Viking Church at Moesgård Museum, Århus

The Vikings
A Viking Church
reconstruction

photo 1

Historians built in 1997 at Moesgård in Århus a 9,5 m long and 4,5 m broad stave church in oak with dragon heads on the gables and Viking-windings under the roof. The starting point for the building of this church were traces of postholes and floor layers from the original wooden church in Hørning close to Randers, but it was also inspired based on experiences from archaeological excavations in various places of the country, where were found floor layers and postholes from Nordic stave churches. From the church in Hørning comes the famous Hørning plank with the traditional Viking-windings. These windings are copied under the roof of the Viking church. The plank is dated to ab. 1066, in the transition time between the Viking period and the Middle Ages.

Viking-windings from Hørning-plank

 

decoration of portal

  

the bronze bell

  
At the excavation in Hørning were also found traces from a bell tower, and a reconstruction was built beside the church  in 2003-2004.  Moesgård Museum and Århus University carried through an experimental-archaeological project in 2005 to cast a bronze bell for the bell tower after a method, which was described in the 1100s by a medieval monk Theophilus. The bell is now in the bell tower.

History in short:
In 822 the pope had ordered the archbishop of Reims, Ebbo, to preach for the heathen Danes -  and around 826 arrived the missonary Ansgar. But both Ebbo and Ansgar were driven out of the country in 827. Ansgar did not give up. In 845 -  now as bishop of Hamburg - he was by king Horik allowed to build a wooden church in Hedeby, but it was destroyed in 854 when king Horik was killed in a battle. The church reopened in the 860s, and Ansgar established another wooden church in the important trade town Ribe.

The impious Vikings were not easy to persuade to give up their old gods. Christianity came gradually and slowly. Missionaries swarmed into the country from both Germany and England. King Harald was baptized in 960 -  and  Denmark was officially christianized ab. 965. The first churches in Denmark looked quite different from what we know today. Almost all churches from before 1050 were built in wood,  decorated with fine patterns, the wellknown traditional style of the Vikings. The construction was the simple stave church with a free-standing bell tower. The first wooden churches appeared in towns and villages where Christianity was gaining ground. The landlords built churches inside the walls surrounding their farms to show their proud ownership. Together with the church emerged a new holy place, the church yard. Christians had to be buried in consecrated soil if they wanted to go to heaven - while people who had broken the law were buried outside the church yard.

photo 2

Some stave churches were built upon ancient holy places like a church in Hørning (Randers district), which was built upon a grave hill, containing a rich grave of a prominent Viking woman who had died just before the church was built. The above mentioned Hørning-plank is a piece of the hammerbånd (edge decoration) from the ancient wooden church. The wooden churches did not live for long in the humid Danish climate. Archaeological examinations have proved that they were often renewed once or twice, but during the 1100s and 1200s they were replaced by stone churches in the parishes. The original stave churches still exist in a few places in Norway. None of the earliest Danish wooden churches are left, but the stave church at Moesgård gives a qualified bid on the look of a Viking church.

News:
A new Viking church at Bork Viking Havn in southwest Jutland is the second reconstruction of a Viking church in Denmark. In this church is a woodcut of a one eyed god, who might be the Nordic god, Odin. The woodcut is a copy from an original stave church from that period.

section of Moesgaard

sources:
Moesgård Museum,Danmarks Kirker, Politikens Danmarkshistorie






photo 26 December 2011:
church nr. 1 and 2:  stig bachman nielsen, naturplan.dk; other photos: grethe bachmann

Randers District and Lysnet Bakke, a hill more than 45 million years old.

A Taste of Denmark

During the winter season we usually drive a short tour closer to where we live. It's too cold to stay out for a long time like we do in summer. I'll often combine the tour with some church or manor photos, and this time we took the road north of Århus, first stop Spørring church. We were  lucky that day. The sun was shining after a dark week and the air was fresh. Good for the brain to get some sunlight they say -  and my brain felt better!

