Symbel: differenze tra le versioni

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{{S|mitologia norrena}}

{{T|inglese|storia|agosto 2008}}

[[ImmagineFile:Drinking scene on an image stone.jpg|thumb|right|300pxupright=1.4|Una scena di bevuta su una stele incisa a [[Gotland]].]]

Il '''symbel''' (dall'[[antico inglese]]) o '''sumbel''' (dal [[lingua norrena|norreno]]) era un importante rituale della tradizione germanica[[germani]]ca. Avveniva sempre al coperto, in una sala denominata "[[Sala dell'idromele]]" ed era caratterizzato da grandi bevute di [[birra|birre]] [[ale (birra)|ale]] e [[idromele]] (da qui l'etimologia della stanza). Oltre alle bevute, questo rituale comportava discussioni e scambio dei doni, mentre il mangiare era specificatamente escluso.<ref>Bauschatz pp.74-75</ref>

Racconti del rituale permangono nei [[poema|poemi]] [[anglosassoni]] ''[[Beowulf]]'' (versi 489-675 e 1491-1500), [[Sogno della Croce]] (''Dream of the Rood'') e ''[[Giuditta (poema)|Giuditta]]'', nel poema in [[antico sassone]] ''[[Heliand]]'', e nel [[lingua norrena|norreno]] ''[[Lokasenna]]'' così come in altre [[saga (letteratura)|saghe]] come la ''[[Heimskringla]]'' o la ''[[Fagrskinna]]''.

==Bragarfull==

[[File:Olav Tryggvasons saga - Sigvalde jarl - H. Egedius.jpg|thumb|''Bragarfull''. Giuramento commemorativo alla memoria del padre, e di insediamento, di [[Sigvaldi Strut-Haraldsson]], [[jarl]] di [[Scania (provincia)|Scania]], col quale giura di recarsi in Norvegia ed uccidere o cacciare [[Haakon Sigurdsson]], [[Jarl di Lade]]. Illustrazione di Erik Werenskiold (1897).]]

Il ''Bragarfull'', il "calice del migliore" o "calice del capo", era un rito solenne che si poteva tenere durante il Symbel. Esso consisteva nel recitare un giuramento seguito dalla bevuta da un apposito calice, talvolta esplicitamente descritto come un [[corno potorio]] ricavato da un corno di toro.

Il nome appare in una forma di cui potrebbe avere due significati. ''Brag'' "il migliore, il primo" potrebbe essere la radice. La forma bragafull (ma non bragarfull) potrebbe essere anche interpretata come ''calice di Bragi'', riferendosi al dio della poesia [[Bragi]].

==Etimologia==

Linguisticamente, il termine è derivato dall'[[Alto tedesco]] ''*sumlan'' "banchetto", passando per ''*sm-lo-'', "congregazione". Altre grafie note sono ''sumble'', ''symle'' e l'[[lingua islandese|islandese]] ''sumbl''.

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==Anglo-Saxon symbel==

The host of the symbel was called the ''symbelgifa''. One of the officiants of symbel was the ''[[thyle]]'' ([[Old Norse|ON]] ''þulr''), who challenged and questioned those who made boasts (''gielp'') or oaths (''béot'', ''bregofull''), if necessary with taunts or mockery (''flytung'').

[[Snorri Sturluson]] fornisce dettagli su tale rituale descrivendo la successione di [[Ingjald]]r al trono di suo padre [[Anund]]:

It was the thyle's duty to defend the luck of the community. Oaths said over the symbel-horn were seen as binding and affecting the luck and [[wyrd]] of all in attendance. Another role commonly attested for during symbel was that of the ''[[scop]]'' (ON ''[[skald]]''), who ritually recited genealogies, folklore and metrical poetry. The alcoholic drink was served by women or alekeepers (''ealu bora'' "ale bearer"), the first round usually poured by the lady of the house.

