Old Norse Religion in Long Term Perspectives: Origins, Changes and Interactions

Consisting of more than 70 papers written by scholars concerned with pre-Christian Norse religion, the articles discuss subjects such as archaeology, art history, historical archaeology, history, history of ideas, theological history, literature, onomastics, Scandinavian languages, and Scandinavian studies. The interdisciplinary aim of the book brings together text-based and material-based researchers to improve scholarly exchange and dialogue and provide a variety of contributions that elucidate topics such as worldview and cosmology, ritual and religious practice, myth and memory, as well as reception and present-day use of old Norse religion. Contents; The conference and its context; Old Norse religion; worldview and cosmology; Can archaeologists study prehistoric cosmology?; Narrative worlds, human environments, and poets; Centrality in Old Norse mental landscapes; A world of stone; Bound animal bodies; The imperative way; Homogeneity and heterogeneity in Old Norse cosmology; The gendering of death in eddic cosmology; The Askr and Embla myth in a comparative perspective; The edges of the Old Norse world-view; Hanging on the world tree; ritual and religious practice; Rituals, witnesses, and sagas Iron in the making - Technology and symbolismThe origins of Old Norse ritual and religion in European perspective; How to sort out ritual from context of practice; Escaping the allure of meaning; Myth and metallurgy; Humans and gods interacting at Augusta Treverorum in Late Antiquity; Performing death; The Roman Iron Age in perspectives and perceptions; Harnessing the hunger; Wolves, serpents, and birds; The horse and its role in Icelandic burial practices, mythology, and society; The heroized dead; Cemeteries and ritual meals; The universe container Scandinavian burial rites on the southern Baltic coastGrinding processes and reproductive metaphors; Spinning seiðr; The concept of shamanism in Old Norse religion from a sociological point of view; ritual sites and images; What's in a name?; Bridging mythology and belief; Ornaments, ornamentation, and female gender; Among trees, bones, and stones; My home is my castle; Ancient building cults; Odin and Mithras; Thor's hammer in Norway; The temple in Rhetra-Riedegost; Parchim-Löddigsee - late Slavonic temple and trading site; Pre-Christian cult at Arkona; "Til holts ek gekk..." Rituals and powerRitual building and ritual space; The Uppåkra beaker; Guldgubber; myth and memory; Erfikvæði - myth, ritual, elegy; Myth and the psychology of memory; The generic aspect of the Eddic style; Textual figures of Óðinn; Theories, explanatory models and terminology; Mythology as a mnemonic and literary device in Vatnsdoela saga; Poetry and practice; Where does Old Norse religion end?; Archaeology and sacrifice; Misconceptions concerning paganism and folklore in medieval art; Völuspá and the tree of life; On wind and waves; Potentialities of Loki Interpretations of Ynglingasaga and the MabinogiLove among gods and men; Past memories; Ancient mounds for new graves; Ásgarðr, Miðgarðr, and Útgarðr; What shall we do with Reinaert the Fox?; Heroes, kings, and gods; The advent of the esteemed horseman-sovereign; reception and present-day use; The use and abuse of Old Norse religion; Kings, cowpies, and creation; The "Allgermanische Heidnische Front" and Old Norse religion; The organism within; From queen to sorcerer; Drudgery dwarf; The measures of Old Norse religion in long-term perspective;