Heads up

With the arrival of March in Oslo the snow doesn't necessarily start to melt, but people certainly like to think about it melting. When it does melt, large chunks of ice often fall from sloped roofs of buildings onto the pavement below, resulting in a precarious situation for pedestrians. These may look like simple bits of wood propped up against a building to warn folks to keep away from the roof line, but in fact they are powerful talismanic symbols of old Norse magic that create an invisible shield protecting the heads of passers-by from falling ice.