If you think Runes are a long dead language with nothing to tell us today then think again.
The current exhibition on at the Orkney Museum, Kirkwall is – Runes in Orkney: A Millennium of Writing by Andrea Freund.
The exhibition is based on new research Andrea Freund has completed for her PhD Thesis. This impressive work is scholarly, meticulous in detail and completely accessible to all, no matter what their level of previous knowledge is.
Andrea’s research has been undertaken at the Institute of Northern Studies, the University of the Highlands and Islands which also contributed to the funding of the exhibition.
In her new research Andrea has used the runes in a much more creative way to explore the identities of those who carved them. The Orkney runes in Maeshowe are depicting what the Norse who carved them thought about themselves.
Andrea explains:
” The runes are more than just the text. This is the way they wanted to be seen.
“There is a lot of name dropping, of placing themselves in the cosmos of mythic heroes.”
The Maeshowe runes, some of them carved by women, can also tell us about women in Norse society. You can find out more about that in a previous talk Andrea Freund delivered. Norse Women in Scotland
The exhibition is not limited to the interpretation of runes carved in the past but also looks at how runes have been used in modern times. Andrea does not shy away from exposing the way runes have been used by the Nazis and continue to be used by the extreme Right. Taking them completely out of context, Runes were/are used as symbols and not as an alphabet. Reclaiming runes from the Right is important – why should we permit an ancient language which can tell us so much about Norse society to be desecrated in this way? Kim Burns has her answer with her craft work. Kim has the word Peace depicted in runes on her textiles on show.
Runes have influenced Orkney’s designers and the exhibition has on show a few of the top jewellers and textile producers in the islands. Runes may be an ancient language and technically ‘dead’ but in another sense it is very much alive. – still imprinting their form and shape upon artists in Orkney and internationally.
The contribution of students like Andrea to our community in Orkney should not be underestimated. Her new research is shining a new light on the Norse who came to our islands as raiders, traders and finally as settlers.
Related article: Runes in Orkney, a Millennium of Writing
Reporter: Fiona Grahame