Asatru Folk Assembly - August 01, 2025


Asatru Holidays - August 2025 - Osric ｜ Radbod ｜ Freyfaxi


Episode Stats


Length

13 minutes

Words per minute

134.97919

Word count

1,848

Sentence count

92

Harmful content

Hate speech

8

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.
00:00:27.280 It is August the 1st.
00:00:30.060 It's time to talk about the Holy Days, High Days, Days of Remembrance, all the special
00:00:34.440 days for our folk, Alcitru Folk Assembly.
00:00:38.640 And I'm in a bit of a hurry today, because it is August 1st, and I'm recording this on
00:00:44.740 the Day of Remembrance for King Osirik of Daedra.
00:00:47.960 We've got to get this video out.
00:00:50.320 And on August the 9th will be the Day of Remembrance for King Radbot of Thrysia.
00:00:55.080 And, of course, on the third weekend of the month, we celebrate our holiday day.
00:01:02.180 This month it's Sreyfaxi on the 16th.
00:01:06.040 Alrighty, y'all. Let's get down to it.
00:01:09.080 Go into some nitty-gritty on to the details for our special days.
00:01:15.180 As I said, today, the Day of Remembrance, King Osric of Deira,
00:01:20.020 who passed away in 634 of the Common Era.
00:01:23.480 King Osric of Deira was one of the shortest lived kings of any of the 7th century Common Era collection of kingdoms that made up what was later to be known as England.
00:01:35.800 At the time, there were seven kingdoms known as the Heptarchy.
00:01:41.400 One of those kingdoms was Northumbria, which was originally divided into two kingdoms of Bernicia in the north and Deira in the south.
00:01:50.160 These two kingdoms would first be united during the reign of King Aethelfrith, who reigned
00:01:56.560 from 593 to 616 Common Era.
00:02:00.560 The two kingdoms were in near constant state of war with each other for centuries, which
00:02:05.000 led to great instability in the region.
00:02:08.000 To tell King Osric's story, we first have to tell the story of Edwin of Northumbria.
00:02:13.180 Edwin was the son of Aela, the first known king of Daedra.
00:02:17.160 Upon Aela's death, a certain Æthelric assumed power in Daedra.
00:02:22.620 Who Æthelric was is unclear, but he may have been the father of Æthelfrith, who was listed
00:02:28.060 as the king of all Northumbria by the year 604.
00:02:32.720 During the reign of Æthelfrith, and for reasons unknown, Edwin was sent into exile.
00:02:38.720 He was fostered first in the kingdom of Gwynedd, modern-day southern Wales, and then later
00:02:44.340 turned up around the year 616 in East Anglia, under the protection of King Raedwold.
00:02:50.520 The same year, Ætheltrith was defeated in battle by Raedwold, who installed Edwin as
00:02:56.500 the client's king in Northumbria.
00:02:59.680 With the support of such a powerful overlord, Edwin would go on to reunite Northumbria again, 0.93
00:03:06.900 which put the kingdom under the control of a native of Daedra for the first time, something
00:03:11.620 considered outside the normal tendency. Edwin would go on to take over most of
00:03:17.620 England with Redwald for the next decade, until the death of Redwald around 625.
00:03:24.260 After Redwald's death, Edwin sought to secure even more power for himself through marriage,
00:03:29.460 and sought the hand of Ethelberg, sister of Edbald of Kintz. Edbald agreed on the condition
00:03:36.500 that Edwin would convert to Christianity,
00:03:39.140 believing that doing so would convert the Northumbrians,
00:03:42.120 just as his parents' marriage had converted Kintz.
00:03:45.560 Edbald himself holds the dubious distinction
00:03:48.080 of being the first Anglo-Saxon king to convert to Christianity.
00:03:52.800 It should be noted that this time period in English history
00:03:55.780 as regards to faith and religion was tumultuous.
00:04:00.640 Christian monks of every stripe were working hard
00:04:02.740 to convert the kings and other nobility
00:04:04.700 in their aim to have all kings bend the knee to their new master.
00:04:10.280 Edwin himself was characterized as being unsure of conversion,
00:04:14.080 and even after his marriage he still sought the advice of his counselors about the matter.
