Diffusionism and Viking Culture - A Look at Ibn Fadlan's Account

Hey, this is Nicole, and I’m sad to announce that this is our final blog post, everyone. It’s been a good run. To end the semester, I actually want to go back to the very beginning, to Ibn Fadlan’s piece, where we talked about Vikings as explorers and traders. There’s this really cool anthropological theory I want to introduce today to help us examine Viking culture and see how it was capable of changing so rapidly. Last time, we talked about syncretism regarding Iceland’s abrupt conversion to Christianity, and today’s topic kind of fits in with that. You’ll see how pretty soon.

So, as I did in my first blog post, I’ll introduce our scholar first. Alfred Kroeber (1876 – 1960) was an American cultural anthropologist who studied under Franz Boas (also known as Papa Boas, as he’s widely considered to be the founder of American anthropology as we know it). He was involved in quite a few works, but the theory I’d like to look at today is called cultural diffusion. This is, essentially, the idea that cultures shape and bleed into each other. Kroeber studied this through archaeological means, looking largely at the items within cultural groups that were passed between, and influenced by, surrounding cultures.

Vikings, as we know, traveled and raided all over Europe. They weren’t even confined to one continent—they also reached North Africa, Russia, the Middle East, etc. Along their journeys, they traded and stole many cultural items from such places and brought them back home. This is the perfect example of cultural diffusion—the Vikings are undoubtedly affected by every culture they encountered in some way, shape, or form, and we can track this best with the material culture they introduced to their homes. But, also, Vikings shaped other cultures in their travels, too. We can see this clearly in Ibn Fadlan’s piece.

Ibn Fadlan was an Arab Muslim traveler who met and observed a group of Vikings on the Volga River. His written account of what he saw is famous as well as it is historic. Before Ibn Fadlan met this group, Vikings in general had established trade routes along this area and had been present for at least a century. This account was not written without bias. He clearly states that these Vikings are “the filthiest of God’s creatures” and “are like wandering asses.” This speaks to the differences in cultures—just as much as encounters such as these influenced both cultural groups, it also reified norms within each culture.

Through firsthand witness accounts like Ibn Fadlan’s, we can already see how Vikings are shaped by, and help shape, other cultures. Despite their filth, they brought their culture with them—Ibn Fadlan was even able to witness a ship burial—and intermingled with the people in these new lands. They brought things to trade with, and they took things back to their home countries.

As a last note, if we think about syncretism using this theory, it can be really useful here, too. Christianity didn’t spring up out of nowhere. It was adapted by Vikings and Icelanders from other cultures which were already practicing the religion. You could even say it diffused into Viking culture.

Anyway, it’s been fun. I hope to continue writing blog posts similar to this in the future—this was actually a great exercise for me. Learning and teaching about anthropology is one of my passions, after all!

Syncretism of Christianity and Old Norse Paganism in Njal's Saga

Hey! It’s your friendly neighborhood anthropology major Nicole, back once more to talk about Viking culture. In this blog post, I’ll be discussing the syncretism of Christianity and pagan religion as it happened in Iceland around the year 1000. To do this, I’ll be looking at how this event was described in Njal’s saga—a saga that is known for mirroring some historical truths. What influenced the abrupt conversion to Christianity? How did it impact Viking culture? These are a couple of the questions I’ll be attempting to answer.

First, I think it’s necessary to define syncretism here. Syncretism is, essentially, a combination of religions, cultures, or modes of thinking. In this context, we’ll be discussing the amalgamation of the brand-new religion, Christianity, with the pre-existing pagan religion following the Old Norse gods. While it’s true that a conversion to Christianity took place in Iceland and the culture shifted rapidly, this doesn’t mean that the ways of thinking and existing that were tied to paganism completely died out. Instead, what Iceland was left with was this strange combination of the two lifestyles that, in the end, didn’t lead to a radically different culture for a long time.

What pushed people to convert to Christianity? Law was a major factor, it seems like. At the Thing in Njal’s saga, Thorgeir made a point that if everyone was split on their laws and religion, then peace would also be split, and nobody could live with that. He announced this once they had reached a decision:

‘This will be the foundation of our law,’ he said, ‘that all men in this land are to be Christians and believe in one God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – and give up all worship of false idols, the exposure of children, and the eating of horse meat. Three years’ outlawry will be the penalty for open violations, but if these things are practiced in secret there shall be no punishment.’

