NorsePlay Investigates: the Hulder Rock!

After starting the Map Of Midgard Project, I took note when Viking Metal band Týr's lead singer Heri Joensen mentioned an Álfar rock in his Faroe Islands' childhood home during an interview, and I personally made an investigative foray to go see it during my recent Scandinavian cross-Atlantic trip.

According to Joensen, at fishing village Lamba's harborside on Eysturoy, sits a rock inhabited by hulderfolk which no one dares move for fear of fierce retribution.

The cabbie had never heard of the rock, and stopped a senior Lamba resident out on his afternoon walk to ask and check my story. The sock beanied man in the insulated track suit nodded & pointed down the road, confirming that we were headed in the right direction. At road's end a private property sign on chainlink fence blocked off the dock where the stone was, but the cabbie asked a forklift operator moving a huge tub of fish if we could go in to have a look, and he said yes while laughing a little, which made me wonder how exactly their exchange over what I was pursuing went in their Faroese.

[the Hulder Rock's west-southwest side.]

Objective observations: The scant pictures I'd found before coming here didn't do the rock justice, mistakenly making it look small. This boulder, however, is enormous, squatting on a stretch of prime dockside where if it were moved might accommodate more ships' catch being profitably unloaded, and the reality that it has been left in the way only confirms that the Hulder Rock commands residents' respect for what it's thought to be.

[the Hulder Rock's east side.]

And unlike the earlier photos mentioned, I was thrilled to note the rock had since been decorated with white line "window panes" facing out in each cardinal direction, the large one on the south side which faces the dock, and which would functionally give the Álfar within the most light.

[north side window.]

[west side window.]

There was also a white dot at the southeast part of the rock:

I would most likely posit this to be a doorknob, but it also could be a doorbell, or peephole, or a porthole, or even perhaps an abbreviated arrow loop for the launching of defensive magical elf-shot.

[cleft close-up on the upper east portion.]

The above top to bottom cleft also gave the rock some interesting character, suggesting maybe an opening crack to compliment the painted doorknob to its outer left, but also giving the notion of a feminine physical attribute. 

On the west-northwest portion of the rock was this 9" bowl-like impression, which seemed perfect if one was to leave an offering to the hidden people, but short of some rainwater, there was no evidence of that.

Subjective observations: My personal impression of the site was that the contrast of this rather distinct dual-lichen dotted rock claiming its own space atop a very artificial concrete dock gave one the feel of something supernatural, and I had the medium-key feeling of presence & non-verbal/non-audial polite acknowledgement. As an Ásatrúar I approached, greeted, & addressed the hulderfolk within, introducing myself, letting them know how far away I had come from to intentionally visit them, complimented their home, apologized for having no coins or food to leave them (but said I would definitely take some time back home to acknowledge them with an offering) in their bowl, and respectfully thanked them for letting me be there.

I have to say I was ecstatic to see this stickpin in real life from my mapping project. The act of actually getting to use my data to go investigate & commune with an amazing but little known Álfar rock a fifth of the way around the globe in a remote archipelago of the North Atlantic was super gratifying.

If you're ever in the Faroes and want to go see this mappoint for yourself, note that it's about a half-hour drive one-way from the capital of Tórshavn, and you get to shoot through the undersea tunnel between Streymoy Island and neighboring Eysturoy, going past that interior's neat sculptural roundabout that features a silhouetted circle of odd-shaped dancers backlit by multicoloured lights (and my first thought was subterranean hulderfolk -- but it's the Faroese doing their traditional circular folk dance). The cab ride will cost you about $80USD round-trip, but it's so worth it.

The Hulder Rock's GPS: 62.14055, -6.7034.

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Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires' Norse Gods and Giants at age seven. Since then he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the Map of Midgard project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay. If you have employment/opportunities in investigative mythology,  field research, or product development to offer, do contact him.