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[Gunnora Hallakarva]

Siobhan said:
P.S.  Gunnora, did you really like A World Lit Only by Fire?  I thought
Manchester should have stuck with 20th century America myself.  SB

Actually, yes... but as I said, because it is a place to start looking at
the world view. Some folks need to be eased into the concept.

Of course, the all time best world-view book I've ever read was:

Hastrup, Kirsten.  Culture and History in Medieval Iceland: An
Anthropoligical Analysis  of Structure and Change.  Oxford: Clarendon. 1985.
ISBN 0-19-823250-0.

Which completely explains in detail the way the Icelanders perceived time
and space and how this affected their society, law and lives.  The Hastrup
book would be valuable even to non-Vikings, because it explains how people
viewed time in any society where time-keeping devices weren't present...
which includes the peasantry everywhere until late in our period. We assume
so much based on our modern world view... for instance, most of us view a
day as beginning at midnight and extending til midnight, or otherwise from
morning to morning, but most of Northern Europe viewed a day as beginning at
sundown and extending to the next sundown, hence the reason we now have New
Year's Eve, May Eve, All Hallows Eve etc... these festivals were originally
one day, beginning at sundown and continuing through sunrise and the next
whole day.  Modern time experience has us now experiencing these items as an
evening plus one day holidays.  I'm presently working on a Viking Answer
Lady article on Viking time-reckoning based in large part ofn this book.  I
highly reccommnd it though to everyone with an early persona!

This next best world-view book after that is Paul Bauschatz "The Well and
the Tree" which examines the Germanic ideas of persent/past/future, fate,
law, and language.

Wæs Þu Hæl (Waes Thu Hael)

::GUNNORA::

Gunnora Hallakarva
Herskerinde
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