Phryne, Freja and the winter/summer solstice

From Murder in the Dark

According to King Memses's Curse, today is Phryne Fisher's birthday. It is also the winter solstice over here (summer solstice in the southern hemisphere).

Phryne: My birthday party 
Jack: Summer solstice 
Phryne: Help me to celebrate.

~ King Memses's Curse 

The episode is the last one of the first series of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. It tells the story of the solution to the overarching plot line of season 1: The kidnapping and murder of Phryne's little sister Jane. It is also Phryne's last encounter with Murdoch Foyle who was set up kind of like an archenemy to her. His birthday is also the 21st of December. As is the fictive Egyptian pharaoh Memses who Foyle becomes obsessed with, thinking he is the reincarnation of him.

The episode is stuffed with Ancient Egyptian references, sort of the peak of the running Anthony and Cleopatra theme established in Ruddy Gore. Ancient Egypt also pops up as a theme in the Phryne Fisher book Flying to High. Even the song in the last scene, I am sailing on a sunbeam can be said to have Egyptian references since in Egyptian mythology, the sun god Re is said to sail across the sky in a boat. In this entry however, I will move a bit through time and space to Viking Age Scandinavia and talk about a different mythology and a different goddess than the Egyptian ones. Together with the Norse god Odin, she was associated with the (for Scandinavia) winter solstice: Freja. (I have wondered for awhile how much of the cultic activities surrounding Freja at the winter solstice that went into the Lucia celebration.)

Brooch probably depicting Freja.
from Aska, Östergötland, Sweden

I talked about Freja in the entry about Johanne Hildebrandt's book Saga från Valhalla, but there might be need for a recap.

Freja is the most prominent and well-known of the Norse goddesses (who are all often rather vaguely portrayed). She is the sister of Frej and generally rather dismissively described only as his "seductive sister". However this is an extremely reducing epithet of such an important goddess.

She and her brother are mainly fertility deities (In Sweden, Frej has also been called Frö, which is the Swedish word for seed.) and they are also the personifications of female (Freja) and male (Frej) sexuality. Freja also cares for pregnant women.

But there are more aspects than fertility to Freja! When you study her, you realise that she is not only "the love goddess". She is actually but pretty badass. She is also a war goddess and head of the valkyries.

The valkyries are female warrior spirits/deities dressed in chainmail and helmets adorned by swan feathers and with spears ready to fight. They were said to descend on the battle field on the backs of their ethereal horses, but never participate in the wars of mortals. 

Instead their duty is to pick out the fallen warrior and bring them to the afterlife. Traditionally it is said that Odin is the one who wants them in his home Valhalla to train them for the last battle when the world was supposed to end at Ragnarök, but this is only part of the truth. In fact, Freja was just as involved in this as Odin. She and Odin actually split the fallen warriors in between them. And she got to pick first, meaning she took the best warriors to her home, Folkvang.

So what has this got to do with Phryne Fisher? Well, there names sound similar and I think there are a lot of similarities between her and Freja's personalities. Phryne is powerful and independent just like Freja. She is also connected to death through all the murders that occur in close proximity to her (or someone she knows).

Hugh: Miss Fisher's gone on holiday again Sir.
Jack: Hm, anyone dead yet?
Hugh: Only one so far Sir.

~ Murder under the Mistletoe

There is also a tendency among certain viewers to discredit the series and Phryne based solely on Phryne's many sexual encounters with men. (For a discussion about this including comments by Essie Davis who plays her, you can look here.) This is also something she has in common with Freja who was seriously discredited among the male 19th century scholars who set out to interpret the Norse saga material and other written sources to the general public. They had serious problems with a goddess who was so popular as Freja seems to have been. Not least because of her many sexual adventures (She was a goddess of fertility and female sexuality after all.) She was worshipped throughout Scandinavia and a favourite among the female priestesses known as völvur. The matter of a liberal sexuality, esepcially in women, was also something the male scholars of the 19th century did not look foundly upon and because Freja is still mainly described as Frej's seductive sister or love goddess, it has worked and still works as a way to reduce her power and influence.

Egyptian tomb painting

There is also the matter of some of Phryne's headdresses. Even though the Cleopatra one she wears in the photo from Murder in the Dark above clearly is meant to look like the one from the Egyptian tomb painting above, I think it looks like a valkyrie helmet.

From Ruddy Gore

Phryne also wears a headband in both Ruddy Gore and Blood and Money that is probably some kind of laurel wreath, but those leaves could easily be consider feathers as well.

This rant might make little sense, but after my entry about ways to compare Phryne to other pop-cultural figures, I figured I might as well give some more alternatives to compare Phryne too and this day seems to be special for both of them.

Happy Birthday Phryne! Even though you are fictional, I love you!

