Just Another Habit!

Try as I may, I am unable to find any graphic of a Viking attacking while smoking. Even Columbus was never seen on his deck with a cigar.

But there was  a show of violence from  the famous ‘Berserkers” who must have been inhaling mushrooms or perhaps an herbal-type plant to increase their battle-courage. No tobacco from anyone!

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And speaking about Columbus, one can only imagine Christopher’s reaction when he was first offered the Indian greeter’s ‘peacepipe’ in 1492 after he  inhaled his first breath of tobacco. It might have caused glee to the welcoming group as Chris coughed at the new sensation. He was introduced to tobacco and later presented with a gift of tobacco leaf. The Indians knew about tobacco.As early as 1 B.C., it has been suspected that American Indians began using tobacco in many different ways, for example, religious and medicinal practices.It is believed that tobacco began growing in the Americas about 6,000 B.C.!

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Tobacco was a plant believed to be a cure-all, used to dress wounds, as well as a pain killer. Chewing tobacco was believed to relieve the pain of a toothache! Soon, sailors were taking tobacco back to Europe resulting in the plant being grown all over Europe.

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Cigarettes became popular  in WWI when soldiers brought it back to England from Russian and Turkish soldiers.

Cigarettes have become very popular amongst smokers since that time, but health issues, combined with the increased prices of the product to $5.50 per pack upwards to $12.85 has caused some to find alternatives. Smoke became a problem for non-smokers and smoking became banned in public places.

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Vipe-pens became  the rage for the ‘serious users’, but the tobacco was missing. To avoid the “Tobacco banned” problem, tobacco-users  turned to “No-smoke", but still  used "tobacco” products that remained legal to use. An alternate  to the cigarette was needed

   and the product came from Sweden.

Europe found chewing-tobacco to be the favorite habit-quencher. Sweden called it “Snus” (pronounced "snoose," like “loose”) which is a smokeless, moist powder tobacco concocted in Sweden. A little ‘pinch’  is placed under the top lip, and available in several flavors.There are not many things more Swedish than snus,  the popular tobacco product used by almost a quarter of the population. It's widespread use among Swedes is something of an oddity due to a EU ban preventing it from being exported to the rest of Europe.

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“Snus is more dangerous for blood health than what we previously thought. It looks worse than we believed.” researcher Eli-Anne Skaug of NTNU commented to Norway’s TV2. Swedes don’t like being told what to do when it comes to their peculiar tobacco habit, but they took the study in good humor. Uppsala county in central Sweden attempted to prevent council employees from coming into work smelling of it, however the council was forced to quickly backtrack when the proposal faced huge public opposition, including loud objections from the leader of the national Left party.

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Being unable to export their product to the US, an alternative was developed and the result became a hit in The New Country.

 Instead of “In the Mouth”, how about  “In the Nose”?

Luktsnus ("smelling snuff") in Swedish became “Snuff” (pronounced like ‘snuff’) in the USA. The the word "snuff" is often confusingly used in English to refer to both the nasal form and both the oral forms of snus and dipping ( lip) tobacco. Regardless, the US became an eager and important market. Americans have a choice!...

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In Norway in 2008, approximately 17% of adult men used snus daily or occasionally, while 4% of adult women used snus daily or occasionally. In secondary schools in 2000-2004, 21% of boys and 4% of girls used snus daily or occasionally. Many people both smoke and use snus.

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 But there is governmental opposition! In a drive towards a smoke-free society by 2035, the Norwegian Medical Association (NMA) is pressing the government to back its proposal for a ban on tobacco sales to citizens born after the year 2000.In Norway, snus has helped cut down on smoking . People there have either used it to help them quit cigarettes or as an alternative to cigarettes if they hadn’t successfully licked the tobacco habit completely.

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Marit Hermansen, the president of the NMA, told Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten that "access to cigarettes was not a basic human right".

"We have long had the policy of phasing out smoking by 2035. This is a measure to achieve this goal. We want a tobacco-free generation," she said.

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 The smoking-ban may be easier than phasing out the sniffing variety. Here, at home, Copenhagen is a popular brand of dipping tobacco made by the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company. It is available in mouth pouches, much like tea-bags, and there are different cuts of tobacco available at the check-out areas of our American  grocery-stores. Currently, while still popular with those craving smoke-free tobacco, warnings of health issues and cancer-causing have caused a decrease in the numbers of female users, but ‘habit-hooked’ users remain loyal to ‘their brand’.