In the horizon were some low dark blue clouds looking like peninsulas in a sea. I don't know if you can see it?  And here were the silhouettes of trees upon a blue sky. Such lovely trees. There was no parking place by the church, so we had to park opposite by a little supermarket. Outside stood the most miserable Santa Claus I ever saw. He was so thin - his clothes were like put on a hanger, and his curly - and extremely shining - Santa-beard was placed upon his own beard, which was brown. He looked like the manager of the bank who had taken the role of Santa Claus. He was easily recognized, and I'm not sure the children were very impressed!

 

 

A nice church in Spørring with some good details. There was a strange stone in the church yard. Not like a usual hollow stone. I don't know if it was one of the ancient ones, those rock carvings from late Stone Age or from Bronze Age with carved or polished hollows. Since there are no written sources from that time, the experts have not agreed the meaning of these stones. They might be symbols of fertility, or used in sacrifice, or cult-tables in rituals etc. There are many ways to interprete these skålsten.
The sun was behaving well - look at sunshine on the church tower!  The church door was locked, like they usually are on a Saturday, but I can tell you who like unicorns that there is a frescoe with two unicorns at the tree of life inside the church! Outside are two chessboards on the wall - and those carved patterns are a mystery like the hollowed stones. No one knows how to make a certain interpretation of them. I believe they are the Devil's game board. When he played on this gameboard outside the church, he would not go into the church and disturb the service. But I might be wrong! No one knows. That's why it is so exciting to examine such things. Like a detective story.

chessboard, Spørring.

We went on and outside Spørring the landscape was covered in a light haze and the clouds began to gather. What now? You'll never know on a December afternoon. We came to Hadsten, just passing through. I have never been interested in the church in Hadsten which you can see on the photo I took from the car. I don't like the architecture, in my opinion it is boring. It's built in 1871-72. And the dull grey colour. No, I love the old Romanesque churches. Hadsten is a large village - almost a town - what we call a stationsby = railway town, between Århus and Randers. It has the shortest pedestrian zone in Denmark, 35 meter, with no name. In return Hadsten has got one of the largest model railways in Europe - called Model Railway Europe. But we must continue, for we did not stay in Hadsten. A few minutes later we heard screams and crying and I didn't know what it was. It was a tree with black flowers. Lots of rooks. What a racket. And close to a house! I'm glad I don't live there.
The next little stop was by the church in Lerbjerg, and here I couldn't find what was supposedly upon the wall, until I came home and looked in my book! Why didn't I look properly before we went out!

outside Lerbjerg church

But it was lovely outside the church dike and later we took a little stop by a small water stream, Lilleåen ( the Little river). There is much water in the streams now. That's good. Fresh, cool water for the fish and the water plants.  Lilleåen is the most important inlet of the big river, Gudenåen, more than half of the sea trouts go up the Lilleå. It's a good fishing place.

There was some cattle grazing close to a farm. Maybe they had to go inside soon. It was cold. Well, I think they can go out all day and night if it's Hereford. There was a little fat calf. It looked so funny. It was almost shaped like a square.

Near the Lilleå was a fishing lake, but I don't think the lake has any inlet of the river. They put out trouts in the fishing lake for people to catch, so you're always certain to bring fish with you home for suppper. You don't have to go buy fish from the fishmonger. It's a nice place and people bring their lunch and the children are fishing together with their dad.





Then we came to Bidstrup where we have been  several times. There is a fantastic beautiful landscape around Bidstrup. The present building is from the 1600s. 

Although I've got a better photo of the building itself I thought you should see the newly cut trees. The red building is a corner of a farm building. The estate might have roots in a fortification from the Viking period. The name Bidstrup is from the 1300s and means the place of the bishop. 

A few minutes after Bidstrup we saw two dilapidated houses. I don't know if they belong to the Bidstrup estate, but if they do then it's not worthwhile to restore them! They are probably private - and I guess they 'll soon be broken down, leaving place for something new.  







