Sunday Symbols & their Meanings
no: 5 ~ Viking Knot Art
The pretty knot work that we have on the sides of our bottles is a style called Urnes, probably being the most popular of the “Viking” arts, followed by the Ringerike style (examples shown in pictures).
I wouldn’t exactly call the style we use a Viking style as this kind of art work started around the late 11th to 12th centuries, which was shortly after the Viking period ended, though their culture is still strongly influenced here.
THESE SYMBOLS WERE POPULAR IN THE 11TH AND 12TH CENTURIES
Many of the art pieces will consist of snakes, dragons, lions and/or dogs, biting each other or their own tails.
Some have runic inscriptions within or around the patterns, usually telling stories of the people who raised them or honouring certain deities and/or spirits.
SOME KNOT ART HAS INSCRIPTIONS THAT TELL STORIES
The most common reason why they engraved dragons, was to ward off chaotic forces/bad land spirits that dwelled in the area. This is also why the Vikings had dragon heads on their ships, to scare off the land spirits when they approached foreign lands.
The dragons had nothing to do with scaring the humans. These heads were detachable and were usually replaced with swirly heads when they were at their own ports.
DRAGONS WERE THOUGHT TO WARD OFF CHAOTIC FORCES
These styles changed over hundreds of years and evidence shows they spread all across Scandinavia, Northern Europe and into Britain & Ireland.
Happy Sun Day ⨁
Skål.
