Today I swam in 11 C seawater then enjoyed the traditional bonfire night in the evening

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an Anglo-Saxon bronze zoomorphic triskele ornament found in the Cotswolds, possibly a pendant. Each leg terminates in the head of a serpent - a motif seen both in Scandinavian art and also in Celtic art. You can buy garments in my store with such zoomorphic triskelions on.

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NME review of Gladiator 2 also points out Romans didn’t have cafes but neglected to mention that they didn’t have tea either

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Helgafell seen in the distance from Þórsá.

Something I noticed while traveling around Þórsnes is that Helgafell holds a prominent position in the landscape and could be seen in the distance from the temple space at Hofstaðir, the old Þingvellir and Þórsá. Because of its position in the landscape, I presume that this is the reason why Þórólfr Mostrarskegg held the mountain as so holy that he instituted a purity law across his landtaking, as it functioned as a localized axis mundi of sorts, which held within it an afterlife exclusively for the Þórsnesingar.

Eyrbyggja saga states:

Í því nesi stendr eitt fjall. Á því fjalli hafiði Þórólfr svá mikinn átrúnað, at þangat skyldi enginn maðr óþveginn líta ok engu skyldi tortíma í fjallinu, hvárki fé né mönnum, nema sjálft gengi í brott. Þat fjall kallaði hann Helgafell ok trúði, at hann mundi þangat fara, þá er hann dæi, ok allir á nesinu hans frændr.

On the ness stands a single fell. Þórólfr held a great belief of that fell, that no man should look upon it unwashed, and neither cattle nor man should be killed on the fell, unless it goes of its own will. That fell he called Holy-fell and believed that he should fare there when he died, and all his kinsman on the ness.

This religious law was the catalyst for the feud with the neighboring Kjalleklingar, who had defiled the hallowed assembly lands with excrement, leading to the settlers killing their neighbors for breaking their holy law. But during the legal settlement of the feud, the land was said to be further defiled due to blood being shed there in wrath. A settlement was reached, and the assembly site was moved to the northeastern coast.

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“Brennus, the king of the Gauls, found no dedications of gold or silver when he entered a (Greek) temple. All that he found were images of stone and wood, he laughed at them to think that men, believing that gods have human form, should set up their images in wood and stone.”

Account of Brennus from Diodorus Siculus

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HALLOWEEN 🎃 SPECIAL 👻 in which Dave Martel and I discuss the history of horror and our favourite Halloween films 🍿

https://youtu.be/WjMkr9Ra8OI?feature=shared

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Chapter 4 - Thorolf Most-Beard Comes Out To Iceland, And Sets Up House There.

"Thorolf Most-Beard made a great sacrifice, and asked of Thor his well-beloved friend whether he should make peace with the king, or get him gone from out the land and seek other fortunes. But the Word showed Thorolf to Iceland; and thereafter he got for himself a great ship meet for the main, and trimmed it for the Iceland-faring, and had with him his kindred and his household goods; and many friends of his betook themselves to faring with him. He pulled down the temple, and had with him most of the timbers which had been therein, and mould moreover from under the stall whereon Thor had sat.

Thereafter Thorolf sailed into the main sea, and had wind at will, and made land, and sailed south along and west about Reekness, and then fell the wind, and they saw that two big bights cut into the land.

Then Thorolf cast overboard the pillars of his high-seat, which had been in the temple, and on one of them was Thor carven; withal he spake over them, that there he would abide in Iceland, whereas Thor should let those pillars come a-land."

".... Thereafter they espied the land and found on the outermost point of a ness north of the bay that Thor was come a-land with the pillars. That was afterwards called Thorsness."

-The Saga of the Ere-Dwellers (Eyrbyggja saga)

In the Saga of the Ere-Dwellers, Thorolf Most-Beard turns to his god, Thor, for guidance when faced with a difficult decision—whether to make peace with the king or seek new fortunes elsewhere. Thor reveals Iceland as his destined land, highlighting the deep reliance on divine intervention. Thorolf dismantles his temple, bringing sacred timbers and soil with him, ensuring Thor's presence on his journey. Upon reaching Iceland, he casts his temple pillars, one bearing Thor’s image, into the sea, declaring he will settle where Thor wills them to land. When they wash ashore, the area is named Thorsness, demonstrating the profound importance placed on the gods to guide and protect their followers, shaping both their actions and the land they claim.

Artwork Norsemen Landing in Iceland, by Oscar Arnold Wergeland, 1877

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NEW VIDEO NOW LIVE!

After the Yamnaya culture, the bronze age steppe was dominated by the Catacomb culture. Their fascinating burial tradition reveals a complex society of warriors and herders. Their kurgans or barrows covered the Pontic Steppe as did their cattle and ox-drawn wagons.

