Pagan Times Research Articles

Lithuanian Petronyms in the Mythological Context

The article examines the names of Lithuanian stones regarded as sacred and the legends associated with them. Researchers estimate that there are approximately 500 such stones in Lithuania. Popular beliefs link many of these stones with pagan deities and Christian saints, attributing to them the abilities to move, speak, teach, heal, advise, lend money, and even form families and have children. Evidence of stone worship during pagan times is reflected in their names, which often reference both chthonic figures and Christian saints, and may also be associated with the names of animals and people. The article systematically analyses these cases, considering legends about the stones’ origins, relevant historical evidence, and archaeological and folklore data. Lithuanian legends regarding the naming of stones suggest that those now bearing Christian names may have originally had pagan ones. The “baptism” of some stones by bestowing Christian names upon them not only alters some of their properties but is also believed to stop their growth and movement. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the mythological perception of stones has evolved over time. Historical data indicate that in pagan antiquity, stones were identified with deities, serving simultaneously as altars and idols. With the advent of Christianity, the focus shifted, and stones that were once venerated began to be associated with figures from lower mythology, such as the devil, witches, and Laumės (woodland spirits). Folklore traditions classify stones as “otherworldly” objects, emphasizing their connection with the chthonic realm, the world of the dead, and the “unclean”.

Balamuts as Traditional Ukrainian Jewelry of the 19th – Early 21st Centuries

The purpose of the research is to determine the sources of inspiration and artistic features of balamuts in Ukrainian folk costumes of the 19th – early 21st centuries. Research methods are ontological, hermeneutic, axiological, historical-genetic, historical-chronological, comparative, socio-cultural, iconographic, and art analysis. The research toolkit is designed to help understand the sources of inspiration and artistic features of balamuts in Ukrainian folk costumes. The scientific novelty is based on the introduction into scientific circulation of the essence of the concept of “balamut” in Ukrainian jewelry of the 19th – early 21st centuries, in particular, wedding jewelry. Conclusions. Since ancient times, it has been customary to wear pearls in the territory of modern Ukraine, and following the Hellenic-Scythian and Byzantine fashion, it was first among men. Pearls were part of the initiation jewelry of representatives of the elites of Sassanid Iran from the time of Shapur I, who ruled in the 3rd century. AD, and Shapur II (ruled in the 4th century), and gradually became part of the culture of the Greek colonies of the Crimea and the Black Sea. Pearls from the time of antiquity were a sign of initiation stems (at first, ribbons decorated with round and teardrop-shaped pearls, and later on hoops – crown-like diadems). After the first centuries after the birth of Christ, these accessories, which replaced the laurel wreaths of pagan times, became part of the complete image of the Roman emperor. Thus, as early as the 4th century, the son of Constantine the Great, Emperor Constantius II (337–361), wore a diadem with a pearl base, modeled after the Sassanid coronation ornaments. Justinian the Great, an Illyrian by origin, in 548 was depicted wearing a crown with prependulis and a fibula with pearls, later pearls firmly became part of the coronation accessories of the following dynasties of Byzantine rulers, who had both eastern (primarily Persian and Armenian) and western (Balkan) roots. Taking into account that in several centuries the heiresses of Byzantine emperors began to marry Kievan Russian princes, this tradition of using pearls gradually became part of local customs. So, already in the 10th century Svyatoslav, the son of Igor and Olga, wore a colt with pearls and a red garnet in his ear. Later pearls, including fossilized, fossil, made from a thick layer of mother-of-pearl of ancient shells (balamuts) from the 19th century gradually became part of Ukrainian wedding outfits.

