Kvinnörshugts

A Kvinnörshugt (lit.: "kvinnörs hugtand", or "women's fang") is a small, easily concealable blade traditionally popularised in Nordesian societies, particularly within Ruotsaland, that would be carried around almost exclusively by women as a means of defence against highwaymen, rogues, and other villains that were a direct threat, in most cases to either her virginity, her life itself, or even both.

Traditionally, the bestowing of a Kvinnörshugt would be done by the father of the woman upon her coming-of-age (anywhere from 15-18), who would have forged the blade himself and wrote her a poem, giving it to her while reciting the poem in front of those gathered to celebrate the daughter's ascension to womanhood. If the father was not available, either through his own death or through sickness or leave on excursion of battle, another close male relative would do the honours. It was considered an affront spiritually for a possible suitor to bestow a Kvinnörshugt however, as it signifies that, if they ended up getting married, the marriage was under duress and she had no say in who she married, which angered the divines in both the Ásatrú and Ukkovala traditions. In addition, a man was to never carry one on his person, as it conveyed he was not an honourable combatant and was, in fact, a weak man.

The practice and art of making Kvinnörshugts nearly died out with the advent of indentured servitude as a labour method by Ruotsaland’s landed elite, where many nobles found concern in having women who were tied to the land and work armed with knives, and by royal decree, they were officially banned in 1589 by Johan III. The ban was eventually lifted on the making of Kvinnörshugts de facto by sympathetic central authorities once the landed elite began to lose their power, and the ceremony was revived alongside it. With the Industrial Revolution, which began in Ruotsaland in approximately the late 1840s, these weapons became mass industrialised and with better quality metal to last much longer than those done in traditional ceremonies.

The making of Kvinnörshugts, both by traditional methods and the more mass-produced souvenir-driven economy, is a strong suit in the regions around the city of Björneskog, which has a notable tourist-driven economy tied to traditional arts and crafts of the local Nordesian population. In an ironic repeat of the past, immigrant women, often disallowed to buy firearms due to Ruotsaland’s laws around having to complete military or civil service in order to acquire a license, have turned to carrying Kvinnörshugts as a safety protocol if they find themselves needing to walk at night, reviving the tradition of safety given to women by this novel article of traditional Ruotsi culture.