They were bronze smiths, wagon builders, artists, and warriors. They may be the ancestors of the Mycenaeans of Ancient Greece and even influenced the later Indo-Iranian speakers of the steppes, like the Scythians, Cimmerians, and Saka.

This is the story of the incredible Catacomb culture.

I hope you enjoy the video. Please do share it with others.

Cheers!

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Terribly sad to think about

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My talk on the significance of the barrow to Indo-European identity for JFvD in Amsterdam

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Reminder that turnip jack o lanterns aka punkies were not exclusively Irish but were common in England and even in Sweden! Evidently an old Germanic custom

https://youtu.be/xsM19qJB49c?feature=shared

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Samples from The Genetic Origin of the Indo-Europeans are now available.

The paper claimed that Proto-Indo-Europeans received their Neolithic Anatolian ancestry via Neolithic Armenians, rather than Neolithic Europeans, but that doesn't seem to be the case for the Yamnaya. Early European Farmers of the neighboring Trypillia Culture are a likely source.

The Sredy Stog people did have minor ancestry from Neolithic Armenians, varying by subpopulation, but they too had Early European Farmer ancestry.

I wonder if the authors were trying to appease Anatolian Hypothesis believers? Possibly attempting to save face after the terrible Southern Arc paper by linking the two theories? Either way, it's obvious that the Indo-European languages originated in Europe.

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The Harri, a Germanic tribe briefly mentioned by Tacitus, were said to be the most powerful of the Lugian group of states. They dominated large parts of Germania in the region of present day Poland and eastern Germany.
Tacitus writes in Germania:

As for the Harii, quite apart from their strength, which exceeds that of the other tribes I have just listed, they pander to their innate savagery by skill and timing: with black shields and painted bodies, they choose dark nights to fight, and by means of terror and shadow of a ghostly army they cause panic, since no enemy can bear a sight so unexpected and hellish; in every battle the eyes are the first to be conquered.

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Fuerstenberg-type bracteate found in a grave in central Germany and dating to the 7-8th century possibly depicting Holle/Frigga

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Royal Scythian by Harjaz

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An interesting talk on Germanic paganism on the continent, particularly among the Franks https://youtu.be/pkplfVd2DPE?feature=shared

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As our knowledge on the nature of the universe from a scientific perspective evolves, so too should our traditional worldview evolve with it to an extent.

In Hávamál, Óðinn advises us to seek knowledge and wisdom. If we, like our ancestors, follow this advice, we are living in the ideal day and age to advance our knowledge and wisdom compared to our ancestors. Note this quote from Bandamana Saga, chapter 10:

Wisdom is welcome wherever it comes from.

I would argue that we also live in an ideal day and age to uncover our family tree, which was a value held in high regard by our ancestors. For example, King Penda knew his direct paternal lineage going back twelve generations. Additionally, Óttar, a devotee of the Goddess Freyja, prayed to Her to learn of his pedigree as explored in Hyndluljóð.

Our ancestors likely wouldn't have conceived of knowing over 3,000 ancestors, which is something we today can achieve through genealogical research coupled with praying to our Gods in a similar way to Óttar in Hyndluljóð. Knowing one's pedigree and being proud of it was a value that continued well into the European Middle Ages after Christianisation as well.

While the traditional worldview held by our ancestors that we have inherited was very immanentist (e.g., they conceptualised of Óðinn as being seated atop a high mountain), we have the privilege of knowing the full extent of the cosmological universe today and can therefore conceive of Óðinn in a way that resembles what we reason as the highest pinnacle of existence.

To our ancestors, Óðinn was (and therefore is) the mover of constellations. We now have the ability to extend our conceptualisation of Him as the governor of the cosmic universe, planetary bodies, the stars, and the Gods. Note that in Gylfaginning it is explained as to why Óðinn is the highest God:

For this reason must He (Óðinn) be called Allfather: because He is father of all the Gods and of men, and of all that was fulfilled of Him and of His might. The Earth was His daughter and His wife; on Her He begot the first son, which is Ása-Þórr (Aesir-Thor): strength and prowess attend Him, wherewith He overcometh all living things.

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A new Cambridge study argues that the Iron Age Greek Protogeometric style originated in twelfth-century BC Macedonia.

This might go some way to supporting the theory of a Dorian invasion. Ancient people believed the Dorians came from the mountains of Macedon

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I shall visit Holy fell this winter! Hail Thor!

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A spectre is haunting Cornwall

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In depth lecture on Iron Age wooden idols and the extent to which they are “Celtic”

https://youtu.be/viAb9U2hkho?feature=shared

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HALLOWEEN 🎃 SPECIAL 👻 in which Dave Martel and I discuss the history of horror and our favourite Halloween films 🍿

https://youtu.be/WjMkr9Ra8OI?feature=shared

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I talk often about the loss of burial mounds from modern farming and industry (19th and 20th centuries mainly).