«Profanum i sacrum» place of the building of the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Theotokos in medieval Halych

The article is devoted to the study of the specifics of the development of the profane and sacred space of the Krylos mountain, on which in the middle of the XII century the main shrine of medieval Halych was built – the Dormition Cathedral, which was discovered by Yaroslav Pasternak. Attention is paid to the reasons for the arrangement of the cathedral on not the best place on the mountain with a noticeable northern slope. For this purpose, according to archeological sources, the condition of households and religious development of the area intended for the cathedral and the nearest territory before its construction was analyzed. It is established that the studied objects functioned in this area from VIII to the middle of the XII century. Under the central part of the cathedral, Ya. Pasternak discovered a large pit, which he interpreted as the remains of a pagan shrine. According to Yu. Lukomskyi, this object was used for firing plaster. Results of activity of the expedition led by V. Aulikh discovered two water drainage channels cut by the foundations of the northern wall of the cathedral was important to highlight the question of the construction site of the cathedral and the functions of this object. These channels arranged by stone constructions were probably used to drain water from the spring(s), and the large pit may have been the remains of a pagan shrine built nearby. It was only during the building of the foundations of the cathedral, in particular for the north wall, that the builders cut these drainage structures. Since then, these structures, like the sources, stopped functioning. This is confirmed by later chronicle descriptions of the military events of the ХІІІ century when those of its members who were hiding in the cathedral died of thirst without water. In the example of the Dormition Cathedral of medieval Halych, built on the place of ancient household and religious buildings of pagan times, we see that many Christian churches bear the seal of duality: the sacred in them is not completely separated from the profane. On the contrary, the sacred is often manifested through the profane, that is, the solemn – through the secular, mundane. Key words: Dormition Cathedral of medieval Halych, Krylos mountain, residential and household buildings, a pagan temple, profane and sacred space.

Does the rite of Forefathers' Eve really derive from the Old Prussian "feast of the goat"? An attempt to resolve inaccuracies related to Mickiewicz's vision of the origin of the rite of Forefathers' Eve

In the second edition of the preface to “Forefathers' Eve” part two, Mickiewicz mentioned the distant origin of the rite of Forefathers' Eve, which, according to the romantic poet, in pagan times, was known as the "feast of the goat". The Slavic bard obtained information about the Old Prussian ceremonial sacrifice of the goat through the “Chronicle of Prussia” by Simon Grunau. Until now, researchers mainly thought that this way he wanted to allude to classical antiquity, since he associated the “feast of the goat” with “the song of the goat”, and thus with the origin of Greek tragedy. The purpose of this article is to identify what type of festivity the “feast of the goat” is and to see whether it can really be identified with the rite of Forefathers' Eve.

Placebo factors at healing sanctuaries in pagan and early Christian times

Abstract The article analyses possible placebo effects that Late Antique religious healing might have had. It focuses on healings believed to have been sent in dreams to worshippers, both in pagan and Early Christian tradition. It also investigates how possible placebo effects might have served to propagate and spread the particular cults (be it the cult of Asklepios, or the Early Christian cults of martyrs). The paper seeks to integrate modern placebo research with the ancient accounts of healings, answering the following question: is it possible that the placebo effect (above all relief of pain) was activated in ancient times by the same factors as seen in experiments today (e. g. effect of the healer’s persona, ritualized behaviour, and above all belief in the cure)? The scope of the paper is at the end broadened to touch upon the question to what degree ancient religious healing offered a socially well-established method of handling illnesses psychologically and fill the need to act, even if a cure as such was not a probable result.

New observations of the burial rite: Traces of fire exposure in Early Medieval inhumation burials -examples from the Slavic cemetery of Wusterhausen/Dosse (North-Eastern Germany).

Inhumation burials gradually replaced the tradition of cremating the deceased from the 10th century AD onwards and have been dominating the North-Western Slavic regions since the 11th/12th century AD. However, excavated human remains, as well as funerary containers, from the Late Slavic period (11th to 12th century AD) show evidence of fire exposure. A few inhumation burials from the Wusterhausen/Dosse burial ground - a typical burial site from the latest pagan times - show signs of a partial cremation. Although normally a rare finding in Late Slavic inhumation burials, such traces of an impact of fire were detected on several burials from various locations. The character and purpose of these burns (cremations?) has already been under investigation for a long time. They might be related to religiously motivated cremation rituals, the result of "grave fires" or the continuity of pagan traditions. Within the scope of this paper, with the Wusterhausen examples, we are taking a closer look at the different implementations of cremation and fire exposure during burial practices in Slavic regions from the 10th to 12th century AD and their characteristics. It seems probable that, even if diverse in their nature, the traces of fire exposure are linked to the atmosphere of religious changes that was omnipresent during this period.

