“Velkomin sértu, góa mín, og gakktu í bæinn; vertu ekki úti í vindinum vorlangan daginn”
According to the Old Icelandic calendar have just left behind the month of Þorri, and today we enter the month of Góa. Being among the last winter months, it might have been a difficult time with food supplies running low, but also a time filled with hope for an early and mild spring. This is illustrated by Icelandic proverbs such as "að þreyja þorrann og góuna” (to endure Þorri and Góa, that is, to overcome difficult times). Several aspects of the stories and traditions related to Góa are associated with hopes of fertility and growth.
Icelandic folktales describe how this month is the month of women, and that it should be greeted by the housewife on the farm. On this first day of Góa she should rise early and step outside before getting dressed, walk thrice around the farm, and speak the words from the top of this post. Let me translate them to English:
“Welcome, my dear Góa, and come on inside; don’t stay out in the wind, on this long day of spring.”
One of the two blue/brown six-strand braids running down along the back of the apron dress (based on the Hedeby/Haithabu find), and the linen shoulder straps made by folding fabric fourfold and closing it with whip stitch.
The shoulder straps/loops on apron dresses seem to have usually been made of linen, also when the remainder of the dress is made of wool.
This is for example seen in the rich Birka material where vast majority of findings of such loops were linen, even though plant fibres usually decompose rapidly under Scandinavian preservation conditions.
This may be surprising to some, since we more often see wool loops on apron dresses among historical reenactors (including myself)!
Why do you think that is? Do you find it prettier when the shoulder straps and dress are identical in color and material?
That has been the case for my part. But after having made and worn these, I can definitely get used to this! Linen straps are also more durable and less stretchy, so they do their job well holding the heavy brooches in place.
• The blue aprondress • Part 4/6 of “The woman at Spurkeland”, early 900s CE
The second garment in the grave was identified as an apron dress.
Underneath the tortoise brooches, there were pieces of both the upper and lower looped straps used to suspend the dress over the shoulders. These were made of plant fibre, specifically linen.
Apart from these straps, the findings do not reveal more details about the design of the apron dress. I therefore based my interpretation on the largest and best-preserved existing find, namely the Hedeby/Haithabu fragment, with a closed and fitted design flaring from the hips and six-strand braids running down along the back.
I used blue wool fabric in a plain tabby weave, handsewn with wool thread. This seemed like the most plausible alternative based on previous findings as well as those wool fragments that were indeed found in the grave (more about that in part 5/6)!
Some years ago, a friend of mine found a tortoise brooch on a farm here on the west coast of Norway, which led to archaeological excavations that revealed a woman’s grave from the early 900s. The finding remained unpublished and has not been recreated until now. I was up for the challenge. How often do you come across such a relevant finding so close to home?
I’ve been working on this project for the past months, and will be sharing it with you here in the days to come! You will find the whole story and all photos on my blog Valkyrja.com (link in profile) ✨
As you may know I am half Icelandic, but my Norwegian half is actually from the north of Norway (not from Bergen where I live). This photo is from last summer when we went on a roadtrip north to stay in my fathers’ childhood home in Lofoten.
And of course we had to visit the beautiful Lofotr Viking Museum, with it’s large and magnificent longhouse! ✨
This week I started my summer vacation! *happyface*
I normally don’t write much about my “modern life” here, but I am a senior researcher within the field of health psychology, coordinating a large international clinical trial. It’s a lot of fun but also a lot of work! I am very excited about having several weeks off, to relax and enjoy my hobbies and projects I’ll also be travelling to Iceland to finally visit my family there again