COPENHAGEN – Perhaps the most famous poem in Old Norse is “Völuspá,” which tells the history of creation from the earliest days of the world to the final cataclysm of Ragnarök. The poem is beloved by modern Heathens for encapsulating much of what has survived of the pre-Christian cosmology of the Nordic peoples. But the poem is notable not just for its mythological content, but for the voice which tells it: that of a female oracle, the völva, who is called forth by Odin to recite her wisdom.
Visitors to “The Viking Sorcereress” at the National Museum of Denmark [Joakim Züger, National Museum of Denmark]
The völva is the central figure in a new exhibition at Denmark’s National Museum in Copenhagen, “The Viking Sorceress.” The exhibit focuses on the worldview of the pre-Christian Scandinavians, and through the völva, especially centers on the experiences and importance of women in the Viking Age’s cultural memory.
“We are used to thinking about what the Vikings were – but rarely about who they were, or what they thought,” says the museum’s director, Rane Willerslev. “In this exhibition, we seek to reflect how the Vikings attempted to understand their place in the world – helped by the Vǫlva. In doing so, we hope to attain an understanding of the fact that other people from other periods of time do not experience the world in the same way as we do. This is a decisive insight in terms of navigating the world as modern people of today.”
On display are many artifacts from the Viking Age, including some new finds and artifacts that have been reevaluated by recent scholarship. Among these are artifacts from a woman’s grave found in a ring fortress near Hobro. In the grave, archeologists found many items that may have had magical or ritual significance, including metal staffs, a bronze bowl, hallucinatory herbs, and animal bones. In addition to these objects, researchers found what appears to be a piece of the buried woman’s skull and teeth. The researchers believe she may have been a court völva to the famous Danish king Harald Bluetooth.
“That is a very interesting coincidence,” says the museum’s curator, Peter Pentz, to Euronews, “because the Völva’s mouth is mentioned in several sagas as being something special. It is from that mouth spells came. It’s from her very mouth she would be chanting, singing, charms would come.”
Artifacts on display in the National Museum of Denmark’s new exhibit, “The Viking Sorceress” [Joakim Züger, National Museum of Denmark]
In addition to the artifacts, the exhibit has an immersive storytelling component. “The exhibition opens with a journey,” says the museum’s website, “and visitors follow in the footsteps of the powerful god Odin when meeting the Vǫlva, who speaks to us directly.
“The Vǫlva tells Odin, and us visitors, the story about Ragnarǫk: This is a story about a world wherein human beings are deeply dependent on the nature that surrounds them. It is a story about the fear of what will happen if chaos is unleashed in the world – or if we were to unleash chaos within ourselves. Hopefully, this journey will bring us closer to the people of the Viking Age – and make us see ourselves in the mirror.”
Visitors learning about Ragnarök in the National Museum of Denmark’s new exhibit, “The Viking Sorcereress” [Joakim Züger, National Museum of Denmark]
The exhibition is staged by Kasper Holten, who is known for staging operas, including, appropriately enough, a production of “Ragnarok” for the Danish Royal Theatre. The scenery was designed by Steffen Aarfing.
“Normally, I tell invented stories,” says Holten, “but getting the strong woman of the Viking Age, the Vǫlva, to speak to us directly today was just a crazy challenge. And it has been a fascinating journey to get to know the skilled experts at the National Museum in order to try and bring this to life by means of theatre effects.”
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