Blót
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Italic title
Template:Lang (Old Norse and Old English) or Template:Lang (Old English) are religious ceremonies in Germanic paganism that centred on the killing and offering of an animal to a particular being, typically followed by the communal cooking and eating of its meat. Old Norse sources present it as a central ritual in Old Nordic religion that was intimately connected with many wider aspects of life. Large Template:Lang are often described as taking place in halls, organised by the rulers of the region who were expected to carry out the practice on behalf of the people. Template:Lang were central to the legitimacy of rulers and Christian rulers refusing to hold them were at times replaced by more willing alternatives and driven out of the land. Smaller, household Template:Lang were sometimes recorded as being led by women. Beyond strengthening legitimacy for the ruling elites, the performance of Template:Lang was often in order to ensure the fertility of the land, a good harvest and peace, although they are also recorded as being performed for divination or to achieve desired results in legal matters.
After the establishment of Christianity, Template:Lang were routinely made punishable offences, as seen in early Germanic legal codes, with the recipients of the worship and sacrifice often equated with demons. Despite this, some aspects of the practice were likely incorporated into local Christian culture and continued into the modern period. The conscious performing of Template:Lang has also been revived in the modern period as part of the practice of modern heathens.
Etymology and meaning
Etymology
The verb form is seen in Template:Langx ("to worship; to sacrifice"), Template:Langx ("to serve (God); to worship"; to honour (through sacrifice)"), Template:Langx ("to sacrifice") and Template:Langx.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Proto-Germanic form of the verb can be reconstructed as the strong verb Template:Lang, or Template:Lang meaning "to sacrifice".Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
The noun form is seen in Template:Langx and Template:Lang ("sacrifice"), and Template:Langx ("sacrifice; worship").Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn A Proto-Germanic form of the noun can be similarly reconstructed as Template:Lang.Template:Sfn A similar and related form can be reconstructed as Template:Lang from Template:Langx ("sacrifice") and Template:Langx, a component of Template:Lang ("worshipper of God").Template:Sfn Template:Lang can also be used to mean "idol-worship" in general, an "idol" (often in the form Template:Lang) or metaphorically to mean "cursing" or "swearing" in Christian times due to the negative view of heathenry.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Refn
The shared Germanic root has been proposed to be related to Template:Lang ("to blow; to bloom; to blossom"), which is further connected to Template:Lang ("blood").Template:Sfn A connection has been further proposed to Template:Langx ("priest"), although it has been argued that the validity of this is dependent on the exact root of Template:Lang which cannot be determined with certainty.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Refn
Usage
In the context of "to worship" or "to worship with sacrifice", the Old Norse verb Template:Lang is typically used with that being worshipped in the accusative case, and rarely with it in the dative case. The dative case is more typically used for the object being sacrificed. The verb is often followed by the aim of the Template:Lang, for example Template:Lang ("for peace, victory, long life, good season, fair wind").Template:Sfn
In compounds
Template:Langx is found in many compound words relating to worship or sacrifice. These include adjectives such as Template:Lang ("rich in sacrifices") and terms for individuals also include it is a prefix such as Template:Lang, Template:Lang, or Template:Lang ("heathen priest"), Template:Lang ("heathen chief"). Other compounds include recipients of worship such as Template:Lang ("heathen god") and Template:Lang ("calf worshipped with sacrifices"). Items with religious function can also include it as a prefix such as Template:Lang ("sacrificial bowl") and Template:Lang ("garments worn at sacrifices"), and it can refer to religious concepts such as Template:Lang or Template:Lang ("idolatry"), and Template:Lang which is used to mean both "sacrificing to heathen gods" and "idolatry".Template:Sfn
Components of the practice
Location
It has been proposed that during the Migration Period, religious organisation drastically changed, with rulers gaining enough power to centralise sacrifices and ceremonies to their own homes rather than in outdoor spaces such as bogs and lakes, as had been done before. These indoor cultic buildings are referred to in Old Norse sources variously as Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang.Template:Sfn
