VIKING MAN by Geir Arneberg
/Interest in Viking life and Norse mythology are massive today, but Tyr Neilsen (57) has been fascinated by Viking life and Norse mythology since he was a young boy and lived in England. When he moved to Norway in the 80s, he married a Norwegian woman and got in-laws that were knowledgeable in this rich heritage.
Thanks to my mother in-law I learned a lot about Norse mythology, and my father in-law introduced me to Laustak, the Viking martial art, says Tyr, who lives in Buskerud, Norway. Here he lives in many ways like a modern Viking and teaches the Viking martial arts.
Tyr has been a consultant for several Norse related books, including a book about Viking martial arts. He is committed to promoting Norwegian culture and history, and is recent years he has held exhibitions and seminars at museums, schools and festivals in Norway and Europe.
NORWEGIAN CULTURAL HERITAGE
When journalist Bente Wemundstad interviewed Tyr for Byavisa Drammen and had conversations and discussions on various Viking topics, they hit on the idea of him writing a book about Hávamál with photography to illustrate it. After work on the book had started, they contacted Nova Publishing.
Just hours after Bente sent e mails, she received a phone call from publisher Jan Hervig who said that this was absolutely something Nova publishing wanted. Thus began a very hectic journey, literally. Besides diving into the brilliant philosophy that is found within Hávamál, Tyr and Bente traveled to Iceland where the original manuscript is held.
VIKING JOURNEY
For a long time it seemed that there was absolutely no way to see the original vellum Hávamál manuscript, as it is heavily guarded and only very few have been allowed to photograph it, but Tyr and Bente received a mail from the institute that holds the manuscript, saying that they understood the importance of the work on this book, and granted exclusive access to the original manuscript from the year 1270. Photos had to be taken without a flash in a rather dark room at a museum in Reykjavik.
In the Viking Age, Odin’s speech was delivered as a performance. To recreate the original way of presenting Havamal, Tyr and Bente took exciting photographs of modern Vikings and models out in Norwegian nature and at sea.
Together, Tyr and Bente translated the first 80 verses of Hávamál (called Hávamál proper) to modern Norwegian, then Tyr translated the whole book into modern English, with the goal that this Norse heritage will be known to future generations.
Edited Byavisa article by Geir Arneberg
HÁVAMÁL