title: Prague Spring

text: The Prague Spring is featured in several works of literature. Milan Kundera set his novel "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" during the Prague Spring. It follows the repercussions of increased Soviet presence and the dictatorial police control of the population. A film version was released in 1988. "The Liberators", by Viktor Suvorov, is an eyewitness description of the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia, from the point of view of a Soviet tank commander. "Rock 'n' Roll", a play by award-winning Czech-born English playwright Tom Stoppard, references the Prague Spring, as well as the 1989 Velvet Revolution. Heda Margolius Kovály also ends her memoir "Under a Cruel Star" with a first hand account of the Prague Spring and the subsequent invasion, and her reflections upon these events.


title: Prague Spring

text: In film there has been an adaptation of "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", and also the movie "Pelíšky" from director Jan Hřebejk and screenwriter Petr Jarchovský, which depicts the events of the Prague Spring and ends with the invasion by the Soviet Union and their allies. The Czech musical film, "Rebelové" from Filip Renč, also depicts the events, the invasion and subsequent wave of emigration.


title: Prague Spring

text: The number "68" has become iconic in the former Czechoslovakia. Hockey player Jaromír Jágr, whose grandfather died in prison during the rebellion, wears the number because of the importance of the year in Czechoslovak history. A former publishing house based in Toronto, 68 Publishers, that published books by exiled Czech and Slovak authors, took its name from the event.


title: Prague Spring

text: The photographs were taken in Vinohradská Avenue and Wenceslas Square are widely represented in the photographic archive of the 1968 invasion while other sites of protests are missing. The memory of the Prague Spring is marked by the Czech Republic's and Slovakia's desire to avoid unpleasant collective memories leading to a process of historical amnesia and narrative whitewashing. Photographs taken by Josef Koudelka portray memories of the invasion such as a memorial to the victims set up in Wenceslas Square. There are many omnipresent signs of memorial of the Soviet invasion in the city of Prague.


title: Prague Spring

text: During the invasion, protesters set up several memorials to record the location of the victims' death. The Jan Palach memorial is a monument remembering the suicide of a student in 1969. This place is often called the "boulevard of history" Palach was the first to kill himself in Wenceslas Square but was not the last, he was belonging to a student pact of resistance. There is also the memorial for the victims of communism in Prague is a narrowing staircase along which seven male bronze silhouettes descend. The first one, the one at the bottom, is complete, while the others gradually disappear. It aims at representing the same person at different phases of the destruction caused by communist ideology.


title: Prague Spring

text: The Prague Spring has deeply marked the history of communism in Eastern Europe even though its outcomes were modest. Rather than remembering the cultural democratization, the opening of the press and its impact on the emergence of a new form of socialism, history textbooks consider Prague Spring as one of the major crises of Socialism in the Soviet bloc . The memory has acquired a negative significance as marking disillusion of political hopes within Eastern European communism. Indeed, long hidden and rejected from the collective memory, the Prague Spring of 1968 is rarely commemorated in Prague and is often considered a painful defeat, a symbol of disappointed hope and surrender that heralds twenty years of 'normalisation' . It was not until the 2000s, following the publication of texts dating from 1968, such as Milan Kundera, "Cesky udel" (The Czech Fate), and Vaclav Havel, ""Cesky udel?"" published in 2007 in the weekly magazine "Literarni Noviny (52/1)" , that the debate on the Prague Spring resumed. Indeed, the posterity of the Prague Spring remains first and foremost the memory of the military intervention of the Warsaw Pact as well as the failure of reform within a communist regime, which definitely discredited the Dubcekian "revisionist" perspective in the East . The memory of the Prague Spring is thus largely obscured and often overviewed . Indeed, the Prague Spring also deeply impacted the Czech society and should also be remembered for the cultural momentum that accompanied and illustrated this movement, of which there are still films, novels, and plays . The Prague Spring also influenced a renewal of the Prague artistic and cultural scene as well as a liberalization of society which deeply marked the following years. The 1960s indeed saw the emergence of a major shift in Czechoslovakia with cultural changes and movement coming from the West, notably rock music and sub-cultural movements which are the symbol of cultural renewal for Czechoslovakia . The Czech sixties were thus a process of emancipation of culture from the constraints of existing political structures and were the prelude to the upheavals of 1968. In fact, the regime's political crisis did not begin with Dubcek's election as party leader on 5 January 1968, but with the break-up speeches delivered at the Writers' Congress in June 1967 by Ludvik Vaculik, Milan Kundera and Antonin Liehm. In addition, the revitalization of society was also an essential component of the Prague Spring. Indeed, the great achievements of the Prague Spring, i. e. the abolition of censorship, the restoration of individual and collective freedoms... have revitalized society, which has begun to express itself more freely. Although the Prague Spring only restored what had existed thirty years earlier in Czechoslovakia, the spring of 1968 had a profound and long-lasting impact on the society.


title: Prague Spring

text: Recently, the anniversary of the 50 years of the conflict raised the question of the memory of the Prague Spring. The European Commission Vice-president Maroš Šefčovič, himself a Slovak, reminded us on the occasion that ""we should never tolerate a breach of international law, crushing people's legitimate yearning for freedom and democracy"." The European justice commissioner Věra Jourová also made a speech. However, the memory is still very conflicted as demonstrated when the Czech Republic's pro-Russian President Miloš Zeman refused to attend any ceremony remembering the Prague Spring and didn't give any speech in memory of the numerous deaths.


title: Prague Spring

text: The memory of the Prague Spring is also transmitted through testimonies of former Czechoslovak citizens. In a 2018 article, Radio Free Europe collected testimonies of four women who witnessed the Warsaw Pact troops invasion and bravely acted. Stanislava Draha who volunteered to help some of the 500 wounded testifies says that the invasion had a major impact on her life. Besides, Vera Homolova, a radio reporter broadcasting the invasion from a covert studio testifies " I experienced the Soviet-led troops shooting recklessly into the Czechoslovak Radio's building, into windows" . In the aftermath, Vera Roubalova, who reacted as a student to the occupation by demonstrating posters, that tensions were still present towards the countries that occupied Czechoslovakia. On the night of 20–21 August 137 Czechoslovaks died during the invasion.


title: Paroxetine

text: Paroxetine, sold under the brand names Paxil and Seroxat among others, is an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class. It is used to treat major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and premenstrual dysphoric disorder. It has also been used in the treatment of premature ejaculation and hot flashes due to menopause. It is taken by mouth.


title: Paroxetine

text: Common side effects include drowsiness, dry mouth, loss of appetite, sweating, trouble sleeping, and sexual dysfunction. Serious side effects may include suicidal thoughts in those under the age of 25, serotonin syndrome, and mania. While the rate of side effects appears similar compared to other SSRIs and SNRIs, antidepressant discontinuation syndromes may occur more often. Use in pregnancy is not recommended, while use during breastfeeding is relatively safe. It is believed to work by blocking the re-uptake of the chemical serotonin by neurons in the brain.


title: Paroxetine

text: Paroxetine was approved for medical use in the United States in 1992 and initially sold by GlaxoSmithKline. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. It is available as a generic medication. In 2020, it was the 82nd most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 9million prescriptions. In 2018, it was in the top 10 of most prescribed antidepressants in the United States. In 2012, the United States Department of Justice fined GlaxoSmithKline $3 billion for withholding data, unlawfully promoting use in those under 18, and preparing an article that misleadingly reported the effects of paroxetine in adolescents with depression following its clinical trial study 329.


title: Paroxetine

text: Paroxetine is primarily used to treat major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder. It is also occasionally used for agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder, premenstrual dysphoric disorder and menopausal hot flashes.


title: Paroxetine

text: A variety of meta analyses have been conducted to evaluate the efficacy of paroxetine in depression. They have variously concluded that paroxetine is superior or equivalent to placebo and that it is equivalent to other antidepressants. Despite this, there was no clear evidence that paroxetine was better or worse compared with other antidepressants at increasing response to treatment at any point in time.


title: Paroxetine

text: Paroxetine was the first antidepressant approved in the United States for the treatment of panic disorder. Several studies have concluded that paroxetine is superior to placebo in the treatment of panic disorder.


title: Paroxetine

text: Paroxetine has demonstrated efficacy for the treatment of social anxiety disorder in adults and children. It is also beneficial for people with co-occurring social anxiety disorder and alcohol use disorder. It appears to be similar to a number of other SSRIs.


title: Paroxetine

text: Paroxetine is used in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Comparative efficacy of paroxetine is equivalent to that of clomipramine and venlafaxine. Paroxetine is also effective for children with obsessive-compulsive disorder.


title: Paroxetine

text: Paroxetine is approved for treatment of PTSD in the United States, Japan and Europe. In the United States it is approved for short-term use.


title: Paroxetine

text: In 2013, low-dose paroxetine was approved in the US for the treatment of moderate-to-severe vasomotor symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats associated with menopause. At the low dose used for menopausal hot flashes, side effects are similar to placebo and dose tapering is not required for discontinuation.


title: Paroxetine

text: Studies have also shown paroxetine "appears to be well-tolerated and improve the overall symptomatology in patients with fibromyalgia" but is less robust in helping with the pain involved.


title: Paroxetine

text: Common side effects include drowsiness, dry mouth, loss of appetite, sweating, trouble sleeping, and sexual dysfunction. Serious side effects may include suicide in those under the age of 25, serotonin syndrome, and mania. While the rate of side effects appears similar compared to other SSRIs and SNRIs, antidepressant discontinuation syndromes may occur more often. Use in pregnancy is not recommended while use during breastfeeding is relatively safe.


title: Paroxetine

text: Paroxetine shares many of the common adverse effects of SSRIs, including (with the corresponding rates seen in people treated with placebo in parentheses):


title: Paroxetine

text: Most of these adverse effects are transient and go away with continued treatment. Central and peripheral 5-HT receptor stimulation is believed to result in the gastrointestinal effects observed with SSRI treatment. Compared to other SSRIs, it has a lower incidence of diarrhea, but a higher incidence of anticholinergic effects (e.g., dry mouth, constipation, blurred vision, etc.), sedation/somnolence/drowsiness, sexual side effects, and weight gain.


