How Iceland Recreated A Viking-age Religion[1]

再現維京時代宗教的冰島

3 June 2019

2019年6月3日

The Ásatrú faith, one of Iceland’s fastest growing religions, combines Norse mythology with ecological awareness – and it’s open to all.

將北歐神話與生態文明結合的Ásatrú是冰島上發展最快速的宗教，也是一個開放地接納所有人的宗教。

Priest Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson rummaged around in his blue woollen robe and fished out two cans of warm Icelandic lager. “Beer?” he asked, handing me one of the tepid tins, which frothed violently as I pulled the ring. “Skál,” said the priest, a mischievous glint in his pale blue eyes. “Skál,” I repeated, and we slurped our overflowing lagers.

身著藍色羊絨長袍的西馬爾森祭司到處翻了翻，撈出兩罐暖呼呼的冰島啤酒，說著「喝啤酒嗎？」邊將一罐微溫的啤酒遞給我。在我拉開拉環的時候，啤酒泡沫爭先恐後地湧了出來，而祭司淡藍色的眼睛裡則閃過一道惡作劇的光芒說:「Skál」，我也跟著說了聲「Skál」，我們就這樣一同啜飲著溢出來的拉格啤酒。

Those weren’t the first beers of the day. Earlier that afternoon, Hilmarsson had poured pilsner into a bull’s horn and passed it around his congregation; a motley crew of characters, some of whom looked like they were extras from Game of Thrones, others straight off the stage of a heavy metal concert. Most, though, were dressed in regular clothes befitting of a breezy day in Iceland.

那天我們喝的啤酒可不只這些。當天稍早時，西馬爾森祭司將皮爾森倒入牛角之中，讓信徒們傳下去。這些信徒中有著各色人物，有些人看起來像是從權力遊戲裡走出來的配角，有些人則穿得像剛從舞台上下來的重金屬樂團成員。不過大部分人的穿著還是比較一般，適合冰島微涼的日子。

The congregation, which comprised a few dozen souls, including a Buddhist and a Hindu guest, had gathered near a sandy beach on the outskirts of Reykjavik, next to the city’s domestic airport, to celebrate the first day of the Icelandic summer. It was 25 April, slightly chilly and mostly overcast. Rain looked likely.

這數十位信徒中還來了一位佛教徒和一位印度教徒，他們聚在雷克雅維克[2]郊區毗鄰著國內機場的海灘附近，一同慶祝冰島夏季的開始。當天是4月25日，有點冷，天氣還灰濛濛地，看起來就快要下雨了。

The ‘blót’, as the changing-of-the-season ceremony is known, began with the lighting of a small fire, which flickered in the breeze as the congregation listened to Old Norse poetry and raised the beer-filled horn to honour the Norse gods. Elsewhere on the island, similar ceremonies, I was told, were taking place.

冰島的換季儀式，又稱為blót[3]，是從點燃一團小小的火苗開始，隨著火苗在微風中搖曳，信徒們一邊聽著古諾斯語詩歌，一邊高舉著裝滿啤酒的牛角祭祀北歐諸神。有人和我說，在島上的其他地方也正在舉行著類似的慶典儀式。

The blót had been organised by the Ásatrú Association of Iceland, a pagan faith group that is currently one of the country’s fastest growing religions, having almost quadrupled its membership in a decade, albeit from a low base of 1,275 people in 2009 to 4,473 in 2018.

Blót是由冰島Ásatrú協會所發起。這個異教組織可以說是目前冰島上發展最快速的宗教之一，儘管原先的人數並不多，但它在十年間就多增加了近3倍的信徒。從2009年的1,275人到2018年的4473人。

The Ásatrú Association is tricky to define because it has no fixed beliefs (“The suspension of disbelief is more accurate,” Hilmarsson explained, somewhat surreally). The group does, however, subscribe to local folklore, and meetings typically involve recitals from the Sagas of Iceland, a literary canon written during the 13th Century, but based on fantastical tales of love, loss and heroism from as far back as the 9th Century.

比較難的是對Ásatrú協會的描述，因為它並沒有一個固定的信仰（西馬爾森說:「倒不如說是先去相信了再說」，感覺有點虛幻的成分啊）。不過可以知道的是，這個協會相信當地流傳的民間故事，聚會時也常與冰島薩迦的朗誦有關。薩迦是13世紀時寫成的文學經典，其所記述的卻是九世紀時的英雄傳說故事。

“People in the year 950 didn’t have a lot to do, so they sat around fires telling stories,” explained Haukur Bragason. “They were the Netflix of old times.”

