Some excellent points, especially about the sort of 'Oh it says it in the Poetic Edda so it's true' mentality, as you say time has an effect. If their was a story that someone'sintentionally
Some of that went missing! I said a story that someone's grandfather heard from his grandfather, who'd got it from his great aunt, who heard it when she was 10 years old from her grandmother, who'd got it from somebody or other sometime, and then it was written down by people who didn't believe in it, chances are it would have been altered, either intentionally for religious reasons, or just by bad memory or the desire to 'spice it up a bit'.
Great to see others in our folk that are looking to the factual information that we have to this point. UPGs can be useful in areas where we have no information, because they were us, and we are them today. But, if you have a concrete bit of information in your hand, you have to accept reality as it was, not as you wanted it to be...
If you're alright at Swedish at this point you should look into the folkminnesarkiv, and the book "Wärend och wirdarne" which recently was released in a new edition with modernized spelling. There's stuff like accounts of people leaving wheat for Odin in the 19th century there.
hi, i am very late to this conversation, but i just watched one of your old videos on hate in this community and read some of the comments, including your responses. from what i understood you are saying everyone can study norse paganism , but not everyone can practice it, cause it is based on ancestry and it would be cultural appropriation. did i understand this correctly and if yes, is that still your opinion? cause i don't get it. i think cultural appropiation is to be taken seriously, but i think we also need to differenciate between appropriation and appreciation. as far as i know appropriation normally refers to an act where someone is taking something out of context (like dramcatchers for decoration), using other cultures as costumes (native american hairdresses for example) or benefiting from those other cultures in some way, especially financially or gaining social status. for it to be appropiation, there also has to be oppression involved accroding to the definition that i know. So the oppressing culture has to steal from the oppressed culture and take credit for it, while the oppressed culture might still not be allowed to do those things (like kim kardashian being praised for "inventing" "kim k braids", while black girls are still sent home from school for wearing beautiful braided hairstyles sometimes). i would define appreciation on the other hand as actually doing your research, giving credit to the culture, not claiming that you are from that culture and actually learning from them and supporting them, so not learning from teachers that belong to your own culture if possible and when you buy products, buying them from businesses owned by people of the culture in question. basically not being an asshole that exploits people. so now, do you agree with my definition and if yes, why is it appropriation when people with other ancestry not only study but also practice germanic or norse paganism? also what about mixed people? i for example am biracial (black and white) and from germany. i feel like people forget that we also exist. we aren't white but still have germanic ancestry. to a lot of folkish people i guess we still would be excluded cause of the colour of our skin. plus, culture and ethnicity don't always match. for example people of colour that have been adopted. eventhough their biological ancestry might not be germanic, their cultural ancestry would be. so where does this leave them?
I dont think it is appropriation or that it is bad at all. For my comments that lead you to think that, I would just think it strange to follow something you have no lineage from. However, I dont find it a problem and find it as flattering. For a bi-racial person, well you have twice the wealth as twice the cultures to draw on.
Gotta say as an american from a mostly black area no black girl is sent home for having braids......also just being born white doesnt or wll if shouldnt mean we are from the conquering culture, as braids were present in all pre modern society.
@@nordicjourneys hi, thanks for your answer. braids might have been a bad example, that's just what i saw on the news, but i have never lived in the US. if it happens, i guess it is an exception. and of course a lot of cultures have worn some form of braids, but since they are are mostly linked to black culture nowadays, i think black culture should be credited for them (or another culture if it's a specific style thats from somewere else, just please not Kim Kardashian haha). Anyways, about the actual topic i agree with you, thanks for clarifying. i wasn't sure if i had understood your point correctly, thats why i asked. i have been a pagan for some years now, but a pretty eclectic one, reading everything i found. But in the end i indeed feel most drawn to what my ancestors practiced, so i started looking into germanic paganism rather recently. but i am very careful and am still trying to figure out how many racist people there really are in the norse or germanic pagan community. cause even if it might not be fair, the outside opinion is that there are quite a lot. and so i make sure with all the channels i watch, that they are basically save spaces for me (or that i am at least aware if they are not).
@@enchanted_wildflower_ in my mind my opinion on whatever anyone chooses to practice is just my opinion and it should not concern them. It is none of my business. There are racists jn germanic heathenry but they are the minority. They are just often the loudest around. Good luck on your path!
