Gydja is a winter scarf or wrap.

A Gydja is the Old Norse term for a priest and chieftain.
Gydja signifies an Icelandic priestess.

During the Viking Age, the Gydja was originally a heathen priest. After the Settlement in Iceland, the hofGydja was a temple priest; this was usually a wealthy and respected man in his district, for he had to maintain the communal hall or hof in which community religious observances and feasts were held. The area over which a Gydja had leadership was termed a goðorð. Over time, and especially after 1000, when the Christian conversion occurred in Iceland, the term Gydja lost its sacred connotations and came to mean simply “chieftain”.