Sources do still record Viking Age Template:Lang taking place a diverse range of sites, with groves, hofs and waterfalls being described as the recipients of Template:Lang, along with beings such as gods, elves and heathen vættir.Template:Sfn Some nouns for places include Template:Lang as a prefix, suggesting them as sites where these ceremonies took place, such as Template:Lang ("sacrificial mound or cairn") and Template:Lang ("heathen house of worship").Template:Sfn Kjalnesinga saga describes how there was a site near a large hof called Template:Lang ("sacrificial fen/bog/well/spring" or "fen near the heathen temple") into which sacrifices were thrown during sacrifical feasts. This idea is also reflected in Icelandic placenames such as Template:Lang at Möðrudalur and Template:Lang ("fen/spring of the gods") at Mývatn.Template:Sfn
Killing of humans and other animals
The written sources and the archaeological record indicate that in Old Norse religious practice, the sacrifice of animals, particularly pigs and horses, played a significant part in the Template:Lang. Closer in conception to a gift, it usually involved killing animals, and sometimes humans, in ritual fashion.Template:Sfn
Adam of Bremen's account of the temple at Uppsala notes that only the heads were offered.Template:Sfn This practice is possibly supported by the archaeological record. At the temple-hall of Hofstaðir in northern Iceland, oxen were decapitated in seasonal rituals for many years and the heads displayed at the hall. Osteological analysis of the bones shows that the animals were killed with blows to the neck by axe or sword. This method was perhaps intended to produce the spectacle of a shower of arterial blood.Template:Sfn Similar observations have been made at other sites such as the Viking Age birch stump found underneath the church at Frösön ("Freyr's island") in Jämtland, and a site of a possible cult-house in Borg in Östergötland. Both of these sites had a significant enrichment of skulls relative to other bones. It has been proposed that there was a widespread practice to offer the heads to the gods, whilst cooking the meat for the feast that followed. It has also been suggested that the number of skulls that a hall displayed would act as a status signal, indicating the size of the feast that could be hosted within.Template:Sfn
The written sources speak of sacrifices made of prisoners of war; Roman descriptions of Germanic tribes sacrificing their defeated enemies to Mars or Mercury have a similarity with customs related to the cult of Óðinn in Old Norse religion. The Icelandic skáld Helgi Trausti mentions his killing an enemy as a sacrifice to Óðinn; Egils saga einhenda ok Ásmundar berserkjabana and Orkneyinga saga describe the sacrificing of captive enemies to Óðinn. In depositions of remains found near Uppland, most of the human bodies are of young males with healed bone trauma, a possible congruence with the sacrificed captives of war mentioned in the written corpus. In almost all instances, human sacrifices occurring in the context of the Old Norse texts are related to Óðinn.Template:Sfn Criminals and slaves are the humans being sacrificed in the majority of cases which has been compared to modern executions.Template:Sfn Scholars doubt the reliability of some claims of human sacrifice. In the case of Adam of Bremen's account of the sacrifices at Uppsala, for example, the author likely exaggerated about the sacrifices of humans in order to demonise Germanic religion. Similarly, the accuracy of the account of human sacrifice in Kjalnesinga saga has been doubted by some scholars.Template:Sfn
Role of blood and Template:Lang
.png){kind=link}
In Hákonar saga góða, Snorri Sturluson describes Template:Lang ("sacrificial twigs") being used like sprinklers to spread blood over the Template:Lang ("altars" or "platforms"), the walls of the hof (both inside and outside) and the people who were present there. It is possible that this description was influenced by the ecclesiastical ceremonies of the medieval church in which holy water was sprinkled over the congregation, or the account in the Old Testament, in which Moses sprinkles blood on his people. Snorri in his description explicitly notes the similarity between Template:Lang and Template:Lang ("aspergillum").Template:Sfn Building on this, it has been proposed that the use of terms such as Template:Lang, Template:Lang and Template:Lang to mean "sacrificial blood", "sacrificial twig" and "sacrificial bowl" respectively does not accurately reflect their use in pre-Christian times. This is partly based on the absence of the terms from Skaldic poetry and Eddic poems.Template:Sfn Olof Sundqvist supports the idea that Template:Lang formerly had the meaning of "lot" in the context of divination.Template:Sfn
