Northern Antiquities/Chapter 7

by Paul Henri Mallet

CHAPTER VII.

Of the exterior worship and religious ceremonies of the northern nations.

IN laying open the principal doctrines of the ancient Danes, I have already had frequent occasion to remark their conformity with those of the other ‘Gothic and’ Celtic nations of Europe. The same conformity is observable in the worship which they paid the Deity; and one may presume that it would appear still greater if it were easy to pursue with exactness, the history of that religion through its several stages of purity and alteration. Thus, for instance, it is easy to comprehend why the ancient Danes made use of temples; although, on the other hand, it is very certain, that the use of them was proscribed by the primitive religion, which taught that it was offensive to the gods to pretend to inclose them within the circuit of walls; and that men thereby checked and restrained their action, which is to penetrate all creatures freely in order to support them in being. There was doubtless a time, when the Danes, admitting the same doctrine, worshipped their divinities only in open air, and either knew not or approved not of the use of temples. Although we want the greatest part of the monuments which might instruct us concerning that stage of their religion, the traces of it are not yet entirely deftroyed. We find at this day here and there in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, in the middle of a plain, or upon some little hill, altars, around which they assembled to offer sacrifices and to assist at other religious ceremonies. The greatest part of these altars are raised upon a little hill, either natural or artificial. Three long pieces of rock set upright serve for basis to a great flat stone, which forms the table of the altar. There is commonly a pretty large cavity under this altar, which might be intended to receive the blood of the victims; and they never fail to find stones for striking fire scattered round it; for no other fire, but such as was struck forth with a flint, was pure enough for so holy a purpose. Sometimes these rural altars are constructed in a more magnificent manner; a double range of enormous stones surround the altar and the little hill on which it is erected. In Zealand we see one of this kind^[1]; which is formed of stones of a prodigious magnitude. Men would even now be afraid to undertake such a work, notwithstanding all the assistance of the mechanic powers which in those times they wanted. What redoubles the astonishment is, that stones of that size are rarely to be seen throughout the island, and that they must have been brought from a great distance. What labour, time and sweat then must have been bestowed upon these vast rude monuments, which are unhappily more durable than those of the fine arts? But men in all ages have been persuaded, that they could not pay greater honour to the Deity, than by making for him (if I may so express it) a kind of strong bulwarks; in executing prodigies of labour; in consecrating to him immense riches. The sacrifice of whatever is vicious in our passions, which he only requires of us for our own happiness, is always the last thing that is thought of to offer to him, because it is perhaps what is after all the most difficult. At Ephesus they displayed their devotion, by laying out upon one single temple all the treasures of Greece and Asia. The Goths, whose bodily strength was all their riches, shewed their zeal by rolling enormous rocks to the summits of hills.

In some places of Norway, are found grottos, which have also been employed for religious uses. Some of them have been cut with incredible pains in the hardest rocks; others are formed of prodigious stones brought near and combined together with a force no less surprizing^[2].

By degrees, as the Scandinavians formed new intercourses and connections with the other nations of Europe, whether by the expeditions they undertook, or by the foreign colonies which came to establish themselves among them, their religion, changing by degrees, tolerated insensibly temples and idols, and at length adopted them without reserve. The three principal nations of Scandinavia^[3] vied with each other in erecting temples, but none were more famous than that of Upsal in Sweden. It glittered on all sides with gold. A chain of the same metal (or at least gilded) ran round the roof, although the circumference was not less than nine hundred ells. Hacon earl of Norway had built one near Drontheim, which was not inferior to that of Upsal. When Olaus king of Norway introduced the Christian faith into that country, he caused this temple to be razed to the ground, and broke to pieces the idols it contained: They found there great riches, and particularly a ring of gold of great value. Iceland had also its temples, and the chronicles of that country speak with admiration of two especially, one situate in the north of the island, the other in the south. In each of these temples, “there was,” says an author of that country^[4], “a private chapel, which was regarded as a holy place: There they placed the idols upon a kind of altar, around which they ranged the victims that were to be offered up. Another altar stood opposite to it, plated with iron, in order that the fire which was to burn there perpetually, should not damage it: Upon this altar was placed a vase of brass, in which they received the blood of the victims: Beside it stood a brush which they made use of to sprinkle the blood upon the bystanders. There hung up likewise a great silver ring which they stained with blood, and which whoever took an oath on any occasion was required to hold in his hand. In one of these temples, there was also near the chapel a deep pit or well, into which they cast the victims.”