Dialogue of Generations as Communicative Dimension of Bread Culture Semantics in the Ukrainian Sacral Tradition

The issue is devoted to the semantic analysis of the bread phenomenon in Ukrainian cultural tradition. The traditional interrelations between a man and bread are considered. The layers of taboos, prohibitions about common bread usage are presented. According to Ukrainian spiritual tradition, bread was a vital symbol, it was worshipped as the Sun in the pagan times and as the Eternal Sun of Truth in the Christian times. Consequently, it is forbidden to swear, deal about dishonest affairs, mention evil spirits (in all sounding variants), have empty talks and to be occupied by a charade, etc. in the presence of “sacred bread”. The Christian layer of bread consideration as Jesus Christ embodiment is highlighted. The sinful context of bread usage is provided. The greatest sin was to offense a Mother, Earth, and Sacred Bread, and consequently to be separated from a family (without a family blessing), to lose a piece of land (without an opportunity to confess, as people confessed to sacred land the in old times), and also without any possibility to grow wheat personally (in other words to be deprived by God’s protection). The folk wisdom has always mentioned that: “A family table is the palms of God. A loaf of bread on a table is God’s Gift. The attitude to this gift should be respectful”. The main paradigm of the whole issue claims the following thesis: bread’s magic has gone through all Ukrainian spiritual culture, all sacral and mystical ritual nuances, whole mystery sense of Ukrainian folk laws are presented. The exclusiveness of various bread names is considered, hence the names are provided owing to bread’s shapes, special holidays’ application, specific of bread-making process, etc. The crucial attention is paid to Christmas bread and variants of its production.

RITUAL SELF-PLIGHTS OF UKRAINIANS IN THE MEDIEVAL – EARLY MODERN PERIOD(IN THE CONTEXT OF THE BLACK SEA REGION’S TIES)

In the medieval – early modern period, pledging one’s word was a common practice among all social strata. Important communicative actions, especially those involving a dispute, were accompanied by the rituals of pronouncing a pledge, which often included self-plight. We are interested in the role, origins and existence of self-plights in the context of intercultural interaction. These aspects were already studied by Mykola Sumtsov, Mykhailo Hrushevsky and Viktor Petrov, but the study of self-plights in Ukrainian culture, especially in diachrony, cannot be considered complete. One also has to bear in mind a substantial fragmentariness of the sources and incomplete coverage of this phenomenon in these sources at that time. This is not a material of traditional field study of folklore or ethnography, and therefore, our research must be categorized as belonging to historical anthropology. The sources cover most extensively the pledges/oaths taken in the 14th – 16th centuries under various agreements between princes and with other high-ranked persons, including the entry into the suzerain-vassal relationship. Private persons of various social statuses were also taking an oath when resolving various (including legal) disputes. Unfortunately, the majority of sources do not contain full texts of oaths. Still, we were able to find a text of this kind, related to the rite of passage into woźny (a low-ranked court official) in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1635, which ended with a ritual self-plight whose formula tends to originate from bygone pagan times. The one taking the pledge by swearing to God would bring a punishment upon himself in the event of failing his duties as a woźny: loss of speech and triple “burning” of head. Numerous mentions in the sources of the instances of avoiding the pledge by persons who had to take it, voluntary recognition of guilt by these persons, and even relieving the counterparties from oath give reasons to assume that these texts did contain self-plights. For it was believed that self-plight would bring a horrible danger upon those who breached the pledge. The origins of self-plights of Ukrainians in the medieval – early modern period date to ritual pledges of the 10th century, taken by ambassadors of Kievan princes when making agreements with the Byzantine Empire. It is corroborated by their structural and functional similarity (the role of gods and Christian saints, Mother Earth, weapons, various ailments, etc. in punishing the oath-breaker). Ukrainian pledges and selfplights have formed and existed in a broad context of intercultural contacts of the Pontic region. There, Slavic customs intertwined with Byzantine, Scandinavian, Iranian, Turkic and other influences, forming a specific local (basically proto-Ukrainian) and then Ukrainian tradition per se as one of its Indo-European variants.