Picture of valkyrie helmet was borrowed here, the Egyptian crown was found here and the photo of the Freja brooch from Aska in Östergötland in Sweden was taken by Gabriel Hildebrand at SHMM

Lucia

So, today is known as the Lucia day in Sweden. Of course I could tell you how we celebrate it, but that is much better explained in this video

Every year on social media, this tradition is said to be under threat. From what is often quite unclear, but it has been a decline in interest for public Lucia competitions and I have a theory as to why. But first I feel a need to talk about the history of the tradition.

"Sankta Lucia. Ljusklara hägring. Sprid i vår vinternatt, glans av din fägring " (Saint Lucia, Bright mirage. Spread in our winter's night, gloss of your beauty.)

~ Sankta Lucia

Lucia is a variation of the Latin word Lux which means light and in the Julian calendar, 13th of December was the winter solstice and therefore the night was the longest one of the year. According to folklore, a lot of bad spirits were roaming around during this night and legend tells of a demon-like woman called Lussi or Lussekärringen (in the province Västergötland the legend instead speaks of  man called Lussegubben though) who came riding together with her followers called lussiferda. It was also a night when the animals started to talk. 

Everyone can be a lucia!

Lucia is a Sicilian saint in the Roman-Catholic church who lived in Syracuse during the 4th century AD. However, the Swedish Lucia celebration (which today has spread to the Finno-Swedish population of Finland, Norway and Denmark) has little to do with her. The celebration is actually a mix of both Christian and Pagan traditions. Lucia marked the beginning of the christmas celebrations and in the past it was thought that the preparations needed to be finished by then. Swedes celebrated this by eating and drinking a little extra. The 13th of December was also the day when Swedes slaughtered the so called christmas pig to make the ham which is one of the major dishes in the Swedish christmas dinner. The christmas pig is thought of as to symbolise the pig Särimner from Norse mythology. Särimner is the pig who gets slaughtered every evening in Odin's hall Valhalla, but resurrects every morning just to get slaughtered (and eaten) again by the dead warriors.

The modern Lucia celebration is thought to have its origin in Western Sweden (in the regions kring the lake Vänern in the provinces Dalsland, Bohuslän, Västergötland and Värmland). From there, male students (since there were no female ones at that time) spread it to Uppsala and Lund where they went to university in the late 18th and early 19th century. There they held Lucia performances for their professors. Yes, traditionally it has been common with a male Lucia!

Lussekatter

Saffron buns called lussekatter (translated directly it is "lusse cats") are served during Lucia. This is a German tradition dating back to the 17th century where a legend said that the devil (sometimes refered to as Lucifer) went around as a cat spanking children. At the same time, Jesus went around offering buns to the children. They were stuffed with saffron to ward off the devil from the light colour.

"Staffan var en stalledräng. Vi tackom nu så gärna. Han vattna' sina fålar fem. Allt för den ljusa stjärna. Ingen dager synes än. Stjärnorna på himmelen de blänka." (Staffan was a stable boy. We gladly thank how now. He watered his five horses. Everything for the bright star. No day can yet be seen. The stars in the sky they glitter.)

~ Sankta Lucia

Stjärngossar

Except for Lucia, there are a, traditionally male, character in the Lucia celebration called stjärngosse (star boy). The tradition with this character is actually related to dramatized versions of the birth of Jesus during Twelth Night when the Three Wise Men reach the stable where Jesus is supposed to have been born. Since Twelth Night has losts its importance in Sweden, we have somehow chosen to put stjärngossarna into the Lucia celebration instead. Unfortunatelly, I have not been able to find any answer to the question why this change occured or why they sing the Medieval ballad about king Herod's stable boy Stefanus: Staffan var en stalledräng, but I guess it is just one of those things that happened when traditions adapts to a new reality.

I think it is very important that we actually study from where traditions like the Lucia celebrations come and even more to see how it has changed over time. I have talked about my view on culture as always ongoing negotiatons of sociability before in my entries about the Samish hat adorned with Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and chess. Considering all the memes and discussion there is every christmas about the "threatened" Lucia tradition I think Lucia is actually a great illustration for this. The Lucia celebration will change with time. That thing is clear! Every tradition does and it is totally natural. The celebration still has social value though. It is still extremely popular in schools and work places and such all over Sweden. There has been a decline in "official" Lucia competitions however, but I would not say that this has anything to do with Lucia celebration itself. Instead I think it has to do with the similarities between Lucia competitions and beauty pageants. The latter seems to have lost its social value in Sweden in later years which I think actually is something that we should be happy about.

Lucia celebration, the cat version

Picture of the lussekatter was borrowed from here.

Johanne Hildebrandt - Idun. Sagan om Valhalla

In Norse Mythology, Idun (or Iðunn) is the wife of Brage (who she also marries in the book) and seems to be one of the lesser known deities of the Norse pantheon. She is connected to apples and youth and one myth tells how she is kidnapped by the giant Þjazi (Swedish: Tjatse) after having been tricked to walk outside of Asgard by Loki.

