Icelanders will soon be able to publicly worship at a shrine to Thor, Odin and Frigg with construction starting this month on the island’s first major temple to the Norse gods since the Viking age. Worship of the gods in Scandinavia gave way to Christianity around 1,000 years ago but a modern version of Norse paganism has been gaining popularity in Iceland. “We see the stories as poetic metaphors and a manifestation of the forces of nature and human psychology.”
High priest of the Asatru Association, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, leads a procession at the Pingvellir National Park near Reykjavík. Photograph: Reuters.
Read the whole article here.
Follow us: