Vegvísir

The vegvísir
Portion of page 60 of Huld Manuscript showing two Vegvisir symbols with title and description of use in Icelandic

A Vegvísir (Icelandic 'sign post') is an Icelandic magical stave intended to help the bearer find his/her way through rough weather.

History

The symbol is attested in 3 manuscripts, the most noted being the Huld Manuscript, created by Geir Vigfusson in 1860 (but copied from material of earlier origin).

A leaf of the Huld manuscript gives its name, provides two drawn versions of the Vegvísir symbol, and adds "Carry this sign with you and you won’t get lost in storms or bad weather, even though in unfamiliar surrounds".[1]

In culture

A simplified version of the 'Vegvísir' has seen use as a tattoo, most notably by the Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk.

A stylized version of the 'Vegvísir' is used in pages of the Oghma Infinium in the video game Skyrim.

Notes

  1. ↑ Foster (2015).

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, December 02, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.