Heliand Puns

I'd never heard this theory before. it was mentionned in /r/france through the Wikipedia article about Heiland : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliand.

In this article, it is written that an author, G. Ronald Murphy of Georgetown University wrote in a 1989 book, The Saxon Saviour: The Germanic Transformation of the Gospel in the Ninth-Century Heliand that :

>Murphy depicts the significant influence the Heliand had over the fate of European society; he writes that the author of the Heliand "created a unique cultural synthesis between Christianity and Germanic warrior society – a synthesis that would plant the seed that would one day blossom in the full-blown culture of knighthood and become the foundation of medieval Europe."

This claim surprises me. Could someone knowledgeable on the matter enlighten / correct me ?

Thanks !

A while ago I read a modern rendition of the Heliand poem, which is an 9th century Saxon epic poem about Jesus Christ, but with a Germanic twist. In this story Jesus, instead of being a meek carpenter, is a bad-ass warrior chieftain and his disciples are a band of heroes. Heliand is similar to the word heiland, which is an archaic word for saviour in Dutch and German.

While this is not really "viking" I still wanted to share this with this subreddit because it is very interesting. Re-imaginations of the biblical story such as this one were probably one of the reasons why the Germanic people ended up converting to Christianity, and while this story came from Saxony I have a feeling that similar renditions would have been told in Scandinavia.

The Saxons used to be pagan but unfortunately were the target of forced conversion attempts. Saint Boniface cut down the holy oak of Donar (Thor), and a couple decades after that, the Franks under Charlemagne waged a war against the Saxons under the command of Widukind. The Franks won. Charlemagne, being a very devout christian gave the Saxons an ultimatum, either convert to Christianity or die. A lot of Saxons died. Ol' Charlie also destroyed a bunch of holy sites in Christian fashion, such as the Irminsul.

Now fast-forward a couple of decades. The Saxons, while officially being Christian resented the Christian Franks and the common folk were revolting. In order to combat this the Heliand poem gets commissioned to be written, likely at the request of Charlemagne's son, Louis the Pious.

This story was written in the form of an epic poem and was likely not used in the context of worship, but rather as something that would be sung in a mead hall. Think of Beowulf or the stories in the Poetic Edda. The Heliand is essentially the 9th century version of youth pastors and christian rock/rap. At the time, masses were only conducted in Latin, which the Saxon commoners would not understand, and on top of that attendance was mandatory. So it is easy to see why the Saxons needed a version of the biblical story they could relate to.

In the Heliand, the places Rome, Nazareth and Bethlehem become Rumuburg, Nazarethburg and Bethlehemburg. Instead of wandering through the desert Jesus wanders through the forest. The twelve disciples are described as his warrior-companions, thanes and heroes. Jesus himself is described as a chieftain and king, and not just a king, the mightiest of kings. The goal of this story was to convert the

Does anyone here remember which episode Dan talks about the Heliand, and reads a passage from it?

Do your worst!

For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂

It really does, I swear!

They’re on standbi

Pilot on me!!

Dad jokes are supposed to be jokes you can tell a kid and they will understand it and find it funny.

This sub is mostly just NSFW puns now.

If it needs a NSFW tag it's not a dad joke. There should just be a NSFW puns subreddit for that.

Edit* I'm not replying any longer and turning off notifications but to all those that say "no one cares", there sure are a lot of you arguing about it. Maybe I'm wrong but you people don't need to be rude about it. If you really don't care, don't comment.

What did 0 say to 8 ?

" Nice Belt "

So What did 3 say to 8 ?

" Hey, you two stop making out "

When I got home, they were still there.

I won't be doing that today!

You take away their little brooms

This morning, my 4 year old daughter.

Daughter: I'm hungry

Me: nerves building, smile widening

Me: Hi hungry, I'm dad.

She had no idea what was going on but I finally did it.

Thank you all for listening.

There hasn't been a post all year!

It’s pronounced “Noel.”

After all his first name is No-vac

What, then, is Chinese rap?

Edit:

Notable mentions from the comments:

• Spanish/Swedish/Swiss/Serbian hits

• French/Finnish art

• Country/Canadian rap

• Chinese/Country/Canadian rock

• Turkish/Tunisian/Taiwanese rap

There hasn't been a single post this year!

(Happy 2022 from New Zealand)

Bob

So that I could frequently say, "I am going to walk 5 miles now."

Edit: My most popular post on Reddit! 😀 Thank you for the awards.

Just to clarify, 12345678

Me grabbing a soda from my (what I thought was) half full 12pk...

Notices there's only 2;

Me: "Awe man... This is a damn bird box!" Her: "What the hell does that mean?!" Me: (Pulls both cans out & shows them to her) "It's only got Toucans."

I'm not ashamed to admit the look on her face was glorious.

I was just sitting there doing nothing.