„Romantyczne” podróże Augusta Bielowskiego

In the second half of the 1920s and in the 1930s Lviv had more and more to offer for young people. The buoyantly developing university, reactivated in 1817, attracted Galician youth, wanting to obtain academic education in order to have a stable existence in the future. Although the fully Germanised Lviv university was far from cultivating patriotic attitudes, thanks to several professors, gradually but efficiently, the deeply hidden desires were awaken. The first literary journals published by the Chłędowski brothers, the Lviv theatre managed by Jan Nepomucen Kamiński, the works by Aleksander Fredro – all of this created an atmosphere which fostered self-education and the first independent literary attempts made by students among whom leaders emerged, able to gather a group of friends and to motivate them to work in the field of literature and historic past. August Bielowski was one of such organisers of cultural life in Lviv and, consequently, the literary group in later years called “Ziewonia” was created around his figure. The present study is dedicated to the initial period of Bielowski’s literary activity, who, along with his friends, looked for new and original sources of national literature. He noticed them in folk and Slavic works. The study describes Bielowski’s travels in Galicia, the aim of which was to prove the validity of his thesis and to gather source materials (songs, folk stories, beliefs, customs which preserved traditions cultivated throughout centuries, sometimes even from pagan times). Subsequently, they were used as the basis for the poets’ literary activity. The descriptions of travels reflect the atmosphere, character and conditions in which they took place. They show virgin nature, abound in poetic depictions of landscapes, show genuine fascination of folklore and reveal the beginnings of the formation of professional ethnographic, archaeological and historic research.

Transformation of Ukrainian Name-giving Process: Historical Analysis

The issue is devoted to a value sphere of Christian dominant consideration in the spiritual and semantic space of a name-giving culture in Ukrainian anthroponymic tradition as well as to the historical and philosophical analysis of spiritual peculiarities presented in the process of proper nouns’ creation and functioning in Ukrainian spiritual culture at the pagan times. The urgency of an issue has been intensified by a fact that a name is one of the most crucial symbols in human’s awareness of personal solitude. Anthroponyms (human proper nouns) have been a widely used national lexical phenomenon for different times and epochs, and for different people, that emphasized a constant existential need of the issue in the individual as well as in the social consideration. The sphere of a scientific study is the genesis and peculiarities of Ukrainian onomasticon. The ancient names’ popularity and the general understanding of the true name’s spiritual roots of an ancient name are discussed. The crucial concept of the work is a statement about the preservation of the spiritual sources of a pagan tradition. National Ukrainian onomasticon has been predominantly formed on the Orthodox value basis that is owing to the historical peculiarities of the national, religious and cultural space. The value of a name as a philosophic, cultural, spiritual and historical phenomenon is highlighted. The aim of an issue is to represent a transcendental peculiarity of the proper names and via a structured analysis with the hermeneutic methodology application to highlight the appearance and spiritual components in the elite-sacral, elite-secular and national names in Ukrainian ancient ethical tradition. The cardinal meaningful lines of the names’ spiritual roots are to be analyzed. The conclusions of the issue are embodied in the following statements and constants:- A name is the most essential expression of self on an ontological level.- A name is an opportunity of social memory saving on a social level.- The two level context of Ukrainian onomasticon is represented by a pagan tradition of name-giving which is based on the spiritual unity between a human and natural environment that transforms it into a spiritual charm.Christian tradition of name blessing considers a name as a spiritual protection of a saint as well as a motivation for further spiritual changes.

Armenian Myths and Legends and their Impact on Armenian Beliefs and Literature

Objective : Remnants and light sediments and reflections of the beliefs of Animistic and Totemistic ideological systems that have been dominant among clans and tribes residing in Armenian lands during very distant periods, that is Palaeolithic periods are still recognizable in some life habits and behaviours, social norms, popular beliefs, various folkloric fields, tales, mythological narratives, customs and traditions, folk songs, and proverbs of contemporary Armenian people. Methodology: This paper through studying beliefs and legends of Armenian people tries to prove their relationship with folkloric literature. Results: Animisim or spirit worshipping existed before totemism, but the characteristic of inanimate and animate phenomena such as: different animals, stones, rocks, earthquake, lightning, fire, plants, etc. have helped the creation of animism. Nature worship has been a general phenomenon among ancient people that had existed before all religions, such as Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam. Totemism among Armenians has been expressed with different degrees of progress and development in all material and spiritual fields.. Conclusion: In Armenians great celebrations after Christianity there is also a trace of celebrations of infidelity or Pagan times. Of course the extensive and deep role of Assyrians in the religious beliefs of Armenians should be noted too. Armenians of Western regions of Armenia had worshiped gods such as Naneh, Astgic, Barshamina that were Assyrian.

