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Chapter 5. The Underworld 119
cret Commonwealth, Robert Kirk, a Scottish clergyman, describes exactly the same
situations for the inhabitants of the Scottish Underworld:
“Their apparel and speech is like that of the people and country under
which they live . . . . Their women are said to spin, very finely, to dye, to
tissue, and to embroider . . . ” 10
Here Kirk is talking about the land where the sidhe and the co-walkers live, co-walkers
being the equivalent of an Underworld doppelgänger which is intimately attached
to a person who still lives. Of course, the story of Frau Holle was mentioned earlier
wherein bread was baked, beds were made and houses were in need of daily cleaning.
All the northern non-Christian cultures (and even some of the Christian ones) seem
to agree that life in the Underworld is no different than life on Midgard.
Burial goods found in the Northern European countries would also indicate that
life below was expected to be the same as above. Women have been found buried
with household items such as combs, spindles, needles and needle-cases, cooking
pots and utensils, even a supply of food. Men are found buried with those items
which were pertinent to their station in life, even to the point that kings were
buried with riches so, presumedly, they could continue playing the role of leader and
“gold-hater” or “ring-giver” 11 as in kennings provided by Snorri. Logically, it was
expected that the dead would continue with their activities of daily living just as
they had done while alive. Some burial goods have been found in a damaged state.
For example, pots have been found which have been deliberately broken and swords
or other weapons have been found either bent, broken, or dismantled. It is known
that in some local regions of the northern cultures that items destined for interment
with their owner needed to first be “ritually killed.” From an animistic point of view
this makes good sense since the “soul” of an object could not possibly be released
until its earth-bound form was broken; however, because not all grave goods are
damaged before burial, this theory can never be said to have been universal among
the northern peoples. It is most likely related to regional cultural variations, and
the current belief held at the time. Damaged, “killed,” or in their original state,
by their presence grave goods which relate to everyday activity indicate knowledge
that life below is a continuation of life above.
The Underworld not only seems to reflect the land above seems but appears to
be inextricably tied to it as well. For all the northern peoples concerned here, those
living in the Land of the Ancestors reside in the “mountain below the mountain” or
10 Stewart, Robert J. Robert Kirk: Walker between the World (Element Books; Dorset, Great
Britain) 1990, p. 26.
11 The reader is referred to Chapter 3 for a discussion of these terms and what they meant to
the Northern Germanic peoples.