5 December namnsdag Sven, Svante

Winter Poem II

Myth: Swan maidens; Valkyries.
There are two ways to interpret the Valkyrie, one is

val-kyrja, f. a chooser of the slain, Valkyrie

The older definition I prefer
val-mær, f. - valkyrja.
valr (-a, -ir), m. hawk, falcon.
mær, f. - a maid who answers to Freya, goddess of love.

As handmaidens to Freja, the Valkyries could wrap themselves in swan feathers and travel between realms, shifting between the Land East of the Sun and West of the Moon (faerie land) and the human realm bringing lessons for our finding.

Swan is also a Nordic symbol for soul.

On the 5th of December we remember our connection to that which is beyond ourself. If we choose, we can open ourselves to finding a lesson from a Valkyrie. Will it be the far-seeking clarity of a falcon brought by a handmaiden of Freja (Venus). Or will we greet a Valkyrie who is chooser of the slain? Wrapped in Swan feathers it is hard to see who is coming. Perhaps the symbol of the soul reminds that we ourselves are finding what our heart is open to.

So, what is a namnsdag? It is a named day. A day of celebration much like a second birthday which honors your name. And it is something more, it is an energy or a portal that was perceived by our ancestors, keepers of the wisdom of earth and sky.

The People of the Northwind watched the stars and noted the precession. They built stonedances such as Stonehenge. Hundreds are scattered all over Scandinavia even above the arctic circle. The standing stones are not just a calendar of days but a calendar of the long count measuring epochs of thousands of years. The jule-wheel or year-wheel measures out a year in stones standing in a circle these in turn correlate to powers or energies which were named; namnsdags.

When the Romans and later the Christians came to Scandinavia they encountered a people with an elaborate cosmology that linked the heavens and earth. Rather than lose their sacred symbols, they scattered a few Latin names into the calendar of named days, thereby retaining the sacred ones hiding in plain sight.

Swedish, Icelandic, Finnish are aboriginal languages, the oldest words remain embedded in the language. For many years I have had a fascination with namnsdags, sagas, and eddas, comparing Sami and other circumpolar stories finding patterns of similarity to astrology. Some interesting threads have woven together. We’ll see as we go along.