Ancestor cult in Rogaland By Richard Natvig. Stavanger Aftenblad Wednesday 25.02.1976 It is amazing how much of the pre-Christian religion that have survived all the way to our days. Richard Natvig from Haugesund tells in this article about how much Gardvorden or tunkallen and the hulders have been taken into consideration. When the archeologist A.W.Brøgger investigated a burial mound from the Iron Age in Raunadalen in 1909,the man on the farm told him that it was "gardvorden" that lived in the mound, and that this "gardvorden" used to be given a slaughtered animal every time anyone died on the farm. When Brøgger asked if it was a long time since last time this had happened, the man answered "Oh, we did slaughter a cow for him when my father died." It was a man in his forties, telling this, very serious. (Emil Birkeli: Ancestor cult in Norway) It is almost 1000 years since the Christianization of Norway started for real, and only about a hundred years ago, some of the pre-Christian religion was still alive. It is almost unbelievable, but it shows how hard to kill the religion of the Norsemen was, and one understands what problems Håkon the good (Hákon Aðalsteinsfóstri) and his successors must have had. The public cult, in the hof directed towards the gods, was fairly easy to break. It was easy to control, and on the old cult places, churches was often built. A lot harder was the daily cult, home on the farm. Here it was the ancestors who ruled the ground, and they were more important than the gods. They were closer, and more useful for the life on the farm. The cult at the grave mounds was banned, and the dead were buried on the churchyard, instead of home on the family farm. Despite this, the sacrifices on the old mounds continued, and taboos about burial mounds have stuck until this century. The fact that so many of the names of the grave mounds are still known, shows the significance of these mounds in peoples consciousness. In Rogaland we have for instance Svertinghaug in Dirdal, Hellehaug on Finnøy, Gunnarshaug and Håvardshaug at Torvstad, Hemmingshaug in Skåre and Hemmingstad, to mention some. The name Sverting is probably older than the 11 century; Håvard is mentioned in literature from around the 9th century, and Hemming is mentioned in Heimskringla. The ancestor cults have stayed alive longest in remote areas; the reason for this is probably that the family and family tradition have been kept alive longer there. The most evident traces of this we find in places where new times have brought little change, and where families have lived uninterrupted. One example of this in Rogaland is Frafjord. In Frafjord people have for a long time kept memories from a long way back in time. Here the memory of gardvorden and his name have been preserved. Gardvorden, who some places are called tunvord or tunkall, is a kind of guardian spirit and keeper; in old Norse gardvord means a person that guards a farm. Every farm in Frafjord had its gardvorden the farm Frafjord, his name was Frane, on Molaug Kolbein, on Kommedal Krane, on Håland Herremann and on Brådland he was
named Stigand. Regarding Frane, we don’t have to go more than 3-4 generations back (these examples are taken from "Folkeminne fra Rogaland") On Amdal, in Strand parish, the people had to go to bed at a certain time at night to not disturb tunkallen; if not, he would not give them any peace that night. At Bjerga in the Hylse fjord, tukellen manifested in the shape of a large serpent. When a girl at the neighboring farm saw this, she got scared, but the old woman, who was taking care of tunkallen said: "Oh, you don’t need to be afraid of my tunkall, he never hurt anyone." At Steinsland in Hjelmeland, there was a "smalhus" (narrow house) east of the other houses on the farm; this was where tunkallen was most of the time. Apart from that it was an old shack on the farm and "there a bed always was made ready for tunkallen. Here no people lived.” Tunkallen always wanted the best for people and gave good advice. Tunkallen at Tengesdal in Hylsfjorden were living in the living room (the best room in the house) and people who tried to sleep there at night were thrown down on the floor by the tunkallen. In Erfjord it should always be a made bed for Håmannen in Håmannstuen, he came there every night to sleep. We can probably call Håmannen a gardvord too, even if he is not specifically is called that. Vikedal: Gardvorden helped against evil "vetter." If you where on good terms with him, you could leave house and cattle, and nothing wrong ever happened. But if he was angry, he carried the hay away from the cattle, so they always where hungry and skinny. A man was one day out riding, and an evil vette was after him. Gardvorden then shouted, "ride on the field, not on uncultivated ground." The man then instantly rode into the field, and the evil creature had no power over him. A Gardvorden protects the farm against hostile powers, and gives good advice, but in return he is surrounded with certain taboos: noise and working in the evenings and use of his bed. He is supplied with food and drink and his own house or room with a made bed. He keeps the farm happy and is the invincible helper, the property’s guardian and the farmers "good genius". Tunkallen at Steinsland followed the man on the farm when he moved to another place; he was in other words more connected to the family than the farm. In Frafjord the tradition tells us that the farm guardian was the first settler, who had cleared the area, and built the farm. If we go to Sogn it is said that "Gardvorden is the revenant of the one who first cleared the farm, and therefore the man is worthy of all respect.” We can probably conclude that gardvorden is a real representative of the dead ancestors who kept on being a part of the life on the farm and with the family after death, and whom it is important to stay on good terms with. This one achieves through sacrifice, and keeping certain rules (taboos). Gardvorden is the one in the family who begun the building of the farm, the first settler, or another powerful individual who stood out in a
