In Norse mythology and later Icelandic folklore, landdÃÂsir (Old Norse "dÃÂsir of the land") are beings who live in , specific stones located in Northwestern Iceland which were treated with reverence into the 18th and 19th centuries. The landdÃÂsir are not recorded in Old Norse sources, but belief in them is assumed from the name .
Rudolf Simek says that the landdÃÂsir "are perhaps identical to the , female protective guardian spirits, or else related in some way to the landvætter, Icelandic protective spirits." According to Simek, since the landdÃÂsir were believed to live in stones and were venerated there, the practice could represent a form of ancestor worship. Simek notes that Icelandic folklore tells of other beings who live in stones and hills, such as dwarfs and elves.
Gabriel Turville-Petre theorizes that "the female landdÃÂsir, dwelling in their rocks, were probably not far removed from the masculine elves." Turville-Petre connects their veneration to the continental Scandinavian practice of the DÃÂsablót (the sacrifice to the dÃÂsir), the Disting (thing of the dÃÂsir), and various Scandinavian place names involving the dÃÂsir where worship may have occurred. Turville-Petre concludes that "the landdÃÂsir of the ÃÂsafjörður were dead women ancestors of the people who lived there. They had come to be venerated, being goddesses at once of death, fertility, and rebirth."