The Blót was the pagan Germanic sacrifice to Norse gods and Elves. The word is related to the English word bless and they are derived from blood, an important component in the rites.
Rites and beliefs
The verb blóta meant to "strengthen" and the intention was to strengthen the powers (gods and Elves). The most powerful means was the sacrificed object or being. It was usually animals and in particular pigs and horses. The meat was boiled in large cooking pits with heated stones, either indoors or outdoors. The blood was considered to contain special powers and it was sprinkled on the statues of the gods, on the walls and on the participants themselves.
It was a sacred moment, when the people gathered around the steaming cauldrons to have a meal together with the gods or the Elves. The drink that was passed around was blessed and sacred as well and it was passed from participant to participant. The drink was usually beer or mead but among the nobility it could be imported wine.
The godi, the chief who was the head of the sacrifice, offered the drink to Frey if it was spring blót or autumn blót and to Odin if it was summer blót. Then they drank for the dead of the family, whom they thought took part in the blót. When they were drunk, the participants believed they felt the power of the gods (see sumble).
The old prayer was til árs ok friđar, "for a good year and frith" They asked for fertility, good health, a good life and peace and harmony between the people and the powers.
Dates for the blóts
The autumn blót was performed in the middle of October, the great Midwinter blót, or Yule, at the winter solstice. The dark winter was a harsh time for the people of Scandinavia, and special means had to be undertaken to help nature pass the critical phase. Frey was the most important god at the Midwinter and autumn blóts, and Christmas ham (the pig was for Frey) is still the main Christmas course in Scandinavia. The Summer blót was undertaken in April and the vernal equinox and it was given to Odin. Then, they drank for victory in war and this blót was the starting date for viking expeditions and wars.
Locations
A building where the blóts took place was called a hov (cf. German Hof) and there are many place names derived from this in e.g. Scania, West Götaland and East Götaland. Churches were usually built on such hovs and excavations at the medieval churches of Mćre in Trřndelag and at Old Uppsala testify to this (see Cultural continuity ).
There were also other sacred places called Horgr, Ve, Lund and Haug. Horgr means "cairn" or "mountain". Lund means "Sacred grove" and Ve simply "sacred place". The Christian laws forbade worshiping haug and consequently the mounds of the ancestors.
Uppsala, Sweden
Main articles: Old Uppsala and Temple at Uppsala.
The German chronicler Adam of Bremen has described how it was done at the Temple at Uppsala at Old Uppsala in Sweden, ca 1070:
- Thor was the most powerful god and ruled over thunder and lightning, wind and rain, sunshine and crops. He sat in the centre with a sceptre (Mjolnir) in his hand, and on each side were Odin, the god of war, in full armour and Frey, the god of peace and love, attributed with an enormous erected phallus. All the pagan gods had their priests who offered them the people's sacrifices. If there was disease or famine, they sacrificed to Thor, if war to Odin and if weddings to Frey.
- Every ninth year, there was a nine-day blót, a common feast for everyone in Sweden. Then, they sacrificed nine males of each species, even men (totalling 72 corpses), and the bodies were hanged from the branches of a sacred grove near the temple. No one was excempt from this blót and everyone sent gifts to the shrine, even the kings. Those who were Christian had to pay a fee not to take part in the blót, something that Adam of Bremen considered to be a very harsh punishment.
It is possible that the last nine-day blót was performed in 1078. The Temple at Uppsala was probably destroyed by king Ingold I in 1087. For quite some time there had been civil war between Christian and pagans every nine years, and this was the year of the last battle.
According to Snorri, there was a main blót at the Temple at Uppsala in February, the Disablót, during which they sacrificed for peace and for the victories of the king. The blót was also performed to see how large the next harvest would be. Then the Ting of all Swedes was held and there was a grand fair, the Disting . The Disting survived Christianity, and the tradition has never been interrupted. The fair is still held every February in Uppsala, even though the date has sometimes been moved within the month. In 1968, the tradition of discussing official matters was resumed.
In the year 2000, the blóts were resumed at Old Uppsala after more than 900 years, by the Swedish Ásatrúar.
Lejre, Denmark
The German historian Thietmar of Merseburg wrote that the Daner had their main cult centre on Zealand at Lejre, where they gathered every nine years and sacrificed 99 people but also horses, dogs and hens. However, there is no archaeological support for this.