This is an example of how many were lost in parts of Ukraine thanks to Soviet era farming.

Just obliterating thousands of burial mounds in a few decades. Burials and barrows that had been there for perhaps four thousand years or more.

In some cases, these mounds were first mapped by a handful of archeologists around 1900 - 1917 before being destroyed 1920s onwards.

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I also gave a second and more informal talk the night before for those who couldn’t get tickets for the main JFvD event

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Some people WRONGLY dismiss Halloween as a commercial American custom. Others think the origin of pumpkin jack-o'-lanterns is exclusively Irish or at least “Celtic”. In reality these lanterns are as much British as Irish, and the tradition is found in other Germanic nations such as Germany and Sweden too.

Prior to the American pumpkin tradition, people in Ireland, Scotland and England used turnips, swedes and mangelwurzels. The lanterns were associated with the Catholic holiday of All Hallow’s Eve in Ireland, but protestants in Britain sometimes moved the festival, such as in Somerset where it was held on the last Thursday of October and was called “punkie night”. Punkie means ‘jack-o-lantern’ in West Country dialect and these were carried about in a tradition much like trick or treating in America. They didn’t always have faces carved on them, but they were always intended to scare away evil.

The word punkie probably comes from Old English Pūcan or pūclas which were evil spirits in Anglo-Saxon folklore, cognate to Swedish and Norwegian puke “evil spirit”. The Irish word púca”spirit” is probably a loan from Old English as the p sound didn’t exist in primitive Gaelic.

The earliest attestations of carving such lanterns are from Worcestershire in England in 1840, Hampshire, England in 1838, and Scotland in 1808. So there is no reason to think it originated in Ireland. Various traditions of bonfires and carrying root lanterns or blazing fagots while going door to door for food existed across the British isles but the switch to pumpkins instead of turnips occurred in the USA.

The tradition of using turnip lanterns was still extant as far East as Sussex in 1973 when it was recorded among children there by Jacqueline Simpson in the Folklore of Sussex. Therefore, the introduction of the American pumpkin jack-o-lantern in Britain occurred while the native turnip tradition still existed, so there has never been a time when British people DIDNT make jack-o-lanterns for this season.

The same kind of tradition is attested in the 19th century among Germanic people on the continent who made vegetable lanterns between late October and early November. This tradition still survives in places and the lanterns are sometimes mounted on poles as they are carried about. Their names include:

German: Rübengeister ('turnip spirits')
German (Swabia): Schreckgesichter ('horror faces')
Swiss: Bochseltieren ('rumble animals')
South Germany and Lorraine, France: Rummelbooze ('turnip disguise')
German (Hesse): Gliihnische Deijwel ('glowing devil')
Swedish: rovgubbe ('turnip man')

As in the British Isles, the lanterns are often said to represent spirits and the children who carry them receive treats. Other times they are placed outside the house to protect the home from evil.

In my own video essay on the pagan origins of Halloween, I demonstrate that just as Halloween has a pagan precedent of Samhain in Ireland, it has other pagan precedents across Europe including Slavic Dziady, Baltic Mārtiņi or Mārtiņdiena, and the Germanic pagan festival which marked the start of Winter and was known in Old English as Winterfylleth, in Old Norse as Vetrnætr, and included a sacrifice made to elves (ancestral spirits) known as Álfablót.

Therefore this season has always been associated with spirits of the dead in many European cultures and Halloween is highly traditional and far from a merely commercial American innovation.

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Flashback to when I went for a jog on Halloween in 2015 and stumbled upon runestone U898 which mentions a Varangian Viking who died in the East.

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Vahaduo genetic distance from G25 coordinates of 2 out liar Yamnaya samples recently published.

Close to Nordic people, and alot like modern Europeans in general.

From Owen McCormick on X

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I think this could be Freyja and her cats

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Jacob Grimm recorded a survival of Woden worship in Blekinge, Sweden and Mecklenburg, wherein farmers would leave a section of rye unharvested for Odin’s horse. They would braid the tops together and sprinkle them with water, take off their hats and bow, and recite thrice;

"Woden, take care of your horse now, with thistle and thorn,
so next year we may have better corn!"
Another version was;
"Woden, Woden, feed your horse now, with thistle and thorn, next year, better corn!"

He noted that it was said during winter nights, he could be heard roaming the fields with his hunting dogs (Freki and Geri?).

This was likely a remnant of offerings on Winterfylleth and/or Álfablót; in the Austrfararvísur, Odin is mentioned during a sacrifice to the Álfar. In rural regions of Scandinavia and Germany, the Old Ways never fully disappeared.

Art by Carl Emil Doepler, 1905. ⴲ

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My 4 year old son: Daddy, do you know what the cosiest thing of all is when it’s cold?

Me: what is it?

Son: it’s to go inside, turn off the lights and make a fire and pray to the gods. That’s the cosiest thing of all.

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