Wolf Of The Bees: Germanic Shamanism And The Bear Hero

Undeniably, the Beowulf story as we have it was recorded long after the Christianization of Anglo-Saxon England. Nevertheless, the Old English epic preserves significant traces of native Germanic myth. Addressing itself to vestiges of this mythos, this paper connects animal imagery in Beowulf with i...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. VerfasserIn: Glosecki, Stephen O. 1950-2007 (VerfasserIn)
Medienart: Druck Aufsatz
Sprache:Englisch
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Veröffentlicht: Dep. [1988]
In: Journal of ritual studies
Jahr: 1988, Band: 2, Heft: 1, Seiten: 31-53
weitere Schlagwörter:B Shamans
B Sagas
B Shamanism
B Wolves
B Folktales
B Grizzly bears
B Religious rituals
B Animal tales
B Etymology
Online Zugang: Volltext (Verlag)
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Undeniably, the Beowulf story as we have it was recorded long after the Christianization of Anglo-Saxon England. Nevertheless, the Old English epic preserves significant traces of native Germanic myth. Addressing itself to vestiges of this mythos, this paper connects animal imagery in Beowulf with its analogues in other early Germanic sources, both literary and iconographic. Most likely, the ubiquitous animal motifs reflect migration-age warrior cults that invoked strong beasts as eponymous protectors. In particular, literary, graphic and etymological evidence suggests that magico-religious attitudes toward the bear—the spirit companion of the strongest heroes—waned slowly while Iron-Age nations evolved into the Germanic states of feudal Europe. Ultimately, the belief in animal guardians—a belief shared by other, unrelated tribal peoples—probably stems from prehistoric Germanic shamanism.
ISSN:0890-1112
Bezug:Kritik in "Response to Stephen O. Glosecki's "Wolf of the Bees, Germanic Shamanism and the Bear Hero" (1988)"
Enthält:Enthalten in: Journal of ritual studies