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Nábrók Necropants Stencil By Ræveðs
or (calqued as necropants, literally "corpse breeches") are a pair of pants made from the skin of a dead human, which are believed in Icelandic witchcraft to be capable of producing an endless supply of money. It is highly unlikely these pants ever existed outside of folklore. The Strandagaldur (The Museum of Icelandic Sorcery and Witchcraft) houses a reconstructed , on exhibit (shown right) . Folklore The folklore surrounding these magic pair of pants, called by several appellations in Iceland, were described by Jón Árnason (author), Jón Árnason in his folklore collection, under section on "" ('magic tricks'), and translated into English by Jacqueline Simpson under "Lappish Breeches". According to this superstition, anyone who desired never to run out of money would attempt to obtain a pair of (pl. case, "devil's breeks", "Old Nick's breeches"; cf. "demon pants"). The same magical wealth-gathering apparel was otherwise also known as ("Breeches of Fins", "Lappish Breec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halldór Laxness
Halldór Kiljan Laxness (; born Halldór Guðjónsson; 23 April 1902 – 8 February 1998) was an Icelandic writer and winner of the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote novels, poetry, newspaper articles, essays, plays, travelogues and short stories. Writers who influenced Laxness include August Strindberg, Sigmund Freud, Knut Hamsun, Sinclair Lewis, Upton Sinclair, Bertolt Brecht, and Ernest Hemingway. Life Early life Halldór Guðjónsson was born in Reykjavík in 1902. When he was three, his family moved to the Laxnes farm in Mosfellssveit parish. He was brought up and enormously influenced by his grandmother, who "sang me ancient songs before I could talk, told me stories from heathen times and sang me cradle songs from the Catholic era". He started to read books and write stories at an early age and attended the technical school in Reykjavík from 1915 to 1916. His earliest published writings appeared in 1916 in ''Morgunblaðið'' and in the children's periodical '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Witchcraft In Iceland
Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Encyclopedia Britannica'', "Witchcraft thus defined exists more in the imagination", but it "has constituted for many cultures a viable explanation of evil in the world". The belief in witches has been found throughout history in a great number of societies worldwide. Most of these societies have used protective magic or counter-magic against witchcraft, and have shunned, banished, imprisoned, physically punished or killed alleged witches. Anthropologists use the term "witchcraft" for similar beliefs about harmful occult practices in different cultures, and these societies often use the term when speaking in English. Belief in witchcraft as malevolent magic is attested from ancient Mesopotamia, and in Europe, belief in witches traces back t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Culture Of Iceland
The culture of Iceland is largely characterized by its literary heritage that began during the 12th century but also traditional arts such as weaving, silversmithing, and wood carving. The Reykjavík area hosts several professional theaters, art galleries, bookstores, cinemas and museums. There are four active folk dance ensembles in Iceland. Iceland's literacy rate is among the highest in the world. Arts Architecture Icelandic architecture draws from Scandinavia and traditionally was influenced by the lack of native trees on the island. As a result, grass and turf-covered houses were developed. The original grass houses constructed by the original settlers of Iceland were based on Viking longhouses. Literature Much of the history of Iceland has been recorded in the Icelandic sagas and Edda. The most famous of these include ''Njáls saga'', about an epic blood feud, and '' Grænlendinga saga'' and '' Eiríks saga'', describing the discovery and settlement of Greenland ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Icelandic Folklore
Nordic folklore is the folklore of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. It has common roots with, and has been under mutual influence with, folklore in England, Germany, the Low Countries, the Baltic countries, Finland and Sápmi. Folklore is a concept encompassing expressive traditions of a particular culture or group. The peoples of Scandinavia are heterogenous, as are the oral genres and material culture that has been common in their lands. However, there are some commonalities across Scandinavian folkloric traditions, among them a common ground in elements from Norse mythology as well as Christian conceptions of the world. Among the many tales common in Scandinavian oral traditions, some have become known beyond Scandinavian borders – examples include The Three Billy Goats Gruff and The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body. Legends * Tróndur was a powerful Viking chieftain who lived in the Faroe Islands during the 9th century. According to legend, Tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seven-league Boots
