Midgard Serpent Viking Clasps

Description of the Product

Through time, people have used various brooches and clasps to decorate and fasten their clothes. These clasps draw inspiration from the popular Urnes style of the late Viking Age, and they feature motifs of the serpent Jörmungandr.

Urnes-style patterns are often characterized by ribbon-like animal figures, depicting creatures with almond-shaped eyes and upward-curving tendrils around their necks and noses. The style was named after the Urnes Stave Church, a church building decorated with ornaments and motifs of the forementioned art style. The church is estimated to have been built in the Late Viking Age, around the 1130s.

Midgard’s serpent, also known as Jormungandr, is a gigantic sea serpent featured in Viking mythology. According to the Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, Jormungandr is one of Loki's three monstrous offspring, born to him and the Jotun (giant) Angrboda. When he was still young, Jormungandr was cast away from Asgard and thrown into the sea of Midgard, the world inhabited by humans. In the sea, the serpent grew so large that it could circle the entire Midgard and bite its own tail. According to the Ragnarök myth, when the world is about to end, Jormungandr will engage in a last battle against Thor, ending in both of their deaths.

While Jormungandr is often seen as a force representing chaos and destruction in Norse mythology, it likely was not regarded as an inherently "evil" being by the Vikings. Vikings believed in the cyclical nature of the universe, where both destruction and rebirth played equal roles in maintaining the balance of the world. Neither of the two was inherently "good" or "evil." Moreover, before the influence of Christianity, snakes themselves were seen as symbols of life force, fertility, and creativity. When a snake shed its skin, it was a sign of rebirth, transformation, immortality, and healing.

Using the three small rings on the sides, the clasps can be simply sewn onto the garment. The clasps consist of two parts and both parts are sewn onto your garment you want to close with the clasps, one on the other side of the opening and the other clasp on the other side. These clasps are plated with real silver.

• Clasps depicting two Midgard serpents
• Serpents inspired by Urnes-style motifs from various Viking Age finds
• Made of bronze and plated with genuine silver
• Size: 6.5 x 3.2 cm
• Suitable for fastening cloaks, capes or other garments
• Easy to sew onto fabric by hand using the three small rings at the edges