While Klaus Düwel has taken this argument further, arguing that the sprinkling of sacrificial blood had no influence from heathen Germanic culture and was derived wholly from other sources such as the Old Testament, this has been challenged.Template:Sfn The word Template:Lang (corresponding to one of the places sprinkled with blood in Snorri's account), likely did have a meaning related to sacrifice in pre-Christian Scandinavian contexts. The phrase Template:Lang ("sacred stand") is found in Skaldic poetry and there are attestations of blood being smeared on holy objects elsewhere in Western Scandinavia. In Hyndluljóð, Freyja says about how one of her worshippers has made a Template:Lang ("altar") for her, faced with stone that was turned to glass and reddened with ox blood. Similarly, the U-version of Hervarar saga tells how a holy tree, referred to as a Template:Lang, is reddened with blood from a sacrificial horse. It is unclear if this is meant to be interpreted as a literal tree or as a platform or altar (Template:Lang, Template:Lang or Template:Lang). In Ynglinga saga, the king Dómaldi is sacrificed in order to make their crops grow and they redden the Template:Lang with his blood; Ynglingatal, the poem upon which this narrative is built, does not reference Template:Lang but it does emphasise that the ground was reddened with blood. It has been suggested that the pouring of blood on the ground below Template:Lang may be related to the taking of soil from below the Template:Lang by Þórólfr from Norway to Iceland during the settlement of the island, as described in Eyrbyggja saga. Religious objects are recorded as being reddened with blood during Template:Lang, like oath-rings according to the Hauksbók version of Landnámabók. The practice of collecting sacrificial blood and pouring it on altars is well attested in other cultures such as in Ancient Greek and religion and in Jewish burnt offerings.Template:Sfn
Along with having a role in divination, other suggestions for the importance of blood in Template:Lang have been put forward by scholars. It has been put forward that the violence used to kill the animals found at Hofstaðir may have acted as a way to remove tensions in the community. Olof Sundqvist instead proposes that the blood was used in a performative setting, creating a feeling of spectacle and that the event was strongly separate from usual daily life. If true, those participating in the ceremony would likely have become emotionally engaged in the ritual drama. He further suggests, consistent with ideas by Bruce Lincoln, that there may have been a perceived connection between the killing during the Template:Lang and the killing of Ymir during the creation account told in Gylfaginning, which acted as its mythic counterpart. In this context, the bloodshed may have signalled a renewal of the world, in which conditions would improve for those who performed the Template:Lang. Template:Sfn
Feasting and drinking
Sacrificial feasts (Template:Langx or Template:Lang) had a prominent place in the ancient religious practices of the Scandinavians, and were part of the seasonal festivals attended by large numbers of people. Family rituals such as the álfablót in western Sweden mentioned by the Norwegian skald Sigvatr Þórðarson in an early 11th-century poem, were usually performed on farm homesteads.Template:Sfn Feasts and ritual drinking at Template:Lang are also mirrored in a mythological context in the depictions of Valhǫll in Hákonarmál.Template:Sfn
Horses are often recorded as being eaten in Template:Lang and the eating of horsemeat was made an offence punishable by fines and outlawry by a number of medieval Scandinavian laws made after the adoption of Christianity, such as the Borgarthings-Lov, Den ældre Gulathings-Lov and the Frostathings-Lov. In Iceland, an exception was made for eating horsemeat in private for a short time after the establishment of Christianity but was later repealed.Template:Sfn
The ritual killing of animals was followed by feasts on the meat, as described in the Eddic and Scaldic poetry, the Icelandic sagas, and on rune stones.Template:Sfn The meat was boiled in large cooking pits with heated stones, either indoors or outdoors, and ale or mead was drunk in the ceremony.<ref name="Steinbock2014">Template:Cite book</ref>
