Öndvegissúlur, or "high-seat pillars", were a pair of wooden poles placed on each side of the seat of a Viking chieftain. They often had cut-out images of Æsir and may have held a reference to the tree of life, called Yggdrasil.
When Viking settlers first came to Iceland, they put their trust in their Öndvegissúlur and dumped them in the sea when they could see the coastline. Then they settled where the Öndvegissúlur went ashore. The capital of Iceland, Reykjavík, was founded using this method.
