Welcome to the 2022 A to Z Blogging Challenge! My theme this year is Gemstone Folklore. Because I love stories about shiny things. Read the introduction to the project here.
CORDIERITE
(I know I know, I am cheating with the K, deal with it. It works in Hungarian.)
Cordierite is one of the minerals that has been theorized to be the legendary sunstone, or sólarsteinn, that Norse navigators used in the Viking Age to see the sun's direction on partially overcast days. While it is not the only possibility (Iceland spar is also a strong contender), technically it has been proven to work.
Kings and crystals
Scandinavia
Sunstones make an appearance in various old stories. One is a 13th century Icelandic manuscript that contains an allegorical tale (Rauðúlfs þáttr) of Saint Olaf visiting a wise man named Raudr. The man lives in a meticulously laid out house, in which the king has a vivid dream that Raudr interprets for him. The two sons of Raudr, Sigurd and Dag, are also wise and well educated. Sigurd can guess the sun's position correctly on an overcast day - a feat which makes King Olaf bring out a sunstone to verify.
Another 13th century collection of various Icelandic sagas, collectively known as the Sturlunga saga, also has mentions of sunstones. The stories of two different sagas, that of Icelandic bishop Gudmundur Arason, and doctor and priest Hrafn Sveinbarnarson, intersect in this case. The bishop once gifted Hrafn, world-traveling healer, two things: an exquisite dress for a woman, and a sunstone. Later on, when Hrafn's home was raided, and he himself killed by his old enemy Thorvald, son of Snorri, the raiders took the gifts with them. According to legend, however, the beautiful dress turned into ugly black rags in their hands, and the sunstone looked like a mere pebble to them, so they threw it away on the beach. Later, the precious stone was recovered, without the raiders ever finding out what exceptional treasure they had lost.
Sources:
You can read the first story here, the story of Bishop Gudmundur here, and you can find the text of Hrafn's saga here. Find more info on sunstones here and here.
Have you ever read Icelandic sagas before?
Do you have a favorite story?
Posts
Hi Zalka, how intriguing! I wonder how that stone would work? I have read some Icelandic sagas, years ago, but can’t recall any off the top of my head.
ReplyDeleteSuch a pretty stone!
ReplyDeleteRonel visiting for the A-Z Challenge My Languishing TBR: K
I love, after reading the details about your gemstones, your quirky questions.
ReplyDeleteHannah Kent is a contemporary Australian author who wrote Burial Rites which is based in Iceland. A wonderful story which brought a land so very far away into living rooms all around our country.
Fascinated by your posts - thankyou :)