Шляхи становлення, розвитку та занепаду танцювального мистецтва скоморохів на Україні

The aim of the research is to analyze and systematize information related to the phenomenon of the formation, development and decline of the dance art of skomorokhs in Ukraine. Research methods. Taking into account the historical and cultural nature of the research, the main methods used were historical, theoretical, systemic, analytical and generalization, which provided a theoretical analysis of the source base, the systematization of the received information and the synthesis and summing up of the origins, development, decay and subsequent transformation of the skomorokhs dance art. The scientific novelty of the presented article is to systematize and analyze the key stages of the formation, development, decline and transformation of skomorokhs dance art in Ukraine, and to draw parallels with the development of similar artistic phenomena on the territory of other states. Conclusions. After analyzing the materials, we can state that the phenomenon of skomorokh dance art still needs to be studied in detail. At present, one can state that the most active development of the skomorokhs art was in the pagan times. That’s when the given class was equated with divine beings and their art to service the deity. In the times of paganism, the skomorokhs were syncretic semi-professionals who created a variety of theatrical performances. With the advent of Christianity, the attitude towards skomorokhs gradually changes. It is the art of skomorokhs which also undergoes transformation - different genres are singled out. Skomorokhs art split into settled and traveling one. Along with that, the adoption of Christianity causes the beginning of the stage of the skomorokhs decline. Although in the national circle and in the princely and boyar palaces the skomorokhs performances continue to take place, the church reform prohibits walrus, songs, dances and fun in all manifestations. The destructive policy, in addition, does not solve the entire task – the skomorokhs dance art transforming into other forms, for example, “Vertepna drama”. This allows us to speak about the deep roots and strong ethno-cultural traditions of this phenomenon, which paved the difficult path of development for centuries.

W poszukiwaniu genezy, rozwoju oraz sensu chrześcijańskiego kultu świętych i ich relikwii. Studium historyczno-teologiczne

The author of this article outlined the rich history of the cult of relics from pagan times to the present day and he drew attention that the Christian cult of saints and their relics appeared only after the death of the twelve Apostles. And it is still valid and meaningful.

„Strilni kamen“ s Baba lokve

Autor obrađuje nalaz prapovijesne kamene sjekire-čekića na srednjovjekovnom naseobinskom lokalitetu Baba lokva u Kaštelima (14. – 17. st.) s aspekta mitološkog poimanja takvih nalaza kao apotropejskih predmeta (amuleti, talismani). Pomoću brojnih etnoloških paralela u Hrvatskoj i Bosni, kao i u široj srednjoeuropskoj regiji, te arheoloških paralela u sjevernoj Hrvatskoj (Ludbreg – Iovia, utvrda Paka) i u Dalmaciji (Begovača – Biljane Donje) dokazuje da je sjekira s Baba lokve bila u funkciji zaštite nastambi od groma ili možda osobne zaštite vlasnika koji ju je nosio. Radi se o običaju koji je preživio kao sirvival iz poganskih prapovijesnih vremena (praslavenskih i praindoeuropskih) i zadržao se do naših dana kao dio tradicijske kulture.

Długie trwanie staropruskich struktur plemiennych na przykładzie organizacji parafialnej na Sambi