{{Citazione|Era costume di quei tempi che, alla festa funeraria<ref>Era d'uso effettuare una cerimonia commemorativa separatamente alla cerimonia di sepoltura, che consisteva essenzialmente nel bere alla memoria del defunto. Nel caso di re o jarl, fungeva anche da cerimonia di insediamento, con l'elenco dei propositi del nuovo sovrano o signore.</ref> per re o [[jarl]], il suo erede rimanesse sul gradino di fronte al trono finché il ''bragarfull'' non veniva portato dentro; poi si sarebbe alzato e, di fronte al ''bragarfull'', avrebbe fatto un giuramento solenne, per poi berne il contenuto. Al che si poteva sedere sul trono del padre ed entrare in pieno possesso dell'eredità dopo di lui. Così fu fatto in tale occasione. Quando fu l'ora del ''bragarfull'', Ingjaldr si mise in piedi, accettò il largo corno di toro e fece il voto solenne di allagare il suo regno della metà verso tutte le quattro direzioni degli angoli della Terra, che indicò col suo corno, o morire nel tentativo, e poi bevve il contenuto del corno.|[[:en:s:Heimskringla/Ynglinga Saga#The Burning in Upsal.|''Ynglinga Saga - Incendio a Uppsala'']]<ref name="Finlay ">Le traduzioni variano leggermente. Confrontare questa: {{cita libro |Sorri Sturlunson |titolo=Heimskringla |traduttore=Alison Finlay e Anthony Faulkes |capitolo=Ynglingal - Capitolo 36 |url=http://www.vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Heimskringla%20I.pdf |p=37 |anno=2011 |editore=Viking society for Nothern research - University College of London |lingua=en }} con questa: {{cita libro |autore=Bruce Lincoln |titolo=Between History and Myth: Stories of Harald Fairhair and the Founding of the State |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=_yuOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 |data=1º settembre 2014 |editore=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-14092-6 |p=96, 98 |lingua=en}}</ref>}}

==Etimologia==

==Scandinavian sumbel==

Linguisticamente, il termine è derivato dall'[[AltoLingua alto-tedesca antica|alto tedesco]] ''*sumlan'' "banchetto", passando per ''*sm-lo-'', "congregazione". Altre grafie note sono ''sumble'', ''symle'' e l'[[lingua islandese|islandese]] ''sumbl''.

[[Immagine:Olav Tryggvasons saga - Sigvalde jarl - H. Egedius.jpg|thumb|right|350px|At the funeral feast of [[Harald I of Denmark|Harald Bluetooth]], [[Jarl Sigvaldi]] swears an oath on his father's memory to go to Norway and kill or drive away [[Haakon Jarl]].]]

The '''''bragarfull''''' "promise-cup" or '''''bragafull''''' "best cup" or "chieftain's cup" (compare [[Bragi]]) was in [[Norsemen|Norse]] culture a particular drinking from a cup or drinking horn on ceremonial occasions, often involving the swearing of oaths when the cup or horn was drunk by a chieftain or passed around and drunk by those assembled. The names are sometimes anglicized as '''''bragarful''''' and '''''bragaful''''' respectively.

That the name appears in two forms with two meanings makes it difficult to determine the literal meaning. The word ''bragr'' 'best, foremost' is a source for its first element. The form ''bragafull'' (but not ''bragarfull'') can also be interpreted as '[[Bragi]]'s cup', referring to the Bragi, god of poetry, though no special connection to Bragi appears in any of the sources.

===''Heimskringla''===

[[Snorri Sturluson]] in his ''[[Heimskringla]]'', in the ''Saga of Hákon the Good'', describes the custom of the ''bragarfull'' at feasts:

<blockquote>The fire was in the middle of the floor of the temple, and over it hung the kettles, and the full goblets were handed across the fire; and he who made the feast, and was a ''[[godi]]'' ['chief'], blessed the full goblets, and all the meat of the sacrifice. And first [[Odin]]'s goblet was emptied for victory and power to his king; thereafter, [[Njörd]]'s and [[Freya|Freyja]]'s goblets for peace and a good season. Then it was the custom of many to empty the ''bragafull''; and then the guests emptied a goblet to the memory of departed friends, called the ''minni'' ['remembrance'].</blockquote>

In ''[[Ynglinga saga]]'' section of the same work, Snorri relates:

<blockquote>It was the custom at that time that he who gave an heirship-feast after kings or jarls, and entered upon the heritage, should sit upon the footstool in front of the high

seat, until the full bowl, which was called the ''bragafull'', was brought in. Then he should stand up, take the ''bragafull'', make solemn vows to be afterwards fulfilled, and thereupon empty the beaker. Then he should ascend the high seat which his father had occupied; and thus he came to the full heritage after his father. Now it was done so on this occasion. When the full ''bragafull'' came in, King [[Ingjald]] stood up, grasped a large bull's horn, and made a solemn vow to enlarge his dominions by one half, towards all the four corners of the world, or die; and thereupon pointed with the horn to the four quarters.</blockquote>

The ''[[Fagrskinna]]'' (a [[1200s|13th century]] history of the Kings of Norway), has a similar account in respect to [[Svein Forkbeard]], mentioning first ceremonial drinkings dedicated to the greatest of one's kindred, then to [[Thor]] or others of the gods. Then the ''bragarfull'' was poured out and when the giver of the feast had drunk this, he was to make a vow, to be also sworn by those present with him, and only then to sit himself on throne of the deceased.

