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| GERMANIC
RITUAL AND WORSHIP | |
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TACITUS |
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| Tacitus
reported that the Germanic peoples do not portray their gods in human likeness
or confine them within enclosed walls. He probably overstated the situation in
his time, and certainly the statement is incorrect for the Viking Age; nevertheless,
the evaluation of Tacitus reflects general patterns in Germanic worship. | |
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TOPOGRAPHIC
SITES | | |
| Many
sacred sites involved large or small features of the local topography -- hills,
cliffs, waterfalls, large stones, etc. These mostly involve land-spirits -- localized,
chthonic
spirits that seem to have played a major role in Germanic belief, but which rarely
appear in the mythic texts. | |
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PILLARS,
TREES, AND GROVES | | |
From
the earliest reports of Latin historians to the elaborate cosmology of the Eddic
poems, with its world-tree Yggdrassill,
a sacred pillar, tree, or grove has been recurrent in Germanic tradition. During
his campaign against the Saxons in 772 CE, Charlemagne destroyed the Irmensul,
a sacred wooden pillar. Evidence suggests that early Anglo-Saxons in England may
have erected similar pillars.
Tacitus describes a grove sacred to the Semnones
in which fettered prisoners were sacrificed. Scholarly opinion differs as to whether
the god of the grove was Óðinn
or Týr.
He also mentions a grove in Denmark sacred to Nerthus.
Also, there is the famous description by Adam of Bremen of the tree outside Óðinn's
temple in Uppsala, Sweden, which displays the bodies of human and animal sacrifices. | |
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TEMPLES |
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| As
Tacitus observd, the
Germanic peoples were never great temple builders. They showed a desire to mark
off a "sacred space," but this may have been done with posts or trenches
more often than with walls. Walled areas were small shrines, perhaps often too
small for human entry. Even the "great temples" of Uppsala, Sweden,
described by Adam of Bremen apparently were rather small, ordinary buildings.
Archeological efforts to locate the remains of the temples have met with little
success, suggesting that they are sufficiently nondescript in size that they do
not stand out. | |
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FEASTS |
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| While
a feast involving animals sacrificed to a god or gods might be held on any special
occasion -- the end of a dangerous journey, the death of a leader -- Germanic
society observed three annual community feasts. Large-scale time was reckoned
in half-years, summer and winter, and winter was considered to come first. (On
a smaller scale, the "day" was divided into days and nights, with nights
considered to come first. Hence our modern emphasis on Christmas Eve.) There were
three fixed feasts: one at the beginning of winter (celebrated between October
11 and 18 in Iceland) originally involved human sacrifice to ensure plenty; one
at mid-winter (Jule) for the growth of future crops; and one at the beginning
of summer (April 9 to 15 in Iceland) to ensure success in the upcoming "viking
season" (more originally probably to celebrate having survived another winter). | |
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BOAR, BULL,
AND HORSE | | |
| The
boar could be associated with the warrior, and decorated many accoutrements of
war. Pork was an important part of the early Germanic diet, and the animal also
was associated with the fertility gods Freyr
and Freyja,
and through them with ancestor cults. Boar sacrifice was associated with the mid-winter
fertility festival (Jule). The boar sacrifice was also especially associated with
divination. Bulls were
sacrificed to both Þórr
and the Vánir,
but the major symbol of masculine virility, in Scandinavia at least, was the horse.
Horse burial with the human dead (or in a separate grave) is common. The flesh
and blood of the horse were also sometimes consumed as part of a ritual feast.
Horse sacrifice increased in popularity during the Viking Age, probably through
contact with Eastern Europe, but is rooted in Indo-European
traditions of horse sacrifice. | |
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HUMAN SACRIFICE |
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| Classicall
accounts testify that Germanic tribes would vow to sacrifice everything taken
in victory if their god (Óðinn,
Týr,
or perhaps both) granted victory. Weapons would be bent or broken, accoutrements
burnt or destroyed, and men hanged before all were thrown into a lake. Archeology
confirms the custom, although it is not always certain whether a site is Germanic
or Celtic. Humans were sacrificed on other occasions, and Adam of Bremen speaks
of a special ritual every ninth year, celebrated during the Summer festival, in
which nine humans were hanged along with animal sacrifices in Óðin's
sacred grove at Uppsala, Sweden. Other sources speak of the sacrifice of slaves,
prisoners, and criminals at special times or in fulfillment of a vow. Often, lots
were drawn, so that the victim was "chosen by the god." At least sometimes,
those not chosen were freed. | |
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