Historical Setting: 793 C.E. Skåne
This fellow rower, Emil, first scoffing at Christians, is now revealing to me a collection of five chism, which are pure white linen squares used in the anointing of oil, symbol of releasing sin just prior to Christian baptism with water. As a Christian from another time, I happen to know that the Church sacrament of baptism is a once in a lifetime event, usually bestowed on babies to rescue their spirits in case of an infant death. Baptism is the transformative act that makes a heathen into a Christian.
But Christianity is a proselytizing religion, committed to expanding its own numbers. It was a Roman thing I guess, a religious variety of imperialism — an ancient Roman remnant. Paganism and many other religions aren’t as zealous about conversions. The gospel stories are often about counting the crowds of people. It was going on even before Jesus was gathering crowds. John the baptizer was known for his popularity. The number of followers was always important for preachers, teachers and zealots of all sorts.
But here this fellow, proud not too be a Christian, apparently visited Christian ports often enough to stand in line five different times at the churches, for anointing and maybe baptizing but always given a white piece of cloth to wear on his head. He explains that this impresses the Christian merchants they deal with in the markets.
“How is it you have these?” I ask. [footnote]
“They give them away at the churches in all the Christian ports. You’ll see how it is when we visit a Christian kingdom. You go up to the big rich Christian castle and the fellow in his fine robes walks down the line of us, with his dish of expensive oil, saying Roman words, then he fingers the oil right onto your head and gives you one of these fine linen cloths to cover over the oil. You wear this like a head covering when you visit the Christian markets. If it’s hot, and you have the time, you can stay in the church line, and they take you inside and bathe you in cool water. I figure when Christian merchants see you wearing the cloth they nod and smile as though you are a personal friend of their gods – all three. They do only have three gods, you know.”
[footnote] https://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/en/professions/education/the-viking-age-society/the-norse-gods-and-christianity retrieved 8-13-24 This site features an interesting story that inspired this – a Norseman with 20 little cloths, complained when the white linen was replaced with a lesser quality fabric. The demand was so great.
(PLEASE NOTE: In the months between researching this and posting this, several of these museum related blog sites referenced here have been taken down. Perhaps this story is fictional and this is a retelling.)
(Continues tomorrow)
Lazarus Ink 