When Denmark had embraced the Christian faith, they applied themselves with as much zeal to destroy these temples, as they had a little before to serve their false gods in them. In a short time they were all razed to the ground, and the very remembrance of the places where they stood was totally lost. But the altars that are very often found scattered upon the mountains and in the woods, testify at this day, that the ancient Danes were not less attached to this mode of worship than the other northern nations.

All the gods whose names I have enumerated, and many others of inferior note, were worshipped and invoked by the ancient Scandinavians, but not all in the same manner, nor on the same account. The great temple of Upsal seemed to be particularly consecrated to the three superior deities, and each of them was characterized by some particular symbol. Odin was represented holding a sword in his hand: Thor stood at the left hand of Odin, with a crown upon his head, a sceptre in one hand, and a club in the other. Sometimes they painted him on a chariot, drawn by two he-goats of wood, with a silver bridle, and his head, surrounded with stars. Frigga stood at the left hand of Thor; she was represented of both sexes (as an hermaphrodite) and with divers other attributes, which characterized the goddess of pleasure. Odin was invoked as the god of battles and victory. Thor, as the governor of the seasons, who dispensed rains, dry weather and fertility. Frigga as the goddess of pleasures, of love and marriage. I do not here enter into a minute account of the worship rendered to the other gods: That which was paid to the three superior deities consisted principally in sacrifices, and deserves to be described more at large.

There were three great religious festivals in the year. The first was celebrated at the winter solstice. They called the night on which it was observed, the Mother-night, as that which produced all the rest: and this epoch was rendered the more remarkable as they dated from thence the beginning of the year, which among the northern nations was computed from one winter solstice to another, as the month was from one new moon to the next. This feast which was very considerable, was named Iuul^[5], and was celebrated in honour of Thor, or the sun, in order to obtain a propitious year, and fruitful seasons. Sacrifices, feasting, dances, nocturnal assemblies, and all the demonstrations of a most dissolute joy, were then authorized by the general usage: These answered to the Saturnalia of the Romans, and were in a great measure renewed afterwards among the people, on occasion of the feast of Christmas. The second festival was instituted in honour of the earth or of the goddess Goya or Frigga, to request of her pleasures, fruitfulness, and victory: And it was fixed at the first quarter of the second moon of the year. The third, which seems to have been the most considerable in ancient times, was instituted in honour of Odin; it was celebrated at the beginning of the spring, in order to welcome in that pleasant season, and especially to obtain of the god of battles happy success in their projected expeditions. There were also some feasts in honour of the other gods, and they were often multiplied on occasion of particular events.

In the earliest ages the offerings were simple, and such as shepherds and rustics could present. They loaded the altars of the gods with the first fruits of their crops, and the choicest products of the earth: Afterwards they sacrificed animals. They offered to Thor, during the feast of Iuul, fat oxen and horses; to Frigga the largest hog they could get^[6]; to Odin horses, dogs, and falcons, sometimes cocks, and a fat bull. When they had once laid it down as a principle that the effusion of the blood of these animals appeased the anger of the gods, and that their justice turned aside upon the victims those strokes which were destined for men; their great care then was for nothing more than to conciliate their favour by so easy a method. It is the nature of violent desires and excessive fear to know no bounds, and therefore when they would ask for any favour which they ardently wished for, or would deprecate some public calamity which they feared, the blood of animals was not deemed a price sufficient, but they began to shed that of men. It is probable that this barbarous practice was formerly almost universal, and that it is of a very remote antiquity: It was not entirely abolished among the northern nations till towards the ninth century, because before that time they had not received the light of the gospel, and were ignorant of those arts which had softened the ferocity of the Romans and Greeks whilst they were still pagans.

