Landvættir (land wights) are protective spirits of the land in Norse and Germanic culture. They nurture and look out for the places where they reside. Theyve been said to live in small, tight land formations such as small fields, near brooks and streams or under rocks as well as much larger sections of farms, forests, waterfalls and groves. In one version of the Icelandic Book of Settlement, it says that the ancient law of Iceland forbid having a dragon-prow placed at the front of the ship (it had to be removed prior to pulling into the harbor) because the landvættir would be frightened away. Even in modern day Iceland, the landvættir are shown both respect and recognition by many people living there. Lawns are not closely mowed and there are certain rocks on homesteads that children are not permitted to play on because it serves as a home to the vættir. Construction companies erecting new buildings also take them into consideration and there have been times where land development came to a halt if it was thought that continuing it would interfere or disrespect the land spirits. According to the Saga of King Olaf Tryggvason in Heimskringla, King Harald Bluetooth 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 towards Vopnafjörður, intending to go ashore, but a huge dragon 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, 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. There he was met by a huge bull with many landvættir following it. He retreated again, continued south around Reykjanes, 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 could go, nothing but sands and wasteland and high waves crashing on the shore. The four landvættir mentioned above are now regarded as the protectors of the four quarters of Iceland: the dragon (Dreki) in the east, the eagle or griffin (Gammur) in the north, the bull (Griðungur) in the west, and the giant (Bergrisi) in the south and are now depicted on Icelands coat of arms.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 18:00:01 +0000
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