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Posted by:

rajo

Date:

February 8th, 2007 4:33 PM

Header:

A book about the "Martial Arts" of the vikings.

Bulletin:

Just bought a swedish book about the fighting techniques of the vikings. Looks good. The text is in Swedish. Luckily I can read swedish since it is not that much different from Norwegian.

Click here for some video footage of "vikings" fighting.

And here is an interview of the author in English:

INTRODUCING GLIMA
An interview with Lars Magnar Enoksen
by Bard Titlestad

On the 24. January 2005, the Hafrsfjord Festival (www.hafrsfjordspillene.no) arranged a seminar at a Navy training fascility with the Nordic master of Glima, Lars Magnar Enoksen. Enoksen has practised Glima for 16 years and is one of the foremost experts in Ancient Norse Martial Arts. Along with his sparring partner for the occasions, Nicolaj Holm of the Genbukan Tenshin Dojo Stavanger, he demonstrated some of the core principles and terms in what could easily be considered one of the least known parts of our cultural heritage, this ancient form of wrestling that via historical sources, can be traced back to the Viking Age.

If you master Glima, Enoksen claims, then you will be prepared to meet anyone in combat. This is a form of martial arts where one learns to defend oneself against offensive techniques in a relaxed manner. Rather than relying on raw power, one goes along with the opponents movements, and uses his own power to defeat him.

Three forms of Glima
In the course of the seminar, the Glima expert demonstrated examples of the various forms of Glima that exist today. Glima is a collective term for three different forms of wrestling. Enoksen explains: -Glima is an ancient norse, unarmed form of martial arts. Its principles can be applied to any style of close combat martial based arts. You have the broktak (trousers grip) where the opponents wrestle from an upright position, the ryggtak (back hold) which could be characterised as a form of active meditation where the main focus is perseverance and the spirit of never giving in to adversary forces. This is a form of martial arts where time ceases to exist. Then we have laustaket (free gripping). Anyone can be successful in learning and using this form of Glima. An important aspect of free gripping is to wrestle people from different styles.

The free gripping style is Enoksen's own innovation within the Glima arts. He has reconstructed what is considered one of the most ancient forms of practical wrestling. During a visit to Iceland, Enoksen met Thorsteinn Einarsson who has been studying Glima for over 70 years, and who is considered Icelands foremost Glima historian. Einarsson explained that the free grip was a style that was often utilised in historical times. It differed from the other Glima styles, especially when we look at the traditional forms that are very much regulated by strict rules. When you wrestle with the trousers grip, for example, the rules say that if you are being thrown, you are not allowed to pull your opponent down with you as you fall. In free gripping, this is allowed. In this sense, free gripping is a more realistic form of combat. If you ended up on the ground in actual combat, you would be seriously hurt or killed. So it was important to get back on one's feet as soon as possible.

When reconstructing the free gripping style, Enoksen has gone beyond the basic techniques of Glima wrestling. A lot of this neo-ancient style has been developed in fights with other wrestlers and martial artists. In this way the art achieves a dynamism and unpredictability which is necessary for the development of a true self defense based martial art. But increased realism also demands greater awareness in the practicioner: - The loose gripping is used when wrestling with someone you know, where both practicioners are aware of how far the limits can be pushed. You can't do this with inexperienced people you don't know at all, because with the rising adrenaline, they will soon be overcome by fear and stress. So this is a non-competetive martial art. And we use it to find out how to use our techniques in true case situations.

The will is everything...
One of the earliest sources to mention Glima-wrestling, is the Younger Edda which dates back to the 9th Century, in the myth where the God Thor visits Utgards-Loke: - It is no coincidence that Thor uses the back hold when he wrestles the old woman who in reality is "age" itself. He wrestles time, against something that can not be defeated. No one can defeat age. Everyone will eventually have to succumb to age. But it is interesting - because when one uses this form of Glima, time ceases to exist to the point where it is not so much about body movement. It becomes a battle of the will...

In the ancient Norse society, Glima was used to cultivate combat skills and to keep the martial traditions alive, passing them from one generation to the next. In this way, this style has survived up to our current age. Perhaps one of the reasons for Glima's survival are the special values and skills that are transmitted through the training that do not necessarily limit themselves to sweeps and throws:
- If we look deeper into Glima, we could say that the way you approach Glima, reflects how you approach life itself. If you are relaxed and sensitive in your practice, then this is how you are in life. If you're hard, rigid or sloppy in Glima, this is how you are in life as well. So on Iceland, Glima is still used as a means to expose the a person's character. It is enough to fight somebody for thirty seconds, and you'll have a pretty good idea of who you're dealing with. Glima is a mirror reflection of how a human being is in life. How do you deal with the ordeals of life? How do you handle defeat? How do you handle being thrown or any accident that might occur? Do you repeat your mistakes, or do you learn from them and grow as a human being? This is a very important aspect of Glima wrestling.

Enoksen's own training history includes Judo, powerlifting, classical ballet and kung fu. He now works to spread the knowledge of Glima. He currently teaches in Malmö in Sweden, and has over fourty students in Scandinavia, The Netherlands and the British Isles. He hopes more people will open their eyes to this rather exotic form of wrestling. His most recent book, Viking Martial Arts, is nominated as Book of the Year in Sweden.

- There are only a few who really knows about Glima, and that we do in fact have an ancient Norse martial art that has been preserved for more than a 1000 years. If Glima is to have a future, we need to find more people who have ambitions of becoming instructors, and who are willing to make the effort to truly master the deeper aspects of this art.

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