Asatru Folk Assembly - August 01, 2024


Asatru Holidays - August 2024 - King Osric ｜ King Radbod ｜ Freyfaxi


Episode Stats


Length

16 minutes

Words per minute

111.72

Word count

1,859

Sentence count

80

Harmful content

Toxicity

1

sentences flagged

Hate speech

11

sentences flagged


Summary

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

The story of King Osric of Deira, the first Anglo-Saxon king to convert to Christianity, and the story of how he became one of the most powerful kings in England at the time of his death in 634.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
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,
00:00:28.760 you know what time it is
00:00:31.340 it's time to go over
00:00:33.840 the days of remembrance
00:00:35.620 holidays, holy days
00:00:37.600 and all around special days
00:00:40.280 of the awesome true folk assembly
00:00:42.160 awesome true are and our folk
00:00:44.380 for the month of August
00:00:46.480 and we get to pick up
00:00:49.940 right at the beginning
00:00:52.360 perfect day, perfect time
00:00:54.240 August 1st
00:00:55.840 is the day of remembrance
00:00:58.120 for King Azric of Deir.
00:01:02.600 We follow that up on August 9th
00:01:05.680 for a day of remembrance
00:01:07.100 for King Radbaud of Frisia.
00:01:13.080 And then on August 17th,
00:01:16.180 we observe Freyfaxi.
00:01:19.800 Well, let's get down to it
00:01:22.440 and dig in a little deeper
00:01:24.200 and find out about these high holy days.
00:01:28.120 As stated, August 1st. Hey, that's today. We celebrate the Day of Remembrance for King Osric of Deira. We unfortunately don't know what year he was born, but we do know he passed away beyond the veil on 634 of the Common Era.
00:01:49.760 King Osric of Deira was one of the shortest-lived kings of any of the 7th century CE collection
00:01:57.640 of kingdoms, and made up what was later to be known as England.
00:02:03.900 At the time, there were seven kingdoms, known as the Heptarchy.
00:02:09.560 One of those kingdoms was Northumbria, which was originally divided into the two kingdoms
00:02:15.080 of Bernicia in the north and Deira in the south. These two kingdoms would first be united
00:02:23.120 during the reign of King Æthelfrith, who reigned from 593 to 616 Common Era. The two
00:02:31.700 kingdoms were in a near constant state of war with each other for centuries, which led
00:02:38.080 the great instability in the region.
00:02:41.820 To tell King Osric's story, we first have to tell the story of Edwin of Northumbria.
00:02:49.180 Edwin was the son of Aela, the first known king of Daera.
00:02:54.280 Upon Aela's death, a certain Æthelric assumed power in Daera.
00:02:59.160 Who Æthelric was is unclear, but he may have been the father of Æthelfrith, who is listed
00:03:05.820 as the king of all Northumbria by the year 604. During the reign of Aethelfrith and for
00:03:12.820 reasons unknown, Edwin was sent into exile. He was fostered first in the kingdom of Gwynedd,
00:03:20.060 modern day southern Wales, and then later turned up around the year 616 in East Anglia
00:03:27.460 under the protection of King Redward. That same year, Aethelfrith was defeated in battle
00:03:34.460 by Redwald, who installed Edwin as his client king in Northumbria.
00:03:40.900 With the support of such a powerful overlord, Edwin would go on to unite Northumbria again,
00:03:47.560 which put the kingdom under the control of a native of Daera for the first time, 0.82
00:03:52.980 something considered outside the normal tendency.
00:03:57.580 Edwin would go on to take over most of England with Redwald for the next decade,
00:04:02.240 until the death of Redwald around 625.
00:04:07.060 After Redwald's death, Edwin sought to secure even more power for himself through marriage
00:04:13.120 and sought the hand of Edelberg, sister of Edbald of Kent.
00:04:19.640 Edbald agreed on the condition that Edwin would convert to Christianity,
00:04:25.140 believing that doing so would convert the Northumbrians
00:04:28.200 just as his parents' marriage had converted Kent.
00:04:32.240 Edbald himself holds the dubious distinction of being the first Anglo-Saxon king to convert to Christianity.
00:04:42.660 It should be noted that this time period in English history, in regards to faith and religion, was tumultuous.
00:04:52.320 Christian monks of every stripe were working hard to convert the kings and other nobility