00:04:19.020 The account of this meeting by the venerable Bede is widely cited
00:04:23.160 and includes the famous story of Coife, a pagan priest,
00:04:27.160 who, when asked what he thought of the new faith and his rules,
00:04:30.420 stated that they may be worthwhile
00:04:33.260 since no one has been more dedicated to the old gods
00:04:36.800 and he has gained no benefit from them.
00:04:40.720 Another counselor agrees and Edwin makes his decision to convert.
00:04:45.260 Coifee then asks to be the one to destroy the old pagan temple 0.82
00:04:49.940 since he now knows the true god has given him good knowledge
00:04:55.360 and doing so will set a good example to the public.
00:04:59.720 He asks for a horse and a spear, rides to the doorway of the temple, and profanes it by casting the spear into it.
00:05:07.380 We aren't giving any insight into why this profaned the temple,
00:05:12.020 but there were associations made by historians to connect it with the spear that pierced Jesus.
00:05:18.220 Edwin went on to become the most powerful king among the Anglo-Saxons,
00:05:22.200 until the year 632, when a coalition of one of his foster brothers from his time in Wales, Cadwallon,
00:05:28.840 and the mighty Alcetru king, Pinda of Mercia, defeated his forces and killed him in the Battle of Haithfield Chase.
00:05:37.100 This battle took place sometime in the autumn of 632, or possibly 633, sources are unsure.
00:05:44.640 What we do know is that shortly after his death, his vast kingdom was split up, with Northumbria once again divided.
00:05:52.240 Berenicia would go to his nephew, Ienfrith, son of his sister, Aikia.
00:05:56.320 Deirah would go to Osric, his cousin, son of his uncle Eolfric.
00:06:03.560 This brings us to autumn of 633, and King Osric and King Aenverith, ruling their respective
00:06:09.600 sub-kingdoms, had themselves superficially accepting the new faith.
00:06:14.840 However, according to Bede and other historians, they promptly dropped the facade of being good
00:06:21.040 Christians and reverted back to their native faith, Austru.
00:06:26.120 Their rule would not last a year, with Osric failing to the same Codwallan that had helped 0.87
00:06:32.040 to slay Edwin after they attempted to besiege him in a fortified town.
00:06:36.620 According to Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, the year that Eafrith
00:06:42.520 and Osric ruled their sub-kingdoms was so abhorrent because of their return to Alcetru
00:06:48.580 that their reigns were effectively erased and added to the reign of Oswald of Berenicia.
00:06:54.900 Oswald was a staunch convert and was later made a saint.
00:06:58.660 While we don't know much about the life and thoughts of Osric,
00:07:02.660 we should still speak his name and remember him.
00:07:06.280 At the time in our history when one's faith could be and often was a matter of life and death,
00:07:12.320 Osric chose to spend the brief time that he had in power to reinstate the Isir to their proper place.
00:07:18.760 So let us remember King Osric of Daerah, a short-lived champion of the Aesir, but a champion nonetheless. 0.69
00:07:27.380 Hail King Osric of Daerah, hail the honored dead, hail Odin.
00:07:35.620 And after that, y'all, it brings us to August 9th, which, as I said, is the day of remembrance for King Radbad of Frisia.
00:07:44.620 Born in 648 and passed away in 719 Common Era.
00:07:51.880 King Radbot ruled Phrygia from 680 Common Era until his death in 719.
00:07:57.400 He was the last independent ruler of Phrygia before it was subdued and converted by the Christian Franks.
00:08:04.120 Radbot is celebrated as a powerful warrior and leader, always energetic and constantly fighting in other battles for the good of his people.
00:08:11.540 He was said to have repulsed Christianity and its proponents out of Frisia during his
00:08:16.980 early reign, since his predecessors allowed the foreign faith to sink its claws into his
00:08:22.100 kingdom years earlier.
00:08:24.300 Adding to the gravity of Radbad's reputation, it is reported that he made the entire Frankish
00:08:29.740 kingdom tremble in fear when they heard that he was assembling an army, even near the end
