February 22, 2014: Ragnarok?

[Solstice]

So, I came upon an interesting article the other day:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2507778/Will-world-end-100-days-Sounding-ancient-trumpet-York-warns-Viking-apocalypse-22-February-2014.html

If Vikings were here today, the sounding of a distinctive horn in York would have created chaos.
The ancient instrument, blown last night, signalled exactly 100 days until the end of the world, according to Norse mythology.
Legend has it that the Norse God, Heimdallr, would blow the mythical Gjallerhorn to warn of the Viking apocalypse, also known as 'Ragnarok'.

Norse mythology experts have calculated that Vikings believed this will take place on February 22, 2014.

So guys, ready for another apocalypse?

Now, on top of the article sounding pretty hokey and not getting near as much press as, say, the Rapture scare and the Mayan Apocalypse, how sound is the calculation by these so-called "Norse mythology experts"? And how come we're just hearing about it now? Is the article a hoax, or do you think it's some type of PR stunt to promote the Jorvik Viking Centre in York? OR, do you believe there's some nugget of truth to all of this?

The article states that this date came about because it signals the end of the feast of Jolablot. Does anyone want to weigh in on where experts came upon this date? I know a lot about Norse Mythology but unfortunately very little about Viking feasts/blots and history, so perhaps some Heathen Reconstructionists can shed some light on why experts specifically chose this date?

What (also) leads me to believe the article isn't well-researched is that it strains to find supporting evidence for any tell-tale signs of Ragnarok as it's described in the Eddas:

‘There are predictions that we are heading into a mini-ice age thanks to a fall in solar flare activity - what is a mini-ice age but several winters rolled into one?’ said Ms Daglan.
Another part of the legend suggests that the Midgard Serpent, named Jormungand, shall free itself from its tail and rise up from the ocean.
Ms Dagland points to the two huge fish which appeared on a beach in California last month.
The giant oarfish were dead when they washed up on land, and some scientists believe they came ashore to die because they are ‘in distress’.

That's almost like saying getting hit on the head with an acorn predicates that the sky is fallin--OHAI, Chicken Little.

Anyway, I've much else to say about this article, but I'll hand it over to you guys. So, in addition to the questions I've posed for you up above, do you believe in Ragnarok or some other imminent doomsday scenario? Do you believe that Ragnarok already happened? What are your thoughts on this article?

[Melamphoros]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2507778/Will-world-end-100-days-Sounding-ancient-trumpet-York-warns-Viking-apocalypse-22-February-2014.html

 
It's the Daily Fail.  I'd take this with an oil tanker filled with salt.

[Sophia C]

Is the article a hoax, or do you think it's some type of PR stunt to promote the Jorvik Viking Centre in York? OR, do you believe there's some nugget of truth to all of this?

Other articles made this sound a lot like a stunt intended to promote the event.

[Viv]

So, I came upon an interesting article the other day:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2507778/Will-world-end-100-days-Sounding-ancient-trumpet-York-warns-Viking-apocalypse-22-February-2014.html


So guys, ready for another apocalypse?

 
Ironic, my 11 year old daughter asked me just yesterday while we were watching Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, "Well, mom, when do you think they'll start saying the world is going to end again?" LOL! Every year someone comes up with something kooky as a joke or a publicity stunt. It always make me think of the Chicken Little story...The sky is falling, the sky is falling!

[mlr52]

So, I came upon an interesting article the other day:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2507778/Will-world-end-100-days-Sounding-ancient-trumpet-York-warns-Viking-apocalypse-22-February-2014.html

So guys, ready for another apocalypse?

What (also) leads me to believe the article isn't well-researched is that it strains to find supporting evidence for any tell-tale signs of Ragnarok as it's described in the Eddas:

 

Just as Hollywood, most of the American Press do not let history, facts, or the naked fundament (truth) interfere with telling a story, (sometime good, sometimes not) why should the dailymail?

[Megatherium]

So, I came upon an interesting article the other day:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2507778/Will-world-end-100-days-Sounding-ancient-trumpet-York-warns-Viking-apocalypse-22-February-2014.html





So guys, ready for another apocalypse?