                                                     
                                  





















And then uphill to a special place called Lysnet Bakke. Lysnet Bakke (hill) lies in a landscape which rises markedly from a plateau-landscape. The transition is especially marked by a long 30-50 m high  slope. The inside of the hill is clay, which in one word can be described as plastic clay. The Lysnet Bakke is now a clay pit, from where was earlier extracted the plastic clay. The clay pit gives opportunities to watch the many various clay types, which are from a period 45-55 million years ago. The red clay, which you can see in some places,  is what 's called the Røsnæs clay. It's found in a few places in Denmark. The clay was deposited in an ocean, which covered large parts of the present North Sea-area, like Holland, Beligum, North Germany and all Denmark. South of the highest point is a clay pit, where was earlier extracted clay for a production of clinkers. The pit is marked by slippage today. The calcareous underground with slippage in the plastic clay gives possibilities for a rich flora, and some listed orchids grow here.From the hill is a fine view down to the landscape with the river in the middle. Stone Age people lived down there after the ocean had disappeared and the hills were their hunting place.This hill we stand on has been here forever and ever.

 


 

view from the hill down to the plateau-landscape, which lies in a haze

Then we continued our day-tour from the hill, first along the gravel road, and then it went downhill  through a lovely landscape. A pretty red house lies in shelter in the middle of the hilly area.  



 



 
























                                                                                                      

Next little stop was Vissing church,  placed  halfway downhill. Some churches in this area are very marked by frost and weather. The granite ashlars have got cracks on the northern and western side of the building. I guess it's the weather, for it's rare to see such cracked stones in the old ashlar churches, although they have been here for a thousand years. I suddenly saw a glimpse of a white cat on the church yard, but then it was just a little sculpture on a grave. There must be a sweet story about the cat's connection to this grave.
 

But the afternoon was icy cold. The wind had changed and I'm a sissy - sometimes. I wanted to go home to a warm house and have some good hot soup!

See you soon.


 

Source: Danmarks Naturfredningsforening.

photo 17. December 2011: grethe bachmann

A Question needs an Answer!

Someone asked me a question and here is the answer: 

On Google is a picture of a Grethe Bachman who's 91 years old. That's not me. And there is also a Grethe Bachmann in Norway. That's not me either!!

                                                         
Grethe in Denmark ´)

Russian Christmas in Copenhagen and Russia

A large area in the amusement park "Tivoli" in Copenhagen is laid out for a Russian Christmas with a version of the Vasilij cathedral and striped onion domes. When they visit the cathedral people are brought through Russian landscapes  - and animated pixies and angel choirs are singing Russian Christmas songs.

Russian Christmas in Tivoli

Russian church, Copenhagen, foto: gb

The Russian Christmas is different from Christmas in the West. The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on 6. January, and the actual Russian Christmas celebrations are held together with the New Years' celebrations. A Danish woman, Connie Meyer, who  has lived in Russia since 1992, tells to a Danish newspaper that Christmas eve begins with an evening service 22.30 on 6.th of January and goes on all night. This midnight mass is held in every Russian church. The Russian Orthodox Church follows the old Julian calendar, but to most Russians this Orthodox Christmas is not their cup of tea, although 3/4 of the population describe themselves Orthodox Christians.

Moscow Red Square with Christmas tree

During the Soviet years Christmas was replaced by a winter feast, which culminated on New Year's Eve. This night was the night of  the decorated Christmast tree, the presents and the dancing and singing. The freedom of religion, which Perestrojka and finally the collaps of the Soviet Union in 1991 brought with them, has succeeded in reviving Christmas, but not in making it a dominating feast. It is still New Year's Eve, which is celebrated, and the Christmas tree is decorated on 31. December, not 6th of January. The New Year's Eve in Russia is a mix of Christmas, New Year and carnival. The young people go out and fire off fireworks after the evening meal, and Russia's answer to Santa Claus, Father Frost and his helper, Snegurotjka (Snow Maiden) give out presents during an abundance of Christmas celebrations.

Father Frost arrives in a Troika.

