Alfta Reginleif - Religious Practices of the Pre-Christian and Viking Age (2002)

Religious Practices
of the Pre-Christian and
Viking Age North
by Alfta Reginleif
© 2002 Alfta Reginleif
Religious Practices of the Pre-Christian and
Viking Age North
by Alfta Reginleif
Table of Contents
Cover
Digital Dwarf Adv.
Title Page
Introduction
Sacred Enclosures
The Hof
Stave Churches
The Hörg
Sacred Groves
Sacred Trees
Sacred Stones
Holy Mountains and Hills
Sacred Rivers, Lakes, Bogs, Springs, etc.
Descriptions of Sacred Places
Pillars, Posts and the Irminsul
Sacred Ground
Images of the Gods
The Blót-feast
Blót Feast Descriptions
The Procession
The Full
The Solemn Oath
Hallowing
Facing North
Offerings
Prayer
Animal Sacrifices
Sacred Fire and Holy Water
Salt Springs
Sacred Fire
The Landvættir
The Annual Feasts
The Harvest Feast
The Álfablót
Winter Nights
Dísarblót
Jól
The Wild Hunt
The Oath Boar
Thorrablót
Class, Location and the Tides
The Spring Rites
Sigrblót/Summer Finding
Ostara (Eastre/Easter)/Walpurgis Day/May
Day
Rites of Spring Summary
Sun's Wending (Midsummer)
Feasts Held Regularly At Longer Intervals
Time-Keeping
The Two Great Seasons
The Turning of the Moon
Nights Before Day
Day Names
Month Names
Modern Practice
Introduction
The Sacred Enclosure
Rules for Sacred Ground
Images of the Gods and Goddesses
The Wild-fire
The Blót-feast and the Full
The Solemn Oath
Offerings
Hallowing
When To Blót
Blót Activities
Conclusion
Footnotes (page 1)
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
2
The Religious Practices of the Pre-Christian
and Viking Age North
Introduction
The undertaking of this article is one that I have
felt was needed for some time. Since The Northern
Way is a reconstructionist tradition I wanted to
shed a little light on the actual practices of our
Northern European fore-fathers. The common opi-
nion is that there is little in way of information a-
bout the Religious Practices of the Pre-Christian
and Viking Age North. I therefore expected to find
maybe 20 or 30 pages worth of notes and, from
that, be able to offer some very rough outlines. It
was not long before I realized that there was more
information out there than I had thought. What I
found is that there was information to be found. It
was like someone had made a puzzle that was the
Religious Practices of the Northern Europeans and
then taken those puzzle pieces and spread them to
the wind. Every book I read or every saga I looked
through, would yield more pieces to that puzzle. I
am confident that, had I had time and had been
able to study more sources, I would have found
more pieces to that puzzle. Unfortunately I had a
deadline and I had to stop somewhere and start
working on writing this article. So I took the puzzle
pieces I had gathered and began to organize
them. With each puzzle piece I began to see an
overall picture of the Religious Practices of the Pre-
Christian and Viking Age North. I did not find all
the puzzle pieces and I most likely never will, but I
believe that I now have enough to be able to get a
fairly decent picture of those religious practices.
It is certain that scholars have made many studies
of the religious practices of
pre-Christian Northern Europeans. I don't consider
myself a scholar by any means, although I hope
that my studies will one day earn me that title. I
think that, as excellent as the work done by scho-
lars on this subject is, it still lacks a view point
which would, in my opinion, shed much light on
the subject. That point of view is one from the be-
liever, that is, the point of view from one who sees
the Regin as reality instead of some attempt of
"primitive" man to describe the forces of nature or
any of the other various theories that come from
the religion called Science. I hope to be able to of-
fer that view (i.e. of a believer) and that those rea-
ding this article will find that view of use.
My goals with this article are to first present the
actual practices that we have evidence of from the
lore and from established and quality scholarship. I
hope to present it in an organized manner by
grouping it into logical groups. Then I would like to
offer my thoughts on how we, as modern followers
of the Northern Way, can take those practices and
incorporate them into our modern practice as we
honor the Regin and strengthen the ties that have
with them. I will leave it to the reader to judge as
to whether or not I have been successful in this.
Sacred Enclosures
The types of places considered sacred are surpri-
singly varied. A sacred area might be in a grove of
trees or a particular tree. A large standing stone or
a spring might be considered sacred or a hill or a
lake. Any striking landmark might be considered
sacred. From the evidence we have, it seems that
these types of sacred sites were the norm until the
Viking Age (roughly from 700 C. E. until about
1100 C. E.) at which time build structures became
more prominent. Despite this, natural landmarks
as sacred ground continued well until the Christian
conversion.
The Hof
Sacred groves and various other sacred sites of
that sort continued but a...