Germanic Archives - Bone and Sickle

Trolls in Medieval Literature

April 27, 2026 boneandsickle ballads, EPISODE, folk tales, folklore, Germanic, Iceland, legends, literature, medieval, Middle Ages, monsters, Norse, Norse religion, Norway, saints, storytelling, troll-cats, trolls, witchcraft, witches

Trolls, as presented in medieval literature, are vastly different from the creatures we encountered in our last episode’s collection of[…]

Read more

A Viking Funeral

August 1, 2023 boneandsickle EPISODE, funerary customs, Germanic, graves, history, human sacrifice, Middle Ages, Norse religion, pagan, paganism, Russian, Seeress, Slavs, Vikings, Völva

Scenes of fiery Viking funerals have been woven into any number of literary and cinematic tales, but sources on the[…]

Read more

The Seeress: Germanic Tribes, Vikings, and Witches

May 13, 2022 boneandsickle EPISODE, folklore, Germanic, history, human sacrifice, legends, Norse religion, Odin, pagan, paganism, prophecy, Ragnarök, sagas, Scandinavia, Seeress, seidr, Völva, witchcraft, witches

In pagan Germanic cultures, the seeress played an extremely important role, not only as a clairvoyant, but also often fulfilling[…]

Read more