Father Frost and his helper origin from an ancient myth . Father Frost is like Santa Claus a friendly old soul, the Russian name is Ded Moroz (=Father Frost) - and the girl Snegurotjka, who's with him, is not Snow White from Pushkin's poem and Grimm's fairy tale, but the Snow Maiden from a famous Russian folk tale about two elderly people who ardently wanted a child. Their prayers were answered. A lump of snow, which the man in despair clenches in his fists, suddenly comes to life as a beautiful adult girl. She's living with them through winter, but when the young people of the village go to spring feast, she sneaks out to take part in the fun. This includes that the girls have to lift their skirts and jump across a fire, which is a wellknown fertility ritual - and she wants to do like the others. She jumps across the fire, and she melts like ice, she disappears. This folk tale is much more complicated and beautiful than I have told here. It's described in lots of connections.

Snow Maiden, ballet

The Russian Christmas and New Year's celebrations also include some  dressing up, like carnival, more or less colourful and more or less refined. It also includes dances like ring dance and other Russian folk dances. In some places children and youngsters dress up and go out singing. The old custom was that the house they visited put good food and other good things in their sack, and they sang songs of praise for them, but if people were stingy they sang libellous songs. After the tour they gathered in a cottage and went on feasting sharing what they had in their sacks.

Another custom connected to Christmas and New Year's Eve was to tell fortune. It was very popular, and it is still used in some places - it was especially common among young girls. The girls went to a foretell-meeting without making the sign of the cross by the door as they used to, they walked aside the usual paths to the meeting-place, they turned the sacred pictures to the wall and covered them in a cloth, and they told fortune in places, which had no connection to any gods or any ikons, places like the bath house, which was always placed isolated down by the water, the river or the lake. One way in which to foretell was in a plate with a little water, in which was melted wax or stearic - and then they took omens from the emerging patterns. The girls was usually guided by an experienced woman, preferably a widow, who helped them interpreting the omens.

It seems that those meetings also included a pawn-omen. The girls delivered an object, like a ring or earring, to the leader, who - following some rituals -  put them in a bowl with water and covered it while stirring. Then they sang some special omen songs. After each song an object was chosen, and the owner was connected to the song. The songs were not what they seemed to be. If they sang a song about the rich suitor, then it meant early death, it they sang about the rutting tomcat, then it meant early marriage etc.
 

Pewter hand mirror

A mirror was a usual object in foretelling, and the custom is described in "Eugenie Onegin" by the Russian poet Pushkin. He tells about Tatjana who "lifts her mirror to the moon, but in the dark mirror glitters only the sad moon". She had hoped to see an image of her suitor. Under her pillow she has a girl's mirror. The mirror is an important part of the old folk tales like the troll mirrors. And Tatjana begins to dream -  and her dream is a strange and creepy description of a reversed wedding. Under her pillow Tatjana has probably placed a bridge, a mostick - she has bound some straws in a little bunch, and she has said a long string of words which tells her suitor to help her to cross the bridge. The bridge has an important double role in Russian folklore. It's a symbol of both wedding and death.

It's difficult to know how much and in how many places customs like these are still performed, but like in other countries some old customs have survived - often in other shapes. I think the folk tale about the Snow Maiden is absolutely  beautiful. The Snow Maiden is seen in lots of versions, in various folk tales and in poetry  - she's a part of both classical and modern music - and in ballets and operas by Tshaikowsky and Prokofieff, but here is a short moment from a ballet, the Snow Maiden with music by the Russian composer Vladimir Podgoretsky.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

What children say about Christmas

Letters to Santa from various children: (5-7 years)


I know I behaved badly this year but I promise to behave much better next year so will it be okay if you still come and visit me with presents?

Can Mrs. Santa come instead of you? I'm very sorry but I'm scared of you.

Don't worry if our dog Jack barks.


Mummy will leave out biscuits and milk for you but you have to share with the reindeers as well. They  must be very hungry.

Dear Santa. Hope you have a good life at the North Pole. How deep is the ice?