Now, on top of the article sounding pretty hokey and not getting near as much press as, say, the Rapture scare and the Mayan Apocalypse, how sound is the calculation by these so-called "Norse mythology experts"? And how come we're just hearing about it now? Is the article a hoax, or do you think it's some type of PR stunt to promote the Jorvik Viking Centre in York? OR, do you believe there's some nugget of truth to all of this?

The article states that this date came about because it signals the end of the feast of Jolablot. Does anyone want to weigh in on where experts came upon this date? I know a lot about Norse Mythology but unfortunately very little about Viking feasts/blots and history, so perhaps some Heathen Reconstructionists can shed some light on why experts specifically chose this date?

What (also) leads me to believe the article isn't well-researched is that it strains to find supporting evidence for any tell-tale signs of Ragnarok as it's described in the Eddas:



That's almost like saying getting hit on the head with an acorn predicates that the sky is fallin--OHAI, Chicken Little.

Anyway, I've much else to say about this article, but I'll hand it over to you guys. So, in addition to the questions I've posed for you up above, do you believe in Ragnarok or some other imminent doomsday scenario? Do you believe that Ragnarok already happened? What are your thoughts on this article?

 

There are good questions about whether Ragnarok is even an element of traditional heathenry, or whether it was largely developed by Christian scholars to "put the old gods to rest".

Even if one does accept the idea of Ragnarok as an actual heathen idea, there is very little in the surviving lore to able to assign a date to the event. In order to do so, one would have to be adding so much of their own conjecture as to render any relationship between the prediction and the lore meaningless.

In short, there is nothing about the idea that Ragnarok can be specifically dated (to next February nonetheless) that represents anything that can be identified as a genuine heathen idea. MUS in its purest form.

[Solstice]

It's the Daily Fail.  I'd take this with an oil tanker filled with salt.

 
I wasn't too sure about the validity of dailymail, because I've only read one or two other articles from them, but I scanned the site before posting this thread and came to the conclusion that yeeeeah, something seems rotten in the state of Denmark--eeer, York. :/

Other articles made this sound a lot like a stunt intended to promote the event.

Yeah, that's what I reason, considering they started talking about happy funtimes festivities after their portent of DOOM. It was funny though, because I did read a comment someone posted on another related article along the lines of: "What would have possessed that man to play the horn that ends the world?!"

Ironic, my 11 year old daughter asked me just yesterday while we were watching Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, "Well, mom, when do you think they'll start saying the world is going to end again?" LOL! Every year someone comes up with something kooky as a joke or a publicity stunt. It always make me think of the Chicken Little story...The sky is falling, the sky is falling!

Ahah, those were my thoughts exactly! When I read the article, I thought, "Well...2013 was severely lacking in any doomsday prophecies, but 2014's got that covered!"

Seriously, I want to make a T-Shirt that says: "I survived Y2K, The Rapture, the Mayan Apocalypse, and Ragnarok." XD

Just as Hollywood, most of the American Press do not let history, facts, or the naked fundament (truth) interfere with telling a story, (sometime good, sometimes not) why should the dailymail?

That's true. The reasoning nowadays must be: "What other end-of-the-world tie-ins can we feed to the masses? Oh, Vikings and Norse Mythology are in right now! And everybody loves them their doom porn!" Done.

Actually, these end of the world + insert-pantheon-here formulas have been brewing for quite a while in the media. In fact, I just picked up a book at the library the other day entitled Age of Misrule: At World's End. It's about the END OF DA WORLD from a Celtic mythology standpoint. Now, I know next to nothing about Celtic mythos, but I don't believe there's any significant doomsday prophecy that's making its rounds? Correct me if I'm wrong. But I've also read the Runemarks series by Joanne Harris (love those books, though), and the Norse Percy-Jackson series, of which the first book is called Loki's Wolves, and both series involve Ragnarok. I don't know about Percy Jackson (because I've never read them), but I do sense a pattern about gods/demi-gods vs a larger than life event that's beyond them--a la end of the world. Perhaps that's a common archetype in any mythologically-based fantasy but admittedly, it's a formula that works. I'm the first one to admit that I'm a sucker for end-of-the-world plots, so when I see articles like this one floating around, I gotta snatch it and ride the story to its (expected) conclusion, which is always: NOTHING HAPPENS.