Sites suggesting religious feasting have been found in Scandinavia such as in Melhus where many cooking pits, mainly dating to between 900 and 1300 CE, were found containing bones of domesticated animals. The hearths in hall-room C at Borg in Lofoten has also been suggested to have been the site of ritual cooking of meat from sacrificed animals. One large pit measuring around 6 m by 3 m has been interpreted as a Template:Lang (a cooking pit intended for ritual preparation of meat). The Old Gutnish cognate term is found as a prefix in Guta saga, which describes those who partook in Template:Lang together as Template:Lang ("boiling companions") as they cooked their meals made from sacrificed animals together. Template:Lang and Template:Lang are likely both related to Template:Langx ("sacrifice").Template:Sfn
Function
More than just a simple sacrifice, Template:Lang was central to all the ritual activities that took place in Norse sacral structures.Template:Sfn
Help from the gods
Bulls have been noted to have been often sacrificed when seeking help from the gods in legal matters.Template:Sfn Template:Lang are also often described as being performed in order to achieve good harvests, with some texts explicitly recording that they are held Template:Lang ("for a good harvest and peace"). The rituals are suggested to be effective by some sources such as Fagrskinna, which notes that Hákon Sigurðarson restored the holy sites that had been damaged by Christians and made more Template:Lang than before and soon a period of prosperity followed, with a greater grain harvest and abundance of herring. This has been argued to show an ideology that a legitimate ruler must protect holy places and uphold Template:Lang so as to maintain a good relationship with the gods, in turn leading to the good fortunes of the people.Template:Sfn
Divination
Divination is suggested to have occurred at some Template:Lang and is recorded in Ynglinga saga in connection to a Template:Lang ("boar sacrifice"). This is not accepted universally by scholars, with Düwel arguing the link is only seen in Snorri's works. The link has been proposed to be seen elsewhere though, such as the compound word Template:Lang ("chip used in divination").Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
According to Eyrbyggja saga, Þórólf Mostrarskeggi made preparations for his settlement of Iceland by performing a Template:Lang before he left Norway:
According to the Sturlubók and Hauksbók versions of Landnámabók, a man named Ingólf prepared to settle in Iceland with his brother Hjörleif by performing a Template:Lang in a similar way to Þórólf:
Hjörleif was later killed by his thralls which Ingólf attributed to his refusal to uphold heathen customs. The book later states that no one dared live where Hjörleif had settled for fear of the landvættir.Template:Sfn
Legitimisation of rulers
The holding of Template:Lang and associated feasts were an opportunity for rulers to demonstrate their wealth and generosity and praise of these traits is recorded in sources such as the skaldic poem Sigurðardrápa. Giving of gifts at feasts, such as rings, is well attested in Germanic texts such as Egils saga and Beowulf and has been proposed to have been a central practice in building loyalty to the king and strengthening authority.Template:Sfn Displaying of heads of eaten animals may have created a degree of competition between communities and played into the wider strategy of rulership in Viking Age Iceland.Template:Sfn
Religious and cultic leaders
Scholars have debated the concept of religious leaders in Late Iron Age Scandinavia, with some such as Folke Ström supporting the idea that there was no professional priesthood and that rulers instead held this role. While this remains debated by scholars, there is no strong evidence for formal training into religious role whilst the organisation of sanctuaries and Template:Lang by elites is well attested in Old Norse texts.Template:Sfn
Certain elites are highlighted for their participation in Template:Lang such as Sigurðr Hlaðajarl who is called Template:Lang ("the most ardent heathen worshipper") and is described as having maintained all the sacrificial feasts in Trøndelag on behalf of the king. This concept is also attested on the Stentoften stone which records that a man named HaþuwulfR, likely a local ruler, held a Template:Lang to give a good harvest. In Iceland, Template:Lang ("chieftains") are often recorded as leading public religious activities including Template:Lang.Template:Sfn
Sources further describe how in both Norway and Svetjud, taking part in public Template:Lang was required for the ruler to be accepted by their subjects. Template:Lang tells how the Christian King Hákon came to Trøndelag and did not want to take part in the Template:Lang, upsetting the local farmers and chieftains. At the Frostaþing he was asked to partake in them as his father had done and he was later strongly pressured to eat horse liver at a Template:Lang ("sacrificial feast") in Mære. Similarly, the heathen king Blótsveinn took part in a horse sacrifice and ate horsemeat when becoming king of the Svear according to Template:Lang. The U-version of this saga further tells how Blótsveinn became king after his brother-in-law, Ingi, refused to uphold the old customs due to him being Christian and was thus driven away by the Svear to Västergötland. This closely resembles Adam of Bremen's description of king Anunder who was also driven out for refusing to uphold the performing of Template:Lang.Template:Sfn
