Viking funeral

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Ship burial of Igor the Old, by Heinrich Semiradzki (1845-1902).

The Vikings often immolated their dead leaders in ship burials, known from archaeology and notably from the account of Ibn Fadlan.

Ibn Fadlan's account is contentious, as it refers to Rus rather than Norse vikings. The ceremony he describes may have been of Slavic rather than Nordic origin.

A Viking funeral can mean burning a boat with a corpse, as a spectacular tribute.

Also it is a humorous term to refer to the destruction of any mechanical object, especially a vehicle, by fire.

[edit] Viking funerals in Pop Culture

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details about Rocket Gibraltar follow.

In the 1988 film Rocket Gibraltar, Levi Rockwell, played by Burt Lancaster, tells his grandchildren that he wants a Viking funeral. He dies on the day of his birthday celebration, and at the end of the film, the children give him his final wish as his birthday present. At sunset, they put his body in a boat, filled it with kindling, and sent it out into the ocean. They lit a huge bonfire, lit the tips of arrows in the fire, and shot them at the boat. According to Levi, a Viking could achieve immortality if his corpse is incinerated upon a great seafaring warship. If the color of the fire matches the color of the sunset, that means they led a good life, and they had gone to Valhalla.

Spoilers end here.

In the Alan Moore graphic novel V for Vendetta as well as the 2006 film adaptation a kind of Viking funeral is combined with an attack: V's corpse is put in a subway train with explosives, which is released unmanned through an abandoned tunnel to strike a target (10 Downing Street in the novel and the Palace of Westminster in the film).

In one episode of the Simpsons, Bart realizes that he is becoming an adult after he tries to imagine a G.I. Joe-like action figure climbing up a frozen waterfall, but ends up imagining an insurance agent persuading the action figure to get supplemental insurance. Bart then gathers all of his childhood toys (most of them rip-offs of real toys), puts them in a box, shoves them into a lake and sets the box on fire with a magnifying glass.

In the film The Ring of the Nibelung, after Siegfried (Sigmund) dies, his body is sent down the river and he is set on fire, and it is only then do they realize that the Valkyrie Brünnhilde is with Siegfried's corpse, and she dies along with him.

In the game Legend of Legaia for the PlayStation, the day after the Seru attack the protagonist's village, the corpses of the ones who died the previous night are sent on a Viking's Funeral into the sea.

In the beginning part of the movie The 13th Warrior (1999), there is a scene in which a clear example of the Viking Funeral is shown.

In the 1991 film Ricochet, John Lithgow's character Earl Talbot Blake escapes prison and subsequently kills a fellow inmate he escaped with after having switched their prison dental records. In an effort to fake his own death, he puts the body in an explosive packed vehicle and sends it, blazing, off a cliff. Upon completing the task, he remarks, "I've always wanted a Viking funeral."

In the 2004 movie Eulogy, starring Zooey Deschanel, Rip Torn and Hank Azaria, Rip Torn's character is given a Viking funeral by his son (Ray Romano) and grandsons after his death.

In the episode of Lost, The Cost of Living, the Other known as Colleen is given a Viking-like funeral by the other Others as Jack, Ben and Juliet watch from the background.