Beliefs, practices, and institutions

Worship

Sacrifice often was conducted in the open or in groves and forests. The human sacrifice to the tribal god of the Semnones, described by Tacitus, took place in a sacred grove; other examples of sacred groves include the one in which Nerthus usually resides. Tacitus does, however, mention temples in Germany, though they were probably few. Old English laws mention fenced places around a stone, tree, or other object of worship. In Scandinavia, men brought sacrifice to groves and waterfalls.

A common word for a holy place in Old English is hearg and in Old High German harug, occasionally glossed as lucus (“grove”) or nemus (“forest”). The corresponding Old Norse word, hörgr, denotes a cairn, a pile of stones used as an altar; the word was also used occasionally for roofed temples. Another term applied to sacred places in Scandinavia was vé (compare with vígja, “to consecrate”), which appears in many place-names; e.g., Odense (older Óðinsvé).

Although worship was originally conducted in the open, temples also developed with the art of building. Bede claims that some temples in England were built well enough to be used as churches and mentions a great one that burned.

The word hof, commonly applied to temples in the literature of Iceland, seems to belong to the later rather than to the earlier period. A detailed description of a hof is given in one of the sagas. The temple consisted of two compartments, perhaps analogous to the chancel and the nave of a church. The images of the gods were kept in the chancel. This does not imply, however, that Icelandic temples of the 10th century were modeled on churches; rather they resembled large Icelandic farmhouses. A building believed to be a temple has been excavated in northern Iceland, and its outline agrees closely with that described in the saga.

Temples on the mainland of Scandinavia were probably built of wood, of which nothing survives, although an influence of pagan temples may be discernible in the so-called stave churches. At the close of the pagan period, the most splendid temple of all was at Uppsala. It was richly described by Adam of Bremen, whose report is based on statements of eyewitnesses, though he may have been influenced by the biblical description of Solomon’s temple. Statues of Thor, Wodan, and Fricco (Freyr) stood together within it; the whole building was covered with gold, which could be seen glittering from afar. There were also famous temples in Norway, but no detailed descriptions are given of them.

Sacrifice took different forms. Roman authors repeatedly mention the sacrifice of prisoners of war to the gods of victory. The thralls who bathed the numen of Nerthus paid for the revelation of her secret identity with their lives. A detailed description of a sacrificial feast is given in a saga about a king of Norway. All kinds of cattle were slaughtered, and blood was sprinkled inside and out; the meat was consumed and toasts were drunk to Odin, Njörd, and Freyr. The most detailed description of a sacrifice is that given by Adam of Bremen. Every nine years a great festival was held at Uppsala, and sacrifice was conducted in a sacred grove that stood beside the temple. The victims, human and animal, were hung on trees. One of the trees in this grove was holier than all the others and beneath it lay a well into which a living man would be plunged.

There also were sacrifices of a more private kind. A man might sacrifice an ox to a god or smear an elf mound with bull’s blood.

Eschatology and death customs

No unified conception of the afterlife is known. Some may have believed that fallen warriors would go to Valhalla to live happily with Odin until the Ragnarök, but it is unlikely that this belief was widespread. Others seemed to believe that there was no afterlife. According to the “Hávamál,” any misfortune was better than to be burnt on a funeral pyre, for a corpse was a useless object.

More often people believed that life went on for a time after death but was inseparable from the body. If men had been evil in life, they could persecute the living when dead; they might have to be killed a second time or even a third before they were finished.

The presence of ships or boats in graves, and occasionally of chariots and horses, may suggest that the dead were thought to go on a journey to the otherworld, but this is questionable; such accoutrements more likely reflected a person’s earthly occupation. Some records imply that the dead needed company; a wife, mistress, or servant would be placed in the grave with them. The famous Oseberg grave contained the bones of two women, probably a queen and her servant. Some stories suggest the existence of an ancient belief in rebirth, but a medieval writer labels the notion an old wives’ tale. On the whole, beliefs in afterlife seem rather gloomy. The dead pass, perhaps by slow stages, to a dark, misty world called Niflheim (Niflheimr).

The end of the world is designated by two terms. The older is Ragnarök, meaning “Fate of the Gods”; the later form, used by Snorri and some others, is Ragnarøkkr, “Twilight of the Gods.” Allusions to the impending disaster are made by several skalds of the 10th and 11th centuries, but fuller descriptions are given chiefly in the “Völuspá” and the didactic poems of the Poetic Edda, which form the basis of Snorri’s description in his Edda.

Only a brief summary of this rich subject can be attempted here. Through their own work, and especially because of the strength of Thor, gods have kept the demons of destruction at bay. The savage wolf Fenrir is chained, as is the guileful Loki, but they will break loose. Giants and other monsters will attack the world of gods and humans from various directions. Odin will fight the wolf and lose his life, to be avenged by his son Vidar (Víðarr), who will pierce the beast to the heart. Thor will face the World Serpent, and they will kill each other. The sun will turn black, the stars vanish, and fire will play against the firmament. The earth will sink into the sea but will rise again, purified and renewed. Unsown fields will bear wheat. Balder and his innocent slayer, Höd, will return to inhabit the dwellings of gods. Worthy people will live forever in a shining hall thatched with gold.

Although the cosmic cataclysm portrayed by the poet of the “Völuspá” reflects the apocalyptic imagery of the Book of Revelation, it is essentially a symbolic reflection of the waning Germanic world, ineluctably moving to its destruction because of the outrages committed by its divine and human representatives. According to another Eddic poem, the wolf will swallow Odin and, in revenge, his son will tear the jaws of the beast asunder. Several more details are given in other sources, generally cruder than those of the “Völuspá.”