There is evidence of Template:Lang being led by women such as the Template:Lang ("housewife") in Vǫlsa þáttr and possibly the Template:Lang who is also mentioned as holding álfablót in Austrfararvísur.Template:Sfn Whilst absent from detailed accounts such as those in Template:Lang, this is consistent with a wider Germanic context of some women playing central roles in ceremonies, the holding of feasts and running of the farm. This is attested in written sources such as Beowulf, Egils saga and the Hassmyra Runestone and is potentially also represented in the archaeological record in high status female burials.Template:Sfn
Calendrical Template:Lang
Yearly
Beginning of winter
Template:Lang taking place at the beginning of winter in Norway and Iceland to celebrate Template:Lang ("winter-nights") are recorded in multiple sources, such as Gísla saga Súrssonar, in which the goði Þorgrímr Þorsteinsson sacrifices to Freyr during the feast.Template:Sfn This time has been suggested to have marked the beginning of the new year and may be the same as the dísablót, named for the disir, which is recorded in Ynglinga saga as having taken place in Uppsala.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Two further Template:Lang are attested as having taken place in Scandinavia, each in a single source. Völsa þáttr, preserved in Flateyjarbók, describes a family in Northern Norway at the beginning of the 11th century CE in which Template:Lang are performed each night in the autumn to the preserved penis of a horse that had been previously killed. An álfablót is recorded as having taken place in autumn in Svetjud in Austrfaravísur, written around 1020 CE.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
In Anglo-Saxon contexts, Template:Lang are recorded as occurring in Blōtmōnaþ, a month in the Old English calendar which roughly corresponds to the Gregorian month of November.Template:Sfn
Later in winter
Other Template:Lang are also recorded as having taken place in winter, such as the Template:Lang in Trøndelag recorded in Heimskringla.Template:Sfn Yule was celebrated in the middle of winter and had a diversity of religious components such as the performing of Template:Lang and heitstrengingar.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Þorrablót was held at midwinter in the month of Þorri. The Orkneyinga saga tells in an aetiological story that the Template:Lang got its name from the son of King Snær who held a Template:Lang every year at this time but it is more likely it got its name from the month.Template:Sfn
Summer
Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar mentions a Template:Lang ("midsummer sacrifice") at Mære.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Furthermore, Ynglinga saga describes how Odin instituted three festivals in Sweden, one of which was the Template:Lang ("sacrifice for victory"), which was to take place at the start of summer.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Other
Saxo Grammaticus's Gesta Danorum tells how Hadding, after having his fleet destroyed in a storm began sacrificing dark-coloured victims to Frey to regain his favourof the gods. The sacrifice was repeated yearly, being called by the Swedes the FrøblotTemplate:Sfn
Every nine years
Lejre
Thietmar of Merseburg wrote in his chronicle, dated to the early 11th century CE, that the Danes had their main cult centre on Zealand at Lejre and gathered there every nine years and held a large sacrifice:Template:Sfn
| Latin textTemplate:Sfn | Warner translationTemplate:Sfn |
|---|---|
| Template:Lang | Because I have heard marvellous things about their ancient sacrifices, I will not allow these to pass by unmentioned. In those parts, the centre of the kingdom is a place called Leire, in the region of Seeland. Every nine years, in the month of January, after the day on which we celebrate the appearance of the Lord [6 January], they all convene here and offer their gods a burnt offering of ninety-nine human beings and as many horses, along with dogs and cocks – the latter being used in place of hawks. As I have said, they were convinced that these would do service for them with those who dwell beneath the earth and ensure their forgiveness for any misdeeds. Our king did well when he forbade them to practise such an execrable rite. |
