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A MYSTERY AMONG THE MYSTERIES: ARE THERE OLD ICELANDIC MYSTERIES? ——~o » —_—_ VILMOS VOIGT ABSTRACT In comparative religion, mystery is a rite, revealing a certain kind of knowledge, and initiating the participants into a hidden, secret world. On old Germanic religion, we have both intrinsic and extrinsic data available from the time of Tacitus (1 century AD). Early Scandinavian archaeology of religious sites is a much cultivated field, with excellent secondary literature. Nevertheless, in Old Icelandic texts there are no proper reports about mysteries. Leading scholars of Old Germanic religion, even the partisans of the ritualistic school (as for instance, Jan de Vries and Otto Hofler) did not classify, for example, Mdannerbund, “sacred kingdom” (literally, male association) and initiation as mysteries. It was only Ernst Uhly who considered “Nordisch-Germanische Mythologie als Mysteriengeschichte” (1984). In this paper, the striking absence of mysteries in Old Icelandic texts will be examined. Following on from that, I also want to address the phenomenon of Euhemerism, expressed in a few Old Icelandic sources, first of all by Snorri Sturluson, who in his Gylfaginning suggests that the traditional Old Norse mythology is an “illusion” (ginning). In this regard, I shall also look into the Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus, where giants and magicians from ancient times in possession of “knowledge” were later considered to be gods. Vexilla regis prodeunt, fulget crucis mysterium (Venantius Fortunatus, Bishop of Poitiers) + 105 + Daréczi-Sepsi-Vassänyi_Initiation_155x240.indb 105 6 2020. 06.15. 11:04:15