00:04:58.860 in their aim to have all kings bend the knee to their new master.
00:05:05.780 Edwin himself was characterized as being unsure of conversion
00:05:09.860 and even after his marriage he still sought the advice of his counselors throughout the matter.
00:05:16.340 The account of this, meeting by the venerable Bede, is widely cited and includes the famous story of Cuefi, a pagan priest who, when asked what he thought of the new faith and its rules, stated that they may be worthwhile since no one has been more dedicated to the old gods, and he has gained no benefit from them.
00:05:40.420 another counselor agrees and edwin makes his decision to convert coife then asks to be the one to destroy the old pagan temple
00:05:51.520 since he now knows the true god has given him knowledge and doing so will set a good example to the public he asks for a horse and a spear rides through the doorway of the temple
00:06:07.380 and profanes it by casting the spear into it.
00:06:12.020 We aren't given any insight into why this profaned the temple,
00:06:16.380 but there were associations made by historians to connect it with the spear that pierced Jesus.
00:06:24.280 Edwin went on to become the most powerful king among the Anglo-Saxons,
00:06:29.260 when a coalition of one of his foster brothers from his time in Wales, Cadwaran,
00:06:34.660 and the mighty Asatru king, Pinda of Mercia, defeated his forces and killed him at the battle of Hatfield Chase.
00:06:44.480 This battle took place sometime in the autumn of 632, or possibly 633, sources are unsure.
00:06:53.460 What we do know is that shortly after his death, his vast kingdom was split up,
00:06:59.180 When Northumbria once again divided, Berenicia would go to his nephew, Ienfrith, son of his sister, Akja.
00:07:10.180 Dera would go to Osric, his cousin, son of his uncle, Eurufric.
00:07:16.680 This brings us to the summer of 633, when King Osric and King Ienfrith ruling their respective sub-kingdoms,
00:07:25.480 kingdoms, having themselves superficially accepted a new faith. However, according to
00:07:32.300 Bede and other historians, they promptly dropped the facade of being good Christians, and reverted
00:07:40.080 back to their native faith, Asithru. Their rule would not last a year, with Osric failing
00:07:48.200 to the same Cadwallan that had helped to slay Edwin, after he attempted to besiege him in
00:07:54.340 a fortified town. According to Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People,
00:08:01.580 the year that Infrith and Osric ruled their sub-kingdoms, was so abhorrent because of
00:08:08.000 their return to paganism that the reigns were effectively erased and added to the reign 0.72
00:08:14.440 of Oswald of Berenicia. Oswald was a staunch convert and was later made a saint.
00:08:21.460 While we don't know much about the life and thoughts of Osric, we should still speak his name and remember him.
00:08:32.540 At a time in our history when one's faith could be, and often was, a matter of life and death,
00:08:39.600 Osric chose to spend the brief time that he had in power to reinstate the Aesir to their proper place.
00:08:47.420 So let us remember King Osric of Daera, a short-lived champion of the Aesir, but a champion nonetheless.
00:08:55.420 Hail King Osric of Daera!
00:08:59.420 Hail the honored dead! 1.00
00:09:02.420 Hail the folk!
00:09:05.420 After that, we follow up on August 9th, with a day of remembrance for King Radbod of Freesia,
00:09:16.420 who was born in the year 648 and died in the year 719, a common era.
00:09:25.260 Radbaud, known as the greatest king of the Frisians,
00:09:30.700 spent his life tirelessly fighting against the subjugation of the Franks.
00:09:37.040 While his predecessor, Edergysir, had accepted Christian conversion easily,
00:09:44.340 Radbod was unwilling to stray from his loyalty to the Aesir. 0.70
00:09:49.180 On the verge of accepting baptism,
00:09:52.620 Radbod turned to the priest presiding
00:09:54.800 and asked if his ancestors would be waiting for him in the kingdom of heaven.
00:10:00.380 Upon being told that his Asatru ancestors were burning in hell,
00:10:05.720 Radbod refused the baptism,
00:10:09.260 expressing that he would rather burn in hell 0.99
00:10:11.560 with his Ossetru ancestors, and live in heaven with beggars. 0.95
