IMC 2015: Sessions
Session 142: Myths in the Far North, I: Magic and Paganism in Scandinavia
Monday 6 July 2015, 11.15-12.45
| Sponsor: | 'Creating the New North' Research Programme, Universitetet i Tromsø |
|---|---|
| Organiser: | Richard Holt, Institutt for historie og religionsvitenskap, Universitetet i Tromsø - Norges Arktiske Universitetet |
| Moderator/Chair: | Miriam Tveit, Fakultetet for Samfunnsvitenskap, Universitetet i Nordland |
| Paper 142-a | The Lapland Witches: European Images and Representations, 1150-1600 (Language: English) Index terms: Folk Studies, Language and Literature - Scandinavian, Mentalities |
| Paper 142-b | Just How Pagan Were the Sámi at the End of the Middle Ages? (Language: English) Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Mentalities, Pagan Religions |
| Paper 142-c | Arctic Encounters: Meetings with the Supernatural in the Old Norse Sagas (Language: English) Index terms: Folk Studies, Geography and Settlement Studies, Language and Literature - Scandinavian, Mentalities |
| Abstract | The Sámi people of northern Scandinavia had a reputation in the Middle Ages as magicians, perhaps largely as a result of their perceived pagan identity. Long after the Norse peoples had become Christian, the Sámi were believed to have held to their shamanistic religion - although there is good reason to believe that by the end of the Middle Ages Christianity had made a considerable impact on their religious faith and practices. The association of the North with trolls and other supernatural forces became a distinctive theme in northern literature and the geographical worldview of medieval Icelanders. |