The Althing is the parliament of Iceland, it was created in 928 on the lines of the previously existing Norse Thing and is the oldest parliamentary assembly in the world. It was dissolved in 1800, revived in 1843 as an advisory body and it's modern form was constituted in 1874 as a legislative body. Research Althing
Christmas is the Christian celebration of the birth of their saviour, Jesus Christ. The festival we now call Christmas was adopted from earlier pagan winter solstice celebrations celebrating the sun, including the Roman festival of Saturnalia celebrated from December the 17th to the 24th; Celtic Yuletide which was a twelve-day long festival of feasting around November/December; the Roman New Year celebrated on January the first when lights and greenery were used to decorate houses in celebration of the birth of the undying sun, and presents were given to children and the poor. Other elements of modern Christmas celebrations are also adopted from earlier pagan celebrations: the Christmas tree as a fir tree originates with the Oak tree that was sacred to Odin in Norse and Germanic tradition, and which was replaced by the fir tree declared to be sacred to Jesus by St Boniface in Germany in the 8th century. Mistletoe and holly were sacred to the Druids who used them as decorations in their winter solstice celebrations to the sun around mid-December.
Christmas was first celebrated around the 2nd century on two dates depending upon church; the Roman catholic church adopting December the 25th and some other churches adopting January the 6th which around the 5th century became Epiphany. Christmas day was officially transferred to the 25th of December by Julius I, who died in 352. The Puritans suppressed Christmas celebrations in Britain and America on the justifiable grounds of their pagan origins, however since the 18th century when the first Christmas cards were produced by the company of Goodall of London in 1862, peoples of many cultures, including Jews have celebrated Christmas in a variety of religious, pagan and other ways, with today the Jehova's Witnesses being the only major Christian objectors to the celebration of Christmas - on the perfectly correct grounds that it is a pagan festival, and the irrefutable evidence suggests that Jesus was not born on December the 25th or even in the month of December.
Complaints about the commercialisation of Christmas are not new. In the 19th century Charles Dickens character 'Ebeneazer Scrooge' in the novel 'A Christmas Carol' complains that Christmas is a 'humbug' or in other words a con or a rip off, a sentiment widely echoed by shoppers in Britain at the end of the 20th century. Research Christmas
The Dighton rock is a rock lying in the tide on the side of Taunton River, in Berkeley, Massachusetts, formerly in Dighton, and marked with a curious inscription. It attracted early attention on the part of antiquaries. Rafn in 1837 declared that its markings were a runic inscription of the Northmen, relating to the expedition of Thorfinn Karlsefne, but this view has generally been abandoned, though the central portion may be Norse. Research Dighton Rock
The week is the period of seven days now universally adopted. It is of Hebrew or Chaldean origin and is generally regarded as a memorial of the creation of the world according to the Mosaic account. Dion Cassius attributes the invention of the week to the Egyptians. The Ptolemaic arrangement of the heavenly bodies, according to their distances from the earth, is Saturn (the most distant), Jupiter, Mars, the sun, Venus, Mercury and the Moon; and it was a principle of the ancient astrology that these bodies presided in this succession over the hours of the day. If the first hour be assigned to Saturn, the twenty-fifth or first hour of the next day, will fall to the sun; the forty-ninth, or first hour of the second day will fall to the moon and so on. From the names of the planets have been formed the modern names - Saturday (Saturn), Sunday (Sun), Monday (Moon), Tuesday (Tiu, the Saxonequivalent of Mars), Wednesday (Woden the Norseequivalent of Mercury), Thursday (Thor the Norseequivalent of Jupiter) and Friday (Frygga the Norseequivalent of Venus). Research Week
The Norwegian forest is a breed of long-haired cat renowned for its wild, rugged, and hardy nature and appearance and its remarkably fast-drying coat. The thick and heavy overcoat covers a woolly undercoat and forms an abundant ruff around the neck. The ears are long and pointed and set high on the head, the tail is flowing and as long as the body, the eyes are bright and attentive and vary with the coat colour. In the summer it sheds its fur and only its tail, ear and toe tufts distinguish it as a long-haired cat. The
Norwegian forest originated centuries ago in Norway, where it is called a Skogkatt and is mentioned in Norse mythology where it is referred to as a fairy or trollcat because it comes from the woodlands. Research Norwegian Forest
Alexander III was King of Scotland from 1249 to 1286. He succeeded his father, Alexander II when just a boy of eight. In 1251 he married Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry III of England. Like his father, Alexander II, he was eager to bring the Hebrides under his sway, and this he was enabled to accomplish in a few years after the defeat of the Norse King Haco at Largs, in 1263. The mainland and islands of Scotland were now under one sovereign, though Orkney and Shetland still belonged to Norway. Alexander III was strenuous in asserting the independence both of the Scottish kingdom and the Scottish church against England. He died in 1285 by the falling of his horse while he was riding in the dark between Burntisland and Kinghorn. He left as his heiress Margaret, the Maiden of Norway, daughter of Eric of Norway, and of Alexander's daughter, Margaret. Under him Scotland enjoyed greater prosperity than for generations afterwards.
Alexander III was an Emperor (Tsar) of Russia. The son of Alexander II, he was born in 1845 and died in 1894 of kidney disease. He became heir to the throne on the death of his eldest brother, Nicholas in 1865, and succeeded in 1881, on the assassination of his father, being crowned in Moscow in 1883. He gave up the reforms begun by his father, and ruled in the old autocratic fashion, restricting the liberties of Finland and the Baltic Provinces, and encouraging persecution of the Jews. He spent much time in the closely-guarded castle of Gatchina, to be safe from Nihilistic attempts, several of which he narrowly escaped. 'He endeavoured to put down corruption and underhand dealing among the bureaucracy, and in his own habits gave an example of simplicity and economy. While showing himself suspicious of Germany and Austria-Hungary, he entered on friendly relations with France. He began to suffer from disease of the kidneys in 1893, and died at Livadia in 1894. Research Alexander III
The Inuit (also Innuit) are a people inhabiting the Arctic coasts of North America, the east islands of the Canadian Arctic, and the ice-free coasts of Greenland. They are short of stature, averaging around 1.6 meters tall, with broad, fat faces, black eyes, brownish yellow skin and coarse black hair. They live by hunting and fishing. Hunting is done with dog drawn sledges, fishing from a canoe. During the summer they live in tents and in winter huts made from turf and snow heated by oil lamps. They tend to live in small groups of twenty to thirty families and practise a shamanistic religion. In 1912 an expedition discovered white Inuit with red hair and blue eyes and implements which led to the belief that they may be descendants of old NorseVikings who visited North America from 1000 onwards. Inuktitut, their language, has about 60,000 speakers; it belongs to the Eskimo-Aleut group. The Inuit object to the name Eskimos (an insulting Abenaki word meaning 'raw flesh-eater') given them by the Algonquin Indians. Research Inuit
The Norsemen or Rus as they were also known, were early inhabitants of Norway. The term Norsemen is also applied to Scandinavian Vikings who during the 8th-11th centuries raided and settled in Britain, Ireland, France, Russia (named after the Rus), Iceland, and Greenland. The Norse religion (banned 1000) was recognized by the Icelandic government 1973. Research Norseman
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Althing
