Winifred Hodge Rose
Presented at a panel on “Faith and Freedom”, focused on Germanic history, laws and customs relating to frith and freedom, at the Parliament of the World’s Religions, 18 August 2023, Chicago USA.
Note: I’ve interspersed my presentation here with verses from the Old Norse Havamal, which I’ve worded to bring out their most relevant meanings for this article. The Poetic Edda, which includes the Havamal, consists of Old Norse poems likely composed between 800 to 1100 CE, and was compiled into manuscript form in the 13th century.
Frith
‘Community’ in Heathenry is captured by the term ‘frith’, a word common to all the old Germanic languages. Frith is the social bond that underlies the successful establishment and maintenance of healthy families, groups, communities, and societies. It is the fabric of the interwoven lives of the community.
The simplest definition of frith is ‘peace,’ in the sense of lack of strife. A full understanding of the concept of frith will show that its usual translation, ‘peace,’ is not identical to frith; rather, peace is generally an outgrowth of frith, resulting from the conditions of frith being met.
The profounder meaning of frith encompasses the entire social fabric that weaves together a family, group, community, or society: their personal bonds and shared history, shared principles, rules of behavior, the benefits, obligations and responsibilities that are all implied in this social fabric of frith.
Historical Forms of Frith in Heathen Culture:
– Kinship frith,
– Fealty / Loyalty frith,
– Sacred-space frith.
The evolution of this concept of frith in Germanic society was first based on kinship bonds, then extended to the fealty and loyalty relationships between leaders and folk, and the oathed companions of a warband or comitatus. Frith was also an important requirement for assemblies of people, whether they were periodic judicial and social gatherings such as the Thingstead assemblies, or the frithsteads of sacred worship spaces that promoted frith between people and their Holy Ones. ‘Frithsteads’, such as assembly grounds and worship sites, are places where at least the minimal provisions of frith are enforced, in particular no fighting or bloodshed.
The words frith, friend, and free are all etymologically related to each other. They all descend from the same Proto-Indo-European root *priy-a or *priHos, meaning ‘beloved, happy, free, dear,’ as does the name and nature of our Goddess Frigg. Ancient meanings of frith and related words in the Germanic languages include: peace, love, friendship, security, to cherish, defend, protect, not to be in bondage.
A similar modern word for frith is comity, meaning association, community, and the courtesy and consideration that support peaceful interactions in a community. In elder times friends, kin, patrons, and allies in frith with one another supported and defended each other’s rights and freedoms.
“Over in the hamlet the fir-tree is dying,
Unprotected without needles and bark.
Thus is the man who is loved by no one:
How shall his life last long?”
Havamal vs. 50.
The friendless person, outside the weave of frith, was always at risk of having no place to belong, of falling into penury, being preyed upon and unsupported by kin, allies, patrons, and the community. The lack of respect, resources and support equated to lack of options, influence, position and other freedoms that are supported by one’s membership in a frithful community.
A New Form of Frith:
– Kinship,
– Fealty / Loyalty,
– Sacred-space,
…..and now the Frith of Shared Ideals.
I’ve proposed, in my writing about frith, that a new basis for frith has developed over the last few centuries, other than kindreds, personal loyalty, and sacred sites. This is the frith of shared ideals, principles and beliefs. Shared ideals serve as the coagulating principle for a group of people in frith with one another. This new form of ‘frith-garth’ or community-space has become a very common one in modern society, in many ways displacing the fealty / loyalty form of frith-garth.
In-group frith based on ideas, ideals or principles can lead to hostility between differing groups. The stronger and more conflicting the different ideals are, the more they may heighten both in-group frith, and inter-group hostility or unfrith.
Frith and Freedom
I’ve also written about some of the pitfalls of frith: for example, how strong frith-bonds within a group can sometimes be expressed through hostility toward anyone outside the group. In-group frith can lead to inter-group un-frith, hostility or intolerance, if not well-managed.
“Always be faithful, always keep troth,
Never be the first to fail in friendship.
Grief gnaws the heart that is hidden away,
Never telling its truths to a friend.”
Havamal vs. 121.
And yet, forcing or pushing everyone to conform to one set of ideals and principles, and thus creating an enforced ‘frith-garth,’ goes against the deepest principles of frith, freedom and friendship. Friends in frith with one another must be free to express their true thoughts and beliefs. Otherwise frith is shallow and largely meaningless, if people feel they must hide their true selves from others.
“Our souls resonate in harmony
When we speak our whole minds to each other.
Anything’s better than breach of friendship:
A true friend will say what you’d rather not hear!”
Havamal vs. 124.
Frith, true friendship, and healthy communities allow freedom of thought and disagreement, when appropriately expressed. We must trust that the true worth of frith between us is more valuable than total conformity of thought.
Frith provides the context and support for many of our most cherished freedoms: freedom of speech, of association, of conscience, freedom to ‘pursue our happiness’…while allowing space for others to do the same. Frith is absent when some are allowed these freedoms while others are not. Eventually this absence of frith explodes into strife.
