Finally my first attendance at an Althing- years overdue, though travelling abroad had kept me from most recent gatherings of the Folk- finally to meet face to face with many of those I had corresponded with and heard of throughout nearly 20 years of varying degrees of involvement in Asatru. And a chance to land a blow for the old guys in the Viking Games, as I was to celebrate a birthday beginning with a 4....
I had come from Northern Ireland- though a transplanted Yank- with the purpose of attending the most important gathering of the Folk in Vinland, to experience the sense of community among those of Odin's Nation, as this notion now begins to unfold and find life. Perhaps "community" is an important idea, perhaps one to be fostered among the Folk.
"Community" in Ireland- both North and South- is important, perhaps even natural; a basic sense of belonging, neighborliness, and compared to the standards of many places, even a sense of trust- which sounds like a contradiction given the presence of the Troubles. The Troubles being what they may, there are things at a personal level that are done and not done, and ways of doing to and treating others that bind at a basic level. Still, the comparison is made to contemporary U.S. culture, especially big city. Dog does not always eat dog....many of the Vinland Folk would likely find the sense of community both desirable and even comfortable, and somehow in the direction of "right".
In Ireland and Great Britain the premier organization that builds community among the Folk is the Odinic Rite, with apprentices and full members in all parts, and the OR has now become established in Vinland. In like manner to the Althing, the OR hosts a Great Moot each November, in which many of the Folk gather for discussion, Blot and merry-making. Held indoors, as contrasted to the Althing, the Moot fulfills many of the same functions, binding Folk by the best of all methods- personal contact and shared expression of the Faith. The prior year has seen substantial bridge-building among Folk of the Isles and of Vinland, with more girders and beams steadily being placed and riveted, and a toehold has been gained in the North as well, in a land where Celts, Vikings, Normans and others with forgotten names have contested, intermarried and left a legacy in blood and tradition.
Indeed, I was struck by the number of Vinlanders at the Althing who trace ancestry to Ireland. And by the number who are proud of it.
I have not found the Folk at either Moot or Althing all of one mind or appearance, but very much of one heart though expressed in individual ways- somewhat influenced by culture and somewhat by personality, but in both settings a visitor from one to the other would feel fundamentally welcome and at ease, as has been demonstrated by those of us who have been to both.
This "Nation of Odin" one hears of has already become a feeling among some, and a living reality to others...kinsmen across the water would seem to be kinsmen still.
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