Talk:Landvættir

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If this is a "land wight" can it be mentioned in the very first sentence? The "wight" page gives that translation right now. Goldenrowley 05:42, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

I agree. It should probably be merged with Wight anyway.--Berig 05:46, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Feel free to use this picture as an example: https://www.instagram.com/p/BAov5ZpoGz_/?tagged=landvætte / Majbrit Høyrup.

Reversion of rewrite by Iamdarthyoshi

Starting a section here for discussion of the two versions by anyone interested. Yngvadottir (talk) 20:08, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

Broadening of scope

Great article. I just think it is too centred on Iceland and it lacks examples from other areas, where the Norse religion was also practised. Ideally the article should describe the concept of Landvættir in general terms, then specific examples from specific localities can be given and explained. RhinoMind (talk) 17:08, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

The article was originally just about the 4 landvættir of the quarters, IIRC. I'd welcome material on landvættir in other Norse regions - I don't believe there are any Anglo-Saxon attestations that can be connected - but are there any? If so, please add! Yngvadottir (talk) 17:41, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

Hi Yngvadottir. I started this section primarily to declare a forward-looking agenda. I have linked to the broader Vættir article in the "see also" section to emphasize the connections.

I don't know why you bring in Anglo-Saxon culture in this discussion, as they did not practise Norse Religion at all? The landvættir are however mentioned from pagan Denmark and I was actually led here after a little work and research from my engagement on the Ribe Cathedral article. The article (and some of the sources of course) mentions landvættir (Danish: landvætter) in relation to church bells in the towns of Hedeby and Ribe. People were afraid that the noisy church bells scared the landvættir away and some churches was closed for that reason (perhaps a very convenient way of excusing politically motivated actions :-). Hope more material can be added in the future. I am all new to the landvættir, very interesting. RhinoMind (talk) 18:21, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

That sounds intriguing! Anglo-Saxon paganism/heathenry is the same religion, Germanic paganism, but there are far fewer sources and they go back to an earlier time, since the Anglo-Saxons were converted much earlier. There were also heathens in the Danelaw for a while, and texts such as Solomon and Saturn indicate that Anglo-Saxon clerics, at least, no longer recognised the old god names but rather knew only the Norse versions.

Interesting stuff. But please be aware, that Germanic paganism is a very big box Yngvadottir! Norse religion is just a small part of that big box. I have always believed that the Angles and the Saxons had different Gods than the Norse, just as their culture was different and that this difference was part of why the Vikings were in conflict with them, both in Europe and in England. I will try to look into the Solomon and Saturn, that you refer to. RhinoMind (talk) 18:52, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

As a curiosity, I am finding the role of dreams in Norse culture (and religion perhaps) very interesting. Just before reading about the importance of dreams here in this article, I saw a film clip about an old Danish folksong, where dreams also played a central role and was taken more seriously than reality. The dream led to a tragic and brutal ending, unfortunately, but very interesting stuff overall. RhinoMind (talk) 18:27, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

There's been quite a lot of work on dreams in ancient Norse culture, yes it is interesting both then and more recently :-) Yngvadottir (talk) 18:32, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

There's not just less written material on Anglo-Saxon paganism, there is almost none that is direct. There is place-name evidence, certain dykes (Grimsdyke, Wodensdyke) that may be the nearest to this concept. I doubt they rise to the significance required for inclusion. All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 12:36, 29 September 2014 (UTC).

Indeed. There's very little; it's filtered through a much longer period of Christianity, the Anglo-Saxons having been converted relatively early and indeed supplying the missionaries who converted almost all the other Germanic peoples; and what there is is disputed, with one eminent scholar having claimed there is practically nothing usable. However, the landwights would constitute part of the "popular religion" and if there are surviving possible attestations, they would go along with the material on elves in A-S (and likely be in the charms), and there is also the possibility of a mention from the Danelaw, but as I started by saying parenthetically, I can't think of any. Yngvadottir (talk) 13:05, 29 September 2014 (UTC)

The origin of the four main Icelandic landvættir.

It can be said that the four main "landvættir" or guardians of Iceland are political statement from icelanders or icelandic authors. The statement is "here will be no king" Snorri Sturluson mentions them in Heimskringla and identifies each one and included in this chapter is a story of Harald bluetooth and that he had heard that icelanders were writing or making undecent poetry about Hararld, so he sends a man to Iceland and see if this is true, the man changes him self into a whale and swims to Iceland, in each quarter of Iceland were creatures that prevented him from the shore, so the man-whale swims back to tell Harald how things were in Iceland, but there was a pack of other creatures also but the main four in north, east, south and west part later got to be the creatures in the coat of arms of iceland in 1919 when the danish king after Iceland became sovereign in 1918 but still a kingdom and the king was the dansih king until 1944. Now, where did Snorri Sturluson pick up this story? did he fabricate it him self? or did the danish king in 1919 understan what it meant? The sybols for the landvættir og Iceland are strikingly similar and in same order as the symbols of the main four quarters of the israelit tabernacle (exodus) camp, but one notices the difference is that the lion is thrown out (the symbol for a king or kingdom) and ther dragon from the middle of the camp placed instead of the lion. So was the knowing that the missing lion would also soon mean the crown would also break off as it did in 1944. https://scontent.frkv1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/37287419_10216600346707891_692059904449445888_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=42ff567667f501e893032ee8e296de0e&oe=5BDEF505

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.182.191.118 (talk) 01:01, 26 July 2018 (UTC)