For people who understand Norwegian, I am trying out something new and looking forward to sailing on the Seine River from Paris to Normandy for one week, from May 8th, with people who'd like to learn a lot(!) more about Vikings and the Viking Age (from me). If all goes well, I'll do this more and to other places (Sicily in July), and in English as well.. Here's the info in Norwegian language:
Vi har to ledige lugarer igjen, om du vil være med meg på en ukes cruise på Seinen, fra Paris til Normandie i vikingenes fotspor. Frankrike har mye vikinghistorie, så jeg kan garantere en fantastisk opplevelse i regi av Vista Travel.
Avreise torsdag 8. mai. Trykk for mer informasjon:
www.vistatravel.no/elvecruise/frankrike/elvecruise…
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Two years ago I was contacted by two Danish filmmakers who wanted to interview me about an "international documentary about ancient DNA." They said nothing about the film actually being about Eske Willerslev, something I only found out two weeks ago. Yesterday the film premiered at CPH:DOX and in it Eske has been allowed to use straw man fallacy against me in a bad way, as he has done before, and he also calls me a pseudo-scientist, without me being given the right to reply. The moral is: Some filmmakers should not be trusted.
The film will soon be released in Norwegian cinemas and through my lawyer in Copenhagen we have asked for the opportunity to file a form of denial, so far without being heard.
Since I have seen the film, here is a film review. In addition, I am posting three screenshots to show how they contacted me and described the film project in order to get me "on the hook".
Read the film review here:
www.patreon.com/posts/some-filmmakers-124908309
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Here's a recommendation of Dagfinn Skre's latest book "The Northern Routes to Kingship", about Scandinavian history from AD 180 to 550. He brings forward a lot of new and good research, for example exciting thoughts on hero worship in the chapter on Beowulf.
I have earlier read a lot of Skre's research, but to see some of the material collected in a book like this is both thought-provoking, exciting and innovative 👏🏻👏🏻 I find it also gratifying to see that he is up to date on the latest DNA research 🏆
The book can be ordered here:
www.routledge.com/The-Northern-Routles-to-Kingship…
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Thoughts from Scandinavia at the Winter Solstice
The final hours before the winter solstice are a time of the year when the darkness is at its most dangerous. In Scandinavia, it's along the coast of Norway where this is most heartfelt since we normally have no snow here in December. To us the powers of darkness are at their strongest, both within and around us. What we call the Darkness, meaning all the evil that lies latent in us and around us, has for weeks been able to ravage freely and unrestrained, seemingly ever increasingly. It has been suffocating and depressing, but it ends now. This part of our tradition is necessary, vital even because we need darkness for the light to live. But we need to survive our own fears and come through this period more or less unscathed. The light has once again fought so bravely and endured. Now, when the last rays of the sun ebb away, brave women and men will ask themselves if there will be many left among us when the light returns with renewed strength tomorrow. Is there enough glow left to be lit up by our breaths, when the tide takes us on yet another turn?
It is no wonder that it was all important in the past, quite essential really, to have sacred stones, monuments, burial mounds, cairns and islets that sun rays could enlighten in order to announce that right now - at this moment, the sun is turning: Sólhvarf. Now the Yule month can begin! In the past, this was the time when the blots were to be held, oaths were taken, toasts, offerings and the honoring of both the gods and the recently deceased were to be carried out, with good food and drink all along the way. This jolly time continued right up until the first full moon at the end of the Yule month. In modern times, many of us still put the porridge outdoors to the elves and small trolls; all of us have prepared our Yule food, which is sacred to us. Both the Yule goat and Yule sheaf have been prepared as ornaments, as well as many other decorations. The ancient Yule log has become a Yule tree, with all the gifts lying ready underneath. And there is, of course, the all-important tradition of Yule ale. It was a punishable offense for many centuries to sneak away from the duty of preparing the Yule ale. You could in fact lose everything you owned by law. Even worse, the horrible wight Lussi and her entourage always come on the night of the solstice, at Lussi Night, and create true havoc for anyone who has not prepared for Yule.
The victory of light over darkness is an eternal cycle that puts humans in our place in the cosmos and in nature. That is why there are light festivals in other cultures that are probably based on a common fertility cult that is over 4,000 years old. The return of Saule (the sun) in Latvian/Lithuanian tradition, the Sadeh festival and the Yalda night in Persian tradition and possibly also the light festival Diwali in Indian tradition (with the Chath/Surya festivals). It is all ancient and has naturally been continued in countless variations adapted to local conditions right up to our time.
Nowadays, we begin our Yuletide with the Feast of Saint Lucy, which until about the 18th century under the old Julian calendar, was celebrated at the winter solstice in our lands. The next full moon hits us on January 13th and we still call this day the Twentieth Day after Yule. In all these traditions we carry with us thousands of years of both ancestral cult worship and fertility cult worship. From our mutual ancestors who engaged in ritual sleigh rides, the ritual called utestije (sitting on a mound), the tradition of Yulebukking (becoming Yule Goats, in a Krampus-type tradition), and a lot of foolishness, spooks and scares - lots of scares. It's really not that strange, since we are talking about dark forces that will always be around us, for better or worse, but more so in the darker times of the year.
This year, the Lussi Night was strong here, but that is as it should be. Now we'll move towards brighter times. Don't forget to make a toast to Good Year and Peace, as our ancestors did, nor to your New Year's resolutions when the time comes. They are also part of a very old tradition that we would do well to honor fully. Good Yule and have a jolly Yuletide!
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Northern Norway's largest newspaper printed this double page written by me, a comment to a recent debate about yoga being dangerous to Christian people. I don't do yoga, but this was a nice opportunity to tell a larger story. Hope you'll like it (and that the translation is ok). All best! Here with Google translate:
www-nordnorskdebatt-no.translate.goog/yoga-i-gode-…
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This channel is for anyone who feels, seeks or dreams about Vikings, Viking culture and Viking mentality, both more than one thousand years ago and present day! Let's interact on channels like this to care for ourselves in world. I upload videos from my research as a historian into Vikings and Pre-Viking Age history, and also videos from some of my travels, expeditions and anything that can fit under Viking Stories.
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Viking Greetings and Skål!