Landvættir (

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

: ;

Modern Icelandic Icelandic (; is, íslenska, link=no ) is a North Germanic language spoken by about 314,000 people, the vast majority of whom live in Iceland, where it is the national language. Due to being a West Scandinavian language, it is most closely re ...

: ; "land

wight A wight (Old English: ''wiht'') is a mythical sentient being, often undead. In its original use the word ''wight'' described a living human being, but has come to be used in fictional works in the fantasy genre to describe certain immortal bein ...

s") are spirits of the land in

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...

and

Germanic neopaganism Heathenry, also termed Heathenism, contemporary Germanic Paganism, or Germanic Neopaganism, is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religious studies classify it as a new religious movement. Developed in Europe during the early 20th centu ...

. They protect and promote the flourishing of the specific places where they live, which can be as small as a rock or a corner of a field or as large as a section of a country.

The nature of landvættir

Some scholars have suggested that landvættir are

chthonic The word chthonic (), or chthonian, is derived from the Ancient Greek word ''χθών, "khthon"'', meaning earth or soil. It translates more directly from χθόνιος or "in, under, or beneath the earth" which can be differentiated from Γῆ ...

in nature, spirits of the dead, but others have interpreted them as nature spirits, since they sometimes live in land that has never been populated.

Hilda Ellis Davidson Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson (born Hilda Roderick Ellis; 1 October 1914 – 12 January 2006) was an English folklorist. She was a scholar at the University of Cambridge and The Folklore Society, and specialized in the study of Celtic and Ge ...

argued that stories such as that of Goat-Björn imply that they were already there when the settlers arrived in Iceland. Goat-Björn was offered a partnership by a "rock-dweller" (''bergbúi'') and thereafter prospered. People with second sight saw "all the land-spirits" following him to the

thing Thing or The Thing may refer to: Philosophy * An object * Broadly, an entity * Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant * Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focuses ...

and following his brothers hunting and fishing. They told of people worshiping and receiving advice from spirits living in waterfalls, woods, and rocks.

Jörmundur Ingi Hansen Jörmundur Ingi Hansen (born 14 August 1940) is an Icelandic-Danish Modern Paganism, neopagan leader, designer, businessman and clothing retailer. Trained as a sculptor and known as a prominent member of Reykjavík, Reykjavík's hippie scene, ...

, former High Priest of the

Ásatrúarfélagið Ásatrúarfélagið (, ''Ásatrú Fellowship'') is an Icelandic religious organisation of heathenry (in Iceland also called ', " ás faith"). It was founded on the first day of summer (Iceland) 1972, and granted recognition as a registered rel ...

, said that landvættir are "spirits and they in some way control the safety of the land, the fertility of the land, and so on." According to him, they are "tied to a spot in the landscape, to a huge rock, to a mountain, or to a specially beautiful place" and that place can be recognized by being more beautiful than "just a few yards away." The belief in local landvættir lives on in Iceland, with many farms having rocks that are not mowed closely and on which children are not allowed to play. When construction was about to start on

Keflavík Keflavík (pronounced , meaning ''Driftwood Bay'') is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest Iceland. It is included in the municipality of Reykjanesbær whose population as of 2016 is 15,129. In 1995, Keflavik merged with nearby Njarð ...

air base, the Icelandic foreman dreamed that a woman came to him asking to delay moving a boulder to give her family time to move out. He did so for two weeks over American objections until she came to him in another dream telling him the landvættir were all out. Other terms are sometimes used in the texts for the spirits, such as ''bergbúi'', ''ármaðr'', and ''spámaðr'', but there is one mention of pre-Christian Icelanders bringing offerings specifically to ''landvættir''. In a section of

Hauksbók Hauksbók (; 'Book of Haukr'), Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar AM 371 4to, AM 544 4to and AM 675 4to, is an Icelandic manuscript, now in three parts but originally one, dating from the 14th century. It was created by the Icelander Haukr E ...

, a Christian bishop rails against "foolish women" who take food out to rocks and hollows to feed the landvættir in hopes of being blessed with a prosperous household.

Wealth and weal of the land

One version of the Icelandic Book of Settlement says that the ancient law of Iceland forbade having a dragon-prow in place on one's ship in harbor or coming in to land "with gaping mouth or yawning snout" because the landvættir would be frightened away. In

Egils saga ''Egill's Saga'' or ''Egil's saga'' ( non, Egils saga ; ) is an Icelandic saga (family saga) on the lives of the clan of Egill Skallagrímsson (Anglicised as Egill Skallagrimsson), an Icelandic farmer, viking and skald. The saga spans the years ...

, Egil Skallagrímsson set up a

nithing pole A nithing pole ( non, níðstang), sometimes normalized as ''nithstang'' or ''nidstang'', was a pole used for cursing an enemy in Germanic pagan tradition. History and usage A nithing pole consisted of a long, wooden pole with a recently cut ho ...

to agitate the landvættir in Norway so that they would "go astray . . . until they have driven King Eric and Queen Gunnhild" out of the country. Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards translate ''landvættir'' as "guardian spirits" in this passage.