title: Paroxetine

text: Due to reports of adverse withdrawal reactions upon terminating treatment, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) at the European Medicines Agency recommends gradually reducing over several weeks or months if the decision to withdraw is made. See also Discontinuation syndrome (withdrawal).


title: Paroxetine

text: Mania or hypomania may occur in 1% of patients with depression and up to 12% of patients with bipolar disorder. This side effect can occur in individuals with no history of mania but it may be more likely to occur in those with bipolar or with a family history of mania.


title: Paroxetine

text: Like other antidepressants, paroxetine may increase the risk of suicidal thinking and behaviour in people under the age of 25. The FDA conducted a statistical analysis of paroxetine clinical trials in children and adolescents in 2004 and found an increase in suicidality and ideation as compared to placebo, which was observed in trials for both depression and anxiety disorders. In 2015 a paper published in "The BMJ" that reanalysed the original case notes argued that in Study 329, assessing paroxetine and imipramine against placebo in adolescents with depression, the incidence of suicidal behavior had been under-reported and the efficacy exaggerated for paroxetine.


title: Paroxetine

text: Sexual dysfunction, including loss of libido, anorgasmia, lack of vaginal lubrication, and erectile dysfunction, is one of the most commonly encountered adverse effects of treatment with paroxetine and other SSRIs. While early clinical trials suggested a relatively low rate of sexual dysfunction, more recent studies in which the investigator actively inquires about sexual problems suggest that the incidence is higher than 70%. Symptoms of sexual dysfunction have been reported to persist after discontinuing SSRIs, although this is thought to be occasional.


title: Paroxetine

text: Antidepressant exposure (including paroxetine) is associated with shorter duration of pregnancy (by three days), increased risk of preterm delivery (by 55%), lower birth weight (by ), and lower Apgar scores (by <0.4 points). The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that for pregnant women and women planning to become pregnant, paroxetine "be avoided, if possible", as it may be associated with increased risk of birth defects.


title: Paroxetine

text: Babies born to women who used paroxetine during the first trimester have an increased risk of cardiovascular malformations, primarily ventricular and atrial septal defects (VSDs and ASDs). Unless the benefits of paroxetine justify continuing treatment, consideration should be given to stopping or switching to another antidepressant. Paroxetine use during pregnancy is associated with about 1.5–1.7-fold increase in congenital birth defects, in particular, heart defects, cleft lip and palate, clubbed feet or any birth defects.


title: Paroxetine

text: Many psychoactive medications can cause withdrawal symptoms upon discontinuation from administration. Evidence has shown that paroxetine has among the highest incidence rates and severity of withdrawal syndrome of any medication of its class. Common withdrawal symptoms for paroxetine include nausea, dizziness, lightheadedness and vertigo; insomnia, nightmares and vivid dreams; feelings of electricity in the body, as well as rebound depression and anxiety. Liquid formulation of paroxetine is available and allows a very gradual decrease of the dose, which may prevent discontinuation syndrome. Another recommendation is to temporarily switch to fluoxetine, which has a longer half-life and thus decreases the severity of discontinuation syndrome.


title: Paroxetine

text: In 2002, the U.S. FDA published a warning regarding "severe" discontinuation symptoms among those terminating paroxetine treatment, including paraesthesia, nightmares, and dizziness. The Agency also warned of case reports describing agitation, sweating, and nausea. In connection with a Glaxo spokesperson's statement that withdrawal reactions occur only in 0.2% of patients and are "mild and short-lived", the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations said GSK had breached two of the Federation's codes of practice.


title: Paroxetine

text: Paroxetine prescribing information posted at GlaxoSmithKline has been updated related to the occurrence of a discontinuation syndrome, including serious discontinuation symptoms.


title: Paroxetine

text: Acute overdosage is often manifested by emesis, lethargy, ataxia, tachycardia, and seizures. Plasma, serum, or blood concentrations of paroxetine may be measured to monitor therapeutic administration, confirm a diagnosis of poisoning in hospitalized patients or to aid in the medicolegal investigation of fatalities. Plasma paroxetine concentrations are generally in a range of 40–400 μg/L in persons receiving daily therapeutic doses and 200–2,000 μg/L in poisoned patients. Postmortem blood levels have ranged from 1–4 mg/L in acute lethal overdose situations. Along with the other SSRIs, sertraline and fluoxetine, paroxetine is considered a low-risk drug in cases of overdose.


title: Paroxetine

text: Interactions with other drugs acting on the serotonin system or impairing the metabolism of serotonin may increase the risk of serotonin syndrome or neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS)-like reaction. Such reactions have been observed with SNRIs and SSRIs alone, but particularly with concurrent use of triptans, MAO inhibitors, antipsychotics, or other dopamine antagonists.


title: Paroxetine

text: The prescribing information states that paroxetine should "not be used in combination with an MAOI (including linezolid, an antibiotic which is a reversible non-selective MAOI), or within 14 days of discontinuing treatment with an MAOI", and should not be used in combination with pimozide, thioridazine, tryptophan, or warfarin.


title: Paroxetine

text: Paroxetine is the most potent and one of the most specific selective serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). It also binds to the allosteric site of the serotonin transporter, similarly, but less potently, than escitalopram. Paroxetine also inhibits the reuptake of norepinephrine to a lesser extent (<50 nmol/L). Based on evidence from four weeks of administration in rats, the equivalent of 20 mg paroxetine taken once daily occupies approximately 88% of serotonin transporters in the prefrontal cortex.


title: Paroxetine

text: Paroxetine is well-absorbed following oral administration. It has an absolute bioavailability of about 50%, with evidence of a saturable first pass effect. When taken orally, it achieves maximum concentration in about 6–10 hours and reaches steady-state in 7–14 days. Paroxetine exhibits significant interindividual variations in volume of distribution and clearance. Less than 2% of an oral dose is excreted in urine unchanged.


title: Paroxetine

text: GlaxoSmithKline has paid substantial fines, paid settlements in class-action lawsuits, and become the subject of several highly critical books about its marketing of paroxetine, in particular the off-label marketing of paroxetine for children, the suppression of negative research results relating to its use in children, and allegations that it failed to warn consumers of substantial withdrawal effects associated with use of the drug. Paroxetine was approved for medical use in the United States in 1992 and initially sold by GlaxoSmithKline. It is currently available as a generic medication. In 2017, it was the 68th most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than eleven million prescriptions. The United States Department of Justice fined GlaxoSmithKline $3 billion in 2012, for withholding data, unlawfully promoting use in those under 18, and preparing an article that misleadingly reported the effects of paroxetine in adolescents with depression following its clinical trial study 329.


title: Paroxetine

text: In early 2004, GSK agreed to settle charges of consumer fraud for $2.5 million. The legal discovery process also uncovered evidence of deliberate, systematic suppression of unfavorable Paxil research results. One of GSK's internal documents read, "It would be commercially unacceptable to include a statement that efficacy [in children] had not been demonstrated, as this would undermine the profile of paroxetine".


title: Paroxetine

text: In 2012 the U.S. Justice Department announced that GSK agreed to plead guilty and pay a $3 billion fine, in part for promoting the use of Paxil for children.


title: Paroxetine

text: On 12 February 2016, the UK Competition and Markets Authority imposed record fines of £45 million on companies which were found to have infringed European Union and UK Competition law by entering into agreements to delay the market entry of generic versions of the drug in the UK. GlaxoSmithKline received the bulk of the fines, being fined £37,600,757. Other companies, which produce generics, were issued fines which collectively total £7,384,146. UK public health services are likely to claim damages for being overcharged in the period where the generic versions of the drug were illegally blocked from the market, as the generics are over 70% less expensive. GlaxoSmithKline may also face actions from other generics manufacturers who incurred loss as a result of the anticompetitive conduct. On 18 April 2016, appeals were lodged with the Competition Appeal Tribunal by the companies which were fined.


title: Paroxetine

text: GSK marketed paroxetine through television advertisements throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s. Commercials also aired for the CR version of the drug beginning in 2003.


title: Paroxetine

text: In 2007, paroxetine was ranked 94th on the list of bestselling drugs, with over $1 billion in sales. In 2006, paroxetine was the fifth-most prescribed antidepressant in the U.S. retail market, with more than 19.7 million prescriptions. In 2007, sales had dropped slightly to 18.1 million but paroxetine remained the fifth-most prescribed antidepressant in the U.S.


title: Paroxetine

text: Trade names include Aropax, Paretin, Brisdelle, Deroxat, Paxil, Pexeva, Paxtine, Paxetin, Paroxat, Paraxyl, Sereupin, Daparox and Seroxat.


title: Paroxetine

text: Several studies have suggested that paroxetine can be used in the treatment of premature ejaculation. In particular, intravaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT) was found to increase with 6- to 13-fold, which was somewhat longer than the delay achieved by the treatment with other SSRIs (fluvoxamine, fluoxetine, sertraline, and citalopram). However, paroxetine taken acutely ("on demand") 3–10 hours before coitus resulted only in a "clinically irrelevant and sexually unsatisfactory" 1.5-fold delay of ejaculation and was inferior to clomipramine, which induced a fourfold delay.


title: Paroxetine

text: There is also evidence that paroxetine may be effective in the treatment of compulsive gambling and hot flashes.


title: Paroxetine

text: Benefits of paroxetine prescription for diabetic neuropathy or chronic tension headache are uncertain.


title: Paroxetine

text: Although the evidence is conflicting, paroxetine may be effective for the treatment of dysthymia, a chronic disorder involving depressive symptoms for most days of the year.


title: Paroxetine

text: There is evidence to support that paroxetine selectively binds to and inhibits G protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 (GRK2) in mice with heart failure. Since GRK2 regulates the activity of the beta adrenergic receptor, which becomes desensitized in cases of heart failure, paroxetine (or a paroxetine derivative) could be used as a heart failure treatment in the future.


title: Paroxetine

text: Paroxetine is a common finding in waste water. It is highly toxic to the alga "Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata" (syn. "Raphidocelis subcapitata").


