Two Epiphanies About The Völva's Outfit

Between work, taxes, and illness, I've spent more time thinking about historic costume than making, researching, or blogging about it so far this year.   Unfortunately, with summer (and summer events) starting here, I don't expect that to change dramatically.  However, in the last few days I experienced two epiphanies--two sudden revelations--that relate to my proposed völva outfit, and I'd like to share them here, because I think they may be interesting, and because my readers may have additional insights that would improve upon them.

Posement from Birka grave 832*

The first epiphany relates to this part of the saga description of the völva's cloak:  "...she had a blue mantle fastened with straps, and stones were set all in the flap above...."   The "flap above" is still a mystery to me, but I recently found a photograph of a Viking age artifact that shows how the "stones" on the völva's cloak might have been "set." That photograph, which appears to the left, is a textile fragment bearing a piece of a posement, i.e., an  ornament worked from precious metal wire.  The fragment came from grave no. 832 at Birka ("Bj. 832), and it now resides in the Historiska Museet in Stockholm. (Many thanks to Alicja Jaczewska, because I found the photograph on her Pinterest board.)

What makes this artifact relevant to the völva's cloak is the fact that the posement includes a stone, probably made of glass, in a mount made from wire like the rest of the posement.  (The stone is the bluish lump on the right edge of the fragment.) 

The effect of this "mount" looks very much like modern shisha embroidery, which uses thread to mount bits of mirrors or metal onto clothing.  The difference is that thread alone won't suffice to mount a glass stone onto fabric--but a mount woven of wire would be sturdy enough, and like the rest of the posement, it could simply be sewn onto the fabric.  For all we know, the fragment from Bj. 832 could have ornamented a cloak, with the knotwork section decorating the edge, and the stones sewn onto the fabric beside it. 

The second epiphany relates to the völva's "touchwood belt."   I'm not sure what inspired this idea, but it makes better sense of my theory of how the touchwood belt was worn and used than any suggestion I have discussed so far.  My concern about the belt was how a substance as soft and shreddable as touchwood could be made into a belt that was strong enough to support the völva's large pouch but still remain potentially usable as tinder.

I was mentally reviewing the Bj. 832 fragment when this idea for the belt came to me.  What if the belt were made from pieces of touchwood, rolled into longer strands and braided?  The use of multiple strands would make the belt more attractive and better suited to cinching clothing, but each strand could still be soft enough that bits could be teased out for use as tinder if required.

The change in theory suggests a new idea for replicating the belt--raffia!  Raffia is cheap, comes in brown (giving it the look of touchwood) and could be twisted into strands for braiding.

For the first time in months, I am getting excited about the völva outfit again, even though the idea of fashioning enough wire mounts to trim the edges of a long cloak feels as impossible to me as flying to the moon by flapping my arms.  Although I may not have the skill to pull that idea off, the Bj. 832 fragment provides tangible support for the idea that important people may have worn cloaks decorated in that manner.  I will have to keep my eyes open for other finds that may provide further support.

*  The photograph appears in the searchable online database of the Historiska Museet, a/k/a the Swedish Historical Museum in Stockholm, Sweden.