Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost is a Norse neopagan organisation in Norway. It was founded in 1996 and acts as an umbrella organisation for a number of local groups in Norway.

History

Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost, originally named Bifrost, has its background in the

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

-based Norse neopagan group Blindern Åsatrolag (BÅL), founded in 1983 and named after the university district

Blindern Blindern is the main campus of the University of Oslo, located in Nordre Aker in Oslo, Norway. Campus Most of the departments of the University of Oslo are located at Blindern; other, smaller campuses include Sentrum, Oslo, Sentrum (law), Gaust ...

. BÅL eventually joined forces with the group Draupnir from Våler in Solør to form the umbrella organisation Bifrost, which was officially registered and recognised by the Norwegian government on 28 February 1996. In 1998, a request for a name change to Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost was initially rejected by the Ministry of Justice. This was attributed to a comment from the scholar Gro Steinsland, who said that modern Norse paganism was "a historical falsification", and would be detrimental to "all serious activities concerning the

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

". The parliamentary Ombudsman dismissed the rejection, concluding that Steinsland had failed to give a legitimate reason for the government to not accept a religion. The original subculture that BÅL emerged from was more generally characterised by an interest in paganism and the

occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

, and because of this, prominent people from the early days of Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost had personal connections to movements such as

Thelema Thelema () is a Western esotericism, Western esoteric and occult social or spiritual philosophy and a new religious movement founded in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), an English writer, mystic, occultist, and ceremonial ma ...

and LaVeyan Satanism. This heterogeneity resulted in a schism in 1998, when a number of members left and formed Foreningen Forn Sed, later renamed Forn Sed Norge, which is based on "

Norwegian 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 English folklore, England, German folklore, Germany, the Folklore of the Lo ...

". These two umbrella organisations have since held the majority of organised pagans in Norway. In 2017, Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost acquired the facility Fagerhøi in in Trysil Municipality. The building had previously been a school and a cultural centre.

Activities and beliefs

Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost is an umbrella organisation for local groups that perform sacrificial '' blóts''. The groups are called ''blotslag'', from ''blót'' and ''lag'' which means "small group" or "party". Individual members are also permitted. As of 2022, Bifrost had 457 members and 12 registered ''blotslag''. In 2016, about half of the members were members of a ''blotslag''. The name of the organisation means "The ''ás''-belief fellowship Bifrost". '' Ás'' is an

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was 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 ...

word for "god" and ''åsatru'' is a vernacular Norwegian term for Old Norse religion. Bifrost is the bridge between the realms of men and gods 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 as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

. The stated goal is to carry on old customs and traditions and make them meaningful in contemporary life. The members share a religious practice but may vary in their beliefs. Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost's basic doctrines are summarised in a document titled ''Eden'' (); according to the scholars Geir Uldal and Geir Winje, the "underlying

ontology Ontology is the philosophical study of existence, being. It is traditionally understood as the subdiscipline of metaphysics focused on the most general features of reality. As one of the most fundamental concepts, being encompasses all of realit ...

in this text seems close to what we know today about pre-Christian Norse religion". An important source of inspiration for Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost's Norse paganism has been the Icelandic organisation Ásatrúarfélagið. The leader of Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost is called ''høvding'' (). As of 2021, the position was held by Sunniva Saksvik. The organisation publishes the magazine ''Bifrost Tidende'' (). Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost use the facility Fagerhøi for a few larger events per year, but also rent it out and aim to host concerts, exhibitions and offer courses in arts and handicrafts. Several prominent members of Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost have academic degrees in subjects like

history of religion The history of religion is the written record of human religious feelings, thoughts, and ideas. This period of religious history begins with the invention of writing about 5,200 years ago (3200 BCE). The Prehistoric religion, prehistory of reli ...

and

folklore studies Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...

and combine the religious practice with academic studies. The organisation and its members participate in a broader Old Norse-centred cultural environment that involves the reconstruction of Viking ships, the organisation of Viking markets and the production of music inspired by

Old Norse poetry Old Norse poetry encompasses a range of verse forms written in the Old Norse language, during the period from the 8th century to as late as the far end of the 13th century. Old Norse poetry is associated with the area now referred to as Scandinav ...

and historical instruments. It works actively to ensure that Norse symbols are associated with old customs rather than "hateful ideologies".

References

Notes

Sources

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External links