Bragason說:「生活在950年的人並沒有太多的休閒娛樂，所以他們能做的就是圍坐在火堆旁講故事。這些故事就是那個時代的Netflix。」

The Ásatrú faith also celebrates Old Norse mythology and its pantheon of morally ambiguous deities – gods such as Odin, Thor and Loki – that came to Iceland during the Viking Age, when the island was settled by Norwegian farmers looking for new pastures. These deities were worshipped across this ‘land of fire and ice’ until the year 1000, when, under pressure from the influential Norwegian crown, the country abandoned heathenry and adopted Christianity.

Ásatrú也歌頌在維京時代來到冰島上的北歐神話及其善惡分界模糊的諸神，例如奧丁、索爾和洛基這樣的神。當時冰島上定居著來找新牧場的挪威農民，而北歐諸神就在這片「冰與火之地」上廣受崇敬。直到公元1000年時受到來自當時廣具影響力的挪威王室的施壓，才放棄了日耳曼新異教，改信基督教。

But in 1972, a group of artists, led by the late sheep farmer and poet Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson, cooked up a plan to reboot the old pagan faith. Over meetings in cosy Reykjavik coffee shops, the group established the Ásatrú Association and the following year successfully lobbied Iceland’s government to recognise it as an official religion.

但是在1972年時，一群由已故的牧羊人與詩人Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson所領導的藝術家策劃了一場重啟舊異教信仰的活動。他們聚集在雷克雅維克舒適的咖啡廳裡，在舉行了多次會議後，成立了Ásatrú協會，並在隔年成功地遊說冰島政府將它視為一個官方的宗教團體。

The story goes that while the minister of justice and ecclesiastical affairs, Ólafur Jóhannesson, considered the matter, a powerful storm hit Reykjavik. “Lightning struck the power station and there was a black out,” Hilmarsson explained. “People thought it was Thor showing his might [and so] the minister relented.”

聽說事情的經過是這樣的，在司法及教會事務部部長Ólafur Jóhannesson還在考慮這事的時候，來了一場暴風襲擊了雷克雅維克。西馬爾森說:「當時閃電擊中了發電廠，造成大停電。許多人都認為是索爾顯靈了[也因此]部長的態度才緩和，同意這事。」

A new faith was born.

新的信仰就此誕生。

Although the Ásatrú Association has no doctrine as such, it does promote virtuous behaviour. “It’s about being honest, upright and tolerant,” Hilmarsson said. “Respect for nature is also important. You have to make sure you live in harmony with nature.”

雖然Ásatrú協會並沒有相關的教義，但也確實增進了信徒的道德良知。「這要求一個人做到誠實、正直、寬容，還有敬畏大自然，與自然和諧共處。」

The association has been concerned with the environment from the beginning. “[Beinteinsson] was into ecology before most people were familiar with the concept,” said Hilmarsson, who believes increased awareness of climate change and biodiversity loss is attracting more people to the faith. “I think this is a healthy reaction against that.”

Ásatrú協會自成立以來就已關注著環境議題。西馬爾森說:「在其他大多數的人還不了解這個概念之前，[Beinteinsson]就已經融入了生態的觀念。」他認為對氣候變遷以及生物多樣性喪失這股危機意識的上升正在吸引更多的人加入這個信仰。「這是一股對抗氣候變遷與生物多樣性喪失的助力。」

The association rarely wades into politics, but it has made exceptions, most notably by campaigning for same-sex marriage (legal in Iceland since 2010) and against a series of hydro-electric dams, which were built despite concerns about their impact on the environment. The faith also championed an Icelandic Forestry Association-scheme to reforest parts of the country, where three million trees are being planted annually mainly for the good of nature but also, potentially, for timber production.

雖然Ásatrú協會很少涉足政治，卻也沒有那麼絕對，其中最著名的就是發起同性婚姻運動（冰島於2010年時合法同性婚姻）以及反對大壩的開發工程，雖然最終政府還是不顧對環境的影響，仍然選擇興建水壩。Ásatrú還提倡一個冰島的林業協會所發起的重新造林計畫，每年在冰島上種植300萬棵樹木，其主要的目的是為了自然好，但也可能是為了木材的生產。

Some of the older trees in the scheme will be used to make a roof for the Ásatrú Association’s new hof (temple), which is currently being built on the outskirts of Reykjavik. “It will be the first building made from Icelandic timber,” Hilmarsson claimed proudly, as he gave me a tour of the site. “It’s only in the last few years that we’ve had trees big enough to produce timber in Iceland.”

該計畫中的一些老樹則會被用來建造Ásatrú協會的新hof（神殿）的屋頂，這個神殿位於雷克雅維克的郊區，目前正在建造中。在帶我參訪這裡的時候，西馬爾森自豪地說:「這將是第一座由冰島上的木材所建成的建築。前後就這麼幾年而已，現在在冰島上就能夠產出夠大的樹來生產木材。」

The hof will be the first pagan temple to be built in Iceland for almost 1,000 years, and will primarily be used to conduct marriages, funerals and name-giving ceremonies – events that are currently conducted outdoors. The building, which sits below ground level, is partially hewn from rock and descending into it, Hilmarsson claimed, will “symbolise a journey into the underworld”.

