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.

The "Touchwood" Belt

Amadou cap (Wikimedia Commons)

One of the more confusing elements about the costume of the völva in the Saga of Eric the Red is the reference to the "touchwood" belt she is wearing.  When I first read the description of the völva's costume, I thought "what kind of wood do you use to make a 'touchwood' belt and how would it be made?"  At the time, that question was simply an idle thought.  Now that I plan to try to recreate the völva's costume, I have to come up with an answer that is both technically reasonable and at least historically plausible.

The Viking Answer Lady's research provides a key to this puzzle.  She reports that "touchwood" is the English word used in translations  from Old Norse for a fungus that grows on birch trees.  This fungus, when dried, is excellent tinder for use in starting fires.  In discussing Viking age fire-starting techniques, the Viking Answer Lady observed:

Touchwood has a wide variety of names, but is technically a fungus of the Polyporus or Boletus family, especially Fomes fomentarius, Polyporus fomentarius or Boletus chirurgorum. ...

Touchwood was collected in Europe in August and September, chiefly from oak and beech, the best being from oak. The substance was then prepared for use by removing the exterior rind and cutting the inner part into thin slices, which were washed first in weak alkali, then in water and then beaten with a hammer and worked until they become a soft, pliable felt-like material that could be easily torn by the fingers.   (emphasis mine)

Fomes fomentarius (Wikimedia Commons)

These properties of Fomes fomentarius are well known and continue to be used by people venturing into wild country; its use by wilderness travelers is described on this website. It is often referred to as "tinder fungus", and the felt-like substance that can be processed from it is known as amadou. Although amadou is not the most physically durable substance, it is sufficiently durable that objects such as caps (see the photograph above) can be made from it.  Such caps are made in Romania and sold over the Internet; anyone who is interested can purchase one here.

The idea that the völva wore a practical resource on her person is this manner is not really a strange idea in a Viking context.  It's well known that the Vikings would, at need, cut pieces from their silver bracelets to make purchases; similarly, the völva probably cut small pieces off her belt from time to time, possibly without even removing the belt, to start fires, which she may have had to do for ritual reasons as well as practical ones (i.e., for warmth or cooking purposes as she traveled between homesteads).

I do not plan to purchase actual amadou, which might not be sold in the shape that I need and would probably cost just a bit more than I'm willing to pay for a costume item right now.  However, knowing the general appearance and physical properties of amadou makes it easy to create a plausible touchwood belt for my costume.  All I need is a narrow strip of brown felt, long enough to go around my waist with a bit left over.   This site sells two-yard pieces of 1/2 inch (1 cm) 100% wool felt ribbon for $1.75 USD; that quantity is more than enough for my purposes and within my limited price range.

There is no reason to suppose that such a touchwood "belt" would be decorated, let alone decorated as elaborately as the amadou cap shown above, and I plan to wear a simple, unadorned strip of the felt ribbon as a belt.

Assuming that the völva's amadou belt is unadorned is not the most important question that needs to be resolved.  A more serious question is this:  How would the belt fasten around the waist?  Actual amadou would probably not be robust enough to be repeatedly knotted and unknotted for that purpose.

I originally thought that I could simply to cut a slit at one end of a strip of felt and narrow about 6 inches of the other end and carefully feed the narrow end through the slit to keep the strip around my waist; such a minimal form of handling seems consistent with a semi-durable material one would need to wear on one's person.

Then I remembered that the saga also states that the völva wears a large pouch of magical paraphernalia on her belt.  Would an amadou belt fastened only with a tongue-and-slit closing support a large pouch, even if the contents of such a pouch were very light? For that matter, would a belt made of felt with such a clothing support the weight of a pouch? This is a troubling question, since there's no indication that the touchwood belt fastened with a buckle or clasp of any kind. So how did it fasten around the waist?

Fortunately, the Romanian site that sells amadou caps provided me with some additional clues.  The same site also sells amadou handbags, which have straps made from amadou; a picture of such a bag may be found here.

The site reports that their bags "have a soft outer texture, the amadou stiffened in the front and back, but softer on the sides to allow them to expand. They are lined with a pale lavender linen print, so the amadou is not directly exposed on the interior.  The 'clasp' is held naturally by tucking the tail of the flap into a slot on the front. It's actually pretty secure. The straps are also made of tinder fungus, and securely attached to the bag. They should not be submerged, but can stand a little water.  Approximate dimensions: 7.5" w x 4" h x 5.5" h You can fit a one quart sized mason jar inside and still close the flap, barely."

This description indicates that amadou can be made stiff enough to withstand some moisture and to be used as straps.  The reference to stuffing the mason jar in the bag shows that amadou can be made tough enough to take some mechanical stress.  Those facts together suggest that an amadou belt should be strong enough withstand the weight of a belt pouch, even if knotting such a belt or installing metal fittings on it wouldn't be a good idea.  (The amadou handbag probably would have had a metal closure if installing one wouldn't affect its durability.)  Besides, metal fittings would make no sense for a period use of amadou.  Metal fittings would have made it more difficult for the völva to cut pieces from the belt for use as tinder when necessary.

A Google search for amadou belts did not turn up any examples, but did direct me to a page with a picture of the belt worn by Ötzi the Iceman, and that picture suggested an idea for how to solve the fastening problem.  Ötzi's belt was a strip of calfskin with thongs fastened to the ends that tied together.

Fastening a thong to each end of the amadou belt might not be necessary, though.  It would be simpler, and better allow for the cutting of tinder from such a belt if both ends of the strip were turned over and sewed onto the belt, with an oversized flap, worn next to the body, that could be trimmed off as needed.  A thong or string could be threaded through both loops, and then tied to itself, closing the belt securely without putting excessive stress on either end of the belt. 

I will find out soon whether my proposed belt concept works in practice.  After I complete it, I'll write about the process of creating it, and will provide pictures of the belt and pouch in use.

In the meantime, Happy Holidays to all who read this post!  I was going to try to do a follow-up on my Santa Claus post of two years ago but ran out of time and brain power. Perhaps I can return to this subject before the New Year; I received an interesting book as a Christmas present that should be relevant to this topic.

EDIT:  (1/1/2014)  It occurs to me that there is a much simpler way to make the belt that would better allow for its consumption (if it were made from amadou) as tinder.  That would be to sew down one end onto itself, making a loop, and to punch a small hole in the other end at an appropriate place.  Then you need only run a thong through the loop.  Thread at least one end of the thong through the hole in the other end and tie the ends of the thong together and your belt is fastened.  I will try that method first and see how it looks before ruling out the double-loop version described above.