikings. By the time they realised it was the English army, it was too late. The Vikings were overwhelmed and Hardrada was killed.

Vikings were used as guards by some Byzantine emperors.

The Icelandic language is remarkably similar to Old Norse. Icelandic schoolchildren have no difficulties reading the Eddas and the sagas, the great epics written in Old Norse. [ Vikings | Languages of the World ] (source)

Russia was essentially founded as a by-product of slave raids by Vikings travelling between Scandinavia and the Byzantine Empire in the ninth century. [ World Countries | Slavery | Vikings ] (source)

Viking ships were steered by rudders on the right side, which the Vikings called styrbord, Old Norse for "steer side", from which the English word "starboard" comes. The Vikings docked their ships on the left side, which they called the ladebord, the "loading side". This eventually became the English "larboard", which sounded so much like "starboard" that it caused problems. Eventually, the British Admiralty ordered that the left side be known as the "port" side. [ Vikings | English Words ] (source)

The Vikings established a colony on the southwestern coast of Greenland that lasted around four centuries, from 982 to nearly 1400. The colonists routinely sailed to North America to get wood, as there were no trees on Greenland, long before Columbus "discovered" America. In the late 1300s, the Black Death ravaged the colony, Eskimos attacked, and the climate grew colder, and the colonists finally either died out or left. [ Vikings | Pre-Columbian America ] (source)

The worst possible death for a Viking chief was to die peacefully in bed.

Only one Viking helmet has ever been found, in a Viking grave in south Norway. It did not have horns.

At Viking victory celebrations, they drank draughts of their enemies' blood out of drinking vessels fashioned from human skulls. The toast "Skol!" may be derived from this custom. (source)

In Iceland, the Vikings developed a code of laws, a version of a Parliament, and a court that had the power to pass judgement and legislate laws. (source)

The world's oldest parliament is in Iceland, which first met in the year 930 when Viking chieftains met, outdoors, to argue their differences. (source)

The kingdom that the Vikings founded on the Isle of Man lasted until the early fifteenth century, when the island voluntarily submitted to King Henry IV of England. (source)

Bluetooth, is named after a tenth-century king of Denmark and Norway, Harald Bluetooth. Harald was known for uniting various warring tribes in Denmark and Norway, as the technology is intended to unite various other technologies.

The Vikings had a god of snowshoes. His name was Ull. (source)

On November 8, 1898, Olof Ohmann found a slab of rock weighing 202 pounds entwined in the roots of a 40-year-old poplar while clearing a field in Kensington, Minnesota. While controversity exists about the authenticity of the stone, it appears to contain a runic text, written in authentic 14th-century Swedish, describing an expedition of Gotlanders and Norseman to this part of North America. (source) [ Vikings | Pre-Columbian America ]

A Viking longboat would require around 80 oak trees to build.

Viking graves have turned up artifacts from as far away as North America and India, demonstrating the extent of their trading networks. [ Pre-Columbian America | Vikings ]

Last updated on April 16, 2009. You are visitor number 53660 to http://www.sentex.net/~ajy/facts/vikings.html. For questions or comments, e-mail James Yolkowski (ajy@sentex.net). Return to Interesting Facts home. Return to James Yolkowski's homepage.

A Glossary of Heathen-Related Words, Mostly Old Norse/Icelandic

Fuente:

http://home.earthlink.net/~jordsvin/Blots/Norse%20Glossary.htm

Información:

Compiled by Jordsvin

Most of these terms appear in the blots. All are important and widely used in Heathenism. Please send me any other English or non-English words you find in the blots and do not understand to me at Jordsvin@earthlink.net and I will add them. Please note that while we love the "Old Tongue" = Old Norse/Icelandic and delight in using a judicious sprinkling of its words, especially when there is no ready Modern English equivalent, we also have striven to make our rituals understandable even to first-time blot-goers, and so have avoided excessive "Heathenese":

Alsherjargod(h)i = a Heathen High Priest. Title of great respect. The Alsherjargodi of Iceland enjoys a widespread special respect, due in part to the fact that most of the information on our religion was written down in that country and in its language, which has changed little since Heathen Viking times, and also because Iceland was one of the first places where it was publicly revived.

Althing. See Moot Horn.

Alu = ale (a beverage similar to beer). Alu is a primitive Old Norse word. It occurs in magical Runic inscriptions. It has to do with alcoholic beverages as mythical conveyers of inspiration, poetic and otherwise. See the Odin's Rune Rite blot by Steve Wilson.

Asatru (OW-sah-troo) written out phonetically for native English Speakers) = faith in the Aesir (see Asgardh). The Germanic Pagan religion, also known by many other names. See Folk.