title: Pando (tree)

text: Pando (Latin for "I spread"), also known as The Trembling Giant, is a clonal colony of an individual male quaking aspen ("Populus tremuloides") determined to be a single living organism by identical genetic markers and assumed to have one massive underground root system. The plant is located in the Fremont River Ranger District of the Fishlake National Forest at the western edge of the Colorado Plateau in south-central Utah, United States, around southwest of Fish Lake. Pando occupies and is estimated to weigh collectively , making it the heaviest known organism. The root system of Pando is estimated to be up to several thousand years old, placing Pando among the oldest known living organisms.


title: Pando (tree)

text: Pando's long-term survival is uncertain due to a combination of factors including drought, human development, grazing, and fire suppression. The Western Aspen Alliance is studying the tree in an effort to save it in collaboration with the United States Forest Service. In areas of Pando lacking adequate protective fencing, grazing animals have prevented Pando from developing enough young stems to fully replace existing older stems as they die. This decline in recruitment of young stems began in the 1980s and has been attributed primarily to mule deer ("Odocoileus hemionus"), though Pando also undergoes restricted grazing by domestic cattle ("Bos taurus") and is potentially browsed by elk ("Cervus canadensis").


title: Pando (tree)

text: Pando was identified in 1976 by Jerry Kemperman and Burton Barnes. Michael Grant, Jeffrey Mitton, and Yan Linhart of the University of Colorado at Boulder re-examined the clone in 1992, naming it Pando and claiming it to be the world's largest organism by weight. Both teams of researchers described Pando as a single asexual reproduction organism based on its morphological characteristics. Genetic sampling and analysis in 2008 by Jennifer DeWoody, Carol Rowe, Valerie Hipkins, and Karen Mock of Utah State University and the University of Southampton confirmed the earlier analyses and increased the clone's estimated size from 43.3 to 43.6 ha. Paul Rogers and Darren McAvoy, also with Utah State University, completed the first comprehensive assessment of Pando's status in 2018 and stressed the importance of reducing herbivory by mule deer to conserving Pando for the future. Rogers and Jan Šebesta surveyed other vegetation within Pando besides aspen in 2019, finding additional support for their 2018 conclusion interactions between browsing and past and ongoing management have had adverse effects on Pando's long-term resilience to change.


title: Pando (tree)

text: While Pando is the largest known aspen clone and its age has received considerable attention, other large and old clones exist. According to an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report in 2000:


title: Pando (tree)

text: In 2006 the United States Postal Service published a stamp in commemoration of the aspen, calling it one of the forty "Wonders of America".


title: Pando (tree)

text: The clonal colony encompasses , weighs nearly , and has over 40,000 stems (trunks), which die individually and are replaced by new stems growing from its roots. The root system is estimated to be several thousand years old with habitat modeling suggesting a maximum age of 14,000 years. Individual aspen stems typically do not live beyond 100–130 years and mature areas within Pando are approaching this limit.


title: Pando (tree)

text: Due to the progressive replacement of stems and roots, the overall age of an aspen clone cannot be determined from tree rings. In Pando's case, ages up to 1 million years have therefore been suggested. An age of 80,000 years is often given for Pando, but this claim derives from a National Park Service web page that does not provide a source for its number and is inconsistent with the Forest Service's post ice-age estimate. Glaciers repeatedly formed on the Fish Lake Plateau over the past several hundred thousand years and the Fish Lake valley occupied by Pando was partially filled by ice as recently as the last glacial maximum. Ages greater than approximately 16,000 years therefore require Pando to have survived at least the Pinedale glaciation, something that appears unlikely under current genetic estimates of Pando's age and modeling of variation in Pando's local climate.


title: Pando (tree)

text: Estimates of Pando's age have also been influenced by changes in the understanding of establishment of aspen clones in western North America. Earlier sources argued germination and successful establishment of aspen on new sites was rare in the last 10,000 years and, therefore, Pando's root system was likely over 10,000 years old. More recent observations, however, have shown seedling establishment of new aspen clones is a regular occurrence and can be abundant on sites exposed by wildfire. These findings are summarized in the U.S. Forest Service's "Fire Effects Information System":


title: Xanadu (film)

text: Xanadu is a 1980 American musical fantasy film written by Richard Christian Danus and Marc Reid Rubel, and directed by Robert Greenwald. The film stars Olivia Newton-John, Michael Beck and Gene Kelly in his final film role. It features music by Newton-John, Electric Light Orchestra, Cliff Richard, and the Tubes. The title is a reference to the nightclub in the film, which takes its name from Xanadu, the summer capital of Kublai Khan's Yuan Dynasty in China. This city appears in "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, an 1816 poem that is quoted in the film.


title: Xanadu (film)

text: "Xanadu" was released in the United States on August 8, 1980, by Universal Pictures. A box office disappointment, it earned negative critical reviews and was an inspiration (along with "Can't Stop the Music") for the creation of the Golden Raspberry Awards to recognize the worst films of the year. Despite the lackluster performance of the film, the soundtrack album became a huge commercial success around the world, and was certified double platinum in the United States. The song "Magic" was a U.S. number one hit for Newton-John, and the title track (by Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra) reached number one in the United Kingdom and several other countries around the world. The film has since become a cult classic for the way it mixes the storyline from an old-fashioned 1940s fantasy with modern aesthetics featuring late 1970s and early 1980s rock and pop music on the soundtrack as well as for fans of Newton-John.


title: Xanadu (film)

text: Sonny Malone is a struggling artist in Los Angeles attempting to make a living by freelancing. He rips up one of his failed sketches and throws it into the wind. It hits a mural of nine sisters and brings them to life. The sisters fly across Earth, but one of them roller skates through town and collides with Sonny. She kisses him before skating away, leaving him confused.


title: Xanadu (film)

text: Having returned to his old job of painting album cover reproductions at AirFlo Records, Sonny is tasked with painting an album cover reproduction for a group called the 9 Sisters. The cover shows the mysterious woman Sonny encountered earlier roller skating in front of an abandoned art deco auditorium. The photographer notes that the woman was not supposed to be on the cover, but suddenly appeared in a few of the shots. Sonny eventually traces her across town to the aforementioned auditorium, where she introduces herself as Kira. The two of them fall in love, though Kira refuses to tell Sonny anything about herself.


title: Xanadu (film)

text: Sonny also meets and befriends Danny McGuire, a former big band orchestra leader turned construction mogul. He was once romantically involved with a singer in the 1940s who resembled Kira; her departure resulted in his own loss of creative passion. Kira encourages Sonny and Danny to open a nightclub at the auditorium called Xanadu, and the two begin working on the project as partners. All the while, Sonny and Kira begin to develop romantic feelings for each other. The night before the club's opening, however, Kira confesses to Sonny that she is actually Terpsichore, one of the Nine Muses of Olympus. She was sent to inspire the creation of Xanadu, but she cannot stay despite their mutual feelings. Sonny gets upset at the revelation, and Kira departs Earth having fulfilled her duty.


title: Xanadu (film)

text: Danny tells Sonny to keep pursuing Kira, encouraging Sonny not to give up on his ambitions like he did after his own muse left him. Sonny manages to enter Kira's home by roller skating into the Muses' mural. Inside the realm of the gods, Kira's father Zeus denies Sonny's plea to let Kira come back to Earth, and despite Kira's mother Mnemosyne interceding for Sonny and Kira, Zeus sends Sonny back to Earth. Kira professes her feelings for Sonny, and Zeus ultimately relents, allowing her to be with Sonny for "a moment, or maybe forever." Kira and the Muses perform at the Xanadu grand opening before returning to their realm. Sonny is initially saddened by their departure, but upon seeing a waitress who looks exactly like Kira, he stops her and asks to talk.


title: Xanadu (film)

text: The album grouped Olivia Newton-John (ONJ) and ELO onto separate sides of the album, and some tunes were excluded from the album. The following is the actual order in the film:


title: Xanadu (film)

text: The plot of the film "Down to Earth" (1947) was used as the basis for "Xanadu". In the film, Rita Hayworth played Terpsichore, and Larry Parks played a producer of stage plays.


title: Xanadu (film)

text: Kelly's character Danny McGuire previously appeared in the film "Cover Girl" which, like "Down to Earth", also starred Rita Hayworth.


title: Xanadu (film)

text: The film was originally conceived as a relatively low-budget roller disco picture. As a number of prominent performers joined the production, it evolved into a much larger project, while retaining rollerskating as a recurring theme, especially in the final scenes of the club's opening night.


title: Xanadu (film)

text: Earlier versions of the story established that Sonny was the artist who created the mural from which the nine goddess sisters emerge. This provided a much stronger explanation for the muses' interest in helping him achieve artistic success. However, continual rewrites and editing during production caused this plot point to be lost, except for one line spoken by Sonny as he laments his failure as a freelance artist; "I paint his van...I paint somebody else's mural...". This plot point was recycled and used in the stage adaptation of the film. The Marvel Comics adaptation published as "Marvel Super Special" #17 retained the more strongly emphasized connection between Sonny and the painting.


title: Xanadu (film)

text: Danny McGuire, who appeared in "Cover Girl", also appears in "Xanadu". The film was Gene Kelly's final film role, except for compilation films of the "That's Entertainment!" series. Kenny Ortega and Jerry Trent served as choreographers.


title: Xanadu (film)

text: The Pan-Pacific Auditorium in Los Angeles was used for exterior shots of the nightclub. Xanadu's nightclub interior was built on Stage 4 of the Hollywood Center Studios (1040 N. Las Palmas Avenue, Hollywood) beginning in 1979. Sonny refers to the Auditorium as "a dump", which was a fair characterization of the Pan-Pacific by then. Danny jokes that "they used to have "wrestling" here", which was a true statement about the Auditorium. The building would be consumed by fire a decade later.