way that made him the main representative for the dead in the family. The gardvord culture is in other words a genuine ancestor cult; his house and his bed are the farm’s holy place, the ancestor cult’s "chapel." The gardvorden goes truthfully enough under a collective term in the tradition with the term "gardvord" or "tunkall," his real names are forgotten in most places, and many places also his connection to the family. The reason for this must be the long period of time gone by since the ancestor cult became a forbidden religion. It is only remnants of it left. The Norwegian "nisse" with his Christmas porridge hails from a gardvord. The word nisse comes from the male name Nils. It is not only the gardvord who have been the object of a cult. In several stories about the hulder we hear about people who have sacrificed to the hulders, porridge, beer and pork meat, especially on Christmas Eve. At Litlasund in Skåre there lived an old woman who cared a lot for the hulders. As soon as she came they flocked around her, and she cut small pieces of ham, which she gave them. All work had to stop when it got dark to not disturb the hulders. From Forsand: When people had made porridge on Christmas Eve, they poured some into a plate and put it outside, "it was so much, so "julesveinane" could have a taste." On Vea, old Kristen was so cheap, he would not give the Jul hulders any beer, but he got punished: The hulders chased his cattle out in the snow at night. When he saw one of the hulders, and tried to shoot her, she just turned into a toad and jumped away "Then Kristen understood that it was no point in challenging the hulders. Later he always put beer out for Christmas." The attitude towards hulders in pre-Christian times, were more connected to fear and staying away from them than anything else. To meet hulders is a bad omen; they are jesters, they have magical powers, which change people, etc. The hulder is a complex creature. It was originally not a part of the ancestor cult. Their dangerous side is on the contrary a typical trait for nature Vetter, while the ancestral spirits, the families and farms guardian spirits, brings luck, even if there are certain taboos surrounding them. The hulder have taken over several elements from the ancestor cult. The original inhabitants of the mound, the ancestors, were identified with draugs and trolls by the Christians, and the memory of the old religion and the grave mounds real meaning weakened. Despite this, one kept on sacrificing, at least for important festivals, in the belief in "luck," and the hulder became the old cult person’s heir; the reason was that there was no ban against hulders in the religious laws. They have melted together with the ancestors to such degree that it can be hard to see what is real religion and what is nature mythology. But in one kind of tale it is not difficult to see the connection to the ancestor worship---the tales of Jul visitors.
In the old Norse religion there was held alfablot in the middle of winter. Winters are from ancient times, the time of the ancestors, and the elfs are the spirits of the dead. At Jul time the dead gathered, and this time was dangerous for the living if they did not uphold the taboos. In later "folketro" the dead came to the farm at Jul and took over so the people on the farm had to give up their beds, and sleep in hay on the floor. The best-known tale about Jul visitors in Rogaland is Trondsagnet (the tale of Trond). The common version is this: On Kvame in Hjelmeland the hulders came every year at the Jul evening in big packs, and the people had to move out of the house, and have it ready and tidy when they came. First there came an old man named Trond, then came the rest, they then started to dance and party and scream, later they sat down to eat, but first they made a toast for Trond who was sitting in the high seat. “Now I’m pouring one for Trond" one of them said. Eventually they were chased away by a brave man with a gun, and never came back. In Rogaland Mauland has noted this story six different places. In one of the places, the visitors are just called "trolls," the rest of them use the term "hulder," in a degrading sense. These stories have their root in the one belief that the spirits of the dead return to the living at certain times of year. This is a common belief, especially in "primitive" religions. This time is particularly sacred, a certain amount of taboos must be upheld, and sacrifice to the ancestors is done. At the same time there is a time of feasting and renewal of the society and nature. The other root these stories have from the time they where created, namely Christian time. The ancestor spirits have become just dangerous creatures that must be shunned. They have been renamed into hulder, despicable trolls, who come at Christmas and misbehave and disturb the peace of Christmas. People have forgotten who they really were. The tales tell us that Trond is shot and they are chased away, never to return. It is a common thing in places which have these ancestor feasts, that the spirits eventually are led out of the village, away from the living, with song, dancing or drums or a lot of noise, and are told to stay away until next time. In these tales this is twisted into chasing them away for good. They do no longer have a purpose. Even if the attitude towards the hulders in these tales seems very different from the attitude towards the ancestor spirits where people worship them, there can be no doubt of the origin of these tales. We can sum it up by saying that gardvorden, tunkallen, tunvor or nisse is a representative for the dead of the family, through him all the dead where worshiped, at the same time he can be an individual who have stood out in some way, for example by clearing the farm. The hulders were not originally ancestor spirits, but have, as the ancestor cult was forbidden, taken over many traits from the stories of the dead. The cult of the dead have eventually died out, but at the big festivals as for instance Christmas, the cult have been kept alive, especially in remote areas, many places just as a tradition, other places as a necessary part of the Jul celebration which it could be dangerous to leave out.
Richard Natvig