It has been noted that at the time of Thietmar's writing, Denmark had been nominally Christian for nearly 50 years and it is unlikely that large scale Template:Lang were still being performed at the end of the 10th century in Lejre. It has been further noted that Thietmar was determined to show the heathen Danes as being as ferocious and backwards as possible, using large numbers to show their barbarity. He further potentially based his description on existing literature available to him, which formed part of a long tradition of supposing that heathens in general commonly sacrificed humans. Such sources would have allowed him to further dehumanise the Danish heathen population and depict them as evil.Template:Sfn
Uppsala
Template:Main The chronicler Adam of Bremen has described a Template:Lang being performed every 9 years at Temple at Uppsala in Sweden in Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum, written in the mid 11th century CE:Template:Sfn
| Latin textTemplate:Sfn | Tschan translationTemplate:Sfn |
|---|---|
| Template:Lang | For all their gods there are appointed priests to offer sacrifices for the people. If plague and famine threaten, a libation is poured to the idol Thor; if war, to Wotan; if marriages are to be celebrated, to Frikko. It is customary also to solemnize in Uppsala, at nine-year intervals, a general feast of all the provinces of Sweden. From attendance at this festival no one is exempted. Kings and people all and singly send their gifts to Uppsala and, what is more distressing than any kind of punishment, those who have already adopted Christianity redeem themselves through these ceremonies. The sacrifice is of this nature: of every living thing that is male, they offer nine heads, with the blood of which it is customary to placate gods of this sort. The bodies they hang in the sacred grove that adjoins the temple. Now this grove is so sacred in the eyes of the heathen that each and every tree in it is believed divine because of the death or putrefaction of the victims. Even dogs and horses hang there with men... Furthermore, the incantations customarily chanted in the ritual of a sacrifice of this kind are manifold and unseemly; therefore, it is better to keep silence about them. |
Rudolf Simek has argued that Adam of Bremen had a strong motive in his work to present both that a Christian mission to Scandinavia would be successful, while also emphasising the urgency as the heathens were still supposedly performing what he perceived as evil practices, such as performing blood sacrifices to idols. He proposes that he likely drew on accounts such as Thietmar of Merseburg's chronicle and this could have been the source of certain details such as it recurring every nine years, although the possibility does remain that similar sacrifices were held at both religious sites. Despite this, he argues there that the account is still informed by reliable sources and notable details are not found in sources that he would have had access to, such as the hanging of the sacrificed in trees.Template:Sfn
Reception by medieval Christians
Template:Lang strengthening evil spirits
Several conversion þættir, short stories concerned with reconciling Christian doctrine and heathen beliefs, present Template:Lang as harmful practices that, whilst effective in bringing benefits to the community that performs them, function by empowering evil spirits that pose as the helpful beings in which the heathens believe.Template:Sfn
The conversion þáttr Óláfs þáttr Geirstaðaálfs gives an account of Óláfr digrbeinn, a king who the author says predicted his own death and warned his people not to perform Template:Lang to him after he dies, claiming that doing so turns the dead into trolls. Following this, Óláfr explains that these demons can bring good harvests but are also harmful. After his death, bad harvests occur and the people ignore his requests and worship him, calling him "Geirstaðaálfr" ("the elf of Geirstad"). Shortly after this, the harvests improve though when they stop their Template:Lang, the evil spirits that were receiving the gifts become angered. It has been proposed that this tale is the result of the author imperfectly trying to combine the ideas of Christian demonology and "the noble heathen", who is meant to maintain his dignity after death.Template:Sfn
Similarly in another conversion þáttr, Ögmundar þáttr dytts, the author equates Freyr and the devil and explains that the constant offerings to the carving of Freyr have given the devil the ability to speak through it so as to strengthen their belief in Freyr. Later in the tale, Óláfr Tryggvason spiritually helps a Norwegian named Gunnar in defeating the devil, driving it out of the wooden carving. Gunnar then pretends to be Freyr, putting on the clothes of the cult image and accepting offerings of valuable gifts from the worshippers of the god, who stop sacrificing animals from then on.Template:Sfn
Banning and suppression