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 But to be clear, when you request your snuff choice  at the check-out display, remember, snuff used in the nose is referred to as luktsnus ("smelling snuff"), while the moist form placed under the upper lip is simply called snus .

Snuff and snus are distinct products.Then, there’s choices of Wintergreen, cherry, mint, etc. from which to choose. Your cashier should be impressed.      Maybe not.

Bad habits are hard to break.

History Repeats Itself

 Something is happening in the Northland! Due to the mountainous terrain, settlements have always kept their particular practices with little regard to their neighbors across the fjords. Social  activities within the church are unusual with the exception of Christmas or weddings, etc. Norway is not known for religious attendance. Only a small percentage of the population attends services, although they are registered most often as Christian members at birth.

But there may be changes in the air.

Back in the Viking age, active raiders began finding areas they found desireable. Early explorers found one island to their liking.Iceland was still uninhabited long after the rest of Western Europe had been settled. Recorded settlements have  been found back in 874, although archaeological evidence indicates Gaelic monks had settled Iceland before that date.
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The land was settled quickly, mainly by Norwegians who may have been fleeing conflict or seeking new land to farm.  Towards the end of the tenth century, Christianity came to Iceland through the influence of the Norwegian king Olaf

Tryggvason. When the wily Vikings settled in, they decided  they would accept this “Christianity” thing and also keep their own pagan beliefs in their gods of Thor, Freda and the like.

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In time, Christianity overtook common beliefs and pagan practice became quietly practiced by the devout few. The Christians, mainly Lutheran and Catholic, became the norm, but the majority of the population was not responding well and the stories of Odin, Thor, and The Giants were still heard.

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Everyone of Scandinavian background knows of the incredibly strong Thor and his hammer Miollnir, that

was crafted by the dwarfs. He was the main defender of the gods against the giants. He was also the god of thunder, and  worshiped by seafarers who wore amulets of Thor’s hammer for good luck along with a dragon’s head on their ships to scare vicious seas-creatures. These items are sold today by visitors and tourists.

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 On land, dragon heads were mounted on high points of Norwegian stave churches to ward away the devil. These old stories and myths have not been forgotten.

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Some people think differently ‘Up North’.
Icelanders  and the Sami in Northern Norway have their own way of life and nature plays a large part in it.

Tree of Life

Sami, who had remained pagan long after the conversion of their neighbors see life as a circular process of life, death and rebirth and Vikings have tales of mythical gods that control nature. Sami beliefs and Viking myths are beginning to mesh as one. People have been talking about this!
                                            Now, This, just in!

       The latest News From Scandinavia reads:

 "Due to the resurgence of neo-paganism, Iceland is planning the construction of the first temple  to the Norse gods since the Viking Age.“A Norse temple for the 21st Century”. The planned Icelandic temple will be a domed, circular structure on a hillside overlooking Reykjavik, the Islandic capital . Worshippers will practice their belief called

                                  Ásatrúarfélagiðf "

The worship of Odin, Thor, Freya and the other gods of the old Norse pantheon has now become an officially recognized religion 973 years after Iceland’s official conversion to Christianity.In recent decades, membership in Ásatrú ( it’s shortened name)  has grown to about 2,400 in a country of only 330,000 — and has become the largest non-Christian religious community in Iceland.

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Followers are able to satisfy their spiritual needs within a framework that feels authentic ancestral identity, but at the same time, flexible enough to fit in with modern values and concerns. Not using a Bible or Koran, believers gain their knowledge in “The Edda”, the major source of ‘knowledge on Norse
Mythology’, written down in the 13th century as a collection of Old Norse poems from the Icelandic medieval manuscript “Codex Regius” (Royal Book)

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The Old Norse word Edda means “Great Grandmother”. It refers to the lore of the ancestors (or more literally, the ancestral mothers). In Asatru it is believed that we are not only the worshipers of the Gods but that we are spiritually and even physically related to them.

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 Included in rituals,Among accepted rituals,The Blót is the most common  within Asatru. In its simplest form, a blót is making a sacrifice to the Gods. In the old days this was done by feasting and drinking from an animal’s horn. Currently, the most common blót is an offering of mead or other alcoholic beverage to the deities.

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Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson

The leader and High Priest of Ásatrú, Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson, has been a sheep-farmer and writer of ‘rimur’, a form of epic poetry founded the association in 1972.Sveinbjörn is regarded with much respect and affection among  Ásatrú. Not only is  he a well- known rímur singer in Iceland with followers in Europe and North America, he sometimes performs at rock concerts and is the opening act in the film Rokk í Reykjavík.

          (This is for real!)

More, as details become available.