The four landvættir of Iceland

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

is protected by four great guardians who are known as the four ''landvættir''. According to the Saga of King Olaf Tryggvason in

Heimskringla ''Heimskringla'' () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorre Sturlason (1178/79–1241) 1230. The name ''Heimskringla'' was first used in the 17th century, derived ...

, King

Harald Bluetooth Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson ( non, Haraldr Blátǫnn Gormsson; da, Harald Blåtand Gormsen, died c. 985/86) was a king of Denmark and Norway. He was the son of King Gorm the Old and of Thyra Dannebod. Harald ruled as king of Denmark from c. 95 ...

Gormsson of Denmark, intending to invade Iceland, had a wizard send his spirit out in the form of a whale to scout it out for points of vulnerability. Swimming westwards around the northern coast, the wizard saw that all the hillsides and hollows were full of landvættir, "some large and some small." He swam up

Vopnafjörður Vopnafjörður () is a village and municipality in Northeast Iceland, standing on a peninsula in the middle of a mountainous bay by the same name. The main industries of Vopnafjörður are fish processing, agriculture and tourism and other servic ...

, intending to go ashore, but a great

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

came flying down the valley toward him, followed by many snakes, insects, and lizards, all spitting poison at him. So he went back and continued around the coast westward to

Eyjafjörður Eyjafjörður (, ''Island Fjord'') is one of the longest fjords in Iceland. It is located in the central north of the country. Situated by the fjord is the country's fourth most populous municipality, Akureyri. Physical geography The fjord is ...

, where he again swam inland. This time he was met by a great bird, so big that its wings touched the hillsides on either side, with many other birds large and small following it. Retreating again and continuing west and south, he swam into

Breiðafjörður Breiðafjörður (, ''wide fjord'') is a large shallow bay, about 50 km wide and 125 km long, in the west of Iceland. It separates the region of the Westfjords (Vestfirðir) from the Snæfellsnes peninsula to the south. Breiðafjörðu ...

. There he was met by a huge

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

, bellowing horribly, with many landvættir following it. He retreated again, continued south around

Reykjanes Reykjanes () is a small headland on the southwestern tip of the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland, giving the main peninsula its name. The region is about from Iceland's international airport. As the name means "smoking peninsula" connected to volc ...

, and tried to come ashore at Vikarsskeið, but there he encountered a mountain giant (''bergrisi''), his head higher than the hill-tops, with an iron staff in his hand and followed by many other giants ('' jötnar''). He continued along the south coast but saw nowhere else where a

longship Longships were a type of specialised Scandinavian warships that have a long history in Scandinavia, with their existence being archaeologically proven and documented from at least the fourth century BC. Originally invented and used by the Nors ...

could put in, "nothing but sands and wasteland and high waves crashing on the shore." Coat of arms of Iceland

The four landvættir are traditionally regarded as the protectors of the four quarters of Iceland: the dragon (''Dreki'') in the east, the

eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

(''Gammur'') in the north, the bull (''Griðungur'') in the west, and the giant (''Bergrisi'') in the south. A simple and elegant parallelism can be made with respect to the four air radar stations of the

Iceland Air Defence System The Iceland Air Defence System ( is, Íslenska Loftvarnarkerfið) is a part of the Icelandic Coast Guard. It was founded in 1987 under the Radar Agency of the Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs after an agreement between Iceland and the Uni ...

: * H-1 Miðnesheiði: the Bull Griðungur * H-2A

Langanes Langanes () is a peninsula in northeast Iceland. The name literally means "long peninsula". It is long from southwest to northeast, ending in a thin strip of land called Fontur (regionally also ) where there is also a suggestive lighthouse calle ...

: the Dragon Dreki * H3:

Höfn Höfn () or Höfn í Hornafirði () is an Icelandic fishing town in the southeastern part of the country. It lies near Hornafjörður fjord. The town, the second largest in the southeastern part of Iceland, offers scenic views of Vatnajökull (t ...

: the Gigant Bergrisi * H-4A

Bolungarvík Bolungarvík (, regionally also ) is a small town and the only built-up area in the municipality of Bolungarvíkurkaupstaður in the northwest of Iceland, located on the Westfjords peninsula, approximately from the town of Ísafjörður and from ...

: the Eagle Gammur The four landvættir of Iceland are depicted on the Icelandic coat of arms, on the obverse of the

Icelandic króna The króna or krona (sometimes called Icelandic crown; sign: kr; code: ISK) is the currency of Iceland. Iceland is the second-smallest country by population, after the Seychelles, to have its own currency and monetary policy. Name Like the ...

coins, and the team crest of Iceland's national football teams.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Landvaettir Creatures in Norse mythology Tutelary deities Nature spirits Chthonic beings

The nature of landvættir

Wealth and weal of the land

The four landvættir of Iceland

See also

References