Dear Santa. Please may I have a Unicorn.
I love you
Jessica


 **************************************************************



Jesus's Mummy and Daddy are called Mary and Jovis.
Debbie, 4.


We celebrate Christmas because Santa comes and gives us lots and lots of presents.
Ben, 7.

The Angel Gabriel is a big white fairy. He helped Mary and Joseph look after the baby - kind of like a doctor.
Erin, 6.

I am not really a Christian. I believe in unicorns and pixies.
Ellyshia, 9.

I don't know what presents the wise men brought Jesus, but a Lego set would have been better.
William, 7.

They brought Jesus gold and myrhh, but I would have brought him a nice warm blanket.
Rebecca, 5. 


******************************************************************


Where was Jesus born?

A long way away from Liverpool.
Dominic, 6.


Two boys talking:

Do you believe in the devil?

No, I'm sure it's just the same thing like Santa Claus, it's just my dad.


Happy Christmas time to all of you!
Grethe ´)

The Juleblót and old Rituals in Nordic Religion

The sun 10th December 2011

December month is a very busy month. We are preparing for Christmas, we have candlelight and decorations in each room of the house, we gather family and friends for good food and drink. This is the greatest common celebration of the year. Next week is solstice and the return of the light - we are happy with the coming of the light, we are moving forward to spring and summer, but to the ancient ones this time of the year was crucial. The Nordic people celebrated juleblót and sacrificed to the gods to secure peace and fertility.

sacrifice from the Illerup findings, Moesgård Museum.

Corn shouts

The Nordic people celebrated feasts like the juleblót. The blót in itself was a very important type of ritual, both in the public and the private cult. The basic meaning of the word blót is to strengthen. In the Viking period the main meaning of the word was to sacrifice - the gods were given strength via the sacrifices. Many place names and archaeological findings can be interpreted as rests from sacrifices.The slaughter sacrifice is most commonly known in the Sagas, but corn must also have been a common sacrifice.  Also valuables of gold and silver were sacrificed. In times of crisis like war, epidemics and famine, were weapons and other valuable objects  sacrificed - and archaeological findings prove that human sacrifice was performed in times of crisis.  The rituals in the feasts of the private cult were mainly parallel to the rituals in the public cult. But it is difficult to decide what is private and public cult in the yearly blót feasts and in the rituals of crisis.

The Sun Horse, Mindeparken

The Nordic religion was a religion of the people, which main function was to secure the survival and regeneration of society. The cult was primarily connected to the local society and the family, although there is witness about great national religious feasts. The chiefs took care of the cult in the local area. In each farm it was the father of the family who was the leader of the celebrations - and in the whole country it was the king.
In pre-christian time there was no term like the religious term of today. What came closest was the term sidr, which means customary or custom. The change of religion at the arrival of Christianity was called nýr sidr (= new custom), and the traditional religion was called forn sidr (= the custom of the forefathers). The gravity in the pre-christian religion was the religious praxis, the sacred actions, the rituals and the worship of the gods.

Amulet with Thor's Hammer

Some Saga stories have remnants of pre-christian rituals.  Snorre Sturlasson tells about the Christian Norwegian king Hakon the Good, who was one of the first Christians in Norway. He tried to avoid taking part in the heathen feasts. According to tradition it was the king's job to lead a special blót in the autumn. Horse meat was served at this feast, and Hakon could not take part, for it was not allowed Christians to eat horse meat. The king tried to get away from the feast together with his Christian friends, but was forced to go back into the hall, where he was placed in the seat of honour. When the beer was served an uproar was in the making, since the king, instead of invoking Thor, made the sign of the cross over the beer. The uproar was prevented, when one of the king's followers said that the king had signed the beer to Thor by making a sign of the hammer. After this happening the king lost many supporters. The following year the king was forced to take part in a heathen feast in Trøndelag, where he had to eat the sacrifical meat, and where he must not sign the beer with the cross. This story was often used as a remnant from the role of the ruler as the leader of the cult.