It became the law for people to follow Christianity, and to only perform pagan practices in private spaces. It’s said here that later, pagan practices were prohibited in private settings, as well. But, this brings up a good point. Despite their conversion to Christianity, people still followed their old ways of living that were tied to their honor culture. They participated in pagan traditions, as well as violent acts—they would fight and kill each other over blood feuds, just as they had before the conversion. Christianity didn’t immediately make them any more mild or peaceful. Njal’s saga gives many good examples of this—one being when Hildigunn throws Hoskuld’s bloody cloak over Flosi’s shoulders and invokes God when she persuades him to avenge his fallen friend:

Then she spoke: ‘This cloak, Flosi, was your gift to Hoskuld, and now I give it back to you. He was slain in it. In the name of God and all good men I charge you, by all the powers of your Christ and by your courage and manliness, to avenge all the wounds which he received in dying – or else be an object of contempt to all men.’

She is reifying Viking honor culture and violence as she says this. Christianity didn’t have a large effect on how she thought he should handle this situation. If anything, the religion gave her the language she needed to convince him that avenging Hoskuld was something worth doing. While they are undoubtedly Christians, they also have their pagan identity that cannot be simply erased or replaced by a new religion or lifestyle.

There’s much more to be said on this topic, and many more examples to give—my account of syncretism between paganism and Christianity is simplified here, but I hope the point at least got across. Though Iceland did rapidly convert to Christianity, there wasn’t this copy and paste of Christian morals, ethics, and lifestyle. They remained true to their honor culture and pagan practices while also taking the path to follow a new religion.

Gifts of the High One

Hey! Nicole here (and welcome to my Ted talk). As a student in anthropology, I am automatically obligated to make my blog posts about famous anthropological theories and how they tie into Viking culture. Today, I’ll be talking about one of my favorite scholars—Marcel Mauss—and his concept of reciprocal exchange, also known as the theory of gift giving. To demonstrate this theory using cultural evidence, I’ll be referring to Sayings of the High One from the Poetic Edda to present my case. So, let’s get started!

Marcel Mauss (1872-1950) was a French sociologist whose theories greatly contributed to the field of anthropology. His ideas surrounding gift giving were largely based in empirical evidence obtained through ethnographic field work (essentially, a phenomenon where anthropologists visit a culture for a long time and record everything they see and experience). For Mauss, there is no such thing as a “free” gift. When you give a gift, you are actually beginning a long line of reciprocal exchange between you and the other person. There is a bond between the giver and the gift itself which cannot be easily separated—essentially, you are giving part of yourself away when you give someone something. Because of this, there is an obligation to give a gift in return, and a risk to losing social status or honor if the gift is not reciprocated.

While we can talk about the evidence Mauss uses to describe gift giving, we can see this concept reflected in Sayings of the High One as well, in multiple instances. To begin with, the poem talks about what one should give a guest when they enter from the cold or join the table for a meal. Fire, food, clothing, water, a friendly disposition… all of these things should be given to a guest upon arrival. This is because—if you were the traveler, would you not want these things given to you as well? The favor is expected to be returned or passed on wherever you go.

The poem goes on to say:

The greedy man, unless he guards against this tendency, will eat himself into lifelong trouble.

You could interpret this as “someone who does not give back will suffer the consequences.” This sort of attitude is seen again, with:

Cattle know when they ought to go home, and then they leave the pasture; but the foolish man never figures the measure of his own stomach.

And:

A man must go, he must not remain a guest always in one place; the loved man is loathed if he sits too long in someone else’s hall.

So a man is foolish if he takes too much—if he overstays his welcome, not knowing when to leave. No one is expected to give all the time. One must give back—if not to the individual, then to the community itself. Not only are you expected to give, but you are expected to receive, too, as seen in this stanza:

I never found a generous man, nor one so unstingy with food, that he wouldn’t accept what was given; or one so open-handed with possessions that he disliked a gift when offered.

So, we can see a pattern being followed here. These lines are pieces of wisdom Odin has intended to spread throughout the community—if you want to be a good man/woman, you will follow these guidelines. You will give to your guests, your neighbors, your friends, and they will give back to you and to others.

As mentioned before, Mauss described the gift as something the giver has invested part of their personhood into. Again, Sayings of the High One is supportive of this notion, as we can see here:

You know, if you’ve a friend whom you really trust and from whom you want nothing but good, you should mix your soul with his and exchange gifts, go and see him often.

Through exchanging gifts, you are mixing your soul with another’s. You are investing a part of your soul into the very gift that you are giving—you are giving part of yourself away, and they, in turn, will reciprocate because of the power and symbolism this gift holds. Perfect fit!

While this poem is riddled with lovely lines that reflect reciprocal exchange (talking of how generous and brave men live the best; how the miser always worries when he gets gifts, etc.), sadly, I must end this blog post before it gets to be too long. I will leave you with one last piece of wisdom:

With weapons and gifts friends should gladden one another, those which can be seen on them; mutual givers and receivers are friends for longest, if the friendship keeps going well. To his friend a man should be a friend and repay gifts with gifts; laughter men should accept with laughter but return deception for a lie.