Mćre, Norway
Snorri Sturluson relates of a meeting between the peasants of Trřndelag and king Haakon I of Norway, a meeting which ended in a religious feud centered around the blót. Haakon was raised at the Christian English court and had returned to claim the throne of his father Harald Fairhair (the unifier of Norway) and intended to Christianize the country. In spite of the fact that the peasants had elected Haakon king at the Ting they opposed his religious ideas. One of the peasant chiefs declared to Haakon:
- We bondes (peasants), King Hakon, when we elected thee to be our king, and got back our udal (yeoman) rights at the Thing (Ting) held in Throndhjem, thought we had got into heaven; but now we don't know whether we have really got back our freedom, or whether thou wishest to make vassa1s of us again by this extraordinary proposal that we should abandon the ancient faith which our fathers and forefathers have held from the oldest times, in the times when the dead were burnt, as well as since that they are laid under mounds, and which, although they were braver than the people of our days, has served us as a faith to the present time. We have also held thee so dear, that we have allowed thee to rule and give law and right to all the country. And even now we bondes will unanimously hold by the law which thou givest us here in the Frosta-thing, and to which we have also given our assent; and we will follow thee, and have thee for our king, as long as there is a living man among us bondes here in this Thing assembled. But thou, king, must use some moderation towards us, and only require from us such things as we can obey thee in, and are not impossible for us. If, however, thou wilt take up this matter with a high hand, and wilt try thy power and strength against us, we bondes have resolved among ourselves to part with thee, and to take to ourselves some other chief, who will so conduct himself towards us that we can freely and safely enjoy that faith that suits our own inclinations. Now, king, thou must choose one or other of these conditions before the Thing is ended.[1]
The King had to fold, and during the great blót that was held, he had to drink of the mead that was offered and consecrated for Odin, Njord and Frey. The peasants also wanted him to eat of the meat, but he only gaped over the handle of the cauldron and held a linen cloth between his mouth and the meat. The peasants were not at all satisfied with a king who would not participate fully in the blót. The King had however, been seriously humiliated and later he converted to the old faith. The tradition says that he was buried in the old ways.
Elven blót
The Elven blót was small scale and was celebrated at the homestead and led by its mistress. We don't know much about the rites, since it was surrounded by secrecy and strangers were not welcome during the time of the rituals. However, since the Elves were collective powers closely connected with the ancestors we can assume that it had to do with the ancestor cult and the life force of the family.
Sigvat, the skald of Olaf II of Norway has related an event connected with the blót. Once, Sigvat and his men arrived at a farm in Vermland late at night. They were glad and expected to be received according to the laws of hospitality. However, they were rejected and were offered neither food nor sleeping quarters. The mistress said that they were having the Elfen blót and strangers were not welcome, especially not Christians.
The Völse blót
The Völse was the penis of a stallion, and the rites surrounding it are described in Flateyjarbók. It was taken from a stallion during the autumn butchering, and it is said that the mistress of the homestead considered it to be her god, and kept it in a coffin together with linnen and onions. In the evening everybody gathered in the main building. Even the thralls and the farmers daughter and son took part in the sacred rite. The mistress presented the penis from the coffin greeted it with a prayer and let it pass from person to person. Everybody greeted it with the religious phrase may Mornir receive the holy sacrifice. The strange word Mornir may mean female Jotuns and the rite may have represented a marriage between Völse and a female Jotun, i.e. Frey and Gerd. It is obvious, however, that the rite concerned fertility and that even the giantesses were worshiped with special rituals.
The last traditional blóts
Main article: Trollkyrka
In the forest of Tiveden, Sweden, local tradition presents a poem describing what appears to have been the last traditional blóts at a mountain called Trollkyrka, in the 19th century. It also shows that the farmers in the area still knew how to perform such a rite.
Lines 12-18:
| Elden den "köllas" av nio slags ved,
| The fire is lit by nine kinds of wood,
|
| det är gammal sed.
| that is the old custom.
|
| Offer till andarna skänkes,
| A sacrifice is offered to the spirits,
|
| med blodet sig alla bestänkes.
| everyone is sprinkled with the blood.
|
| Det bästa till andar föräras,
| The best part is gifted to spirits,
|
| det som blir över skall av männen förtäras.
| what remains is to be consumed by the men.
|
Note that blood is sprinkled on the participants and that the best parts are given to the spirits whereas the participants eat the remainder themselves. The information that nine kinds of wood was used to lit the fire is only found in this poem, but it fits very well the significance of the number nine in Norse mythology, and may simply have been overlooked by Medieval sources.
Internal links
External links
Sources
- Steinsland, G. & Meulengracht Sřrensen, P. (1998): Människor och makter i vikingarnas värld. ISBN 9173245917
