[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Ibn Fadlan probably expected his reader to think, not that he was ever drunk, but rather that he luckily avoided being urinated upon by the dog, as he earlier escaped death in battle: it is a reference, in other words, to another near miss.[31]Urine is a source of ammonia, an excellent cleaning compound.[32]Some authorities on mythology argue that the Scandinavians did not originate this idea of an eternal battle, but rather that this is a Celtic concept.Whatever the truth, it is perfectly reasonable that Ibn Fadlan’s companions should have adopted the concept, for the Scandinavians had been in contact with Celts for over a hundred and fifty years at this time.[33](…) literally, “desert of dread.”In a paper in 1927, J.G.Tomlinson pointed out that precisely the same phrase appears in theVolsunga Saga , and therefore argued at length that it represented a generic term for taboo lands.Tomlinson was apparently unaware that theVolsunga Saga says nothing of the sort; the nineteenth-century translation of William Morris indeed contains the line “There is a desert of dread in the uttermost part of the world,” but this line was Morris’s own invention, appearing in one of the many passages where he expanded upon the original Germanic saga.[34]The Islamic injunction against alcohol is literally an injunction against the fermented fruit of the grape; i.e., wine.Fermented drinks of honey are specifically permitted to Muslims.[35]The usual psychiatric explanation for such fears of loss of body parts is that they represent castration anxiety.In a 1937 review,Deformations of Body Image in Primitive Societies , Engelhardt observes that many cultures are explicit about this belief.For example, the Nanamani of Brazilpunish sexual offenders by cutting off the left ear; this is thought to reduce sexual potency.Other societies attach significance to the loss of fingers, toes, or, in the case of the Northmen, the nose.It is a common superstition in many societies that the size of a man’s nose reflects the size of his penis.Emerson argues that the importance accorded the nose by primitive societies reflects a vestigial attitude from the days when men were hunters and relied heavily upon a sense of smell to find game and avoid enemies; in such a life, the loss of smell was a serious injury indeed.[36]In the Mediterranean, from Egyptian times, dwarves were thought especially intelligent and trustworthy, and tasks of bookkeeping and money-handling were reserved to them.[37]Of approximately ninety skeletons that can be confidently ascribed to the Viking period in Scandinavia, the average height appears to be about 170 centimeters (5’7”).[38]Dahlmann (1924) writes that “for ceremonial occasions the ram was eaten to increase potency, since the horned male animal was judged superior to the female.” In fact, during this period both rams and ewes had horns.[39]Joseph Cantrell observes that “there is a strain in Germanic and Norse mythology which holds that women have special powers, qualities of magic, and should be feared and mistrusted by men.The principal gods are all men, but the Valkyries, which means literally ‘choosers of the slain,’ are women who transport dead warriors to Paradise.It was believed that there were three Valkyries, as there were three Norns, or Fates, which were present at the birth of every man, and determined the outcome of his life.The Norns were named Urth, the past; Verthandi, the present; and Skuld, the future.The Norns ‘wove’ a man’sfate, and weaving was a woman’s work; in popular representations they were shown as young maidens.Wyrd, an Anglo-Saxon deity which ruled fate, was also a goddess.Presumably the association of women with man’s fate was a permutation of earlier concepts of women as fertility symbols; the goddesses of fertility controlled the growing and flowering of crops and living things on the earth.”Cantrell also notes that “in practice, we know that divination, spellcasting, and other shamanistic functions were reserved to elderly women in Norse society.Furthermore, popular ideas of women contained a heavy element of suspicion.According to theHarvamal , ‘No one should trust the words of a girl or a married woman, for their hearts have been shaped on a turning wheel and they are inconstant by nature.’ ”Bendixon says, “Among the early Scandinavians there was a kind of division of power according to sex.Men ruled physical affairs; women, psychological matters.”[40]This is a paraphrase of a sentiment among the Northmen, expressed fully as: “Praise not the day until evening has come; a woman until she is burnt; a sword until it is tried; a maiden until she is married; ice until it has been crossed; beer until it has been drunk.” This prudent, realistic, and somewhat cynical view of human nature and the world was something the Scandinavians and the Arabs shared.And like the Scandinavians, the Arabs often express it in mundane or satiric terms.There is a Sufi story about a man who asked a sage: “Suppose I am traveling in the countryside and must make ablutions in the stream.Which direction do I face while performing the ritual?” To this the sage replies: “In the direction of your clothes, so they won’t be stolen.”[41]In the Faeroe Islands of Denmark, a similar method of scaling cliffs is still practiced to gather bird eggs, an important source of food to the islanders.[42]This description of the physical features of the wendol has sparked a predictable debate.See Appendix.[43]Lectulus
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]