這座神殿將會是近千年以來在冰島上第一個建成的異教神殿，將來主要是用來舉辦那些目前都在戶外舉行的活動，像是婚禮、葬禮和命名儀式。這座神殿從地底下建起，其中一部分是由岩石鑿成並嵌在石頭裡，據西馬爾森所稱，這將「象徵著進入陰間的旅程」。

The temple has been beset by delays, but Hilmarsson hopes that when it is finished – maybe this year – it will attract not just locals but also tourists, who he claims are showing ever-increasing interest in the Ásatrú faith.

神殿的建造一直被拖延著，不過今年或許能夠完工，西馬爾森希望當它完工時，除了當地人，還能夠多吸引觀光客的到來，據他所說，觀光客們對Ásatrú越來越感到興趣。

But it is the blóts that offer perhaps the most vivid insight into the Ásatrú faith. Held six times a year, the main ones – Sigurblót, Þingblót, Haustblót and Jólablót – happen in April, June, October and December, respectively. Then there’s Þorrablót and Vættablót, in January/February and December.

不過真要說的話，可能還是blót最能反映出這個宗教真實的寫照。這裡每年會舉辦六次的blót，主要有四月的Sigurblót、六月的Þingblót、十月的Haustblót和十二月的Jólablót，然後就是 1月或 2月的Þorrablót和12月的Vættablót。

“Þorrablót is about getting drunk to celebrate making it through the winter,” said Hilmarsson. And Vættablót? That was introduced, he said, as a response to the Icelandic banking crash in 2008. “The nation was in trauma,” he explained, claiming the blót was started as a social event to cheer people up and encourage collective soul searching. “Although soul searching is not a national pastime,” he added, dryly.

希爾馬森說：「Þorrablót就是大醉一場，慶祝我們度過了寒冬。」至於Vættablót嗎？他說這是對2008年冰島銀行業崩潰的回應。他解釋說:「當時國內深受重創。」這個blót原先就是一個為了讓人民振作起來，鼓勵集體自省的社會運動。不過他也坦承地說:「當然這也不是什麼全國性的活動。」

That day, I was attending Sigurblót, and, after the service, the congregation made its way down to the beach for a feast. I had expected local delicacies such as fermented shark, ram’s testicles and puffin, but it was hotdogs, lager and candyfloss. The other stuff is typically served at Þorrablót, Hilmarsson explained. “That’s when people eat the obnoxious and horrible food,” he said, looking suitably disgusted, another beer in his hand. “We also do vegan.”

當天我參加的是Sigurblót，在儀式結束後，信徒們一同往沙灘走去，參加聚餐。 我原以為會吃當地的特色料理像是發酵鯊魚、公羊睾丸和海鸚之類的食物，結果竟然是熱狗、啤酒和棉花糖。希爾馬森說我想的那些東西通常是在Þorrablót上才會吃。「Þorrablót才是我們吃那些黑暗料理的時候。」他一邊說著，一邊做出有點反胃的表情，手裡又拿著一罐啤酒。「我們也會吃素的。」

During the feast, I mingled with the congregation to find out what attracted people to the faith. For Ásdís Elvarsdóttir, who was wrapped in a bright red coat, it was the sense of community and inclusivity. “I’m getting to know a lot of people through this – very good people,” she said. “Everyone is welcome – you don’t have to worry about being the strangest person in the group.”

在聚餐的時候，我和這些信徒們聊了聊，看看到底是什麼原因吸引他們加入這個信仰。對當天穿著大紅色外套的Ásdís Elvarsdóttir來說，就是一種群體意識和多元包容的感覺。她說:「我在這裡認識了許多人，許多相當好的人，這裡歡迎所有人加入，所以不用擔心自己會成為一個群體中的怪人。」

Echoing her sentiments was Alda Vala. Vala has been an Ásatrú priest for four years, she told me, and was attracted to the faith by its openness.

與她想法不謀而合的是Alda Vala。她已經成為Ásatrú的祭司四年了。她告訴我，這個宗教吸引她的點就是它開放的態度。

“We accept everyone without relation to gender, race or religion,” she said, which reminded me of the Buddhist and Hindu guests I had been introduced to earlier (‘brothers’ as Hilmarsson described them). “There are no rules – you just have to be yourself.”

她說:「不論什麼性別、種族或宗教，我們都接納。」這讓我想起先前提到的那兩個佛教徒和印度教徒（西馬爾森用「兄弟」這個詞來稱呼他們）。「這裡沒有規則需要遵守，你只需要做你自己就好。」