tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13713642.post5778406605560445596..comments2024-03-28T11:03:41.050-05:00Comments on Unlocked Wordhoard: Dragon's Blood and ChristianityDr. Richard Scott Nokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01348275071082514870noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13713642.post-6353591098497621752009-02-23T13:56:00.000-06:002009-02-23T13:56:00.000-06:00Via a colleague, this might have something:Elizabe...Via a colleague, this might have something:<BR/>Elizabeth Ashmann Rowe, "Quid Sigvardus cum Christo? Moral Interpretations of Sigurðr Fáfnisbani in Old Norse Literature" in Viking and Medieval Scandinavia 2 (2006)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13713642.post-35207318573226617982009-02-20T17:06:00.000-06:002009-02-20T17:06:00.000-06:00I remember hearing somewhere that the Old English ...I remember hearing somewhere that the Old English word <I>bletsian</I> originally meant "to sprinkle with blood".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13713642.post-62555292435283307802009-02-19T09:00:00.000-06:002009-02-19T09:00:00.000-06:00Travis, what you've described is also SOP for sacr...Travis, what you've described is also SOP for sacrificial practices in the Bible--particularly rites of atonement--so it doesn't necessarily negate Christian influence.<BR/><BR/>Actually rather than seeing Christian or even more general religious symbolism here, it always seemed to me that bathing in the blood/eating the heart of the monstrous would convey those properties to the hero. Thus by bathing in the dragon's life-blood, you gain part of its life-strength, by taking the heart into yourself you gain its power.Derek the Ænglicanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11625110461660458291noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13713642.post-33787189089168595612009-02-18T11:56:00.000-06:002009-02-18T11:56:00.000-06:00It is likely to be more in line with the Germanic ...It is likely to be more in line with the Germanic cultural and religious ideals than Christian ones. In Hakon's saga Snorri describes the blood of the sacrifice was caught in a bowl. The blood was sprinkled on the altar, the temple, the idols and assembled people with a bit of evergreen twig dipped in the blood. The Scandinavian conversion to Christianity was mostly superficial until well into the late medieval period. It is likely, I think, that many of the elements that would seem puzzling in Christian context made perfect sense in a Germanic heathen sense.Travis Millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08462669235840448896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13713642.post-54646048320049572172009-02-18T08:25:00.000-06:002009-02-18T08:25:00.000-06:00It's also highly reminiscent of the Taurobolium, a...It's also highly reminiscent of the Taurobolium, a rite of the late Roman cult of Mithras, in which worshippers stood beneath a platform or under a grate above which a bull was being sacrificed, and bathed in the blood.<BR/>Have been enjoying your blog for some time, btw, though this is my first time commenting.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com