But I must say, this article doesn't even make a try for it. Way to make Ragnarok sound positively un-compelling. XD

There are good questions about whether Ragnarok is even an element of traditional heathenry, or whether it was largely developed by Christian scholars to "put the old gods to rest".

Even if one does accept the idea of Ragnarok as an actual heathen idea, there is very little in the surviving lore to able to assign a date to the event. In order to do so, one would have to be adding so much of their own conjecture as to render any relationship between the prediction and the lore meaningless.

In short, there is nothing about the idea that Ragnarok can be specifically dated (to next February nonetheless) that represents anything that can be identified as a genuine heathen idea. MUS in its purest form.

I'm of the camp that Ragnarok in some way, shape, or form, will occur, but that's my UPG talking. I definitely take into account all other theories on Ragnarok, like the one that states Ragnarok has already happened, that Adam and Eve are Lif and Lifthrasir, and Baldur is Jesus. It ties a lot of loose ends and makes a good deal of sense from a Christian perspective since, as you said, it kills the old gods to make way for the new. But it's certainly news to me when "Norse mythology experts" want to slap a date on Ragnarok when no mention or inkling of a mention has even been whispered in the Eddas or any other ancient texts.

I love how the article backslides, as well, when it states that Ragnarok will be preceded by three winters--when the projected date is for this coming winter. ...Alrighty then. XD

Anyway, I decided to look up "Jolablot," because I've never heard of such a thing, and Google directed me to the Jorvik Viking Centre in York, so I think we can confirm that Jolablot is the name of their festival, and Ragnarok the gimmick to draw audiences. Apparently in 1999, they were using a "Nordic invasion" as their gimmick.

...Boy, that escalated quickly. XD

Again. Doom porn.

[Rayne]

Seriously, I want to make a T-Shirt that says: "I survived Y2K, The Rapture, the Mayan Apocalypse, and Ragnarok." XD

 
I just might buy one if you did.

Although I no more believe in Ragnarok than the Y2K scare or the Rapture.

[Thorn]

So, I came upon an interesting article the other day:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2507778/Will-world-end-100-days-Sounding-ancient-trumpet-York-warns-Viking-apocalypse-22-February-2014.html

 
So, um, even if every word of the article were true (which Daily Mail - obviously not so much), is that what Heimdall looks like?  I imagined him to be much more impressive.  

After all, it doesn't say that "some random" guy will blow the horn that signals Ragnarok.

[Thorn]

Seriously, I want to make a T-Shirt that says: "I survived Y2K, The Rapture, the Mayan Apocalypse, and Ragnarok." XD

I would pay good money for this.

[Solstice]

I just might buy one if you did.

Although I no more believe in Ragnarok than the Y2K scare or the Rapture.

 
It would make a great statement though, since we live in the generation of New-Apocalypse-of-the-Day. All we need now is Scooby-Doo and the gang to come in and constantly debunk these doomsday ghouls by figuratively pulling off their masks.

Anyway, all this talk actually reminds me of this comic, which is a great example of the then vs now mentality pertaining to the future:

http://brokenteapot.deviantart.com/art/Then-and-Now-The-Future-197075730

It's funny how bright futures were associated with the 50s, a time under constant threat of nuclear armageddon and duck and cover drills. :/

So, um, even if every word of the article were true (which Daily Mail - obviously not so much), is that what Heimdall looks like? I imagined him to be much more impressive.

After all, it doesn't say that "some random" guy will blow the horn that signals Ragnarok.

Is it just me, or does it look like Not-Heimdall is rocking the guyliner there?

Heimdall is not impressed. XD

But maybe in the new-age translations of the Edda, no-doubt translated by the "Norse mythology experts," named so because they are obviously experts, changed Heimdall to "guy with horn." Guy with horn is obviously a stand-in for humanity. It's an allegory, placed there to represent how we will signal and sound our own destruction.

Also, that we will make bad fashion choices.

...I wonder what other survived apocalypses we can add to the t-shirt.

[Larix]

So guys, ready for another apocalypse?

 

I am ready!