Asgardh (various spellings) = where the Aesir Gods and Goddesses live. One of the Nine Worlds.

Baneful (Baleful) Wights = harmful sentient beings, be they spirits or corporeal (Archaic English).

Blot = sacrifice, ritual or blessing. May or may not be connected to the word "blood." We use apple juice, beer, or mead (honey-wine) today. See my mead recipes . One of the two or three major types of Asatru ritual. See also Sumbel and Seidhr.

Bolli or Hlautbolli = bowl for holding consecrated liquid used in sprinking. Catholic Christians got this from us, not the other way around!

Draught = a drink from a container of liquid. Bigger than a sip but (a bit) smaller than an outright gulp.

Drekk(j)a(r)horn = drinking horn. used to hold liquid for consecrating with a God's or Goddess' might and essence during a blot. Some is poured into the bolli for a libation and for sprinkling. The rest is drunk by blot participants. Drinking horns are clean hollow cattle or sheep horns with some sort of lining and stand. Here is a link to Tandy Leather that sells horns (unfinished) by mail for about 7 bucks US. When you get to the Tandy Site, click "search" and type in "horns," then click again.

Dvergar (Old Norse) = Dwarves. Some equate them with the Dokkalfar and/or Svartalfar (both terms usually translated as "Dark Elves"). Underground spirits who are fine metal-workers. Some believe them to be, or at least to have in their midst, spirits of some dead metalworkers.

Elder Kin = our Gods and Goddesses. We honor and respect them, and join them in the work of maintaining life and helping it, and the Universe evolve, but do not grovel before them!

Elhaz or Elhaz-stodhur = to stand with your body in the form of the Rune Elhaz (see my Rune of the Month articles). If you are doing it right, you will look like an upside-down peace symbol without the circle.

Folk = Heathen people/folks. Followers of our Asatru/Heathen/Germanic Pagan religion, also known as the (Elder Troth), Forn Sed (various spellings/forms), Heid(h)ni, Hedningskap, Odinism (sometimes has overtones of refering to the unfortunate racist fringe of our religion), Heathenism, and various and sundry other names. Confusing, huh? For an explanation of how this confusion came to be, see Troth. Folk ain't got nothin' to do with Hitler and his Volk, despite what some nut cases may think.

Galdr = ritual chant or spell. In the blots, often the name of a Rune intoned three times.

Gandr = (magic or ritual) staff or wand. Gandalf = wand-elf or magic elf. A dwarf from the Poetic Edda's "Catalogue of Dwarves," extensively plagiarized by J. R. R. Tolkein!

God(h)i (various spellings) = a Heathen priest. No special power to consecrate like a Catholic priest, any Heathen may do a ritual to any of our Gods and Goddesses. Godis, also known as Gothar (various spellings exist of the Old Norse/Icelandic plural form) lead public worship, solemnize marriages and other rites of life passage, and teach our religion. See Gydja.

Gyd(h)ja (various spellings) = a Heathen priestess. See Godi.

Hamarr, helga ve thetta ok hindra alla illska = Hammer, hallow this sacred space/temple and hinder (the entry of) all evil things. Old Norse. If it were Modern Icelandic, the ok = and would be og. Probably about the only difference. Icelandic and Old Norse, despite the passage of a millenium, are very close. Icelanders read 1,000 year old sagas more easily , and more often for that matter, than native English speakers read Shakespeare. More words to stick in front of helga, and refering to objects used to consecrate Heathen sacred space (NOT quite the same thing as a Wiccan circle-casting): horn = antler (in this context, and also mean horn), sverd = sword, Brisingamen = Freya's necklace or some facsimile thereof, gandr = wand or staff.

Hammarsettung = German (our Alsherjargodi speaks it) or maybe Norse, Hel I don't know, for Hammer Hallowing (of a sacred space). One makes the Hammer-Sign facing North, East, South, West, and then with the fist aimed at sky/ceiling and finally at ground/floor in order to clear sacred space. The Elhaz Rune is often used in the same way and for the same purpose.

Hammer Hallowing = using the Hammer-Sign to consecrate sacred space for a Heathen ritual. See Hammer-Sign and Hammarsettung.

Hammer-Sign = religious gesture symbolizing Thor's Hammer. Invokes the hallowing and protecting presence of Thor. To Hammer-Sign yourself: with clenched fist, touch forehead, just below breastbone, just below left breast, then just below right breast. You have essentially made an upside-down capital T. You can also make the same gesture in the air over anything you wish to hallow. Ben Middleton once made it in the air in front of him while calling on Thor to successfully stop a persuing pack of feral dogs! Don't go out of your way to test that out yourself; Thor helps those who help themselves! Seems to have been a pre-Christian sign, although this is open to debate.

