{"id":18989,"date":"2023-11-28T18:02:25","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T23:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=18989"},"modified":"2023-11-28T18:02:25","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T23:02:25","slug":"the-stiklestad-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=18989","title":{"rendered":"The Stiklestad Drama"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Stiklestad musical - story of Viking battles and Christianity\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CABd2friahI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>This morning, <\/strong>during my writing time, I committed to paper (well, screen) my conception of the Battle of Stiklestad, where King (Saint) Olaf of Norway died, in circumstances that remain contentious among historians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Above is a video I managed to find on YouTube at last, which seemed to me worth sharing. It\u2019s a Vlog post, not very sophisticated, describing the Vlogger\u2019s attendance at a recent production of the Stiklestad Drama, which is performed every year in an open-air theater near the battle site (which, due to topographical changes, is impossible to precisely locate anymore). This play has been going on almost annually since 1954 (it was one of Liv Ullman\u2019s first acting gigs). No doubt the script has changed over the years, as Norwegians become less enamored of their Christian legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This appears to have been the first production after the Covid shutdown, and had the distinction of being the first time (as far as I know) that St. Olaf was portrayed without a beard. I can\u2019t say I approve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also, I note that in the associated art exhibit, there\u2019s a \u201ctree\u201d called the <em>Verdenstreet <\/em>(World Tree), where children are encouraged to hang prayers. This is an obvious bow to heathenism, and I can\u2019t say I approve of that either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Stiklestad is on my mind (I had ancestors from the area) and I thought I\u2019d share something about it today. Describing the battle was a surprisingly emotional experience for me, even if I\u2019m not a great fan of Olaf. As I wrote my books, he grew in my sympathy. Also, I killed off a couple old friends (I&#8217;m not saying whom).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What\u2019s left of writing the first draft for me is mostly mopping up, tying up loose ends. Then, of course, there follow as many revisions as it takes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Olaf himself (reportedly) said: \u201c<em>Fram<\/em>!\u201d (Forward!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This morning, during my writing time, I committed to paper (well, screen) my conception of the Battle of Stiklestad, where King (Saint) Olaf of Norway died, in circumstances that remain contentious among historians. Above is a video I managed to find on YouTube at last, which seemed to me worth sharing. It\u2019s a Vlog post, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=18989\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Stiklestad Drama<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,17],"tags":[3749,3731,4973,4414],"class_list":["post-18989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-writing","tag-battle-of-stiklestad","tag-saint-olaf","tag-stiklestad-drama","tag-the-baldur-game"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18989"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18991,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18989\/revisions\/18991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}