00:08:35.460 of his life.
00:08:37.540 His most well-known victory involves defeating Charles Martel himself, a clone, in 716, three
00:08:44.260 years before his own death.
00:08:46.140 The most important tale of King Radbot's life, however, is when he was nearly baptized
00:08:52.160 by Frankish Christians.
00:08:54.440 While the reasons for this are unknown, King Radbot nearly accepted the desert faith for
00:08:59.200 himself and his people.
00:09:01.300 Wolfram, a monk, had set up the baptism.
00:09:04.020 When King Radbot asked him where his ancestors were, Wolfram replied that they were burning
00:09:09.320 in hell, but that heaven contained the souls of many fellow Christians. 0.71
00:09:14.440 This remark quickly helped King Radbot make up his mind.
00:09:18.360 He then rejected the baptism and Christ wholesale, and said, I would sooner spend eternity burning 0.85
00:09:27.000 with my ancestors than in paradise with a pack of beggars. 0.63
00:09:32.820 From then on and until the end of his days, King Radboud courageously and loyally stood
00:09:37.820 with the Aesir.
00:09:39.420 His faith in the gods of his ancestors gave him enough strength to go shot for shot with
00:09:43.600 the Frankish Empire for a time, even going so far as to defeat Charles Martel.
00:09:50.020 The Alstrue Folk Assembly honors King Radboud for his defiance of the Christians, for his
00:09:54.420 strength as a leader, for his love of his people, and for his loyalty to the Holy Aesir
00:09:59.500 and Alcenior.
00:10:00.500 Hail King Radbar of Phrygia! Hail the Alcetor Folk Assembly! 0.93
00:10:08.500 And after the remembrance of these amazing men in our histories, we have the High Holy Day of Threyfaxi.
00:10:18.500 Third Saturday of the month, this month being the 16th. Let's go into what those details are all about.
00:10:28.500 Though Freyfaxi is, in name, a modern holiday, the celebration around which it is centered is much older.
00:10:38.340 Dedicated to Freyr, our ancestors celebrated the first harvest of the season.
00:10:43.680 The most common offerings during Freyfaxi included the sheaves of wheat or other grains and freshly baked loaves of bread.
00:10:52.100 Less common was the sacrifice of a horse in honor of Freyr.
00:10:56.100 The beginning of the harvest season marked the beginning of hard work and dedication.
00:11:02.000 Every harvest of the season was necessary to the survival of each family of the community.
00:11:08.300 This hard work ensured that there would be food to see them through the long winter months.
00:11:12.960 Those seeds that we planted after Sumer Mall tended so carefully for the last few months have grown,
00:11:20.280 and some of them should be bearing the fruit of all that labor.
00:11:23.460 Take some time in the garden as you pick the first offerings of your plants
00:11:27.960 To thank Freyr
00:11:29.400 Share with him some of the first harvest
00:11:32.420 Along with bread and ale
00:11:35.100 Celebrate the god of vitality and abundance
00:11:38.980 With your family and folk
00:11:41.440 And while you're at those celebrations
00:11:44.820 The very next week, fourth Wednesday of the month
00:11:48.360 Is our national event, Frey Faxi
00:11:50.980 at Baldrishoff, Murdoch, Minnesota.
00:11:54.540 It is an amazing time.
00:11:56.480 I have been to Baldrishoff at least four or five times,
00:12:01.180 including twice for Freyfaxi.
00:12:04.260 You will not underestimate the frith and piety of those folk
00:12:11.720 basking in the light of Baldr celebrating Freyr.
00:12:17.360 It is an amazing time.
00:12:19.160 If there's any way for y'all to get out there, go see them, enjoy it, and celebrate Threyfaxi with some good folk.
00:12:30.740 All right, y'all.
00:12:32.240 That's all we got for the month of August.
00:12:35.040 I thank you all so much.
00:12:37.100 You're listening in every single month, learning a bit about our holidays, just chatting with us.
00:12:41.480 In the meantime, hail King Osric, hail Radbod, hail Frere, hail the Eysir, hail the Folk,
00:12:55.300 hail the AFA, hail victory, y'all.
00:12:58.060 Have a good night.
00:13:11.480 Thank you.