Seven-league boots are an element in European folklore. The boots allow the person wearing them to take strides of seven leagues per step, resulting in great speed. The boots are often presented by a magical character to the protagonist to aid in the completion of a significant task. From the context of English language, "seven-league boots" originally arose as a translation from the French , popularised by Charles Perrault's fairy tales. Mentions of the legendary boots are found in: * France – Charles Perrault's '' Hop o' My Thumb''; Madame d'Aulnoy's '' The Bee and the Orange Tree''; Marcel Proust's ''In Search of Lost Time''. * Germany – The Brothers Grimm's '' Sweetheart Roland''; Adelbert von Chamisso's '' Peter Schlemiel''; Goethe's ''Faust'' (Mephistopheles uses them at the start of Part Two, Act Four); Wilhelm Hauff's '' Der Kleine Muck''. * Norway – Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe's '' Soria Moria Castle''. * Britain – Richard Doyle's '' Jack t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathias Nordvig
Mathias Nordvig (born 1982) is a Danish Scandinavian studies scholar. He specialises in Old Norse literature and culture and has studied the impact of volcanoes in Icelandic literature. Holding a PhD title from Aarhus University, he is an assistant professor and head of Nordic Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. Nordvig has been involved in modern paganism in Denmark and co-hosted the ''Nordic Mythology Podcast'', which is about topics related to the Viking Age and Nordic mythology. Early life and education Mathias Nordvig was born in Denmark and partially grew up in Greenland. With a mother practicing modern ''asatro''—modern paganism of a Nordic variety—he was interested in the Viking Age and Norse mythology from childhood. He studied Scandinavian studies at Aarhus University. Academic career Nordvig obtained a doctorate from Aarhus University in 2014 with a dissertation on Viking Age Iceland's relationship to volcanoes and their impact on mythology and literatur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Katla (volcano)
Katla () is an active subglacial volcano in Farthings of Iceland, southern Iceland. This volcano has been very active historically with at least twenty documented major eruptions since 2920 BC. In its recent history though, Katla has been less active as the last major eruption occurred in 1918. These eruptions have had a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of between 4 and 5 on a scale of 0 to 8. In comparison, the Eyjafjallajökull 2010 eruption had a VEI of 4. Larger VEI-5 eruptions are comparable to Mount St. Helens 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, 1980 eruption. These eruptions have produced very large glacial outburst floods. Several smaller (minor) events measuring Volcanic explosivity index, VEI-1 and below have occurred since. Katla is one of the largest volcanic sources of Carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide (CO2) on Earth, accounting for up to 4% of total global volcanic carbon dioxide emissions. Geography and physical appearances Katla is one of the largest volcanoes in I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fylgja
In Norse mythology, a fylgja (Old Norse: , plural ) is a supernatural being or spirit which accompanies a person in connection to their fate or fortune., Summarized and translated @ They can appear to people in their sleep as dream-women, or appear while awake, often in the disembodied spiritual form of an enemy. Etymology The word means "to accompany". The term ''fylgja'' is typically translated into English as " fetch", a similar being from Irish folklore. The term also has the meaning of " afterbirth, caul", and it has been argued by Gabriel Turville-Petre (cf. ) that the concept of the supernatural ''fylgja'' cannot be completely dissociated from this secondary meaning; in fact, there may well be a connection to the ''hamr'', referring to the skin used by shapeshifters (, cf. '' fjaðrhamr''). Description The ''fylgja'' is a ghost who associates with (or, for a lack of better word, stalks or shadows) a particular individual, and may be characterized as a "guardian s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pant Leg
Trousers (British English), slacks, or pants (American, Canadian and Australian English) are an item of clothing worn from the waist to anywhere between the knees and the ankles, covering both legs separately (rather than with cloth extending across both legs as in robes, skirts, dresses and kilts). Shorts are similar to trousers, but with legs that come down only as far as the knee, but may be considerably shorter depending on the style of the garment. To distinguish them from shorts, trousers may be called "long trousers" in certain contexts such as school uniform, where tailored shorts may be called "short trousers" in the UK. The oldest known trousers, dating to the period between the thirteenth and the tenth centuries BC, were found at the Yanghai cemetery in Turpan, Xinjiang (Tocharia), in present-day western China.Smith, Kiona N.,The world's oldest pants are a 3,000-year-old engineering marvel, ''Ars Technica'', 4 April 2022. Made of wool, the trousers had straight legs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