title: Xanadu (film)

text: Universal cancelled press screenings of "Xanadu", suggesting that they were not confident in the film and it went on to receive negative reviews. "Variety" called it "a stupendously bad film whose only salvage is the music". Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of a possible four, describing the film as "a mushy and limp musical fantasy" with a confused story, redeemed only by Newton-John's "high spirits" and several strong scenes from Kelly. Moreover, Ebert criticized the choreography, saying "the dance numbers in this movie do not seem to have been conceived for film." He noted that mass dance scenes were not photographed well by cinematographer Victor J. Kemper, who shot at eye level and failed to pick up the larger patterns of dancers, with dancers in the background muddying the movement of the foreground.


title: Xanadu (film)

text: With a combination of contemporaneous and modern reviews, "Xanadu" today holds a "Rotten" rating of 30% from Rotten Tomatoes, based on 43 reviews, and the consensus states "Not even spandex and over-the-top musical numbers can save "Xanadu" from questionable acting, unimpressive effects, and a story unencumbered by logic." The German television show "Die schlechtesten Filme aller Zeiten" (in English "The worst movies of all time"), in which the hosts Oliver Kalkofe and Peter Rütten present a bad movie in each episode, featured the movie in its third season. Janet Maslin wrote in her review "Like "The Wiz"..."Xanadu" is desperately stylish without having any real style."


title: Xanadu (film)

text: A double feature of "Xanadu" and another musical released at about the same time, "Can't Stop the Music", inspired John J.B. Wilson to create the Golden Raspberry Awards (or Razzies), an annual event "dishonoring" what is considered the worst in cinema for a given year. Robert Greenwald won the first Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director, and the film was nominated for six other awards.


title: Xanadu (film)

text: The movie was a box office failure, making only $23 million against a reported $20 million budget (to be profitable, movies must gross at least twice their budgets after all costs are taken into account). The soundtrack album (UK #2, US #4), however, was a major hit. It was certified Double Platinum in the US and Gold in the UK, and also spent one week atop the Cashbox and Record World Pop Albums charts. The soundtrack contained five Top 20 singles:


title: Xanadu (film)

text: "Xanadu" was re-released on DVD on June 24, 2008. The "Magical Music Edition" features a "Going Back to Xanadu" featurette, the film's trailer and a photo gallery. A bonus music CD with the soundtrack album was included. The CD was the film's standard soundtrack album, i.e. with no extras such as omitted tracks.


title: Xanadu (film)

text: The film was officially released on Blu-ray on March 8, 2016. In addition, it was released in Digital HD for download and streaming.


title: Xanadu (film)

text: A $5 million Broadway musical adaptation of the same name began previews on May 23, 2007, and opened (with Newton-John and songwriter John Farrar in attendance) on July 10, 2007 starring Kerry Butler as Kira, Cheyenne Jackson as Sonny, and Tony Roberts as Danny. In the musical, Kira is the Muse Clio, not Terpsichore. Jackie Hoffman and Mary Testa co-starred (in a plot twist new to the Broadway version) as "evil" Muse sisters. The show, which humorously parodied the plot of the film, was a surprise hit, receiving praise for its satirical approach, and was nominated for several Tony Awards. The original cast recording was released December 2007. The Broadway production closed on September 28, 2008 after 49 previews and 512 performances. A successful national tour followed.


title: Voyagers (film)

text: Voyagers is a 2021 science fiction film written, co-produced and directed by Neil Burger. It stars Tye Sheridan, Lily-Rose Depp, Fionn Whitehead, Colin Farrell, Chanté Adams, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Viveik Kalra, Archie Renaux, Archie Madekwe, and Quintessa Swindell, and follows a group of teenage astronauts sent on a multi-generational mission in the year 2063 to colonize a habitable exoplanet amidst runaway climate change and declining habitability on Earth, who descend into paranoia and social conflict after discovering that their personalities and emotions were being artificially suppressed. It has been described as ""Lord of the Flies" in space". The film was theatrically released on April 9, 2021, by Lionsgate and was a box office bomb, grossing US$4.2 million against a $29 million production budget.


title: Voyagers (film)

text: In 2063, astrophysicists on a climate-change-ravaged Earth find a habitable planet. A scouting mission is sent, although the roughly 86-year flight means that the grandchildren of the launch crew astronauts will be the ones who reach the planet. To help the launch crew cope with the knowledge that their remaining lives will likely be spent mostly in flight, the original 30 are bred through IVF and kept in isolation from the rest of the world. In order to extend their time in flight, they are launched on the "Humanitas" spaceship as pre-teens, with a single adult, senior program commander Richard, to guide them through the early part of the journey. To conserve resources, the plan is for IVF to be performed when the crew turns 24, to be repeated on those offspring when they turn 24.


title: Voyagers (film)

text: During the tenth year of the flight, Christopher and Zac discover that the grown teenagers are being given a blue chemical in their food to suppress sex drive and pleasure response, keeping them all docile and manageable. The pair stops taking the chemical, and their surging hormones drive them to become competitive, careless, and anxious to engage in sexual relations, specifically with their crew mate Sela, who has been trained to be the chief medical officer.


title: Voyagers (film)

text: During a repair effort outside the "Humanitas" to address a failed Earth communication system, Richard, who has been serving as chief officer, is killed, apparently by an unseen entity, and a fire damages more ship systems. Christopher is voted the new chief officer, which upsets Zac, who then tells the others to stop ingesting the chemical. The mission descends into madness, as many of the young men and women revert to their most primal state.


title: Voyagers (film)

text: Zac tells the others that an alien killed Richard, and will protect them, letting them eat all the (closely conserved) food they want. He convinces all but five to follow him rather than Christopher. Christopher and Sela, who have become a couple, find and repair a video disk that reveals Zac killed Richard, precipitating the further systems damage by turning on the electricity to the communications array while Richard was working on it. They show the others, but Zac still convinces many that an alien is inhabiting one of them, leading many to follow Zac in vigilante murders of anyone he targets.


title: Voyagers (film)

text: Christopher inadvertently leads Zac to a hidden compartment on the ship, which proves to be weapons for their grandchildren to use on the planet. Christopher, Sela, and Phoebe are the only holdouts. Phoebe is killed, and the pack searches for Christopher and Sela. The pair tricks Zac into being ejected into space, and peace returns to "Humanitas". Sela is then voted chief officer. The crew decides to permanently forgo the blue chemical and learn to manage their natural emotions, as well as falling in love and having children naturally, instead of via IVF as had been originally planned.


title: Voyagers (film)

text: Decades later, "Humanitas" and its multi-generational crew arrive at the planet, which appears from orbit to be as earth-like as had been hoped.


title: Voyagers (film)

text: The project was announced in January 2019, with Neil Burger serving as the writer and director of the film. The film was widely described by critics and the staff as being ""Lord of the Flies" in space".


title: Voyagers (film)

text: In April 2019, Colin Farrell, Tye Sheridan, Lily-Rose Depp, and Fionn Whitehead were cast as the film's main characters with filming due to begin in Romania in June. That June, Viveik Kalra, Quintessa Swindell, Archie Madekwe, and Archie Renaux joined the cast as supporting characters, with Lionsgate being chosen as the film's distributor.


title: Voyagers (film)

text: "Voyagers" was originally scheduled to be released on November 25, 2020, but its schedule was significantly delayed due to the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, which negatively impacted the production of a substantial number of films. It was subsequently rescheduled to be released on April 9, 2021.


title: Voyagers (film)

text: "Voyagers" was released on DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray on June 15, 2021 by Lionsgate Home Entertainment.


title: Voyagers (film)

text: In United States and Canada, "Voyagers" was released in 1,972 theatres, earning $500,000 on its first day and $1.4 million over its opening weekend, finishing fifth at the box office. The film dropped by over 43.5%, to $779,317, in its second weekend, finishing sixth.


title: Voyagers (film)

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 26% of 141 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "It has a game cast and a premise ripe with potential, but "Voyagers" drifts in familiar orbit instead of fully exploring its intriguing themes." Metacritic assigned a weighted average score of 44 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported that 53% of its audience members gave it a positive score, with just 27% stating that they would certainly recommend it.


title: Alaqua Cox

text: Alaqua Cox (born February 13, 1997) is a deaf Native American actress. She landed her breakthrough role as Maya Lopez / Echo within the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the Disney+ series "Hawkeye" (2021) and as the titular main protagonist in the upcoming spin-off series "Echo" (2023).


title: Alaqua Cox

text: Cox was born Deaf to Elena and Bill Cox. She was born and raised in the Menominee Indian Reservation in Keshena, Wisconsin, and is of the Menominee and Mohican nation. She has three siblings: Will, Jordan, and Katie. She attended the Wisconsin School for the Deaf, where she played on the girls' basketball team from 2014 to 2015 and on the volleyball team.


title: Alaqua Cox

text: She was cast in "Hawkeye" as Echo, her debut acting role, on December 3, 2020. Deaf activist Nyle DiMarco and many others applauded the casting. In June 2021, Echo co-creator David W. Mack reacted to the news of the "Echo" television series by expressing gratitude to Cox for being a representative for deaf and indigenous youth: "I taught at the School for the Deaf in Africa, Asia, [and] Europe, in my work for the U.S. State Department, [and] the students love Echo [and] will be happy about this."


title: Alaqua Cox

text: Cox was on the red carpet for Marvel's "Hawkeye" premiere. "It's just so crazy that I'm getting my own show after "Hawkeye". That was like my first acting role, ever," Cox told a reporter from "Variety". "I don't know why they're giving me this opportunity, but I'm just grateful. I'm excited for the support and being able to advocate for the Deaf community. We want to have that equality and get more people involved. I'm just so grateful for all of the opportunities I've been given." Cox told Disney's "D23" magazine that Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld both worked to learn some American Sign Language so that they could communicate more easily with her. "I thought it was sweet of them putting in efforts to learn basic ASL to communicate with me. It means a lot to me as a Deaf person."