The Anglo-Saxon Penitential of Theodore imposes 1–10 years of penance for those Template:Lang ("who sacrifice to demons"). In this context, "demons" would likely have been used to refer to heathen gods and other beings connected to the cult, given that these were commonly equated in Christian thought. The penitential further prohibits the eating of food offered in sacrifices to the recipient being. Similar prohibitions are seen throughout later law codes in England such as the laws of King Wihtred of Kent.Template:Sfn In Norðhymbra preosta lagu, Template:Lang are explicitly forbidden along with other practices deemed heathen such as idol-worship, with those caught performing them being made to pay 5 half-marks to the Church and 5 to the king.Template:Sfn
Early Norwegian law codes explicitly forbid performing of Template:Lang, making it a punishable offence. The Older Gulaþing Law, dating to around the mid 11th century CE, bans performing of Template:Lang to heathen gods, howes or hǫrgar, listing it an offence for which the punishment is a fine, penance and if this is not followed, expulsion from the land. This is built upon in the ecclesiastical Law of Sverrir Sigurðarson, which further forbids Template:Lang to heathen vættir, and is consistent with the Frostaþing law which likewise bans Template:Lang.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn When Christianity was adopted as the main religion of Iceland, Template:Lang were allowed for a short time, as long as they were performed in private, with the punishment being lesser outlawry if they were observed publicly. This exception was soon repealed and the practice was fully banned.Template:Sfn
The Template:Lang section of Gutalagen, the legal code for Gotland, imposes fines for those who perform Template:Lang, along with those who follow heathen customs more widely. It further specifies that it is forbidden to make invocations with food or drink if they are not following Christian customs.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn In Sweden, the Upplandslagen forbade veneration of groves and stones, and sacrificing to Template:Lang ("idols").Template:Sfn
Incorporation into Christian culture
Upon adoption of Christianity by the elite, ritual drinking at Template:Lang was sometimes blended with the incoming traditions, as recorded in the late 12th-century history of the kings of Norway Ágrip when King Óláfr Tryggvason:
This process of incorporating pre-existing heathen traditions into Christian traditions is likely also seen with the ritual formula Template:Lang ("for good harvest and peace"). In Hákonar saga góða it is used as part of Njörðr's and Freyr's toast, while other sources record it being used in a Christian context. Den ældre Gulathings-Lov, for example, states that the beer drunk during All Saint's Day and Christmas should be consecrated to thank Christ and Mary Template:Lang ("For property and peace").Template:Sfn
Modern period
After the banning of Template:Lang by church officials, the giving of food and drink to beings believed to inhabit the landscape continued as part of local folk practices. This includes the offering to house spirits such as tomter in Sweden which is recorded throughout history such as in medieval criticisms by individuals such as heliga Birgitta and Olaus Magnus and folktales as late as the 20th century.Template:Sfn Further, the Template:Lang at Yule may be the origin of the practice in Orkney recorded in the 18th century by which each family in Sandwick that rears pigs would slaughter one sow on the 17th of December which was known as Sow Day.Template:Sfn A similar practice is recorded in the 19th century in which each household on North Ronaldsay slaughtered a sheep known as the Yule sheep on Christmas Eve.Template:Sfn
Reconstructionist adherents of contemporary Germanic paganism have developed traditions of blót rituals celebrated in a contemporary context since the 1970s.Template:Sfn In these practices, animal sacrifice is usually replaced with offerings of food or drink, although there remains a large focus on sharing food and strengthening relationships.Template:Sfn
See also
- Eucharist, a Christian rite involving eating and drinking
- Lác, an Old English word derived from a term for ritual
- Shechita, ritual slaughter in Judaism
- Qurban (Islamic ritual sacrifice)
Notes
References
Bibliography
Primary
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite web
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite web
- Template:Cite web
- Template:Cite web
Secondary
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite thesis
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite web
- Template:Cite web
- Template:Cite web
- Template:Cite web
- Template:Cite web
- Template:Cite web
Template:Anglo-SaxonPaganism Template:Norse mythology Template:Germanic pagan practices