Last time, I described my own presentations at the Asatru Folk Assembly's "Midsummer in the Sierras".
Stephen Pollington is a well-known expert on the Anglo-Saxons, and we brought him all the way from England to talk to us about this particular Germanic culture. Now, some think that Asatru is based solely on Scandinavian belief, but that's not the case. Yes, we use the Norse cultural models, simply because that was Asatru's most developed historical expression. After all, where would the revival of our ancestral faith be without the Eddas? Our interests include all of the Germanic world. The word Asatru, after all, means roughly "those true to the Gods" - and I take that to mean all the Gods and Goddesses of the Teutonic world.
But I digress. Stephen gave three remarkable Power Point presentations to an eager audience. (In person, Pollington is very personable and is completely comfortable with being called "Steve," but since I am also a Steve, I'll refer to him as Stephen.) The first one was titled Hall and Hoard: Display and Status in the Meadhall. It dealt with the meadhall as an institution in Anglo-Saxon culture. Essentially, the meadhall was a place for social interaction, with emphasis on access to power and politics. In this environment status was everything, and high status was displayed through intricate jewelry and accessories worn by those who had the wherewithal to do so. Stephen showed us many examples of this and showed how this all worked into the broader theme.
Stephen's second talk carried the title Hall and Harrow: Art and Material Culture - A Glimpse into the Iron Age. Despite the secular-sounding label, it focused on religious and spiritual themes sure to capture the attention of all of us who follow Asatru. To choose one example that I'll never forget: The famous Sutton Hoo helmet has a most interesting feature. One eye...and only one eye...contains gold foil behind each of the garnets lining the eyepiece. The other eye also has garnets, but no gold foil. The resulting visual effect is that of a one-eyed, aristocratic warrior - Woden himself - moving among his folk. You can imagine the possibilities for Asatru ritual!
Our final gift from Stephen was a session on Runes in the Anglo-Saxon Tradition. He approached this not from a magical perspective, but a more scholarly one. He included an excellent survey of runic artifacts, with an emphasis on the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc and its development as language changed. Stephen paid special attention to how the transition from tribe to nation-state, and the shift to literacy, affected the balance of political and social power in Northern Europe.
Heady stuff, and well received! For more on Stephen Pollington and his works, visit his web site at http://www.stevepollington.com.
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
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