===''Poetic Edda''===

A prose passage inserted in the [[Poetic Edda]] poem ''[[Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar]]'' relates:

<blockquote>Hedin was coming home alone from the forest one [[Yule]]-eve, and found a [[troll]]-woman; she rode on a wolf, and had snakes in place of a bridle. She asked Hedin for his company. "Nay," said he. She said, "Thou shalt pay for this at the ''bragarfull''." That evening the great vows were taken; the sacred boar was brought in, the men laid their hands thereon, and took their vows at the ''bragarfull''. Hedin vowed that he would have Sváva, Eylimi's daughter, the beloved of his brother Helgi; then such great grief seized him that he went forth on wild paths southward over the land, and found Helgi, his brother.</blockquote>

===''Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks''===

''[[Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks]]'' relates that Hjörvard, the son of [[Arngrim]], promised at his bragarfull to wed Ingeborg the princess of Sweden, and the legends of [[Ragnar Lodbrok]] relate that the [[Geat]]ish [[jarl]] Herraud promised his daughter to anyone who could liberate her from a dragon or talk to her in its presence.

==Germanic Neopaganism==

Modern adherents of the [[Polytheistic reconstructionism|reconstructionist]] religions [[Theodism]] and [[Ásatrú]] continue to practice the ritual of symbel, which is one of the most important ritual observances of their religion, in addition to [[Blót]].

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==Note==

{{<references|2}}/>

==Bibliografia==

* {{Cita libro | nome=Paul C. | cognome=Bauschatz | wkautore= | coautori= | anno= | titolo=The Well and the Tree: World and Time in Early Germanic Culture | edizione= | editore=Univ of Massachusetts Press | città= | idisbn=ISBN 0-87023-352-1 }}

*Robert E. Bjork, ''Speech as Gift in Beowulf'', Speculum (1994).

* {{Cita libro | nome=Stephen O. | cognome=Glosecki | wkautore= | coautori= | anno=1989 | titolo=Shamanism and Old English Poetry | edizioneurl=https://archive.org/details/shamanismoldengl0000glos | editore=Taylor & Francis | città= | idisbn=ISBN 0-8240-5952-2 }}

*Marie Nelson, ''Beowulf's Boast Words'', Neophilologus vol. 89, nr. 2 / April (2005), 299-310.

* {{Cita libro | nome=Jeff | cognome=Opland | wkautore= | coautori= | anno=1980 | titolo=Anglo-Saxon Oral Poetry: A Study of the Traditions | edizioneurl=https://archive.org/details/anglosaxonoralpo0000opla | editore=Yale Univ Press | città= | idisbn=ISBN 0-300-02426-6 }}

* {{Cita libro | nome=Stephen | cognome=Pollington | wkautore= | coautori= | anno=2003 | titolo=The Mead-Hall: The Feasting Tradition in Anglo-Saxon England | edizione= | editore=Anglo-Saxon Books | città= | idisbn=ISBN 1-898281-30-0 }}

*Conquergood, Dwight, ''Boasting in Anglo-Saxon England, Performance and the Heroic Ethos,'' Literature and Performance, vol. I April 1991

*''Enright, M. J. , Lady with a Mead Cup: Ritual, Prophecy, and Lordship in the European Warband'', Dublin, 1976

*Pollington, Steven, ''The Mead-Hall: Feasting in Anglo-Saxon England'', Anglo-Saxon Books; Norfolk, 2003

==ArgomentiVoci correlaticorrelate==

*[[Blót]]

*[[Kvasir]]

==Collegamenti esterni==

* [{{cita web |url=http://wodening.englatheod.org/eric/symbel.html |titolo=Anglo-Saxon Symbel] |urlmorto=sì |accesso=26 agosto 2008 |urlarchivio=https://web.archive.org/web/20080503233408/http://wodening.englatheod.org/eric/symbel.html }}

* [{{cita web | url = http://www.normannii.org/beliefs/sumble.html | titolo = The Sumbel Rite] | urlmorto = sì }}

* [{{cita web |url=http://www.englatheod.org/symbel.htm |titolo=Symbel] |accesso=26 agosto 2008 |urlarchivio=https://web.archive.org/web/20080503233358/http://www.englatheod.org/symbel.htm# |urlmorto=sì }}

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