country road 10th December 2011

cult house, Tulstrup

Although the sources are not unambigious there were probably three yearly calendar feasts with a blót. These feasts were celebrated in special seasons. The first was called at sumri (towards summer) and was consegrated to Odin, this was a sacrifice for good wind of the ships and their expeditions, for victory or for the luck of the king, since the summer was a season of trade journeys and expeditions. The second yearly blót was the harvest feast, a fertility feast, consegrated to Frej, while the third was the midwinter feast jul in the month ylir, which was between winter solstice and the middle of January. The purpose of the midwinter feast was to overcome the cold and darkness, and the important feature was the common meal, where especially the pig was the center. The name of this feast has survived to our days as jul together with a few of the rituals. The ceremonial common meals in connection to the blót feasts are mentioned in several sources , they are some of the best described ritual forms. Aside meals with food and drink there were scenes with masked dancers, playing instruments while singing and dancing.

Stone for animal sacrifice?

cult house, Moesgård

In the big yearly feasts it was obviously obligatory for each inhabitant to take part. Food and drink had an important place in the rituals, and the feast was considered a means to maintain the harmony between gods and humans, so the gods continually could sure the fertility of  humans. The sacrifice of animals was the central element and the consumption of the meat in a common meal was the central element in the blót feast. The gods were given lard and blood and the humans got the meat. To rjóda = to dye red is seen in many sources. This was a  sprinkling of objects and people with the blood using special twigs. A blótfeast was like a communion sacrifice (advent), since the gods as a symbol took part in the common meal and was given a part of the same sacrificed animals as the humans. The feast was usually arranged as a "bottle party",where each participant was obliged to bring the necessary food and drink. Chiefs and princes could instead use generosity and hospitality in connection to the blót as a means to increase their prestige and influence.

figure in Gravlev

Several written sources recounts about statues depicting gods. Usually they are described as humanlike, or sometimes more like wooden sticks with  a face carved in the top. After the change of religion the possession of such statues was forbidden and severely punished. Although the detailled rituals are not fully known, it is possible to form a picture of some rituals and religious actions via an interpretation of surviving relics. The combination of common solemn feasts and markets was widely spread in many cultures all through history. In a society with difficult communication they used the possibility of doing several things at the same time - there was often both the judicial Thing, a market, a court and large cult feasts at the same place and at the same time. Adam of Bremen describes the blót feast and the sacred place in Uppsala from the 11th century, and this is the most wellknown source of pre-christian religion rituals in Sweden.

Midvinterblót, Gamla Uppsala, painting by Carl Larsson, Sweden

Gamla Upsala was one of the last bastions of the old religion in Middle Sweden, and it was still of great importance when Adam wrote his report. He describes a magnificent temple, golden all over, with depictions of the three most important gods. The most prominent was Thor in the middle, on one side he had Odin and on the other Frej, Adam tells that Thor reigned the sky, where he ruled over the rain, the wind and the thunder, and he secured good weather for the harvest. He had a scepter in his hand. Odin was the god of war and courage, his name meant the furious one, and he was depicted as a warrior. Frej was the god of peace and physical satisfaction, and he was depicted with a large fallos. Each god had his own priests, and people sacrificed to the god whose help they wanted right now. Thor was invoked in famine and sickness, Odin in order to gain victory and Frej for fertile marriage.

A few of the ancient rituals are similar to ours. The ancient people of the North were celebrating midwinter and solstice and the return of light with sacrifice of the animals and a common meal. We still slaughter the pig and gather family and friends for a common meal - and our sacrifice might be the presents we give on Christmas eve.

Viborg Cathedral

It's winter solstice and the coming of the light this week in the northern Hemisphere. Each day will bring a little more light, and we are looking forward to spring and summer. But first we are celebrating Christmas in every way, meeting with family and friends in a common meal. Thousands of years ago families were celebrating a similar feast. We are far away from the ancient people and yet so close.   
 





See post from December 2009 about: Winter Solstice.

 
 photos 2002-2011: grethe bachmann