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Hv​í​takristr

from Carve The Runes by Secret Archives of the Vatican

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This track uses various drums, a tagelharpa, a Trossingen lyre, Tibetan bowls, a santoor, a crumhorn and some throat singing.

Hvítakristr, meaning White Christ, was used among heathen Icelanders at the time when pagan and Christian religions were in conflict with each other. A direct reference to this is made in the Flateyjarbók: "Þeir sem þann sið hafa, taka nafn af þeim guði, er þeir trúa á, er heitr Hvítakristr."

The origin of the term Hvítakristr was probably because newly baptized converts were obliged to wear white robes (i hvítaváðum) during the first week after their baptism.

By the Viking age, the term hvítr had acquired a pejorative connotation. To call a man hvítr was to say that he was cowardly or effeminate. It is similar in meaning to the modern English term "lily-livered".

In contrast to the Hvítakristr, who was considered by a pagan warrior culture to be effeminate or cowardly, the Vikings revered their god Red Thor, red not only for his red beard and flashing red eyes, but for the blood that a warrior spills. And yet, without Christianity being introduced by the sword, it somehow thrived as worship of Thor faded away..

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from Carve The Runes, released May 6, 2021

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Secret Archives of the Vatican Croydon, UK

Secret Archives of the Vatican's music is usually described as Transglobal Breakbeat Dub Science. It contains elements of many genres: breakbeat, dub, dubstep, triphop, drum and bass, Indian, Arabian, Turkish, medieval, folk musics and much more. Music that is sufficiently advanced as to be indistinguishable from magic! ... more

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