00:10:18.460 His rule, 680-719, was spent fighting against the Frankish rule 1.00
00:10:24.620 and banishing Christianity from his land.
00:10:29.060 Despite losing to Pepin of Hertel on several occasions, Radbaud never gave up.
00:10:35.980 While never successful in his lifetime, his successors continued the battle for many years
00:10:43.480 after his death.
00:10:46.840 What can we learn from this story?
00:10:51.320 Radbot was not bolstered in his mission by success.
00:10:56.060 When he looked back, he did not see win after win, but quite the opposite.
00:11:02.880 The Radbot could see, however, was the long line of his ancestors, stretching back to
00:11:10.800 the first in his line.
00:11:13.220 He saw them, and he was proud of them, and of their faith.
00:11:18.760 Rather than disappointing them, King Radbot did his very best to make them proud and to
00:11:25.380 continue their legacy.
00:11:28.340 Our culture, our society as a whole is under attack.
00:11:34.020 They would have us turn our backs on our families and on our folk. 1.00
00:11:39.720 They would have us turn our backs on Asatru and our ancestors. 0.98
00:11:44.780 They would see the death of the traditional nuclear family and of the dedicated community. 0.82
00:11:51.460 Everything from the books we read to the shows we watch looks to tear down the idea that 0.92
00:11:57.260 and our folk should grow stronger together.
00:12:01.700 Like Radbot, we should look behind us to see the long line of our ancestors standing behind us,
00:12:09.500 supporting us.
00:12:11.320 We should then look forward to the bright future for our children and their children,
00:12:17.520 a future that we should fight for tirelessly,
00:12:20.620 no matter how many times we might stumble along the way.
00:12:27.260 And after our Days of Remembrance, that brings us to our holiday, and the month of August
00:12:35.660 we celebrate Freyfaxi.
00:12:40.500 Though Freyfaxi is, in name, a modern holiday, a celebration around which it is centered
00:12:48.420 is much older.
00:12:51.100 Dedicated to Freyr, our ancestors celebrated the first harvest of the season around this
00:12:57.060 time. The most common offerings during Freifaxi included the sheaves of wheat or other grains
00:13:06.820 and freshly baked loaves of bread. Less common was the sacrifice of a horse in honor of Freire.
00:13:16.320 The beginning of the harvest season marked the beginning of hard work and dedication.
00:13:23.040 Every harvest of the season was necessary to the survival of each family of the community.
00:13:30.840 This hard work ensured that there would be food to see them through the long winter months.
00:13:38.660 Those seeds that were planted after May Day and tended so carefully for the last few months have grown,
00:13:48.340 and some of them should be bearing the fruit of all that labor.
00:13:55.020 Take some time in the garden
00:13:56.860 as you pick the first offerings of your plants
00:14:00.740 to thank Threyr.
00:14:04.500 Share with him some of that first harvest
00:14:07.180 along with bread and air.
00:14:11.320 Celebrate the God of vitality and abundance
00:14:14.220 with your family and folk.
00:14:19.320 Well, folks, before I get off here, we were just talking about Freyfaxi.
00:14:25.720 So, why not do another little plug?
00:14:31.600 Freyfaxi at Baldershof will be coming up in just a few short weeks.
00:14:36.860 It's going to be hosted on Friday, August 16th through Sunday, August 18th.
00:14:42.240 And that weekend will include nine meals, daily fika, five blots, high sambal, some daily dedications and devotions, ceremonies of the folk, discussions, workshops, and classes, men's and women's spiritual groups, tournaments, games, crafter's tables, an auction, and children's activities are galore.
00:15:09.260 Now head on up
00:15:11.840 You still got time to go get by some tickets
00:15:14.820 Get up to Minnesota
00:15:16.720 Celebrate with the good folk of Baldershof
00:15:20.060 There ain't none better
00:15:21.800 Alright everybody
00:15:24.540 Well
00:15:24.940 That's what we got for the month of August
00:15:27.400 I will see you guys in September
00:15:30.480 And until then
00:15:32.340 Hail the gods
00:15:34.880 Hail the folk
00:15:36.700 Hail
00:15:38.400 King Osric
00:15:40.060 Hail King Radvad
00:15:41.940 Hail Freyr
00:15:43.800 and Hail the AFA
00:15:45.860 Goodnight everybody
00:16:08.400 Thank you.