title: Old Norse religion

text: Old Norse religion, also known as Norse paganism, is the most common name for a branch of Germanic religion which developed during the Proto-Norse period, when the North Germanic peoples separated into a distinct branch of the Germanic peoples. It was replaced by Christianity and forgotten during the Christianisation of Scandinavia. Scholars reconstruct aspects of North Germanic Religion by historical linguistics, archaeology, toponymy, and records left by North Germanic peoples, such as runic inscriptions in the Younger Futhark, a distinctly North Germanic extension of the runic alphabet. Numerous Old Norse works dated to the 13th-century record Norse mythology, a component of North Germanic religion.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Old Norse religion was polytheistic, entailing a belief in various gods and goddesses. These deities in Norse mythology were divided into two groups, the Æsir and the Vanir, who in some sources were said to have engaged in an ancient war until realizing that they were equally powerful. Among the most widespread deities were the gods Odin and Thor. This world was inhabited also by various other mythological races, including , dwarfs, elves, and land-wights. Norse cosmology revolved around a world tree known as Yggdrasil, with various realms existing alongside that of humans, named Midgard. These include multiple afterlife realms, several of which are controlled by a particular deity.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Transmitted through oral culture rather than through codified texts, Old Norse religion focused heavily on ritual practice, with kings and chiefs playing a central role in carrying out public acts of sacrifice. Various cultic spaces were used; initially, outdoor spaces such as groves and lakes were typically selected, but after the third century CE cult houses seem to also have been purposely built for ritual activity, although they were never widespread. Norse society also contained practitioners of "Seiðr", a form of sorcery that some scholars describe as shamanistic. Various forms of burial were conducted, including both inhumation and cremation, typically accompanied by a variety of grave goods.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Throughout its history, varying levels of trans-cultural diffusion occurred among neighbouring peoples, such as the Sami and Finns. By the 12th century, Old Norse religion had been replaced by Christianity, with elements continuing into Scandinavian folklore. A revival of interest in Old Norse religion occurred amid the romanticist movement of the 19th century, during which it inspired a range of artworks. Academic research into the subject began in the early 19th century, initially influenced by the pervasive romanticist sentiment.


title: Old Norse religion

text: The archaeologist Anders Andrén noted that "Old Norse religion" is "the conventional name" applied to the pre-Christian religions of Scandinavia. See for instance Other terms used by scholarly sources include "pre-Christian Norse religion", "Norse religion", "Norse paganism", "Nordic paganism", "Scandinavian paganism", "Scandinavian heathenism", "Scandinavian religion", "Northern paganism", "Northern heathenism", "North Germanic religion", or "North Germanic paganism". This Old Norse religion can be seen as part of a broader Germanic religion found across linguistically Germanic Europe; of the different forms of this Germanic religion, that of the Old Norse is the best-documented.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Rooted in ritual practice and oral tradition, Old Norse religion was fully integrated with other aspects of Norse life, including subsistence, warfare, and social interactions. Open codifications of Old Norse beliefs were either rare or non-existent. The practitioners of this belief system themselves had no term meaning "religion", which was only introduced with Christianity. Following Christianity's arrival, Old Norse terms that were used for the pre-Christian systems were "forn sið" ("old custom") or "heiðinn sið" ("heathen custom"), terms which suggest an emphasis on rituals, actions, and behaviours rather than belief itself. The earliest known usage of the Old Norse term "heiðinn" is in the poem "Hákonarmál"; its uses here indicates that the arrival of Christianity has generated consciousness of Old Norse religion as a distinct religion.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Old Norse religion has been classed as an ethnic religion, and as a "non-doctrinal community religion". It varied across time, in different regions and locales, and according to social differences. This variation is partly due to its transmission through oral culture rather than codified texts. For this reason, the archaeologists Andrén, Kristina Jennbert, and Catharina Raudvere stated that "pre-Christian Norse religion is not a uniform or stable category", while the scholar Karen Bek-Pedersen noted that the "Old Norse belief system should probably be conceived of in the plural, as several systems". The historian of religion Hilda Ellis Davidson stated that it would have ranged from manifestations of "complex symbolism" to "the simple folk-beliefs of the less sophisticated".


title: Old Norse religion

text: During the Viking Age, the Norse likely regarded themselves as a more or less unified entity through their shared Germanic language, Old Norse. The scholar of Scandinavian studies Thomas A. DuBois said Old Norse religion and other pre-Christian belief systems in Northern Europe must be viewed as "not as isolated, mutually exclusive language-bound entities, but as broad concepts shared across cultural and linguistic lines, conditioned by similar ecological factors and protracted economic and cultural ties". During this period, the Norse interacted closely with other ethnocultural and linguistic groups, such as the Sámi, Balto-Finns, Anglo-Saxons, Greenlandic Inuit, and various speakers of Celtic and Slavic languages. Economic, marital, and religious exchange occurred between the Norse and many of these other groups. Enslaved individuals from the British Isles were common throughout the Nordic world during the Viking Age. Different elements of Old Norse religion had different origins and histories; some aspects may derive from deep into prehistory, others only emerging following the encounter with Christianity.


title: Old Norse religion

text: In Hilda Ellis Davidson's words, present-day knowledge of Old Norse religion contains "vast gaps", and we must be cautious and avoid "bas[ing] wild assumptions on isolated details".


title: Old Norse religion

text: A few runic inscriptions with religious content survive from Scandinavia, particularly asking Thor to hallow or protect a memorial stone; carving his hammer on the stone also served this function.


title: Old Norse religion

text: In contrast to the few runic fragments, a considerable body of literary and historical sources survive in Old Norse manuscripts using the Latin script, all of which were created after the Christianisation of Scandinavia, the majority in Iceland. The first extensive Nordic textual source for the Old Norse Religion was the "Poetic Edda". Some of the poetic sources, in particular, the Poetic Edda and skaldic poetry, may have been originally composed by heathens, and "Hávamál" contains both information on heathen mysticism and what Ursula Dronke referred to as "a round-up of ritual obligations". In addition there is information about pagan beliefs and practices in the sagas, which include both historical sagas such as Snorri Sturluson's "Heimskringla" and the "Landnámabók", recounting the settlement and early history of Iceland, and the so-called sagas of Icelanders concerning Icelandic individuals and groups; there are also more or less fantastical legendary sagas. Many skaldic verses are preserved in sagas. Of the originally heathen works, we cannot know what changes took place either during oral transmission or as a result of their being recorded by Christians; the sagas of Icelanders, in particular, are now regarded by most scholars as more or less historical fiction rather than as detailed historical records. A large amount of mythological poetry has undoubtedly been lost.


title: Old Norse religion

text: One important written source is Snorri's "Prose Edda", which incorporates a manual of Norse mythology for the use of poets in constructing kennings; it also includes numerous citations, some of them the only record of lost poems, such as Þjóðólfr of Hvinir's "Haustlöng". Snorri's Prologue eumerises the Æsir as Trojans, deriving "Æsir" from "Asia", and some scholars have suspected that many of the stories that we only have from him are also derived from Christian medieval culture.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Additional sources remain by non-Scandinavians writing in languages other than Old Norse. The first non-Scandinavian textual source for the Old Norse Religion was the Tacitus' "Germania" which dates back to around 100 CE and describes religious practices of several Germanic peoples, but has little coverage of Scandinavia. In the Middle Ages, several Christian commentators also wrote about Scandinavian paganism, mostly from a hostile perspective. The best known of these are Adam of Bremen's "Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum" (History of the Bishops of Hamburg), written between 1066 and 1072, which includes an account of the temple at Uppsala, and Saxo Grammaticus' 12th-century "Gesta Danorum" (History of the Danes), which includes versions of Norse myths and some material on pagan religious practices. In addition, Muslim Arabs wrote accounts of Norse people they encountered, the best known of which is Ibn Fadlan's 10th-century "Risala", an account of Volga Viking traders that includes a detailed description of a ship burial.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Since the literary evidence that represents Old Norse sources were recorded by Christians, archaeological evidence, especially of religious sites and burials is of great importance, particularly as a source of information on Norse religion before the conversion. Many aspects of material culture—including settlement locations, artefacts and buildings—may cast light on beliefs, and archaeological evidence regarding religious practices indicates chronological, geographic and class differences far greater than are suggested by the surviving texts.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Place names are an additional source of evidence. Theophoric place names, including instances where a pair of deity names occur near, provide an indication of the importance of the religion of those deities in different areas, dating back to before our earliest written sources. The toponymic evidence shows considerable regional variation, and some deities, such as Ullr and Hǫrn, occur more frequently, than Odin place-names occur, in other locations.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Some place-names contain elements indicating that they were sites of religious activity: those formed with -"vé", -"hörgr", and -"hof", words for religious sites of various kinds, and also likely those formed with -"akr" or -"vin", words for "field", when coupled with the name of a deity. Magnus Olsen developed a typology of such place names in Norway, from which he posited a development in pagan worship from groves and fields toward the use of temple buildings.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Personal names are also a source of information on the popularity of certain deities; for example, Thor's name was an element in the names of both men and women, particularly in Iceland.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Andrén described Old Norse religion as a "cultural patchwork" which emerged under a wide range of influences from earlier Scandinavian religions. It may have had links to Nordic Bronze Age: while the putatively solar-oriented belief system of Bronze Age Scandinavia is believed to have died out around 500 BCE, several Bronze Age motifs—such as the wheel cross—reappear in later Iron Age contexts. It is often regarded as having developed from earlier religious belief systems found among the Germanic Iron Age peoples. The Germanic languages likely emerged in the first millennium BCE in present-day northern Germany or Denmark, after which they spread; several of the deities in Old Norse religion have parallels among other Germanic societies. The Scandinavian Iron Age began around 500 to 400 BCE.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Archaeological evidence is particularly important for understanding these early periods. Accounts from this time were produced by Tacitus; according to the scholar Gabriel Turville-Petre, Tacitus' observations "help to explain" later Old Norse religion. Tacitus described the Germanic peoples as having priests, open-air sacred sites, and seasonal sacrifices and feasts. Tacitus notes that the Germanic peoples were polytheistic and mentions some of their deities trying to perceive them through Roman equivalents, so Romans could try to understand.


title: Old Norse religion

text: During the Viking Age, Norse people left Scandinavia and settled elsewhere throughout Northwestern Europe. Some of these areas, such as Iceland, the Orkney and Shetland Islands, and the Faroe Islands, were hardly populated, whereas other areas, such as England, Southwest Wales, Scotland, the Western Isles, Isle of Man, and Ireland, were already heavily populated.


