DR 290 on a drawing by Olof Sörling (1904; Public Domain).
Today is the 15th birthday of Uppsala Runic Forum, so hip hip hooray for us! When it was founded in 2009, my colleagues were a bit sceptical and agreed only on the condition that it would mean no financial strain to our department. Thanks to our many generous contributors it turned out quite the opposite.
Later this week it is Saint Lucy’s Day. Lucia of Syracuse was a 4th century martyr who, because her name means ’light’, is celebrated in Sweden during the darkest time of the year.
So, let us today also remember the owner of the early medieval wooden marker from Bergen N 713 which bears the inscription: lucia : grims : toter : a Lucia Gríms dóttir á. ‘Lucia, the daughter of Grímr, owns (the merchandize).’
Hypothetically, she could be the same Lucy who was taught runes on the stick N B462: Sveinn risti rúnar þessar ok bað Lúciu ráða. ‘Svein carved these runes and asked Lucia to read/interpret (them).’
December 13th is also the birthday of George Stephens (1813‒1895), a gentleman runologist who ended up as professor of English in Copenhagen. His four volume The Old-Northern runic monuments of Scandinavia and England was published 1866‒1901. The drawings are excellent but the runology unfortunately the work of a dilettante. Yet, he also is part of our runic history.
And later this month we have Christmas, again. As I said in a blog posting 2018, I wish you all Yule Frith! As I retired September 1st, I intend to enjoy my peace in full.
For a runic illustration that time, I borrowed a picture. This time I would like to acknowledge the Sövestad stone (DR 290) in southern Sweden but on former Danish Soil. It has the picture of a man who with his pointed hat could very well have joined the Saint Lucy’s Day parade as a stjärngosse (‘star singer’).
DR 290 bears no runes but it was found near DR 291 which tells us that ‘Tonna placed this stone in memory of Bramr, her husband, and (so did) Ásgautr, his son. He was the best of estate-holders and the most generous with food.’
“Generous with food” sounds like a Christmas virtue, to say the least.