Norse Poetry and Music

Poetry and music were not just important pastimes in the Old Norse pagan religion, they were holy and sacred! (especially lyre music) and even said to be gifts from Odin himself. They were very heavily tied to magic and shamanic states of consciousness. In fact all the major Old Nordic and Old English myths and epics, such as the Norse myths found in the Poetic Edda and Old English Beowulf were written as poems and intended to be sung!!

But often pop culture's ideas about how ancient music sounded and the historical reality can be quite different! 😂 The below video is of a great singer singing an ancient poem in the original Old English language, (a language that was much closer to Old Norse and German than English is today). It's a great insight into how the myths were originally intended to be heard and sung, and how much more beautiful Norse music was than most probably imagine!