Einherjer Farm blótlaug

Einherjer Farm blótlaug is a community of former soldiers and people married to soldiers, organized around an independent interpretation of the Asa Faith. Formed first at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan and later based at Einherjer Farm in Denmark, the group presents faith not only as inherited tradition but as a source of ritual comfort and mutual support for people exposed to war and its aftermath.

Identity and Name

The name on the farm’s sign invokes the einherjer: warriors in Valhalla who defend the gods against the jötnar. Gro explains that the reference suits a community whose members served in Afghanistan or were married to those who did. The mythic name sets the group apart from an ordinary farm, though its everyday setting is notably unceremonious: the buildings have the traditional four-wing farm layout, and the yard contains familiar agricultural equipment and work areas rather than the overtly Norse architecture Carl expects.

Origins and Beliefs

The community’s origins lie at Camp Bastion, where its members had already established a blótlaug. Bue says he had practised the Asa Faith since boyhood and found comfort in its rituals in the war zone. Others gradually joined him; in an environment where the Taliban’s movement was also grounded in faith, he felt that the soldiers needed a spiritual resource of their own, especially while far from home and exposed to danger. They turned toward what he describes as the North’s inherited past.

Structure and Community

Everyone at Einherjer Farm belongs to the blótlaug, but Bue stresses that it is not affiliated with Forn Siðr and that its members interpret the Asa Faith in their own way. He is the group’s goði, yet says that all members are equal. This combination of a named religious leader and an explicit claim of equality frames the farm’s community as a shared commitment rather than simply a hierarchy organized around its leader.

Bue describes the faith and the sense of community it creates as vital to the veterans’ return from war: without them, he believes some members might not have come back, at least not as whole people. At the farm, he calls the group a family, while also saying that the Asa-faith family is growing across Denmark. He is due to discuss it on the radio, an opportunity he hopes may make the community more intelligible to people who struggle to accept it and might even help Carl and Assad find the man they are seeking.