Handstodhur = to hold the hands still over something. Sometimes in the form of the Ing(waz) Rune, sometimes just with one partially over the other, palms down, to project the might and main of the God(s) or Goddess(es) being bloted into the liquid being consecrated.

Harrow = an (outdoor) altar for Heathen worship.

Heathen = a follower of the Asatru religion.

Hof = a Heathen temple. Several are currently in existence in the USA, with at least one more currently (Jan. '01) under construction.

Ing(waz) handstodhur = to shape your hands together into a diamond shape, which is the form of the Rune Ing/Ingwaz in the Elder Futhark.

Landvaettir (Old Norse) = Landwights (Heathenese) = nature spirits, spirits of the land, roughly equivalent to devas (Sanskrit). Sometimes equated with Ljosalfar (Light Elves).

Mete = proper or right and fitting. (Archaic English).

Midgardh (various spellings) = Middle-Earth (where do you think Tolkein stole it?). Where we humans live.

Might and Main = an archaic English expression meaning something like "strength and power."

Moot Horn = a cow's horn made into a blowing horn by carving the pointy end and putting a hole in it. A Moot is a word for a Heathen Gathering. So is an Althing (with more legal overtones). You can make the cow's other horn into a drekkjarhorn (also in this glossary).

Oath Ring = big arm ring, often silver or partly thereof, to swear religious oaths on. This is an English word, but an unfamiliar concept so I'm including it here.

Recel (RAY-kell) = incense (Anglo-Saxon). Derived from a word meaning "to smoke." Cognate with Modern English "to reek," German "rauchen" = "to smoke" and to the Rekja in Reykjavik, capital of Iceland.

Recels-pot = censer or incense-burner. Used to clear sacred space. Many times the godi or gydhja stops and censes each person, and that person often "bathes" him/herself in the ritually cleansing smoke.

Seidhr (SAY-thuhr, with the TH sound found in "this") (various spellings) = trancework in the Norse tradition. Its Oracular version is a sort of ritualized seance in which seers and seeresses seek answers to folk's questions from the Dead, from our Gods and Goddesses, and from other spiritual beings.

Stalli = an (indoor) altar for Heathen worship.

Stead = a particular place, especially a ritual one. Anglicized Old Norse, from stadhr.

Sumbel (Symbel) = ritualized toasting. Ancient Germanic ritual also used by modern Heathens. Food is not served, and it is bad form to get drunk. First round in contemporary useage is to the Gods, the second round is to ancestors and heroes, and the third round is open. Folks typically make boasts or oaths, tell a story, sing a song, or just pass the horn along if they have nothing to say (seldom happens). Blots and Sumbels are the two main Heathen rituals, with Oracular Seidhr sessions possibly being the third major category.

Sunwheel = a symbol used since pre-Christian times by Heathens and other Pagans, especially Celtic ones. The Celtic cross, which has a circle around the point where the two bars of the cross meet, is a Christianized version of the sunwheel. The sunwheel consists of an equal-armed cross with a circle traced around the end points.

Swastikas are a symbol related to the sunwheel which has unfortunately gotten a bad reputation due to the Nazis use of it. Nazis abuse both Christian and Heathen symbols to suit their nefarious purposes. Remember those Iron Crosses! Heathens are divided as to whether or not we should try to reclaim the swastika, which is also used by Hindus, Native Americans, and others.

Teinn or Hlautteinn = twig or branch used to sprinkle consecrated liquid on altar and blot participants. Traditionally we put it back under the tree or shrub it came from when we are done, along with a bit of the consecrated liquid as a small gesture to the plant for its sacrifice. An English cognate is tine, as in the tines of a fork.

Troth or Elder Troth = yet another name for our religion. Religion wasn't compartmentalized in the old days (it was more integrated into life and culture as a whole), so it never really even HAD a name. When a name for what we Asatruars believe and do became necessary in modern times (the modern view of religion is not all bad; for one thing it lets people of different religions and no religion live and work peacefully together under a secular government), a number of names were coined and no one of them won out over the others. See Folk.

Vanaheim = where the Vanir Gods and Goddesses live. One of the Nine Worlds. Traditionally, edged weapons (including the ritual athame knives of Wiccan guests) are forbidden in the ritual area where a blot to one of the Vanir Deities (Njordh, Nerthus, Ingvi Frey, and Freya Vanadis) is being held.

Wain = wagon. (Archaic English)

Wend = go, travel. (Archaic English)

Created by Chandonn and Jordsvin

all works used by permission of the authors

last modified 07/21/2003