Blót
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The Blót was the pagan Norse sacrifice to Norse gods and Elves. The word derives from Proto-Germanic *blodam "blood". English to bless is a verbal derivation, from *bloþisojan "mark with blood".
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[edit] Rites and beliefs
The verb blóta meant "to worship with sacrifice".[1] The sacrifice usually consisted of animals, 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 old prayer was til árs ok friðar, "for a good year and frith (peace)" They asked for fertility, good health, a good life and peace and harmony between the people and the powers.
[edit] 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. Freyr was the most important god at the Midwinter and autumn blóts, and Christmas ham (the pig was for Freyr) 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.
For the early Anglo-Saxons, this was usually undertaken in November, known as blótmónað, as this later Old English passage points out:
- Se mónaþ is nemned on Léden Novembris, and on úre geþeóde blótmónaþ, forðon úre yldran, ðá hý hǽðene wǽron, on ðam mónþe hý bleóton á, ðæt is, ðæt hý betǽhton and benémdon hyra deófolgyldum ða neát ða ðe hý woldon syllan.
Which Joseph Bosworth translates: "This month is called Novembris in Latin, and in our language the month of sacrifice, because our forefathers, when they were heathens, always sacrificed in this month, that is, that they took and devoted to their idols the cattle which they wished to offer." [1]
[edit] 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. In the process of Christianizing the landscape churches were usually built on such hovs, and excavations at the medieval churches of Mære in Trøndelag and at Old Uppsala testify to this.
There were also other sacred places called Hörgr, 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.
[edit] 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 erect phallus. All the pagan gods have their priests who offer them the people's sacrifices. If there is disease or famine, they sacrifice to Thor, if war to Odin and if weddings to Frey.
- Every ninth year there is a blót of nine days, a common feast for everyone in Sweden. Then they sacrifice nine males of each species, even men, and the bodies are hung from the branches of a grove near the temple. No one is exempt from this blót and everyone sends gifts to the shrine, even the kings. Those who are Christian have to pay a fee not to take part in the blót.
Adam of Bremen considered this financial penalty to be very harsh.
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 Dísablót, 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 Thing 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 first Tuesday in 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.
[edit] Gotland
The Gutasaga relates of the blóts on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea:
- Firi þan tima oc lengi eptir siþan. Troþu menn a hult. oc a hauga. wi. oc. stafgarþa. oc a haiþin guþ. blotaþu þair synnum oc dydrum sinum Oc fileþi. miþ matj oc mundgati. þet gierþu þair eptir wantro sinnj. land alt. hafþi sir hoystu blotan miþ fulki. ellar hafþi huer þriþiungr. sir. En smeri þing hafþu mindri blotan meþ fileþi. matj. Oc mungati. sum haita suþnautar. þi et þair suþu allir saman.
Before this time, and a long time thereafter, they believed in groves and barrows, sanctuaries, and sacred enclosures and in the pagan gods. They sacrificed (for?) their sons, daughters and cattle, and practiced blóts with food and drink. This they did due to their superstition. The whole country (the althing) had the largest blót with sacrifice of people, otherwise every trithing had its blót and smaller things had smaller blóts with cattle, food and drinks. They were called food-, or cooking-brethren, because they prepared the meals together.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Mære, Norway
Snorri Sturluson relates of a meeting between the peasants of Trøndelag 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.
- It was an old custom, that when there was to be sacrifice all the bondes [freeholders] should come to the spot where the temple stood and bring with them all that they required while the festival of the sacrifice lasted. To this festival all the men brought ale with them; and all kinds of cattle, as well as horses, were slaughtered, and all the blood that came from them was called "hlaut", and the vessels in which it was collected were called hlaut-vessels. Hlaut-staves were made, like sprinkling brushes, with which the whole of the altars and the temple walls, both outside and inside, were sprinkled over, and also the people were sprinkled with the blood; but the flesh was boiled into savoury meat for those present. The fire was in the middle of the floor of the temple, and over it hung the kettles, and the full goblets were handed across the fire; and he who made the feast, and was a chief, blessed the full goblets, and all the meat of the sacrifice. And first Odin's goblet was emptied for victory and power to his king; thereafter, Niord's and Freyja's goblets for peace and a good season. Then it was the custom of many to empty the brage-goblet (1); and then the guests emptied a goblet to the memory of departed friends, called the remembrance goblet.[2]
During this ceremony, the king also had to participate, although he was a Christian, and 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.
[edit] 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.
In Austrfaravísur, Sigvatr Þorðarson, 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 Sweden 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.
In addition to this, Kormáks saga accounts for how a sacrifice to elves was apparently believed able to heal a severe battle wound:
- Þorvarð healed but slowly; and when he could get on his feet he went to see Þorðís, and asked her what was best to help his healing.
- "A hill there is," answered she, "not far away from here, where elves have their haunt. Now get you the bull that Kormák killed, and redden the outer side of the hill with its blood, and make a feast for the elves with its flesh. Then thou wilt be healed."
Skålgropar, a particular kind of petroglyph found in Scandinavia, were known in older times as älvkvarnar (elven mills), pointing to their believed usage. One could appease the elves by offering them a treat (preferably butter) placed into an elven mill -- perhaps a custom with roots in the Old Norse álfablót.
[edit] The Völse blót
The Völse was the penis of a stallion, and the rites surrounding it are described in Völsa þáttr. 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 linen 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 Mörnir receive the holy sacrifice!. The strange word Mornir probably means female Jotuns, because in Haustlöng faðir mörna is used as a kenning for Jotun. 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.
[edit] Later times
Every Christmas, in Scandinavia people traditionally have the Christmas porridge and the whole family is gathered around the table. Still, in many homes, an extra bowl of porridge is served and carried outdoors, because this is a meal shared with the guardian of the homestead, the tomte/nisse, a landwight. In the old days, it was believed that he would leave the homestead if he was not served, an event which would lead to ruin, and so this blót has survived until today in the privacy of the homes.
In the forest of Tiveden, Sweden, local tradition presents a poem describing what appears to have been the last larger blóts at a mountain called Trollkyrka, perhaps as late as 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, compare with Mære, Norway. 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.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Blot - The Principle Religious Observance of Ásatrú- DEAD LINK
- Worship: Blot and Housel
- Definition of Blót - Zöega dict.
- Blót explained according to Heithni
[edit] References
- ^ blœt; blét, blétum; blótinn, with acc. of that which is worshipped, with dat. of the object sacrificed; Zoëga, A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic
- Steinsland, G. & Meulengracht Sørensen, P. (1998): Människor och makter i vikingarnas värld. ISBN 9173245917
- Näsström, Britt-Mari (Oslo 2001): Blot. Tro og offer i det førkristne Norden. ISBN 82-530-2146-1
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