(Part 3) Top products from r/asatru

Denmark's Ribe center has resources for period foods including cheese (fermentation of milk for preservation and taste) and smoked meat and fish (which, while this is not fermentation, it is preservation). Bread, especially sourdough, is also a form of fermentation and so, obviously, are traditional alcohols (beer, mead, fruit wines). Here's another resource with period recipes.

Look toward modern fermented fish recipes—they likely have not changed much. Asia continues to have a vibrant culture (HAR) of fermentation but fermentation is a Thing that most cultures developed—yeast, after all, one of the main requirements for fermentation, is in the air just about everywhere.

You asked for "something similar but more close to home". What is "home" (do you mean ancestrally or currently)? It's very likely that you can find a local pickling group that can help you learn how to pickle things and, once you've pickled one thing, you can pickle just about anything. You can also hit up Amazon for pickling.

Or, y'know, ask your elders, especially the women. Most people who are in their 80s–90s now pickled. Most people in their 60s–70s learned to pickle from them. This is due to WWII and is pretty much going to be true regardless of country.

If "close to home" means "my family is from [Germany/England/Sweden] but I live in [France/South Africa/Mexico]", a solid google search in the language in question should lead you to local modern recipes. For the most part, pickling has only changed with regard to the technology not with regard to the recipes.

Share what you make! Remember that your dísr are at your elbow as you ferment! Honor them and ask for their luck in your success.

Jesse Byock's unfortunately titled but very well-executed Viking Language course has been compared to Wheelock's Latin in terms of its quality, as has Michael Barnes's A New Introduction to Old Norse.

For Old English, I recommend Baker as mentioned below or, if you're like me and like a straight-up grammar, Sweet's A Primer of Anglo-Saxon.

I'm new to Ásatrú but an old hand at ancient languages. Sweet was my grammar in undergrad years ago. PM me if you'd like more info.

Historical

• Women in Old Norse Society - Probably one of the most balanced looks at the roles of men and women before, during, and after Christianization.
  
• The Dancing Goddess: Folklore, Archaeology, and the Origins of European Dance - Wonderful look at some of the origins of tradition that are rooted in dance from an Indo-European perspective.
  
• Norse Magical and Herbal Healing - Written in Iceland around the year 1500, the little book now known only as AM 434a is a treasure trove of medieval medical knowledge. It contains a number of magical spells, charms, prayers, runes, and symbols to bring health, wealth, and good fortune. The roots of the healing traditions in AM 434a go back thousands of years before the book itself was written.
  
  General Heathen Cultural Interest
  
  
• Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism - Really in depth book about the racialist Pagan movements, their origins, and how they think.
  
  
  The following are a bit controversial, but I feel they are worth reading:
  
  
• NeoPagan Rites by Isaac Bonewits - This is a rather religiously agnostic book, but it speaks to how to create rituals that work.
  
• Seeking the Mysteries: An Introduction to Pagan Theologies - I honestly found this book useful to be able to understand theological construction from a non-Christian POV.
  
  

It was actually a work of fiction that opened my eyes to heathenry and the idea of old gods existing. The series is called The Iron Druid Chronicles. Not sure if it's what you're looking for, but if it is and you don't mind a bit of poetic license (obviously)...
It's an urban fantasy series taking place in modern times and features a 2,100 year old shape-shifting, plane-walking druid, a hilarious talking dog, several pantheons (obviously as a Druid the Celtic pantheon is featured the most, but the Norse are also featured heavily), and lots of other adventurous things you'd expect in a fantasy series.
If you want to check it out I actually suggest going the audiobook route instead of the book route because the narration is fantastic. I've both listened and read but the narration just brought everything to life more than my imagination could. http://www.amazon.com/Hounded-Druid-Chronicles-Kevin-Hearne/dp/0345522478

these are from what i found. i haven't read them yet but i'm getting to them.


http://www.reddit.com/r/Norse/comments/29owe2/book_recommendations

http://www.amazon.com/The-Elder-Poetic-Edda-Illustrated/dp/0692200657

Amazon costs more, this is from publisher:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/eric-wodening/we-are-our-deeds/paperback/product-15978203.html

edit: The Edda saemund sigfusson olive bray, there is a free PDF you can find on google but i don't remember how i got to it.

HA!! i found it!
http://vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/The%20Elder%20or%20Poetic%20Edda.pdf

Well I'm British too, and I wouldn't expect people to really know much about our history. Most people from here don't know either!

If you're more interested in this period of English history, I'd really, really recommend this book. It taught me a lot :)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Search-Dark-Ages-Michael-Wood/dp/0563522763/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412190804&sr=1-10&keywords=anglo+saxon+england

There are two JOCHT's, but the last volume of this anual publication is if 2012. It is a pretty academic work.
Similar journals are "Mímir", "Northern Traditions" of Primordial Traditions/Numen Books (less academic) and in German the "Heidnisches Jahrbuch" (six volumes, the last one from 2012.
Less heathen, but still upto a certain degree is "Tyr Journal" (with Collin Cleary who wrote some books worth reading.

I know Old English scholars make sport out of trashing the Heaney translation but I enjoy the readability. This is the version I like the most.

At a minimum, I think everyone should have a copy of his Dictionary of Northern Mythology on their shelf. It's a great quick reference and a quality leaping off point for research. It's not exhaustive, but high quality none-the-less.

https://www.amazon.com/TTKP-Viking-Ravens-Mjolnir-Scandinavian/dp/B078KMST5Y/ref=sr_1_5?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1524930206&sr=1-5&nodeID=7141123011&psd=1&keywords=mjolnir+necklace&dpID=51DBB6w4q8L&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Is this the right book?
EDIT: Formatting

http://www.amazon.com/Well-Tree-World-Germanic-Culture/dp/0870233521/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420048878&sr=8-1&keywords=well+and+the+tree

I got Thomas Dubois book on Nordic Religions in the Viking Age

> The Golden Bough - Sir James Frazer

Youre link doesnt go to any particular source.

I think you meant this

My parents are actually christian missionaries as well and after I explained it to them they became quite worried but eventually understood and accecpted my religious views. My suggestion is to give them a copy of this book: http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Asatru-Walking-Norse-Paganism/dp/0806527080/ref=cm_lmf_tit_8 which really helped me when I first tried explaining it to them.

Dammit. So I always heard that Thursday is supposed to be linked back to Viking time as Thor's day. Is that wrong also? And ALL my reading I've done, it always pointed towards thurisaz being closely tied to Thor as in meaning strength and such. I have a book that has been my primary source of info on the runes, called "A Practical Guide to the Runes" by Lisa Peschel, that led me to believe that thurisaz would symbolize traits similar to what Thor embodies. So much so that I was going to take a pic of the page of the book at work today and post it here to prove I'm not crazy that I saw thurisaz linked to Thor. Dammit, everytime I think I have something figured out, I find out it may be completely wrong. Or my source of info is completely off, in which case how the hell am I supposed to know what a "good" source of info for this stuff is? I mean, hell, even a quick Google brings up this page that says thurisaz is a rune that can symbolize qualities of Thor. And besides, I guess it doesn't even have to be Thor himself, I'm just needing a rune that invokes defensive strength, aggression. Basically I'm going for a line that says "first, keep a clear head and plan your actions, then enact that plan with aggression and force, fearlessly. This will give you victory" So I guess it doesn't even have to mean Thor specifically, but I want a rune that embodies his strengths. All my research has pointed to thurisaz.