The Hidden People - Huldufólk
Unseen but Aware and Watching - The Hidden People - Huldufólk ~
--- The Norsemen held to a belief which is still harbored by the people of remote regions of Norway and throughout Iceland. Many are the places where these beings are said to dwell.
There are certain traditions, seen by many modern minded folk as superstitious gestures toward a location of which certain action is to be made or certain other actions not taken.
Among these are not to throw stones randomly, especially in forests. Why?
These are called "The Hidden Folk" because they are frequently not seen within the mortal visual spectrum and thus invisible. They are the "Huldufólk" ( Hool 'doo 'folk) and existed long before mankind gained predominance in Midgard, this world of Earth.
In throwing a stone, you may strike one. Yes, sticks and stones can hurt them, as can cold iron - as with so many spirit beings. Worked metal such as steel, shaped and kiln cooked bricks, and other items contaminated with the hand of man has no effect on them. Yet a thrown stone hitting one will result in retribution, with stone thrower to suffer.
They are beings akin to Elves, preferring to dwell within their strongholds within mountain regions and even to enter geographically significant rocks, wherein lies a larger space defying the physical limitations suggested by the dimensions of the object itself.
They build within these places of stone and earthen areas their cities, called "The Álagablettur" (Ol 'uh 'goh blUt tur).
"Álagablettur" is translated from Old Norse as meaning "Places of Power " / "spell Places" / Places Enchanted". These places are used by practitioners of Seiðr (SEE ' dur) magic, with shamanic power derived from the natural environment, from connective power that is concentrated within oneself through years of training and the "Álagablettur" locations being nexus points from which power may be drawn singly or through prepared connective conjunction.
It is in "Álagablettur" that the Huldufólk live and prefer their privacy.
They are best left undisturbed. They are closely linked to the Land Spirits which can claim as territory a single farmer's field or strictly contained region, with the hierarchical lords / ladies of their kind being able to claim whole nations as their own.
Let them be. Their ways are not the ways of mankind.
They hold to the Old Ways - hating the taint of Christianity, abhorring the crucifix and sanctified ground dedicated to the Christian God. THey have witnessed the pollution of sacred streams and grottoes, the hacking down of trees dedicated to the gods of Asgard and even burning of whole sacred groves. To the Huldufólk, a church or cathedral is an embodiment of a fortress violating land that can be better used for grass and trees which the Huldufólk consider a part of themselves.
Many Norwegians and Icelanders of today claim to believe in the Huldufólk.
Road construction and public works in Iceland are sometimes altered to prevent damaging the landscape of certain places, especially lone rocks of notable appearance where Huldufólk are believed to live.
It is customary in Iceland to have Christmas house-cleaning as a representational purification of the domicile. Families are to leave offerings of food for the Huldufólk during this time, as a way to placate these spirits of the ancestors. This carry-over from ancestor worship, then supplication to the unseen Land Spirits, and then to the gods of Asgard has residual echoes into the current Plastic Age of this era.
On New Year’s Eve, it is believed that the Huldufólk change locality, as part of an almost clockwork shifting to new areas to revitalize them and perhaps mirror the cosmic cycle of shifting and changing ways of the seen and unseen worlds that may transect and align at cusp junctions within the Great Weaving, as known to the Norns.
Icelanders leave candles to help them find their way.
If within the places of forest where cliff and boulder may abide, to find open space and fields where notable chunks of stone may be evident, walk with quietude and reflection upon the awe of Nature, to respect the places traversed as abode to those creatures unseen which can bring either boon and fertility - or perverse trickery, perhaps even destruction ~ for such are the ways of The Huldufólk.
Repost from X – The Bifrost Bridge – Norse/Scandinavian ideas and lore
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