Nidstangs!

[_Banbha_]

I love that word. This came up on another thread about using an animal head ritually and I would like to learn more.


Nidstang means, literally, "curse pole." The nidstang (sometimes called a "Nithing Pole," or "niding pole") is an ancient Scandinavian custom of formal cursing or hexing someone. A wooden pole or stake was inscribed with the intended consequence and erected with a ceremony. A horse's head or carcass was placed atop the pole in the facing in the direction one wished to send the curse. Today, the nidstang is more likely to be virtual- an internet curse accompanied by a virtual horse's head (I'm sure the horses are relieved).

http://altreligion.about.com/library/glossary/symbols/bldefsnidstang.htm

There is much on the internets but I don't have the expertise to readily sift through searching for legitimate sites to find the earliest origins and meanings of Nibstangs.

I'd also like to ask what they might mean to comtemproary Recons and does anyone use actual horse heads anymore? If so, do you have to sacrifice them yourselves or can you go to the local slaughterhouse and buy a head/carcass?

Can they can be seen as much of a protection spell as a curse? Do the meanings overlap?

LOL, I guess that's all, I was just curious.

[Rick]

I love that word. This came up on another thread about using an animal head ritually and I would like to learn more.



There is much on the internets but I don't have the expertise to readily sift through searching for legitimate sites to find the earliest origins and meanings of Nibstangs.

I'd also like to ask what they might mean to comtemproary Recons and does anyone use actual horse heads anymore? If so, do you have to sacrifice them yourselves or can you go to the local slaughterhouse and buy a head/carcass?

Can they can be seen as much of a protection spell as a curse? Do the meanings overlap?

LOL, I guess that's all, I was just curious.
I don't know the earliest origins, but the meaning of nithing is as outlined in your quote. Check your local library for a copy of SAGA OF ICELANDERS, & read Egil's Saga. Our hero, Egil, erects at least one nithing pole.

I reckon they mean pretty much the same now as then... :lol: While I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to using a horse's skull, I probably wouldn't. Sacrificing an animal as large as a horse could be very problematic for most of us (as well as very expensive)... not like, for example, a chicken, the remainder of which you could easily consume (or otherwise dispose of). Of course, a chicken's head on a stick just doesn't have the same "oomph," now does it? 8O Don't know about other areas, but in the southwestern U.S. horse skulls can sometimes be found at flea markets & such.

Then there's that whole apartment-manager-doesn't-want-horse-blood-everywhere thang... http://bestsmileys.com/horses1/5.gif

[_Banbha_]

I don't know the earliest origins, but the meaning of nithing is as outlined in your quote. Check your local library for a copy of SAGA OF ICELANDERS, & read Egil's Saga. Our hero, Egil, erects at least one nithing pole.

A little light reading? I'd like to own a copy of the sagas. Thanks for the recommendation to Egil. :)


I reckon they mean pretty much the same now as then... :lol: While I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to using a horse's skull, I probably wouldn't. Sacrificing an animal as large as a horse could be very problematic for most of us (as well as very expensive)... not like, for example, a chicken, the remainder of which you could easily consume (or otherwise dispose of). Of course, a chicken's head on a stick just doesn't have the same "oomph," now does it? 8O Don't know about other areas, but in the southwestern U.S. horse skulls can sometimes be found at flea markets & such.

:lol: The chicken, she is a powerful, intimidating beast. Have you ever seen her ancient sacred Chicken dance done at weddings? The HORROR!

(I actually have a CD of traditional Italian folk music and that music was quite different originally; it was pretty intense, anything but silly. I don't think it's about chickens though either. )

I thought the idea of sacrificing the horse would be part of the price or energy needed for the curse. It would be a sacrifice in more ways then one. My reading of it though sounds like protection from ones enemies as much cursing them. Warding them away even. Or even as a tactic for intimidation, the display and everything. A person kills his/her horse, word gets around they're serious.

I wouldn't kill my horse either to be honest; anymore than I'd go headhunting my enemies, though the latter is tempting.


Then there's that whole apartment-manager-doesn't-want-horse-blood-everywhere thang... http://bestsmileys.com/horses1/5.gif

Hey, didn't s/he ever hear of freedom of religion? :lol: :viking:

[Rick]

Ya know who taught the Corsicans that whole "horse head in the bed" thing, doncha? Teutonic mercenaries, of course...

Yes, a nithing pole has everything to do with intimidation... I suppose you could view it as protection, maybe in a pre-emptive sorta way... :smile: