Asatru Folk Assembly - April 02, 2024


Asatru Holidays - April 2024 - Jarl Haakon ｜ Stubba ｜ Hexennacht


Episode Stats


Length

15 minutes

Words per minute

112.536835

Word count

1,795

Sentence count

76

Harmful content

Hate speech

3

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls and folk of all ages, you know what time it is.
00:00:28.420 It is the 1st of April, and that means it's time to go into our Holidays, Holy Days, and Days of Remembrance for our people.
00:00:40.260 On April 9th, we celebrate the Day of Remembrance for Jarl Haakon.
00:00:46.240 The very next day, on April 10th, we celebrate a Day of Remembrance for John Yol Stubba.
00:00:52.900 And on the last day of the month, April 30th, we celebrate Hexenocht.
00:00:58.420 Now, conventionally, in modern times, we observe the Hexanoct officially on April 20th for this year.
00:01:07.740 That being the third weekend of the month on the Saturday,
00:01:12.000 and a nice easy time for our folk to get together amongst jobs and life,
00:01:18.060 just to smooth things out and ensure that we can hold a proper holiday devoted to our gods.
00:01:24.800 Now the interesting bit, and we'll of course go into it next month, but with the holiday of Hexenokt being held on April 30th, the very next day on May 1st is May Day.
00:01:41.300 these holidays are generally linked
00:01:44.860 but due to modern conveniences
00:01:48.840 we do observe them on April 20th and May
00:01:52.900 18th both third Saturdays of each month
00:01:55.960 but if you do have the folk around you to observe
00:02:00.380 a proper holiday on the proper days it would be
00:02:05.040 April 30th and May 1st. Now I'll drop next month's video
00:02:09.260 on May 1st, so keep an eye out for that, but if you do need any information on May Day
00:02:15.980 beforehand, there will be a link in the description to the write-up over on the Runestone sites
00:02:22.340 where you can get all the information you need about May Day, and of course you can
00:02:26.720 always reach out to me, any of you, Gothar, Folk Builders, or anything like that if you
00:02:31.700 need any more assistance.
00:02:32.860 Alrighty, so let's get into it and actually go over some details surrounding these special days.
00:02:42.260 We're going to start chronologically.
00:02:46.580 On April 9th is the Day of Remembrance for Jarl Hakon, or Hakon Sigurdsson, son of the Norwegian Earl of Lod.
00:02:56.120 He was exiled to Denmark after the murder of his father by Harold II Greycloak.
00:03:02.860 He soon allied with Harold Bluetooth and they overthrew his father's murder.
00:03:10.480 While Hakan became the sovereign in the West, Harold Bluetooth annexed southeastern Norway.
00:03:17.960 The two would again join forces when Bluetooth needed aid in fighting against the Holy Roman
00:03:23.900 Emperor Otto II in 974.
00:03:28.720 Though forced into baptism, Hakan's faith in his gods was so strong that he was not
00:03:35.340 only able to revolt against Bluetooth's efforts to Christianize Norway for the time, but also
00:03:41.680 to spread and expand his faith in his lands.
00:03:45.900 In the end, powers that he could not control began to sway the attitudes of his men, and
00:03:52.400 he was killed by one of his own retainers.
00:03:56.560 Bjarro Haakon was the last Asatru ruler of Norway, his death in 995 Common Era, leading
00:04:05.620 directly to the takeover by Olaf Tryggvason.
00:04:10.700 So what can we learn from this story?
00:04:13.980 There will always be people in our lives who do not understand our faith and our dedication
00:04:19.800 to our faith.
00:04:21.860 Even our friends might choose to try and change our minds.
00:04:25.620 When the people we have trusted to do this, we can sometimes find ourselves doubting our
00:04:32.260 choices.
00:04:34.700 Even if for just a moment.
00:04:38.020 What if?
00:04:40.420 Take that breath and reaffirm your faith.
00:04:44.980 It isn't always going to be easy, but nothing that is worth anything ever is.
00:04:52.600 With dedication can come reward.
00:04:55.300 We might not be able to make everyone understand our values and our beliefs, but for every
00:05:02.920 person who turns away, there is a person somewhere whose mind can be opened by our words.
00:05:12.340 is that person whose soul longs to come home. They just don't know it yet. Perhaps your
00:05:20.080 words, your dedication, your belief will be the thing that helps someone else find their
00:05:26.520 way. And what better reward could there be for standing strong? We must also take a moment
00:05:34.760 to remember to curb our arrogance when we become too sure of ourselves and our ability to stand
00:05:42.760 tall against everything that would fight us we can become blinded by the reality of the situation
00:05:49.080 around us always remember to take time to take the measure of a situation take the time to know
00:05:58.040 If it is a good time to talk, or to hold your tongue.
00:06:03.260 Havamar 54
00:06:04.580 Wise in measure let each man be,
00:06:10.280 But let him not wax too wise.
00:06:14.020 For never the happiest of men is he,
00:06:17.480 Who knows much of many things.
00:06:20.400 Following April 9th, on April 10th, is the Day of Remembrance for John Yole Stubba.
00:06:32.280 This is a new Day of Remembrance for the Austro-True Folk Assembly.
00:06:36.820 We officially celebrated that last year for the first time.
00:06:41.160 On April 10th, 2023, the AFA marked the first official celebration of Day of Remembrance for John Yole.
00:06:50.400 known as Stubbe. He enjoyed a long life and did many great works in spreading our faith
00:06:57.760 in the Isir. He led a full life, starting out by serving in an Irish division of the military
00:07:05.500 and later the French Foreign Legion, earning distinction and being decorated by General
00:07:12.700 Charles de Gaulle and served in World War II before returning to his home country of
00:07:19.720 England. His life is somewhat shrouded in mystery, as he preferred, but he became aware of his
00:07:28.540 cultural English heritage and came to know the Aesir in the 1950s when he met another
00:07:36.440 of our heroes, John Gibbs Bailey, Hoskord. Together they would proceed to research and
00:07:45.340 re-establish what they dubbed Odinism, and go on to found an organization dedicated to
00:07:52.400 the worship of the Holy Iser as the Houdinic Rite. Gibbs Bailey, being at least a decade
00:08:00.460 older than Jol, had been an Odinist since the 1930s, and by the time the two met, had
00:08:08.040 been involved in a number of Proto-Odinist groups.
00:08:12.920 Yol felt the call of the gods, and eventually felt that Asatru was the natural religion
00:08:20.140 for those of Northern and Indo-European descent, and sought to reclaim the religion and birthright
00:08:26.600 of our ancestors.
00:08:29.360 In 1973, believing they had codified a solid structural framework on which to build, they
00:08:36.960 They went forward practicing and disseminating our native religion until 1980, at which time
00:08:43.880 the name of the formal societal organization was cemented simply to the Odinic Rite.
00:08:51.640 Together with Hoskod, Stubborn laid the foundation of the nine noble virtues courage, truth,
00:08:59.800 honor fidelity discipline hospitality self-reliance industriousness and perseverance which we still
00:09:11.240 use today with the addition of the tenth noble virtue victory they together establish connections
00:09:20.680 with fellow devoted believers notably folk mother lc christensen another one of our heroes who they
00:09:29.560 They corresponded via letters, newsletters, and publications such as the Odinist, steadfastly
00:09:37.420 spreading the religion of Asatru.
00:09:40.520 This is now what we call folk building.
00:09:45.200 Our folk builders are continuing this tradition constantly, bringing more and more of our
00:09:51.740 folk home every single day, just as Stubba, Hoskord, and the Folkmother did, every month
00:10:00.640 contributing an article to our own newsletter, The Runestone. Stubba would eventually lead
00:10:08.040 the Odinic Rite as the director of the court of Gothar, which is equivalent to being the
00:10:15.300 Asherger Gothi.
00:10:17.800 John Yore lived a full and long life, and his dedication to the Æsir never wavered.
00:10:26.080 He was courageous in leaving Catholicism.
00:10:29.580 He spoke the truth in his letters.
00:10:32.880 He gained honor for his service in the war, and he exhibited fidelity in his devotion
00:10:38.520 to the Odinic Rite.
00:10:40.860 He exhibited discipline in living nobly, and embodied hospitality in caring for his folk.
00:10:48.420 He was self-reliant, typing many newsletters to Boisley by hand on a typewriter, consistently
00:10:55.820 being industrious, and he persevered until the end of his life.
00:11:02.300 We hail these heroes for their foundational and right noble actions, in the reclamation
00:11:08.860 of our birthright, an inheritance of the worship of the Æsir.
00:11:16.020 It is important that we honor and remember not only the heroes of the distant past, but
00:11:21.860 those in more recent days whose efforts have contributed to the renewal of our faith.
00:11:29.100 Hail Stubbe!
00:11:31.840 This brings us to April 30th and our holiday, or should we say April 20th and its observation. 0.87
00:11:41.260 Either way, Hexenacht is that day.
00:11:46.360 When the ground was thawed and colder weather was beginning to give way,
00:11:52.260 till it became necessary to move the cattle from the winter fields to the summer ones.
00:11:58.420 Hexenacht traditionally was a festival celebrating this very thing
00:12:04.600 The main focus of the holiday was the bonfire
00:12:09.100 The men would all gather and build the large needfire
00:12:13.680 They would then walk the cattle through the smoke to bless them
00:12:18.580 For rehoming them for the warm months
00:12:21.460 Often the men would call on Frey during Hexenacht
00:12:26.320 asking for fertility and abundance.
00:12:29.940 While the men were off blessing the cattle,
00:12:32.800 the women gathered together for their own festivities.
00:12:36.380 They had their own bonfires,
00:12:38.600 and it was during this time that the women often burned herbs
00:12:42.620 and practiced their local magic, or cedar.
00:12:47.260 As the men called on Frey,
00:12:49.640 the women would often call on Freya.
00:12:52.400 After the separate celebrations, men and women would come together and continue the festivities.
00:13:01.400 We in the AFA celebrate this day as Hexenocht, instead of the more common Valpurgisnocht.
00:13:10.400 Valpurgisnocht is named such because it is the night before the Christian feast day honoring
00:13:17.400 honoring St. Valperica, who is credited with healing and repelling witches.
00:13:24.520 Men and women celebrating separately and then coming together
00:13:28.340 are one of the main features of Hexenacht, as well as the bonfire.
00:13:33.400 A good way to celebrate the holiday might include the men building the bonfire,
00:13:39.560 or the women practice communal seder.
00:13:42.180 When they are finished, the men and women can join together around the bonfire.
00:13:48.800 The women can throw herbs into the fire, and, asking the blessings of Frey and Freya, the
00:13:55.340 men, women, and children can each take turns walking through the smoke.
00:14:00.780 You'll find when studying 0.70
00:14:05.600 May Day is a very good compliment 1.00
00:14:09.220 And it is an auspicious time of the year
00:14:15.740 Hexanocht moving into May Day
00:14:18.420 Just another liminal doorway for our people
00:14:22.480 We'll learn more about May Day next month
00:14:25.860 And of course, as I mentioned earlier
00:14:28.040 if you want to read what I've read
00:14:30.520 today or read on any of the other
00:14:32.460 holidays
00:14:33.040 go on over to therunestone.org
00:14:36.640 there'll be a link to the main calendar
00:14:38.700 list of holidays and holy days
00:14:40.740 and all that information
00:14:42.660 is there
00:14:43.220 thank you so much everybody
00:14:46.300 have an amazing month
00:14:48.560 and be well
00:14:50.880 Hail your Hakan
00:14:54.300 Hail Stubber
00:14:57.040 Hail Thrae, Hail Thraea, Hail the Gods, Hail the Folk, and Hail the AFA.
00:15:27.040 Thank you.