title: Old Norse religion

text: In the 870s, Norwegian settlers left their homeland and colonized Iceland, bringing their belief system with them. Place-name evidence suggests that Thor was the most popular god on the island, although there are also saga accounts of devotés of Freyr in Iceland, including a "priest of Freyr" in the later "Hrafnkels saga". There are no place-names connected to Odin on the island. Unlike other Nordic societies, Iceland lacked a monarchy and thus a centralising authority which could enforce religious adherence; there were both Old Norse and Christian communities from the time of its first settlement.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Scandinavian settlers brought Old Norse religion to Britain in the latter decades of the ninth century. Several British place-names indicate possible religious sites; for instance, Roseberry Topping in North Yorkshire was known as Othensberg in the twelfth century, a name deriving from the Old Norse "Óðinsberg" ("Hill of Óðin"). Several place-names also contain Old Norse references to religious entities, such as "alfr", "skratii", and "troll". The English church found itself in need of conducting a new conversion process to Christianise this incoming population.


title: Old Norse religion

text: The Nordic world first encountered Christianity through its settlements in the already Christian British Isles and through trade contacts with the eastern Christians in Novgorod and Byzantium. By the time Christianity arrived in Scandinavia it was already the accepted religion across most of Europe. It is not well understood how the Christian institutions converted these Scandinavian settlers, in part due to a lack of textual descriptions of this conversion process equivalent to Bede's description of the earlier Anglo-Saxon conversion. However, it appears that the Scandinavian migrants had converted to Christianity within the first few decades of their arrival. After Christian missionaries from the British Isles—including figures like St Willibrord, St Boniface, and Willehad—had travelled to parts of northern Europe in the eighth century, Charlemagne pushed for Christianisation in Denmark, with Ebbo of Rheims, Halitgar of Cambrai, and Willeric of Bremen proselytizing in the kingdom during the ninth century. The Danish king Harald Klak converted (826), likely to secure his political alliance with Louis the Pious against his rivals for the throne. The Danish monarchy reverted to Old Norse religion under Horik II (854 – c. 867).


title: Old Norse religion

text: The Norwegian king Hákon the Good had converted to Christianity while in England. On returning to Norway, he kept his faith largely private but encouraged Christian priests to preach among the population; some pagans were angered and—according to "Heimskringla"—three churches built near Trondheim were burned down. His successor, Harald Greycloak, was also a Christian but similarly had little success in converting the Norwegian population to his religion. Haakon Sigurdsson later became the "de facto" ruler of Norway, and although he agreed to be baptised under pressure from the Danish king and allowed Christians to preach in the kingdom, he enthusiastically supported pagan sacrificial customs, asserting the superiority of the traditional deities and encouraging Christians to return to their veneration. His reign (975–995) saw the emergence of a "state paganism", an official ideology which bound together Norwegian identity with pagan identity and rallied support behind Haakon's leadership. Haakon was killed in 995 and Olaf Tryggvason, the next king, took power and enthusiastically promoted Christianity; he forced high-status Norwegians to convert, destroyed temples, and killed those he called 'sorcerers'. Sweden was the last Scandinavian country to officially convert; although little is known about the process of Christianisation, it is known that the Swedish kings had converted by the early 11th century and that the country was fully Christian by the early 12th.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Olaf Tryggvason sent a Saxon missionary, Þangbrandr, to Iceland. Many Icelanders were angered by Þangbrandr's proselytising, and he was outlawed after killing several poets who insulted him. Animosity between Christians and pagans on the island grew, and at the Althing in 998 both sides blasphemed each other's gods. In an attempt to preserve unity, at the Althing in 999, an agreement was reached that the Icelandic law would be based on Christian principles, albeit with concessions to the pagan community. Private, albeit not public, pagan sacrifices and rites were to remain legal.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Across Germanic Europe, conversion to Christianity was closely connected to social ties; mass conversion was the norm, rather than individual conversion. A primary motivation for kings converting was the desire for support from Christian rulers, whether as money, imperial sanction, or military support.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Christian missionaries found it difficult convincing Norse people that the two belief systems were mutually exclusive; the polytheistic nature of Old Norse religion allowed its practitioners to accept Jesus Christ as one god among many.


title: Old Norse religion

text: The encounter with Christianity could also stimulate new and innovative expressions of pagan culture, for instance through influencing various pagan myths. As with other Germanic societies, syncretisation between incoming and traditional belief systems took place. For those living in isolated areas, pre-Christian beliefs likely survived longer, while others continued as survivals in folklore.


title: Old Norse religion

text: By the 12th century, Christianity was firmly established across Northwestern Europe. For two centuries, Scandinavian ecclesiastics continued to condemn paganism, although it is unclear whether it still constituted a viable alternative to Christian dominance. These writers often presented paganism as being based on deceit or delusion; some stated that the Old Norse gods had been humans falsely euhemerised as deities.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Old Norse mythological stories survived in oral culture for at least two centuries, being recorded in the 13th century. How this mythology was passed down is unclear; it is possible that pockets of pagans retained their belief system throughout the 11th and 12th centuries, or that it had survived as a cultural artefact passed down by Christians who retained the stories while rejecting any literal belief in them. The historian Judith Jesch suggested that following Christianisation, there remained a "cultural paganism", the re-use of pre-Christian myth "in certain cultural and social contexts" that are officially Christian. For instance, Old Norse mythological themes and motifs appear in poetry composed for the court of Cnut the Great, an eleventh-century Christian Anglo-Scandinavian king.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Saxo is the earliest medieval figure to take a revived interest in the pre-Christian beliefs of his ancestors, doing so not out of a desire to revive their faith but out of historical interest. Snorri was also part of this revived interest, examining pagan myths from his perspective as a cultural historian and mythographer. As a result, Norse mythology "long outlasted any worship of or belief in the gods it depicts". There remained, however, remnants of Norse pagan rituals for centuries after Christianity became the dominant religion in Scandinavia (see Trollkyrka). Old Norse gods continued to appear in Swedish folklore up until the early 20th century. There are documented accounts of encounters with both Thor and Odin, along with a belief in Freja's power over fertility.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Norse mythology, stories of the Norse deities, is preserved in Eddic poetry and in Snorri Sturluson's guide for skalds, the "Poetic Edda". Depictions of some of these stories can be found on picture stones in Gotland and in other visual records including some early Christian crosses, which attests to how widely known they were. The myths were transmitted purely orally until the end of the period, and were subject to variation; one key poem, "Vǫluspá", is preserved in two variant versions in different manuscripts, and Snorri's retelling of the myths sometimes varies from the other textual sources that are preserved. There was no single authoritative version of a particular myth, and variation over time and from place to place is presumed, rather than "a single unified body of thought". In particular, there may have been influences from interactions with other peoples, including northern Slavs, Finns, and Anglo-Saxons, and Christian mythology exerted an increasing influence.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Old Norse religion was polytheistic, with many anthropomorphic gods and goddesses, who express human emotions and in some cases are married and have children. One god, Baldr, is said in the myths to have died. Archaeological evidence on the worship of particular gods is sparse, although placenames may also indicate locations where they were venerated. For some gods, particularly Loki, there is no evidence of worship; however, this may be changed by new archaeological discoveries. Regions, communities, and social classes likely varied in the gods they venerated more or at all. There are also accounts in sagas of individuals who devoted themselves to a single deity, described as a "fulltrúi" or "vinr" (confidant, friend) as seen in Egill Skallagrímsson's reference to his relationship with Odin in his "Sonatorrek", a tenth-century skaldic poem for example. This practice has been interpreted as heathen past influenced by the Christian cult of the saints. Although our literary sources are all relatively late, there are also indications of change over time.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Norse mythological sources, particularly Snorri and "Vǫluspá", differentiate between two groups of deities, the Æsir and the Vanir, who fought a war during which the Vanir broke down the walls of the Æsir's stronghold, Asgard, and eventually made peace utilizing a truce and the exchange of hostages. Some mythographers have suggested that this myth was based on recollection of a conflict in Scandinavia between adherents of different belief systems.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Major deities among the Æsir include Thor (who is often referred to in literary texts as Asa-Thor), Odin and Týr. Very few Vanir are named in the sources: Njǫrðr, his son Freyr, and his daughter Freyja; according to Snorri all of these could be called "Vanaguð" (Vanir-god), and Freyja also "Vanadís" (Vanir-dís). The status of Loki within the pantheon is problematic, and according to "Lokasenna" and "Vǫluspá" and Snorri's explanation, he is imprisoned beneath the earth until Ragnarok, when he will fight against the gods. As far back as 1889 Sophus Bugge suggested this was the inspiration for the myth of Lucifer.


title: Old Norse religion

text: The general Old Norse word for the goddesses is "Ásynjur", which is properly the feminine of "Æsir". An old word for goddess may be "dís", which is preserved as the name of a group of female supernatural beings.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Ancestral deities were common among Finno-Ugric peoples and remained a strong presence among the Finns and Sámi after Christianisation. Ancestor veneration may have played a part in the private religious practices of Norse people in their farmsteads and villages; in the 10th century, Norwegian pagans attempted to encourage the Christian king Haakon to take part in an offering to the gods by inviting him to drink a toast to the ancestors alongside several named deities.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Þorgerðr Hölgabrúðr and Irpa appear to have been personal or family goddesses venerated by Haakon Sigurdsson, a late pagan ruler of Norway.


title: Old Norse religion

text: There are also likely to have been local and family fertility cults; we have one reported example from pagan Norway in the family cult of Vǫlsi, where some deity called Mǫrnir is invoked.


title: Old Norse religion

text: The Norns are female figures who determine individuals' fate. Snorri describes them as a group of three, but he and other sources also allude to larger groups of Norns who decide the fate of newborns. It is uncertain whether they were worshipped.