Idun is also the second installment of the Sagan om Valahalla series  by Johanne Hildebrandt. Like with the entry about Freja, I do not intend to do a full review of the book, but rather use this entry to discuss a topic from the book that got me thinking.

Just like with Freja, I was still a teenager when Idun was first published back in 2003 and also like with Freja, my maturity and archaeological training afterwards have made me see the book in a different light.

In the entry about Freja, I talked a little about how Swedes in general lack knowledge and understanding of Scandinavian prehistory. As an archaeologist I feel strongly for this topic and there are much more that I feel to be said about it. However, I refrain from doing so here because there is another aspect of Idun that I want to discuss because it got me thinking even more. But lets start at the beginning!

Idun is the daughter of Freja and Tor and not really anything like her mother. Freja is independent, confident, outspoken and quite fearless. She also has the ability to see and talk to gods and spirits and is a highly ranked priestess. Idun, on the other hand, is scared, timid, shy and introvert. She has not inherit Freja's supernatural powers and is not at all popular among the men during the fertility rituals. Freja sees her as a disappointment and therefore treats her poorly. With this background it might not be so hard to guess why she falls a little too fast and hard for the beautiful youngling Brage when he shows up with Tor and a dying Frej.

Contrary to her mother and aunt Gefjyn, Idun has many traits traditionally ascribed to women. She is caring and nurturing of all living things. Like the goddess, she cares for the apple trees, which makes the fruits taste better according to Freja. She also adores children. She cared for her little sister Hnoss who died before the book started and she is also a favourite to the queen of Alheim, Alfhild's daughters Ingvild and Svea. Her greatest dream seems to be a wish to give birth to daughters so she can show her mother that she is capable of something.

I find the contrast between Freja's and Idun's characters to be really interesting. Not so much because they are mother and daughter and seem to be so different in character, but because it puts a finger on depiction of female characters in popular culture and who's considered "strong" or "weak".

In general, there are two "criteras" for who are considered "good female role models" in popular cultures of today. One is that she is like Freja. She breaks away from the traditional role of the woman, being limited to the home. She is a priestess and does not have time or interest in housework like cooking and cleaning. The other criteria is not so much a trait of Freja, but traits that her sister Gefjyn exhibits. Gefjyn is trained to be a warrior and therefore kind of a female version of the "macho man". Neither of the sisters are especially motherly or loving even though they show empathy towards others from time to time. Idun, on the other hand, shows a lot of the traits traditionally ascribed to females being both of them. She is not the strong, independent priestess Freja has been waiting for and she therefore sees Idun as a shame to the family, something that I also see as common in feminism in general today.

I did touch upon this subject a little in my Heroines entry about my most recent heroine Phryne Fisher from the TV series Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. Of course women should not be limited to the home, but I do not think it is wise to patronize women who wants to take care of their family either. In fact I would like to broaden that role so it can be a man who stays home caring for his family. The same goes to the question of characteristics. I cannot see any problems with Idun being motherly and caring. In fact we need more role models to be kind. There is no good that can come to female's situation by forcing traditionally male traits of violence and ignorance upon them. That will not change any patriarchal structures. Quite the contrary! It will only enforce masculinity and crush femininty. Besides, it will also only encourage violent behaviour while at the same time afflict traits like for example kindness. We do need more kind, caring and loving people of all gender, not violent, aloof ones!

Actually Hildebrandt deals with this problem in the book, weaving it into the plot. A dangerous decease is spreading at an alarming speed among both the Æsirs and the Vanírs. Tor seeks Freja's help to fight against the witch who has caused it. Freja refuses and Tor, realising that Idun is his daughter, brings Idun home to Idunvallen. There is a Swedish expression saying that one does not miss the cow until the stall is empty (Man saknar inte kon förrän båset är tomt.) and it is kind of fitting for Freja. Not until Idun has left with Tor does she realise that she has been unfair. Her own daughter therefore forces her to face her prejudices towards women who show traditional female traits and what is considered to be "strong women". This turn of event actually had me liking Freja even more. Hildebrandt lets her be flawed. She makes mistakes, but she also tries to change when she realises this. However it is not as easy to make amends with Idun as Freja thinks...

Egtvedpigen

For the Freja entry, I used a picture of a rock carving as a symbol of the Scandinavian Bronze Age and for Idun, I have chosen a picture of the probably most famous of the Danish oak coffin burials dating to the Bronze Age, Egtvedpigen (The Egtved Girl). I thought she fitted well into the context of Idun, but to not spoil anyone, I will leave the reason a secret. You can read more about the find on the National Museum of Denmark's webpage here.