Couple Got Married In First Traditional Viking Wedding For Almost 1000 Years
We all have our own dream wedding from becoming a Princess to anime theme. But a certain couple from Norwegia has decided to take their wedding up to the next level by reviving the Viking way of doing things. Yes, the first traditional Viking wedding of almost 1,000 years was recently held next to a beautiful Norwegian lake.
Elisabeth and Rune Dalseth opted to ditch their conventional Christian upbringing in favour of a ceremony inspired by weddings that took place 1,000 years ago.
Congratulations to Elisabeth Dalseth and Rune Dalseth for tying the knot on 25th of August!
In order to hold the dream wedding of theirs, the couple had to plan a lot of things from preparing two longboats, finding a pagan priest to preparing blood offerings.
Yes, they spilled the blood of an innocent pig, but no worries! Pig is enjoyed as part of the feast later. And the wedding went to quite a peaceful atmosphere.
So how did meet and became a pagan themselves?
27-year-old Elisabeth Dalseth was a beautician.
She met Rune back in May 2016 before she becomes a full-time stay-at-home mother to her 6-month-old son. She wasn't even a Viking enthusiast, to begin with!
They met at a bar, fell in love and Rune introduced to her a whole new world. She slowly but surely began to fell in love with the Viking world and embraced the culture. Rune was already part of the revivalist for 2 years.
There are 6,000 other revivalists interested to bring back the culture and traditions of Vikings. This wedding did not only became a special day for them - it marks a historic day of the first time a traditional Viking wedding was held in more than 9 centuries.
They even have a gothi who acts as their priest to bless their marriage.
Finding a gothi is not easy! That's because acting as a pagan priest requires dedication and remembering a set of ritual to be performed including holding dried roses and a real sword.
"We had two longboats built. They were made by a local shipbuilder. The traditional dress is not easy to find, so another friend helped us with that. Finally, a man who we had met at a festival one year ago, agreed to be the gothi - the equivalent of a priest - for the ceremony."
During a Viking Festival, Rune proposed to her and they both announced their dream wedding: Viking style!
Along with everything else, a pig was sacrificed during the ceremony as well.
The two of them weren't raised a pagan. They were born and taught as Christians, actually. Rune's mother had her doubts when her son has decided that he's getting married in a non-Christian way. But she has since changed her mind.
"I think she has now come to accept it. She can see how happy paganism makes me and how it has helped me get my life together. Before I was a Viking, I didn't have a wife, a baby and a house - now look at me."
The couple had 130 guests who enjoyed a party that lacked Spotify playlists, but enjoyed the old Norse songs.
Elisabeth recalled the dance that day, “We had no Spotify. Instead, we danced to live music that our ancestors danced to over a millennium ago.”
Not everyone was enthusiastic about the party. Some were even skeptical, but as it goes on, more and more began to enjoy the vibe.
As dawn breaks, Rune arrives in a longboat with his 10 closest friends, beginning the procession of the wedding.
Hunting horns were blown to signify it's time for the people to assemble and witness the holy matrimony.
The gothi, while holding a branch of dried rose in one hand, chants blessings to officiate the wedding.
He will use the blood sacrifice on his face and proceeds to hand a sword that both the man and woman must hold to signify harmonization and unification.
Then comes the Brullaup, which is a race between two families who were unified through the wedding! Basically, the fun game time!
Elisabeth loving her woolen cloak which is not a princess dress, but more of a Queen.
The purpose of Viking revivalists were to prevent more people from stigmatizing this fascinating culture with rape, violence, and war.
“Vikings were no more terrible than any other group of people living at that time. What people don’t mention is that Vikings were people who had a great appreciation for nature, for the land, and for animal life. We want people to be more aware of that," says Rune.
And to the guests who did not look so amused in the beginning?
“By the end, they could all feel the energy and the love that we generated," says Elisabeth.
The family was blessed with a son and they adopted a puppy as well.
They are now a small, happy (partly Viking?) family! They named their son, Ragnar.
Here's a short clip of the gothi chanting his blessings!
https://www.brighthumanity.me/videos/6_4674140808039109632156933130091b96f502976077be35e56080dae74b5.mp4
https://www.brighthumanity.me/story/2152/couple-got-married-in-first-traditional-viking-wedding-for-almost-1000-years/
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