This paper seeks to present some tribal institutions that survived the conquest of Prussia by the Teutonic Knights as part of the parish structure in Sambia (Samland). This was the most populous tribal area in pagan Prussia. After its conquest in 1255, the Knights decided to build the local parish network on the basis of native territorial communities (so-called territoria). Thus, ultimately, the parish network in Sambia – with the exception of a sparse towns – was connected with so-called Kammerämter set up since the end of the 13th c. which, in turn, were based on the above territoria from the pagan period. In the early 15th c. there were 18 such local government units there managed by the Order or the local bishop. Parish churches were mostly built there in the seats of local clerks called Kämmereren. As a result, the parish network in the Bishopric of Sambia was relatively sparse. Pastoral work was also made difficult by that fact that most German parish priests did not know Old Prussian and that there were often problems with completing parish staff. Right before the Teutonic conquest of Sambia there were 15 territoria there. They were characterised by a high degree of external autonomy, but preserved loyalty towards the interests of the higher-order territorial community, i.e. the Sambian tribe. The political-territorial unit even smaller than the Prussian territorium was the moter (moter, muter, motor). It was probably a stronghold unit. There could be two or more such units in each territorium. The moter can also be called a community of local groups, since it embraced 5-10 villages. Georg Gerullis pointed out that even as early as church acts from the mid-17th century (1652 or 1665) there are records of 4 moters (e.g. Suppliten Moter) in the Sambian parish of Pobethen (today’s Romanovo), each of which had a Kirchenvater, i.e. a representative of the parish community from whom it derived its name. In the opinion of Hans and Gertrud Mortensens, what we deal with here are areas of a size similar to the medieval moters in Sambia. What is more, the area of the Pobethen parish probably roughly corresponded to that of the former Kammeramt of Pobethen, and the earlier Pobeten or Bethen territorium mentioned under the year 1260 in the Teutonic chronicle of Peter of Dusburg. Reinhard Wenskus claimed that the name Suppliten Moter may be connected with the name of Valtin Supplit, who, according to Lucas David’s chronicle, was the chief official during the ceremony of two pagan sacrifices that took place in the 1520s at Rantau (today’s Zaostrovye) in the parish of Pobethen. In the opinion of this scholar, the 17th-century office of the moter Kirchenvater could be a continuation of the office of a pagan cult functionary, evidently associated with this old Prussian territorial unit. In this paper this thesis has been corroborated. A hypothesis was also proposed that what could serve as a diffusion channel here was the institution of one- or a few-person representation of a village at mass, popular in medieval Prussian dioceses. Using the Pobethen parish as an example, it was also shown that in the pagan times moters enjoyed a much wider ceremonial autonomy in the higher-order territoria than in the later official parish-Kammeramt structures.

Uczone kobiety starożytnego chrześcijaństwa

W artykule przedstawiono sylwetki chrześcijanek żyjących między II/III a V w. Są to Perpetua, Makryna, Marcela wraz ze zgromadzonymi wokół niej kobietami oraz Egeria, Proba, Eudokia i Eucheria. Wykazano, iż – w przeciwieństwie do kobiet żyjących w czasach pogańskich – przedmiotem ich umysłowej aktywności były przede wszystkim sprawy związane z wiarą. Dlatego też koncentrowały się na studiowaniu Pisma Świętego, nauce języków biblijnych, zwiedzaniu miejsc związanych z Biblią, kontemplacji spraw boskich (mistyka). Autorka stwierdza, iż ich przykład przeczy mitowi milczącej i pokornej chrześcijanki.

Medieval Christianity in the North: New Studies ed. by Kirsi Salonen, Kurt Villads Jensen, and Torstein Jorgensen (review)

Reviewed by: Medieval Christianity in the North: New Studies ed. by Kirsi Salonen, Kurt Villads Jensen, and Torstein Jorgensen Jane-Anne Denison Salonen, Kirsi, Kurt Villads Jensen, and Torstein Jorgensen, eds, Medieval Christianity in the North: New Studies (Acta Scandinavica, 1), Turnhout, Brepols, 2013; hardback; pp. xii, 276; 15 b/w illustrations, 6 b/w line art; R.R.P. €75.00; ISBN 9782503540481. This selection of ten multidisciplinary papers aims to present a response to the commonplace belief that the peoples of pre-Christian Scandinavia were little more than uncivilised savages. Through the discussion and analysis of the introduction of new European and Christian ideas and their incorporation into Nordic cultures, and demonstrating how, in turn, Nordic cultures influenced a new and unique northern Christianity from pagan times through to the Reformation, the volume successfully demonstrates that this stereotype is far from true. The first half of the book focuses on conversion and its consequences, and the essays in it cover a wide range of current scholarly research. It starts with Else Mundal’s article on the survival of pagan deities and mythological figures after Christianisation, concentrating mainly on Norway and Iceland. It continues through to Stefan Brink’s discussion of the phases of conversion. Lars Bisgaard’s paper on the use of beer and wine in baptisms and the Eucharist will appeal to readers with an interest in the evolution of unique regional Christian practices. The second half is dedicated to the consolidation of the Christian religion and its ecclesiastical structures. Notable chapters include Claes Gejrot’s argument that the canonisation of St Birgitta demonstrates a Swedish influence on the rest of Europe, and Kirsi Salonen’s paper that discusses how the traditional Scandinavian idea of marriage as an economic arrangement influenced its role as a religious institution in the north. Naturally, the volume cannot cover all aspects of Christianity in the Nordic region, and equally a short notice cannot cover all of the chapters [End Page 233] and research included within it. All articles included in the book are worth reading by anyone with an interest in Scandinavian history from the Viking era through to the Reformation, and equally by readers interested in the more general process of Christianisation and the history of European Christianity. The contributions definitely succeed in their intention to present Scandinavia as an area that was as Christian as any other region in Europe. At the same time, they also show that the region possessed uniquely Nordic characteristics after its adoption of the Christian religion. Jane-Anne Denison The University of the Highlands and Islands Copyright © 2014 Jane-Anne Denison

Past Awareness in Christian Environments: Source-Critical Ideas about Memories of the Pagan Past

THE PRESENT FORMS OUR PAST One of the central issues for those who try to scrutinize medieval texts is to contemplate how these texts can be used to think about still older times. For the present purposes, that would mean texts that were written long after the coming of Christianity to Iceland, but telling of events that are set in the earlier pagan times. In recent decades, scholarship has become more and more aware of how problematic this can be. Field-workers in folkloristics have even realized that all things people have to say about the past should first and foremost be treated as comments about the present, as Stephen Mitchell (2013) outlines in this issue with his discussion of the turn in folkloristics. Everything we have to say, both as scholars and persons in the real world outside academia, orally or in writing, reflects on our present conditions, interests, points of view, and so on. An older generation today can, for example, still tell their grandchildren stories about what it was like to grow up in a world before radio, television, and computers, making the present role of radio, television, and computers central to their restructuring of their own past--even though that past was by no means defined in its own time by the lack of these relatively recent technological phenomena, discoveries of the future yet to be made from the perspective of the narratives. This was fundamentally no different in the medieval world, but it takes a long time and much reflection to rethink all the conceptions and misconceptions that have come down to us as an integral part of received and accepted scholarly wisdom that shapes our understanding and reading of medieval texts. Before we engage in a debate about the historical authenticity of the medieval texts from Iceland as sources about much earlier pagan times, it can therefore be said with reasonable authority, without reading or analyzing anything in particular, that all the available texts should first of all be treated as sources about the time when they were written. Having said that, we cannot and should not ignore the fact that the same texts may also contain important information and be informative about their own pasts--just as the present generation of grandparents is able to mediate some information about the recent past, information they insist is authentic, correct, and historically accurate. But still, they mediate that information for reasons that are relevant in the present--and so the carousel continues. Bearing all of this in mind, we can then start to proceed slowly with comparative material from other cultures and disciplines, in order both to understand the oral performative aspects of traditional stories and poetry, and how the religious and mythological ideas that we find in these writings can be put into some cultural context and practice, using other sources and the living frame from fieldwork in order to create our own ideas about the pagan past that is so vividly portrayed in the texts. PAGAN-CHRISTIAN LABELS ARE MISLEADING One of the main received frameworks for our reception and interpretation of the medieval texts is the scholarly obsession with the binary opposition Pagan/Christian. It is no doubt possible to uncover historical reasons for this and, perhaps, these reasons could even be traced back to the time of the original writing of the texts. Some of these texts were written by people who clearly had an agenda favoring the presentation of a historical view of a new and superior religion taking over from earlier paganism. That view leaves our attention fixed on the two main labels for historical eras: Pagan and Christian. But just as the opposition between oral and written has been modified in thinking about the oral background of written texts, so the ideas about the effect of a dominating religious idea on everything in the culture must be modified. We must therefore be very cautious in our initial approach when we present the problem of past awareness in the medieval Christian environment. …

On the myth of the Edwin Smith papyrus: is it magic or science?

