The Wild Hunt (https://wildhunt.org/tag/scandinavia)
The woods around my home in Arctic Norway were few and far between, mostly small birches barely taller than your average adult. Here in Åland, I met with real woods: tall bone-white birches, spruce, thick pines, bushy walnut groves. This vibrant life was everywhere, and all the while I was searching for graves.
There’s something about the solstices that seems to connect with a deep, fundamental part of the human psyche. The solstice is a moment where the world seems to hold its breath, the sun hung motionless overhead or hidden below the horizon, before it dives across the threshold of one side of the year to the other: light to dark and dark to light.
The Pagans of the Baltic region appear to have acquired horses for ritual offerings sometimes at great expense and sea travel from Scandinavian Christian neighbors.
Researchers in Norway have uncovered what they believe to be the oldest example of runic writing at a site near Tyrifjorden dating back as far as 1,800 to 2,000 years.
With just two days to go, I made use of one of my few free days to go downtown and get a few supplies: gift wrapping paper, thick craft rope, glue, and a big burlap bag. I had found out what to do: instead of having someone dressed as Santa delivering gifts, I would have someone don a homemade Yule Goat costume.