| Abstrakt: |
Scandinavian museums specialized in Nordic Viking Age; Nationalmuseet (Copenhagen) and Historiska Museet (Stockholm), have displayed exhibitions showing evidence for the existence of the Old Norse vǫlva as a social fact. The strongest scientific argument behind the existence of vǫlur (pluralis) as historical figures in Scandinavian Viking Age, is the archaeological discoveries of ‘staffs of sorcery’ in Northen Europe. The interpretation of these ‘staffs of sorcery’ is traditionally based on the philological connection between the Old Norse word vǫlr (staff) and vǫlva (seeress), and desciptions of the vǫlva using a staff (stafr) in Old Norse literature namely the sagas. The vǫlva is only known from Old Norse literature, written at least 200 years after the end of the Viking Age. The use of these sources makes it essential to examine the influence of the literary motifs. Not comprehending them as influenced by the Christian education of the creators, such as the Christian methods and styles used (for example the relation to Christian hagiography), creates an inaccurate representation of the Old Norse vǫlva, primarily in the field of archaeology, and therefore in the dissemination in museums. The article provides a second opionion of the understanding of the Old Norse vǫlva, by analysing the Old Norse sources containing a vǫlva and her stafr. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
