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.This is an account of strange happenings atSt Trond in the year 1133.It tells how a man from near Aachen got permissionto build a ship, which he put on wheels and had drawn by weavers.Theytook it to Aachen, Maesdricht (where it was given a mast and sail), Tongres,Borgloon and finally to Trond.Here the abbot warned the townspeople againstit, and the weavers had to guard it day and night, but none the less it waswelcomed with riotous delight by the townspeople; in the evening half-nakedwomen are said to have rushed to the ship and danced around it.At midnightthe dance ended and a great shouting took place, but sadly no words arerecorded.This went on for twelve nights, and when more sober citizenswanted to burn the ship, there was such an outcry that it departed unharmedto Louvain, although there the gates of the town were closed against it.112 Mistress of Distaff and Loom Gelling quotes this strange episode in a discussion of the ship symbolsof the Bronze Age rock-carvings in Sweden, suggesting that here we have asudden re-emergence of an age-old celebration (Gelling and Davidson 1967:52).Certainly the welcome of the ship is reminiscent of that given to the wagonof Nerthus as described by Tacitus in the first century AD.But why were theweavers responsible for its safety, and for bringing it to the towns? Thechronicler states that the man who built it wanted to humiliate them and forcedthem to draw it, but this sounds unconvincing, although it is quite likely thatChristian weavers would be unwilling to join in so disreputable a celebration.The supplying of a mast and sail at one of the towns on the way provides aninteresting parallel to the woven sail brought to the temple of Athene by herworshippers (see p.96).It seems not unreasonable to suggest that here wehave an example of popular enthusiasm for the annual welcome of the goddessremembered from earlier times, and that the weavers still supported a ceremonyonce connected with the deity who had been the patron of their craft.It isusually assumed that it was men drawing the ship, but women also took aleading part in the ceremony once it was inside the town, and the wild riteswhich took place can be compared with women s gatherings and violentbehaviour associated with the birth of children (see pp.143 4).The association of the goddess with spinning and weaving is undoubtedlya many-sided one, and the rich evidence from the Oseberg ship offers us newpossibilities.We have seen how weaving and embroidery gave women anopportunity to keep alive myths and heroic legends of the past, and how oneimportant function of the goddess of spinning was to train and protectgrowing girls and help them towards marriage.One further point to beconsidered is that among the many aspects of the northern goddess Frigg,known to be associated with spinning and weaving (see p.104), was herknowledge of the future, of the destinies of mortals and perhaps of godsalso: I deem that Frigg knows the destinies of all , declares Freyja inLokasenna (29), though she does not herself declare it (see p.121).This isa further important aspect associated with the imagery of spinning andweaving, to be discussed in the following section.WEAVING AND DESTINYWe know that a Greek goddess might be depicted holding a distaff (seepp.94 5), and on a round disc brooch from Byzantium, dated from aboutthe sixth century AD, the Virgin Mary is similarly represented with a distaffin her hand (Figure 20).There was a tradition that she was occupied inspinning at the moment of the Annunciation, when the Archangel Gabrielappeared with his momentous news (Ellmers 1974: 233ff.); this was afavourite subject for Byzantine art, depicted on a number of ivories.It is113 Mistress of Distaff and Loom Figure 20 Disc brooch from Byzantium representing the Annunciation.Basedon photograph given by Ellmers (1974).Lelly Aldworth.not found in the account in St Luke s Gospel, but is derived from the apocryphalbook of the second century known as the Protevangelium of James, probablyby a non-Jewish writer, which deals with the birth and upbringing of the VirginMary, her betrothal to Joseph, and the birth of Christ (Hennecke 1963: 368ff.).According to this work, Mary at 12 years of age left the Temple where shehad been brought up for the house of her chosen husband Joseph.When itwas decided that a veil for the holy place should be made, the priests soughtout seven pure virgins of the tribe of David to weave it, and chose Mary asone of them.They drew lots to decide who should work the various colours,and to Mary fell the task of weaving the pure purple and scarlet.These weresymbolic colours, since purple was reserved for the Emperor, while scarletrepresented both royalty and martyrdom.She had already spun the scarlet whenshe heard a voice addressing her as she went to draw water.Trembling sheentered the house again, and began to draw out the purple thread.It was atthis point that the Archangel Gabriel appeared to her, telling her to have nofear.114 Mistress of Distaff and Loom On the disc brooch Mary is shown facing forward, seated on a kind of throne,holding a distaff in her right hand while the other hand is raised in a gesture ofadoration (Ellmers 1974: 233).Thus we have echoes brought into Christiantradition of the spinning goddess who could influence the fate of the new-born and the destiny of the world, a concept which as we have seen wasestablished in Ancient Greece (see pp.98 9).Although the Protevangeliumwas rejected in western Europe, savagely attacked by St Jerome and finallycondemned by the Pope, the spinning tradition nevertheless persisted therealso.Erich Neumann refers to a twelfth-century fresco of the Annunciation inthe church of Sorpe in Spain, where a Virgin of Byzantine type stands with adistaff in one hand and raises the thread with the other as the angel approachesher
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