Historical Setting: 789 C.E. Jutland This place is not Christian and the feast we are preparing will be celebrating the solstice. The moose that fell into the pit provides plenty of meat. The moose is roasting over the embers of a huge central bonfire with breads rising on every hearth in the cluster ofContinue reading “#64.5, Thursday, January 9, 2025”
Category Archives: Early Medieval
#64.4, Wednesday, January 8, 2025
Historical Setting: 789 C.E. Jutland Mostly I’ve been hauling and stacking logs for the feast. Day’s end, I return to the house of the smiðr with a load of thick hardwood for a hot fire and having seen the shipyard I can understand a purpose in this man’s work. I ask the child thrall,Continue reading “#64.4, Wednesday, January 8, 2025”
#64.3, Tuesday, January 7, 2025
Historical Setting: 789 C.E. Jutland Straying from collecting of firewood, I’ve wandered into a shipyard just north of the houses. No one is here. I suppose there are more of these artists working inside these houses. And now I find plenty of wood stacked on the scrap piles maybe set aside for the burn, soContinue reading “#64.3, Tuesday, January 7, 2025”
#64.2, Thursday, January 2, 2025
Historical Setting: 789 C.E. Jutland Dear God, All day I did the rote collecting of wood, walking, mindless work, releasing the bonds of earth in repetitious devotion. Thank you. I’ve been stacking logs at the hearth in this little house of the wood carver intensely devoted to his work. Now my task is toContinue reading “#64.2, Thursday, January 2, 2025”
#64.1, Wednesday, January 1, 2025
Historical Setting: 789 C.E. Jutland The mystery that pricks my imagination just now is the work of the smiðr. I watch him work for a few minutes here, thinking of purpose for his art and I see how this is so much like the work of Celtic monks illuminating the sacred Christian texts. Continue reading “#64.1, Wednesday, January 1, 2025”
#63.13, Tuesday, December 31, 2024
Historical Setting: 792 C.E. I ask Marian the question that has been most on my mind, “In the Christian way of counting, what is this year?” Marian tells me she thinks it may be 792 at least for the measure of time in Gaul after the start of time. So, with my strangeContinue reading “#63.13, Tuesday, December 31, 2024”
#63.12, Thurs., Dec. 26, 2024
Historical Setting: An unknown time in a cold land I’m hearing from this girl Marian how life is done in this place. Small as she is, she isn’t able to provide bathwater. And she believes bathing is necessary. The human smell of this place affirms that. So, I can make myself worthy of myContinue reading “#63.12, Thurs., Dec. 26, 2024”
#63.11, Weds., Dec. 25, 2024
Historical Setting: An unknown time in a cold land Back into the woods, I’m searching for more firewood. I find lots of tracks in the snow, and here is that pit trap for large beasts. Fresh blood tells of a beast that was killed here and taken away on a sled – maybe itContinue reading “#63.11, Weds., Dec. 25, 2024”
#63.10, Tues., Dec. 24, 2024
Historical Setting: An unknown time in a cold land The ferocious, tottering man at the door of this house yields his weapon and reaches out to point to his empty woodbin. Repeating the words of the thrall for “heat,” as “heit” and “man,” I’ve been given a name, “Heit-man.” I lay the logs inContinue reading “#63.10, Tues., Dec. 24, 2024”
#63.8, Weds., Dec. 18, 2024
Historical Setting: An unknown time in a cold land It’s late in the day when the men I follow arrive at their village. Here, the houses are clustered together, with a wall of wood planks and the doors facing the sea. The other ends of the houses are nearly buried in the berm ofContinue reading “#63.8, Weds., Dec. 18, 2024”
Lazarus Ink 