Usually made of cow or goat horn, and used as a drinking vessel in many cultures through different time periods, the drinking horn held great significance, especially for ceremonies. It continued to be used until the early modern period, especially throughout Germanic Europe.
The drinking horn we offer here is handcrafted from cattle horn, polished and embellished with a vegvísir engraving framed by a sequence of runes. The vegvísir (pathfinder) is a magical symbol or so-called sigil (galdrastafir) of Icelandic origin. An actual depiction of this symbol first appears in the 1860 Icelandic manuscript Huld de Geir Vigfússon, a collection of runes/spells and sigils. There it says:
If you carry this sign, you will never get lost in storms or bad weather, even if you don't know the way.
For hygienic reasons, the horn is sealed on the inside with a food-safe varnish so you can enjoy your favorite ale (or mead) to the fullest.
A particularly popular drinking vessel during the early Middle Ages in Scandinavia, it enjoyed mentions in both the Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda. Although Viking Age horn fragments are rarely recovered in archaeological excavations, the number of surviving metal horn fittings suggests that their use was much more widespread than actual horn finds indicate.
Although the vegvísir is often referred to today as a 'Viking compass', there is no evidence that the Scandinavians used it in the Viking Age (8–10 centuries before the manuscript was written). However, it remains a significant symbol today. Although it is interpreted by adherents of paganism, also known as Germanic Neopaganism, as representing the nine worlds of Norse mythology, it is often worn in modern day-to-day life (for example, in the form of a pendant or talisman) as a symbol of orientation. figuratively, meant to help its wearer weather the storms life brings on the road, even on unfamiliar paths.
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