Stephanie
Could you please tell us about your tattoo of the two Ravens and what they mean to you.
I got the tattoo of Odin’s Ravens Huginn and Muninn just over a year ago. That would have been in December of 2015. Odin’s Ravens are not pets, but rather his familiars. Huginn and Muninn were known to travel the world and gather information and every night they come back to Odin and tell him all that went on in the world during the day, and that is how Odin knows all things. They keep him abreast with all the goings on's. I always get excited when we are at practice or an event and a raven flies over us because we like to joke saying that Odin is keeping track of us, or he’s going to hear about us tonight.
At first, I saw a different design of this tattoo and I liked it and sent it to the tattoo artist and he kind of just took his own spin on it. The first one that he showed me kind of terrified me because it looked like they were attacking each other and I was like, well, it’s not quite there, I was embarrassed to tell him because I didn’t want to insult him, But then his girlfriend said it to which was good. She suggested that it needed to be a bit softer. So he flipped one, and I saw it and said that is it. The runes spell out the Raven’s names of Huginn and Muninn ...Thought and Memory.
The group I am a part of is called Odin's Ravens. I wanted a tattoo that connected with this name because they have had such an impact on my life. We had seen them at a couple of their events and it looked like a lot of fun at first because we are all about costuming and that was enough of a draw for us. But as we got into it, we saw that there is a lot of history involved, so you're learning a lot about Viking history and how people lived a thousand years ago. I came to the realization that we are like living museums that people can go up to and they can talk to us and ask us questions they can’t ask in a museum, you can’t ask an artifact what it meant and what its life was about, what was its purpose. But they can ask us what was the purpose of those things so that we can tell them. It is about educating the public.
We are part of a larger group called Vikings Vinland. People are encouraged to not just have their one persona, but a couple if you like. We try to display as much as we possibly can at our cultural events. Right now I portray a Norwegian but would like to develop a Hibernia Norse character from Ireland. It's fun because you have to discover what would they wear, and what were their customs. There are going to be interesting differences between one clan type to another. So I will have to look into what kind of hats did they wear, how are their dresses slightly different from the others, the day to day utensils will be slightly different.
Our group is doing something for the St. Albert's Children’s Festival. We start off with teaching a bit about the Viking life. For example, we like to ask the kids, “how many of you like french fries?” and the kids put up their hands and then we tell them, “ Vikings didn’t have french fries because they didn’t have potatoes.” and the kids are like, “No way!” (laughs) So we do stuff like that. Interact with them. We also teach them a bit about rune culture and that runes represent the alphabet. We will be taking little discs of wood that has a hole in it and each kid will get their initial put on it. But the initial will be the rune that represents the first Letter of their name. Should be pretty cool!
And on a personal level, being a part of Odin’s Ravens is about being part of a family with this group because we do so many events together. There is practice every week, so we are a really tight knit group that is like a second family. So it was in my second year that I decided I wanted this tattoo on my body.
And on a personal level, being a part of Odin’s Ravens is about being part of a family with this group because we do so many events together. There is practice every week, so we are a really tight knit group that is like a second family. So it was in my second year that I decided I wanted this tattoo on my body.
Do you have any other tattoos?
I have another tiny tattoo, but I can’t show it. (laughs) It’s dedicated, kinda, to Twin Peaks. I loved that show so much when I was younger. I was nineteen when I got it. It was weird when I got it because at that time it was pre-internet, and I drew it out by myself, and I wanted it to be blue because in the show there was a blue rose and it was mysterious, and they never explained it and I loved the mystery around it, and I love to think of myself as mysterious and so, on the way to go get the tattoo we passed by this nursery and it was The Blue Rose Nursery, and I saw that as a sign that I was doing the right thing, and knew I had to get this done.
And I have another on my other arm, and it is from my favorite band, Depeche Mode, that I have been listening to since I was fifteen. And these guys, I don’t know, they were at every stage of my life it seems. I had this tattoo done eleven years ago. This rose is from the Album Depeche Mode Violator which I think was in 1990? It was the first album of theirs that I had listened to. When I moved out, my mom missed it so much because I use to listen to it all the time. So she went out and bought it for herself. (laughs) Because I had listened to them for twenty years of my life, I felt they deserved some space.
Will you be getting any more tattoos?
Oh yeah. (laughs) I have a tattoo file so that when I see something interesting I keep it there for future reference. I would like to do one family piece because my mom's side of the family are like Austrian, German, and Russian, and then my dad’s side of the family are Welsh and Scottish, so I kinda wanted to take each of the national flowers and build a bouquet and put it on my leg or something. Yes, definitely there will be more in the future.
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