{"id":1023,"date":"2025-05-26T16:58:40","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T14:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/?p=1023"},"modified":"2025-05-26T16:58:43","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T14:58:43","slug":"pilgrim-and-viking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/2025\/05\/26\/pilgrim-and-viking\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilgrim and Viking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Eivind Luthen has spent his life following his dreams\u2014first as a pilgrim, then as a Viking. As of this writing (May 2025), he is aboard\u00a0Saga Farmann, sailing the Mediterranean.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Einar Chr. Erlingsen<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Only a true Renaissance man would think to build a career as a pilgrim! You’re unlikely to grow rich in earthly goods that way\u2014but rich in experiences, absolutely. And Eivind has gathered those in abundance, trekking the roads and trails of Europe as the founder of the\u00a0Pilgrim Fellowship of St. Jacob.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this time, it\u2019s the Viking Eivind we\u2019ll focus on. The interest began early, when he was a student at T\u00f8nsberg High School. In the school\u2019s woodworking hall, the parts of the Kl\u00e5stad ship were being conserved\u2014parts that would later be replicated in\u00a0Saga Farmann. \u201cLater, when I lived in Oslo, I was a bit involved in corporate events,\u201d Eivind recalls. \u201cSometimes we\u2019d rent two small Viking ships. Rowing in sync is excellent for team building. And I was the captain!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For years, he had followed the adventurer Ragnar Thorseth. So when he heard that Thorseth\u2019s Oseberg replica\u00a0Dronningen\u00a0was to be launched, Eivind was quick to head for Bj\u00f8rkedalen. The year was 1987. In traditional fashion, the ship was hauled by hand from the construction site at Jakobsg\u00e5rden down to the sea. It felt like May 17th\u2014Norway\u2019s national day\u2014the sun was shining and flags fluttered throughout the village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Time to go home”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it is through his involvement with the pilgrim movement that most people know him. In the support vehicle during long pilgrimages, he brought along a beautiful replica of the Oseberg cauldron for cooking. One evening, sitting with friends, a thought began to take shape: What if this cauldron could be part of something bigger\u2014what if it could become a full replica of the Oseberg ship?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYears later, when I heard rumors about building a ship in T\u00f8nsberg, I thought:\u00a0Time to go home\u2014I want to be part of this. I donated the cauldron to the foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen the first oak logs were split at Vikingodden, I met Knut B\u00f8rge Knutsen. We agreed the project needed a couple of salesmen. We started producing and selling pins. It was a time of great excitement. The pin sales exceeded all expectations\u2014the money poured in. Our first sales counter was a timber log. In bad weather, we stood under a tarp. Things changed when the kiosk was put up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now (May 2025), Eivind is aboard\u00a0Saga Farmann\u00a0somewhere along the Italian Riviera.
Another dream has come true:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been fascinated by the connection between Norway and Byzantium, and I\u2019ve visited Istanbul several times. During the building of\u00a0Saga Farmann, I had the idea to sail the ship to Miklagard. My Armenian friend Karen Balyan had the right contacts\u2014he knew Professor Ufuk Ko\u00e7aba\u015f at the University of Istanbul and helped us connect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018If you sail the ship here, I\u2019ll make sure you receive a warm welcome, with harbor access and everything you need,\u2019 the professor promised. And he kept his word\u2014we had a fantastic reception in the summer of 2023. Since then, the adventure has only continued. Now I\u2019m mulling over an idea for what we should do after\u00a0Saga Gokstad. Time will show!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Eivind is living the dream, here at the helm of Saga Farmann \u201csomewhere in theMediterranean\u201d. (Photo: Erik Holmelin).<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Translated from Norwegian by ChatGPT.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eivind Luthen has spent his life following his dreams\u2014first as a pilgrim, then as a Viking. As of this writing (May 2025), he is aboard\u00a0Saga Farmann, sailing the Mediterranean. By… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/EIVIND-02.jpeg",640,480,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/EIVIND-02-150x150.jpeg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/EIVIND-02-300x225.jpeg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/EIVIND-02.jpeg",640,480,false],"large":["https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/EIVIND-02.jpeg",640,480,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/EIVIND-02.jpeg",640,480,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/EIVIND-02.jpeg",640,480,false],"gg_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/EIVIND-02-450x250.jpeg",450,250,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"elin","author_link":"https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/author\/elin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Eivind Luthen has spent his life following his dreams\u2014first as a pilgrim, then as a Viking. As of this writing (May 2025), he is aboard\u00a0Saga Farmann, sailing the Mediterranean. By…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1023"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1029,"href":"https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023\/revisions\/1029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}