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Chapter 4. The Sky Connection 95
There are some secondary observations which are equally interesting. The N-S
shape of the Milky Way at midnight at the winter solstice is very tight and narrow as
if it were constricted or frozen in the cold of winter; whereas the E-W configurations
on April 1st and Oct 15 look more like flowing streams of water. In reality, there is
no change in shape; it is simply an optical illusion resulting from the Milky Way’s
relationship to the horizons. Most interesting of all is that in mid-July at midnight
(except in the far north where the midnight sun prevents a clear view), one can see
the Milky Way but it never makes a clean N-S shot; one side of the galaxy is either
a little too far to the southeast while the other is at the north point of the horizon,
or the other is too far to the northwest.
It is quite probable that the Milky Way served the ancient Germanic people as a
“year-marker” of sorts. Sturluson has recorded in the Ynglinga Saga that there were
three holidays (sacrifices) during a year which were celebrated by all the Swedes and
Norwegians in general.
“On winter day (October 14th) there should be a blood-sacrifice for a
good year, and in the middle of winter for a good crop (Yule, Þórri, Disting?);
and the third sacrifice should be on summer day (April 14th), for victory in
battle.” 9
In Scandinavian folklore, and in those non-Germanic cultures surrounding the Germanic
realm, these same sacrifice dates are also associated with the dead, the underworld,
and with the cross-cultural phenomenon of the “Wild Hunt” where one
could be swept up by the swiftly moving hoards of souls following their leader who is
variously “identified as Óðínn, the devil, or some other demonic being,” 10 (usually one
of the álfar or elves; see Chapt. 4). People commonly believed that at these times
of the year one needed to excercise extreme caution because gates to the Land of
the Dead stood open especially at Yule, the Middle of the winter sacrifice. Between
April 14th and October 14th people were basically safe from attacks out of the Land
of the Dead. These dates basically coincide with the observations noted above about
the Milky Way in that there is no true N-S configuration for the summer months,
and also with the fact that the number of nighttime hours is drastically decreased
during the summer months.
It is not known for sure that the ancient Germanic folk utilized the Milky Way in
this fashion, but this use was not unknown to the cultures immediately neighboring
the Germanic realm, and given their tendency toward trade in both goods and
technology, it is not inconceivable that the early Scandinavians either picked up
9 In Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturluson, tr. by Lee Hollander
(University of Texas Press), p. 13, 1964.
10 In Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend by Kvideland and Sehmsdorf, eds., (University of
Minnesota Press) p. 273, 1988.