title: Old Norse religion

text: The vættir, spirits of the land, were thought to inhabit certain rocks, waterfalls, mountains, and trees, and offerings were made to them. For many, they may have been more important in daily life than the gods. Texts also mention various kinds of elves and dwarfs. Fylgjur, guardian spirits, generally female, were associated with individuals and families. Hamingjur, dísir and swanmaidens are female supernatural figures of uncertain stature within the belief system; the dísir may have functioned as tutelary goddesses. Valkyries were associated with the myths concerning Odin, and also occur in heroic poetry such as the Helgi lays, where they are depicted as princesses who assist and marry heroes.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Conflict with the and (often glossed as giants and giantesses respectively) is a frequent motif in the mythology. They are described as both the ancestors and enemies of the gods. Gods marry but 's attempts to couple with goddesses are repulsed. Most scholars believe the were not worshipped, although this has been questioned. The Eddic have parallels with their later folkloric counterparts, although unlike them they have much wisdom.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Several accounts of the Old Norse cosmogony, or creation myth, appear in surviving textual sources, but there is no evidence that these were certainly produced in the pre-Christian period. It is possible that they were developed during the encounter with Christianity, as pagans sought to establish a creation myth complex enough to rival that of Christianity; these accounts could also be the result of Christian missionaries interpreting certain elements and tales found in the Old Norse culture and presenting them to be creation myths and a cosmogony, parallel to that of the Bible, in part to aid the Old Norse in the understanding of the new Christian religion through the use of native elements as a means to facilitate conversion (a common practice employed by missionaries to ease the conversion of people from different cultures across the globe. See Syncretism).


title: Old Norse religion

text: According to the account in "Völuspá", the universe was initially a void known as Ginnungagap. There then appeared a , Ymir, and after him the gods, who lifted the earth out of the sea. A different account is provided in "Vafþrúðnismál", which describes that the world is made from the components of Ymir's body: the earth from his flesh, the mountains from his bones, the sky from his skull, and the sea from his blood. "Grímnismál" also describes the world being fashioned from Ymir's corpse, although adds the detail that the emerged from a spring known as Élivágar.


title: Old Norse religion

text: In Snorri's "Gylfaginning", it is again stated that the Old Norse cosmogony began with a belief in Ginnungagap, the void. From this emerged two realms, the icy, misty Niflheim and the fire-filled Muspell, the latter ruled over by fire-, Surtr. A river produced by these realms coagulated to form Ymir, while a cow known as Audumbla then appeared to provide him with milk. Audumbla licked a block of ice to free Buri, whose son Bor married a named Bestla. Some of the features of this myth, such as the cow Audumbla, are of unclear provenance; Snorri does not specify where he obtained these details as he did for other parts of the myths, and it may be that these were his inventions.


title: Old Norse religion

text: "Völuspá" portrays Yggdrasil as a giant ash tree. "Grímnismál" claims that the deities meet beneath Yggdrasil daily to pass judgement. It also claims that a serpent gnaws at its roots while a deer grazes from its higher branches; a squirrel runs between the two animals, exchanging messages. "Grímnismál" also claims that Yggdrasil has three roots; under one resides the goddess Hel, under another the frost-þursar, and under the third humanity. Snorri also relates that Hel and the frost-þursar live under two of the roots but places the gods, rather than humanity, under the third root.


title: Old Norse religion

text: The term "Yggr" means "the terrifier" and is a synonym for Oðinn, while "drasill" was a poetic word for a horse; "Yggdrasil" thereby means "Oðinn's Steed". This idea of a cosmic tree has parallels with those from various other societies, and may reflect part of a common Indo-European heritage.


title: Old Norse religion

text: The Ragnarok story survives in its fullest exposition in "Völuspá", although elements can also be seen in earlier poetry. The Ragnarok story suggests that the idea of an inescapable fate pervaded Norse worldviews. There is much evidence that "Völuspá" was influenced by Christian belief, and it is also possible that the theme of conflict being followed by a better future—as reflected in the Ragnarok story—perhaps reflected the period of conflict between paganism and Christianity.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Nordic pre-Christian religion had several fully developed ideas about death and the afterlife. Snorri refers to multiple realms which welcome the dead; although his descriptions reflect a likely Christian influence, the idea of a plurality of other worlds is likely pre-Christian. Unlike Christianity, Old Norse religion does not appear to have adhered to the belief that moral concerns impacted an individual's afterlife destination.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Warriors who died in battle became the Einherjar and were taken to Oðinn's hall, Valhalla. There they waited until Ragnarok when they would fight alongside the Æsir. According to the poem "Grímnismál", Valhalla had 540 doors and a wolf stood outside its western door, while an eagle flew overhead. In that poem, it is also claimed that a boar named Sæhrímnir is eaten every day and that a goat named Heiðrún stands atop the hall's roof producing an endless supply of mead. It is unclear how widespread a belief in Valhalla was in Norse society; it may have been a literary creation designed to meet the ruling class' aspirations since the idea of deceased warriors owing military service to Oðinn parallels the social structure of which warriors and their lord. There is no archaeological evidence clearly alluding to a belief in Valhalla.


title: Old Norse religion

text: According to Snorri, while one-half of the slain go to Valhalla, the others go to Frejya's hall, Fólkvangr, and those who die from disease or old age go to a realm known as Hel; it was here that Baldr went after his death. The concept of Hel as an afterlife location never appears in pagan-era skaldic poetry, where "Hel" always references the eponymous goddess. Snorri also mentions the possibility of the dead reaching the hall of Brimir in Gimlé, or the hall of Sindri in the Niðafjöll Mountains.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Various sagas and the Eddic poem "Helgakviða Hundingsbana II" refer to the dead residing in their graves, where they remain conscious. In these thirteenth century sources, ghosts (Draugr) are capable of haunting the living. In both "Laxdæla Saga" and "Eyrbyggja Saga", connections are drawn between pagan burials and hauntings.


title: Old Norse religion

text: In mythological accounts, the deity most closely associated with death is Oðinn. In particular, he is connected with death by hanging; this is apparent in "Hávamál", a poem found in the "Poetic Edda". In stanza 138 of "Hávamál", Oðinn describes his self-sacrifice, in which he hangs himself on Yggdrasill, the world tree, for nine nights, to attain wisdom and magical powers. In the late "Gautreks Saga", King Víkarr is hanged and then punctured by a spear; his executioner says "Now I give you to Oðinn".


title: Old Norse religion

text: Textual accounts suggest a spectrum of rituals, from large public events to more frequent private and family rites, which would have been interwoven with daily life. However, written sources are vague about Norse rituals, and many are invisible to us now even with the assistance of archaeology. Sources mention some rituals addressed to particular deities, but the understanding of the relationship between Old Norse ritual and myth remains speculative.


title: Old Norse religion

text: The primary religious ritual in Norse religion appears to have been sacrifice, or blót. Many texts, both Old Norse and others refer to sacrifices. The "Saga of Hákon the Good" in "Heimskringla" states that there were obligatory blóts, at which animals were slaughtered and their blood, called "hlaut", sprinkled on the altars and the inside and outside walls of the temple, and ritual toasts were drunk during the ensuing sacrificial feast; the cups were passed over the fire and they and the food were consecrated with a ritual gesture by the chieftain; King Hákon, a Christian, was forced to participate but made the sign of the cross. The description of the temple at Uppsala in Adam of Bremen's "History" includes an account of a festival every nine years at which nine males of every kind of animal were sacrificed and the bodies hung in the temple grove. There may have been many methods of sacrifice: several textual accounts refer to the body or head of the slaughtered animal being hung on a pole or tree. In addition to seasonal festivals, an animal blót could take place, for example, before duels, after the conclusion of business between traders, before sailing to ensure favourable winds, and at funerals. Remains of animals from many species have been found in graves from the Old Norse period, and Ibn Fadlan's account of a ship burial includes the sacrifice of a dog, draft animals, cows, a rooster and a hen as well as that of a servant girl.


title: Old Norse religion

text: In the Eddic poem "Hyndluljóð", Freyja expresses appreciation for the many sacrifices of oxen made to her by her acolyte, Óttar. In "Hrafnkels saga", Hrafnkell is called "Freysgoði" for his many sacrifices to Freyr. There may also be markers by which we can distinguish sacrifices to Odin, who was associated with hanging, and some texts particularly associate the ritual killing of a boar with sacrifices to Freyr; but in general, archaeology is unable to identify the deity to whom a sacrifice was made.


title: Old Norse religion

text: The texts frequently allude to human sacrifice. Temple wells in which people were sacrificially drowned are mentioned in Adam of Bremen's account of Uppsala and in Icelandic sagas, where they are called "blótkelda" or "blótgrǫf", and Adam of Bremen also states that human victims were included among those hanging in the trees at Uppsala. In "Gautreks saga", people sacrifice themselves during a famine by jumping off cliffs, and both the "Historia Norwegiæ" and "Heimskringla" refer to the willing death of King Dómaldi as a sacrifice after bad harvests. Mentions of people being "sentenced to sacrifice" and of the "wrath of the gods" against criminals suggest a sacral meaning for the death penalty; in "Landnamabók" the method of execution is given as having the back broken on a rock. It is possible that some of the bog bodies recovered from peat bogs in northern Germany and Denmark and dated to the Iron Age were human sacrifices. Such a practice may have been connected to the execution of criminals or of prisoners of war, and Tacitus also states that such type of execution was used as a punishment for "the coward, the unwarlike and the man stained with abominable vices" for the reason that these were considered "infamies that ought to be buried out of sight"; on the other hand, some textual mentions of a person being "offered" to a deity, such as a king offering his son, may refer to a non-sacrificial "dedication".


