Wadas in the Sky

Incidentally, speaking of bracteates, here is a picture of another one from Poland. This one comes from Karlino, Białogard county. It is classified as IK 367.

An inscription on it has been deciphered as:

ᚹᚫᛁᚷᚫ or “waiga

The picture is supposed to be of Odin.

However, whether this Antonsen read is correct is, too, uncertain. If you look at the bracteate it seems to say:

ᚹᚫᛞᚫ or “wada

or, maybe, ᚹᚫᛁᛞᚫ, that is, “waida

And the alleged Odin, has no beard and rather long-hair (a common depiction of bracteate riders which also raises questions).

The Polish surname “Wajda” is, incidentally, also of uncertain origin with Hungarian, Polish and German origin possible. Vaidila was an Old Prussian name for an “magician.” However, these words are pronounced with a “v” sound rather than a “w”.

This was part of a hoard discovered in 1839 or 1840 which contained six other bracteates – all the same and without runes and this particular bracteate. They were brought to the Museum Vaterländischer Alterthümer (number MVF, II 5868) which was subsequently bombed to the ground but not before it was reorganized as part of the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte in Berlin Charlottenburg, after which one of the six sister bracteates disappeared and then, post-WWII, the rest were carried away by the Soviets as war booty to be deposited at the Puskin Museum in Moscow (like the SABAR bracteate). Other items part of the same hoard included a bunch of rings with one containing further runes in two rows (picture from Rozalia Tybulewicz, “A Hoard from the Migration Period from Karlino (North-Western Poland)”).

The runes, if read the same way – left to right – as the above ring may read:

ᛇ (or ᚫ?)
ᚢᛚᚫ

or “ï ula

This is not entirely clear and some have read the “bottom” row as “alu” reading right to left. Note that the bottom row may have to be mirrored since, as is, it has no recognizable runes. Further the “top” row itself may be “upside down” relative to the bottom row.

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July 6, 2023

2 thoughts on “Wadas in the Sky

  1. Maciek P.

    Why is this rider “considered” to be Odin??? It is known that Odin was said to have ridden the eight-legged steed Sleipnir. Here, even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t count 8 legs.

    Reply
    1. torino Post author

      Because most bracteate “runologists” (and there are like three in the world) that are cited by the rest of academia have no idea what this depicts (which they admit) and so they go with Odin, presumably because 700 years later something about Odin was written in Iceland.

      Incidentally, if you want to see horse riders with a beard on bracteates, there are some of those and they clearly sport facial hair so the assumption that every rider has to be male seems silly.

      Reply

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