The Edwin Smith papyrus (ESP) [1] holds a very special position in the canon of the ten surviving major medical papyri from ancient Egypt. The text has a clear, logical structure. It describes injuries and wounds from head to toe (a capite ad calcem), separated into 48 cases. Again, each case is presented in a clearly structured manner. After the title, the diagnostic procedure and relevant clinical signs are enumerated. When deemed necessary, differential diagnostics are mentioned as well as an additional explanation of some of the clinical symptoms and specific medical terms. A verdict follows that comprises three treatment possibilities: either the disease can be treated, or it is a disease “the physician will fight with,” or nothing can be done for the patient. Depending on this, treatment options are given. After the editio princeps (Fig. 1) by Breasted in 1930 [2] and the standard edition of the hieroglyphic text in 1959 [3], three more recent major editions of this papyrus in translation with commentary have been published [1, 4, 5], in addition to some articles that studied single cases [6–11]. Most of these publications were more or less philogically oriented. Consequently, since its publication the ESP has attracted modern physicians, who have explained the injuries based on their knowledge of modern medicine and tried to evaluate the efficacy of the proposed treatments from a modern medical point of view [12–14].Many of these students praised the ESP as the first scientific work of medicine because of its clearly structured layout and the lack of magical practice [15, 16]. Unfortunately, often it is not mentioned or missed that the ESP also contains prescriptions with magical spells or allusions. This holds true for cases 8 and 9 in the surgical part and several magical spells on the verso of the last page, which are not directly related to the surgical treatise. These, of course, do not fit the pure scientific approach. When mentioned, the magic interludes in this papyrus were often defined as unnecessary slips of the otherwise scientific approach and were mostly discarded as a “fall back” to more pagan times [17], which allegedly happened to ancient Egyptian medicine in the course of its later development [18]. The aim of this article is to define the socio-cultural environment (“Sitz im Leben”) of this document in order to explain this putative contradiction. Furthermore, its “scientific character” will be discussed. In detail, the following issues will be addressed: What was the social organization of ancient Egypt at the time of the ESP (1600 BCE)? How does medicine fit into this, and how was it executed practically? What are the treatment concepts and how does magic fit into all this? How did the individual patient fare? This article will not discuss the ESP on a case-by-case basis, but tries to give an overview.

An Interview with Adam Reta

RETA: It is more than a model. It is a metaphor. Injera is round. It is three dimensional yet flat. It has holes and yet consistent. It is between solid and non-solid. At first the injera holes/precisely eyes/ seem to be monads, and yet they are all interconnected through a maze of miniature tunnels. It has a contrasting structure signified by opposites and yet all contributing to its whole physical “survival.” We are used to hearing about traditional fiction as linear or circular. I find the linear story not as realistic as is usually perceived. If one is not sure of the representational honesty of linear stories, one has to look for a different geometric metaphor. The 1974 Ethiopian revolution initiated the beginning of the death of the linear story. The fragmenting elements unleashed then are still working their way through all aspects of life. A society in chaos/disharmony cannot give you individuals that are comfortable in linearity. I have to look for ways to represent such realities and processes. The conceptual image or geometric metaphor we acquire from such disorder is a labyrinth or a maze. What is more pertinent than injera in representing this? Injera has an interesting form. We can mark its genesis from pagan times when the sun was worshipped. In antiquity, the sun was represented by a circle. Our alphabet tse ( { ) is a representation of the sun, or the aynu A ( ; ), as the sun was the eye in the sky. I do not think it is an accident we call the holes in injera “eyes.” The circle was and is an ancient and universal symbol of unity, wholeness, and infinity. There is also what is called a circumpunct circle with a dot/hole at the middle. It represents the sun and a sun god (called Ra in Egypt . . . what if the “ra” in inje-ra has to do with this?) and the creative spark of divine consciousness within people linking everyone to the creative mind (also to everyone) of a universal “god” thus making each persona “co-creator.” The circle and the dot symbolize the spiritual merging of male and female forces. (Ref) This is a universal/ cosmic sensibility.