Frith is ‘Common Ground’
Seeking common ground among the differences is always necessary. Whatever other commonalities we may find, the most fundamental of all common grounds is frith itself: the emotional and practical worth of the bonds of family, kinship, friendship, citizenship, and community, strong in spite of any differences. Frith is the acknowledged value of our own social bonds that, if lost, cause the group to dissolve. Frith does not require ‘liking’ everyone. It does require respect for the values that weave the group together.
I’ll move on now, to show an illustrated progression of ways that frith may be expressed in our lives. This is based on the nature of the ‘frith-garths’ in our life: the shared social spaces that include the beliefs, ideals and principles we hold and the people with whom we associate based on those shared values.
Frith development level 1: A Barricaded frith-garth
This illustration shows scattered frith-garths, bearing little relationship to each other and not well-integrated with the central frith-garth. Here, frith is based on one overarching conglomeration or ‘silo’ of positions or viewpoints and the people associated with them. There is little room for significant influences from anything different.
Frith development level 2: Opening up to multiple frith-garths
This example of coagulating principles for different frith-garths shows a recognition that there are multiple frith-garths that are important to us, that may be related to each other and influence each other. But here, there is no core personal frith-garth to hold them together, to provide a coherent structure of garths and to direct our personal energies that support them.
Frith development level 3: Bringing our frith-garths into relationship with each other.
Here, our frith-garths begin to overlap more clearly. Connections are recognized, and a central core begins to develop that grasps underlying relationships and unifying principles among the garths, and among the values and the people that the frith-garths represent.
Frith development level 4: The ‘Emanating’ model of frith-garths.
This is the full expression of true frith-dynamics, where the nested frith-garths of our life are integrated and aligned. Our core of frith-relationships, values and ideals provide the central anchor, the home-base: frith in its deepest sense. Here is the focus of our most meaningful relationships, activities, our care, attention, energy, and the firmest commitments of our lives, including our faith, spiritual or philosophical practice.
This core is needed, the most intensive, rooted commitment to frith, in order to provide the pattern and impetus for the movement of frith outward from the core….like a stone tossed into the water, setting rings of energy into motion around it. The intensity of color in this graphic symbolizes the relative intensity of frith-energy and effort invested at each level.
Frith spreads outward from the core, carried through virtues such as wisdom, insight, solidarity, a generosity of spirit and of action. The obligations and expressions of frith, while still strong and meaningful, are more limited in these outer circles due to the larger number of people and broader concerns that are represented in the outer frith-garths.
Most people can only relate to a limited number of other beings and concerns in the intensive manner of the inner frith-garth. As our gifts of frith spread to the outer circles, our relationships become less intensive, less expressed through daily effort and attention, than we give to those in the inner core of frith. Those who can spread that core level of intensity beyond these practical limitations, we call saints, sages, heroes, and their equivalents.
This extension of frith outward from a core of closest personal relationships and concerns to the broader spheres of humanity, environment and world, is a true necessity for the survival and welfare of all the beings in our world. It is something we must all learn and practice.
But we must recognize that the ability to pursue this—the ethos, the world-view of frith that supports this expansion—needs to be rooted in a core, in the heart of frith. This is where—and how—we learn the fundamental values of frith, enjoy its greatest benefits, and commit to its most stringent obligations. This core is where our faith, trust, and love are rooted, which then support the expansion of our souls and our deeds out into the wider world.
“Always while young, alone I traveled,
and wandered astray on my paths.
I thought myself wealthy when I found a friend:
We are each a source of joy to others.”
Havamal vs. 47.
People who have no experience of frith find it difficult to understand and practice it: “Always while young, alone I traveled, and wandered astray on my paths.” This is where healthy families, kindreds, religious or spiritual communities, and closest friendships play an essential role, teaching their members through living experience of true frith.
Once the core of frith begins to form in our own life-experience, we become more able to expand it outward to our communities and our world: “I thought myself wealthy when I found a friend…”
A concern for our world as a whole is essential, but people also need to learn true frith through personal experience of core frith-garths, before they are able to expand their experience outward into the wider world: “…We are each a source of joy to others.”
Take-home points about Frith
The most fundamental of all common grounds is frith itself: the emotional and practical bonds of family, friendship, citizenship, and community.
The ability to expand our frith-garths depends on being rooted in a core of frith, where we experience what frith is and learn how to practice it and extend it into the wider world.
We must trust that the true worth of frith is more valuable than total conformity of thought: Frith, Friendship, and Freedom must converge in equal measure.
If you’d like to read more about Heathen frith, I’ve written a longer article called “Heathen Frith and Modern Ideals,” available here: https://heathensoullore.net/heathen-frith-and-modern-ideals/
That longer article is also included in my book Oaths, Shild, Frith, Luck & Wyrd: Five Essays Exploring Heathen Ethics and their Use Today.