Post
by Идущая вперед » Wed Jan 14, 2009 17:42
Berserker (Berserker) — the Viking God Odin before the battle, caused himself to rage.
The battle had a great power, fast response, insensitivity to pain, madness. Did not recognize the shield and armor, fighting in their shirts, or naked to the waist. The sons of king Canute — the Berserkers — have sailed on a separate ship, so how do the Vikings feared them.
One could do so that in battle his enemies blinded or failed, or they were filled with fear, or their swords became little sharper than a stick, and his men went into battle without armor and was like mad dogs and wolves, biting their shields and were compared with the power of bears and bulls. They killed people, and they were not to take neither fire nor iron. This is called to fall into Berserker rage.
Odin's men went into battle without coats of mail, and they were like wild wolves. They bit their shields and were strong as bears or bulls. They kill the enemies when they themselves did not take neither fire nor the sword; it was the fury of fierce warriors.
Once they have reached adulthood, they were allowed to grow their hair and beard, and only after killing the first enemy, they could put... Panties and the other went with her hair. In addition, the most daring wore the iron ring, and only the enemy's death frees them from his wearing. Their mission was to precede every battle; they always formed the front line.
Dressing up in bear skins, perhaps, was the reason why warriors were considered in these skins of wild and invincible. But why were they furious and raged? It is possible that they fell into the power of something like magical ecstasy and felt that they possessed a fierce animal spirit. This assumption is reinforced by the description of fury of the sagas of the Yngling. Where the wild warriors are called "Men of Odin". One (the southern Germanic Wotan) is largely similar to these warriors. One of his aspects is the God of War, "Mr. Rage". He wakes up in the German soldiers of military courage, the courage, the endurance, ensures that the best soldiers were in his squad in the final battle of the end of the world. As Wotan he leads the wild hunt (wilde Jagd), which is noisy night storms and which nobody can detain. The other aspect — he is the wisest of the Gods, gifted with such powers that no one not dedicated and does not dare to wield as artfully as he did. Shaman, Keeper of knowledge, religious and secret mysteries. Master of magic, which are animal spirits, master of wolves, and ravens — animals the battlefields. If he sits in Asgard, then near his feet sat the wolves Geri and Freki, ravens, Hugin and Munin, who tell him all the incidents of the world.
The alleged faith of the Berserkers in the obsession with animals, the "animal spirit", is quite normal. Ethnographers have confirmed that in other countries it happened. If the spirit possesses you, he doesn't feel pain nor fatigue. But when this state ends, the possessed into a deep sleep.
Chemical exposure
Have made other attempts to explain the "Berserker rage", where the source of this power is not transcendent power. Intoxication, attacks of rage, hallucinations, and subsequent fatigue could be caused by chemical substances, namely muscarine, a poison mushroom. Today we know that people in cases of poisoning by Amanita wildly fighting around them, they are excited, they are visited by delusional thoughts. In the others and doctors, they see fantasy creatures, gods, spirits. Toxic effect ends after 20 hours, and then people sink into a deep sleep, from which they in most cases only Wake up after 30 hours. Researchers know why people after eating toadstools look like this: chemical processes arise from hallucinogens similar to LSD, muscarine one of them, changes the speed of the impulses of the nerve endings, causing a sense of euphoria. But it could be the opposite effect because of the large amount, bad trip (literally a "bad trip"), which may end in death. However, the amazing coming changes due to this substance, which arise initially only one person, and then apply to everyone. At any techno party it is possible to observe a similar effect. The behavior of a man who took a hallucinogen, rhythmic music, repetitive clapping, pritoptyvaya result in the same state and others. This synchronization is carried out by activation of the characteristic of the body neurotransmi system, which is similar to the action of drugs. Thus, there is dynamics, which can be called "collective ecstasy." Assuming that the Berserkers knew it, and only a few leaders "encouraged himself doping" of the mushroom. They definitely knew what effect he has on people. Göttingen Professor of psychiatry Hanskarl Launer: "the fly Agaric is playing with the initial time the exclusive role of the mythological funds for subarctic and Arctic spaces. It was used by tribes living here for the ecstatic practices". However, still no exact proof of this theory. In any sources, no mention of such uplift forces. While there is irrefutable evidence of the use of Amanita peoples of the far North (Chukchi tribes).
Some authors suggest that the Berserkers belonged to certain secret associations or those families that knowledge of the mysterious forces or "plants of power" passed down from generation to generation. Others believe that there were enterprises Berserkers "masculine unions", and that the manifestation of the Berserker rage was a test of courage that was required each young man to when joining the adult Union. Many primitive peoples it was possible to observe such rituals with dancing in masks and ecstatic States. Inexplicably, however, this theory remains that in any of the Scandinavian sources, nothing like this exists.<