The Horned Viking Spear Dancer

Viking and Anglo-Saxon artwork often includes a man with bird shaped horns. The horned dancer also appears in Robert Egger’s film The Northman. This mysterious figure is known as the horned man or the weapon dancer. The motif shows up in various different contexts and over a huge geographic range and timeframe - from early Anglo-Saxon England to Viking age Russia. It is commonly associated with the cult of the Nordic god Odin or the Anglo-Saxon god Woden and with extraordinary shamanic rituals as I shall explain in this video. Sources: Mortimer, Paul, ’What Colour a God’s Eyes’ (2018) Oehrl, Sigmund, ’Horned ship-guide – an unnoticed picture stone fragment from Stora Valle, Gotland’ (2016) Oehrl, Sigmund, ’DOCUMENTING AND INTERPRETING THE PICTURE STONES OF GOTLAND’ (2017) This channel depends on your support: Patreon: SubscribeStar: Telegram: Crypto: Art: Horned spear dancers by Hungerstein WAINEs and Odin art by Christian Sloan Hall Music in order: Theme song - Wolcensmen - Sunne Torulf - Freja Xurious -Steppe expansion Stark Von Oben - Praetorian Germanicus Bark sound productions - Vrm Borg - The choosing ceremony Borg - The Leaf King returns