title: Old Norse religion

text: Archaeological evidence supports Ibn Fadlan's report of funerary human sacrifice: in various cases, the burial of someone who died of natural causes is accompanied by another who died a violent death. For example, at Birka a decapitated young man was placed atop an older man buried with weapons, and at Gerdrup, near Roskilde, a woman was buried alongside a man whose neck had been broken. Many of the details of Ibn Fadlan's account are born out by archaeology; and it is possible that those elements which are not visible in the archaeological evidence—such as the sexual encounters—are also accurate.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Deposition of artefacts in wetlands was a practice in Scandinavia during many periods of prehistory. In the early centuries of the Common Era, huge numbers of destroyed weapons were placed in wetlands: mostly spears and swords, but also shields, tools, and other equipment. Beginning in the 5th century, the nature of the wetland deposits changed; in Scandinavia, fibulae and bracteates were placed in or beside wetlands from the 5th to the mid-6th centuries, and again beginning in the late 8th century, when weapons, as well as jewellery, coins and tools, again began to be deposited, the practice lasting until the early 11th century. This practice extended to non-Scandinavian areas inhabited by Norse people; for example in Britain, a sword, tools, and the bones of cattle, horses and dogs were deposited under a jetty or bridge over the River Hull. The precise purposes of such depositions are unclear.


title: Old Norse religion

text: It is harder to find ritualised deposits on dry land. However, at Lunda (meaning "grove") near Strängnäs in Södermanland, archaeological evidence has been found at a hill of presumably ritual activity from the 2nd century BCE until the 10th century CE, including deposition of unburnt beads, knives and arrowheads from the 7th to the 9th century. Also during excavations at the church in Frösö, bones of bear, elk, red deer, pigs, cattle, and either sheep or goats were found surrounding a birch tree, having been deposited in the 9th or 10th century; the tree likely had sacrificial associations and perhaps represented Yggdrasill.


title: Old Norse religion

text: A child was accepted into the family via a ritual of sprinkling with water (Old Norse "ausa vatni") which is mentioned in two Eddic poems, "Rígsþula" and "Hávamál", and was afterwards given a name. The child was frequently named after a dead relative, since there was a traditional belief in rebirth, particularly in the family.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Old Norse sources also describe rituals for adoption (the Norwegian Gulaþing Law directs the adoptive father, followed by the adoptive child, then all other relatives, to step in turn into a specially made leather shoe) and blood brotherhood (a ritual standing on the bare earth under a specially cut strip of grass, called a "jarðarmen").


title: Old Norse religion

text: Weddings occur in Icelandic family sagas. The Old Norse word "brúðhlaup" has cognates in many other Germanic languages and means "bride run"; it has been suggested that this indicates a tradition of bride-stealing, but other scholars including Jan de Vries interpreted it as indicating a rite of passage conveying the bride from her birth family to that of her new husband. The bride wore a linen veil or headdress; this is mentioned in the Eddic poem "Rígsþula". Freyr and Thor are each associated with weddings in some literary sources. In Adam of Bremen's account of the pagan temple at Uppsala, offerings are said to be made to "Fricco" (presumably Freyr) on the occasion of marriages, and in the Eddic poem "Þrymskviða", Thor recovers his hammer when it is laid in his disguised lap in a ritual consecration of the marriage. "Þrymskviða" also mentions the goddess Vár as consecrating marriages; Snorri Sturluson states in "Gylfaginning" that she hears the vows men and women make to each other, but her name probably means "beloved" rather than being etymologically connected to Old Norse "várar", "vows".


title: Old Norse religion

text: Burial of the dead is the Norse rite of passage about which we have most archaeological evidence. There is considerable variation in burial practices, both spatially and chronologically, which suggests a lack of dogma about funerary rites. Both cremations and inhumations are found throughout Scandinavia, but in Viking Age Iceland there were inhumations but, with one possible exception, no cremations. The dead are found buried in pits, wooden coffins or chambers, boats, or stone cists; cremated remains have been found next to the funeral pyre, buried in a pit, in a pot or keg, and scattered across the ground. Most burials have been found in cemeteries, but solitary graves are not unknown. Some grave sites were left unmarked, others memorialised with standing stones or burial mounds.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Grave goods feature in both inhumation and cremation burials. These often consist of animal remains; for instance, in Icelandic pagan graves, the remains of dogs and horses are the most common grave goods. In many cases, the grave goods and other features of the grave reflect social stratification, particularly in the cemeteries at market towns such as Hedeby and Kaupang. In other cases, such as in Iceland, cemeteries show very little evidence of it.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Ship burial is a form of elite inhumation attested both in the archaeological record and in Ibn Fadlan's written account. Excavated examples include the Oseberg ship burial near Tønsberg in Norway, another at Klinta on Öland, and the Sutton Hoo ship burial in England. A boat burial at Kaupang in Norway contained a man, woman, and baby lying adjacent to each other alongside the remains of a horse and dismembered dog. The body of a second woman in the stern was adorned with weapons, jewellery, a bronze cauldron, and a metal staff; archaeologists have suggested that she may have been a sorceress. In certain areas of the Nordic world, namely coastal Norway and the Atlantic colonies, smaller boat burials are sufficiently common to indicate it was no longer only an elite custom.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Ship burial is also mentioned twice in the Old Norse literary-mythic corpus. A passage in Snorri Sturluson's "Ynglinga Saga" states that Odin—whom he presents as a human king later mistaken for a deity—instituted laws that the dead would be burned on a pyre with their possessions, and burial mounds or memorial stones erected for the most notable men. Also in his "Prose Edda", the god Baldr is burned on a pyre on his ship, "Hringhorni", which is launched out to sea with the aid of the Hyrrokkin; Snorri wrote after the Christianisation of Iceland, but drew on Úlfr Uggason's skaldic poem "Húsdrápa".


title: Old Norse religion

text: The myth preserved in the Eddic poem "Hávamál" of Odin hanging for nine nights on Yggdrasill, sacrificing himself to secure knowledge of the runes and other wisdom in what resembles an initiatory rite, is evidence of mysticism in Old Norse religion.


title: Old Norse religion

text: The gods were associated with two distinct forms of magic. In "Hávamál" and elsewhere, Odin is particularly associated with the runes and with galdr. Charms, often associated with the runes, were a central part of the treatment of disease in both humans and livestock in Old Norse society. In contrast seiðr and the related spæ, which could involve both magic and divination, were practised mostly by women, known as vǫlur and spæ-wives, often in a communal gathering at a client's request. 9th- and 10th-century female graves containing iron staffs and grave goods have been identified on this basis as those of seiðr practitioners. Seiðr was associated with the Vanic goddess Freyja; according to a euhemerized account in "Ynglinga saga", she taught seiðr to the Æsir, but it involved so much "ergi" ("unmanliness, effeminacy") that other than Odin himself, its use was reserved for priestesses. There are, however, mentions of male seiðr workers, including elsewhere in "Heimskringla", where they are condemned for their perversion.


title: Old Norse religion

text: In Old Norse literature, practitioners of seiðr are sometimes described as foreigners, particularly Sami or Finns or in rarer cases from the British Isles. Practitioners such as Þorbjörg Lítilvölva in the "Saga of Erik the Red" appealed to spirit helpers for assistance. Many scholars have pointed to this and other similarities between what is reported of seiðr and spæ ceremonies and shamanism. The historian of religion Dag Strömbäck regarded it as a borrowing from Sami or Balto-Finnic shamanic traditions, but there are also differences from the recorded practices of Sami noaidi. Since the 19th century, some scholars have sought to interpret other aspects of Old Norse religion itself by comparison with shamanism; for example, Odin's self-sacrifice on the World Tree has been compared to Finno-Ugric shamanic practices. However, the scholar Jan de Vries regarded seiðr as an indigenous shamanic development among the Norse, and the applicability of shamanism as a framework for interpreting Old Norse practices, even seiðr, is disputed by some scholars.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Religious practices often took place outdoors. For example, at Hove in Trøndelag, Norway, offerings were placed at a row of posts bearing images of gods. Terms particularly associated with outdoor worship are "vé" (shrine) and "hörgr" (cairn or stone altar). Many place names contain these elements in association with the name of a deity, and for example at Lilla Ullevi (compounded with the name of the god Ullr) in Bro parish, Uppland, Sweden, archaeologists have found a stone-covered ritual area at which offerings including silver objects, rings, and a meat fork had been deposited. Place-name evidence suggests that cultic practices might also take place at many different kinds of sites, including fields and meadows ("vangr", "vin"), rivers and lakes, bogs, groves ("lundr") and individual trees, and rocks.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Some Icelandic sagas mention sacred places. In both "Landnámabók" and "Eyrbyggja saga", members of a family who particularly worshipped Thor are said to have passed after death into the mountain Helgafell (holy mountain), which was not to be defiled by bloodshed or excrement or even to be looked at without washing first. Mountain worship is also mentioned in "Landnámabók" as an old Norwegian tradition to which Auðr the Deepminded's family reverted after she died; the scholar Hilda Ellis Davidson regarded it as associated particularly with the worship of Thor. In "Víga-Glúms saga", the field Vitazgjafi (certain giver) is associated with Freyr and similarly not to be defiled. The scholar Stefan Brink has argued that one can speak of a "mythical and sacral geography" in pre-Christian Scandinavia.


title: Old Norse religion

text: Several of the sagas refer to cult houses or temples, generally called in Old Norse by the term hof. There are detailed descriptions of large temples, including a separate area with images of gods and the sprinkling of sacrificial blood using twigs like the Christian use of the aspergillum, in "Kjalnesinga saga" and "Eyrbyggja saga"; Snorri's description of blót in "Heimskringla" adds more details about the blood sprinkling. Adam of Bremen's 11th-century Latin history describes at length a great temple at Uppsala at which human sacrifices regularly took place, and containing statues of Thor, Wotan and Frikko (presumably Freyr); a "scholion" adds the detail that a golden chain hung from the eaves.


title: Old Norse religion

text: These details appear exaggerated and probably indebted to Christian churches, and in the case of Uppsala to the Biblical description of Solomon's temple. Based on the dearth of archaeological evidence for dedicated cult houses, particularly under early church buildings in Scandinavia, where they were expected to be found, and additionally on Tacitus' statement in "Germania" that the Germanic tribes did not confine their deities to buildings, many scholars have believed hofs to be largely a Christian idea of pre-Christian practice. In 1966, based on the results of a comprehensive archaeological survey of most of Scandinavia, the Danish archaeologist Olaf Olsen proposed the model of the "temple farm": that rather than the hof being a dedicated building, a large longhouse, especially that of the most prominent farmer in the district, served as the location for community cultic celebrations when required.