Icelanders to Build First Temple to Norse Gods Since the End of the Viking Age

Andrew Anglin
Daily Stormer
February 3, 2015

Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson and followers at a ceremony at the Pingvellir National Park near Reykjavik
Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson and followers at a ceremony at the Pingvellir National Park near Reykjavik

Icelanders are building the first temple to the old Norse gods such as Thor, Odin and Frigg since the end of the Viking age.

Reuters:

Worship of the gods in Scandinavia gave way to Christianity around 1,000 years ago but a modern version of Norse paganism has been gaining popularity in Iceland.

“I don’t believe anyone believes in a one-eyed man who is riding about on a horse with eight feet,” said Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, high priest of Ásatrúarfélagið, an association that promotes faith in the Norse gods.

“We see the stories as poetic metaphors and a manifestation of the forces of nature and human psychology.”

Membership in Ásatrúarfélagið has tripled in Iceland in the last decade to 2,400 members last year, out of a total population of 330,000, data from Statistics Iceland showed.

The temple will be circular and will be dug 4 metres (13ft) down into a hill overlooking the Icelandic capital Reykjavik, with a dome on top to let in the sunlight.

“The sun changes with the seasons so we are in a way having the sun paint the space for us,” Hilmarsson said.

They will hold weddings and other celebrations in the temple.

It’s not clear yet what it is going to look like, but I hope they don’t do anything modern.