The appointed time for these sacrifices was always determined by another superstitious opinion which made the northern nations regard the number Three as sacred and particularly dear to the gods. Thus in every ninth month they renewed this bloody ceremony, which was to last nine days, and every day they offered up nine living victims whether men or animals. But the most solemn sacrifices were those which were offered at Upsal in Sweden every ninth year. Then the king, the senate, and all the citizens of any distinction, were obliged to appear in person, and to bring offerings, which were placed in the great temple described above. Those who could not come themselves, sent their presents by others, or paid the value in money to priests whose business it was to receive the offerings. Strangers flocked there in crowds from all parts; and none were excluded except those whose honour had suffered some stain, and especially such as had been accused of cowardice. Then they chose among the captives in time of war, and among the slaves in time of peace, nine persons to be sacrificed: The choice was partly regulated by the opinion of the bystanders, and partly by lot. The wretches upon whom the lot fell, were treated with such honours by all the assembly, they were so overwhelmed with caresses for the present, and with promises for the life to come, that they sometimes congratulated themselves on their destiny. But they did not always sacrifice such mean persons: In great calamities, in a pressing famine for example, if the people thought they had some pretext to impute the cause of it to their king, they even sacrificed him without hesitation, as the highest price with which they could purchase the divine favour. In this manner the first king^[7] of Vermland was burnt in honour of Odin to put an end to a great dearth; as we read in the history of Norway. The kings, in their turn, did not spare the blood of their subjects; and many of them even shed that of their children. Hacon, king of Norway, offered his son in sacrifice, to obtain of Odin the victory over his enemy Harald^[8]. Aune, king of Sweden, devoted to Odin the blood of his nine sons, to prevail on that god to prolong his life^[9]. The ancient history of the North abounds in similar examples. These abominable sacrifices were accompanied with various ceremonies. When the victim was chosen, they conducted him towards the altar where the sacred fire was kept burning night and day: It was surrounded with all sorts of iron and brazen vessels: Among them one was distinguished from the rest by its superior size; in this they received the blood of the victims. When they offered up animals, they speedily killed them at the foot of the altar; then they opened their entrails to draw auguries from them, as among the Romans; afterwards they dressed the flesh to be served up in a feast prepared for the assembly. Even horse-flesh was not rejected, and the grandees often eat of it as well as the people. But when they were disposed to sacrifice men, those whom they pitched upon were laid upon a great stone, where they were instantly either strangled or knocked on the head. Sometimes they let out the blood; for no presage was more respected than that which they drew from the greater or less degree of impetuosity with which the blood gushed forth. Hence the priests inferred what success would attend the enterprize which was the object of their sacrifice. They also opened the body to read in the entrails, and especially in the heart, the will of the Page:Northern Antiquities 1.djvu/211 Page:Northern Antiquities 1.djvu/212 Page:Northern Antiquities 1.djvu/213 Page:Northern Antiquities 1.djvu/214 Page:Northern Antiquities 1.djvu/215 Page:Northern Antiquities 1.djvu/216 the hand of the pontiff, whom they took for the instrument of an angry deity^[10]. In short, the credulity of the people, and the craft and presumption of the priest went so far, that these pretended interpreters of the Divine Will dared even to demand, in the name of heaven, the blood of kings them- felves; and they obtained it. To succeed in this, it was only requisite for them to avail themſelves of those times of calamity, when the people, distracted with sorrow and fear, lay their minds open to the most horrid impressions. At those times, while the prince was slaughtered at one of the altars of the gods; the others were covered with offerings, which were heaped up on all fides for their ministers.

I have already observed, that the ancient religion of the northern nations^[11] made the deity to interpose in the moft indifferent events, as well as the moft confiderable; and they only confidered the elements, as fo many organs by which he manifefted his will and his refolves. This opinion once admitted, intereft or fuperftition quickly drew from thence a confequence natural enough: namely, that by studying Page:Northern Antiquities 1.djvu/218 Page:Northern Antiquities 1.djvu/219 Page:Northern Antiquities 1.djvu/220 Page:Northern Antiquities 1.djvu/221 Page:Northern Antiquities 1.djvu/222 Page:Northern Antiquities 1.djvu/223 Page:Northern Antiquities 1.djvu/224 Page:Northern Antiquities 1.djvu/225 Page:Northern Antiquities 1.djvu/226 Page:Northern Antiquities 1.djvu/227 Page:Northern Antiquities 1.djvu/228 Page:Northern Antiquities 1.djvu/229 Page:Northern Antiquities 1.djvu/230

1. Vide Olai Wormii Monum. Danic.
2. Worm. Monum. Danic. lib. i. p. 6.
3. Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.
4. Vid. Arngrim. Jon. Crymogæa.
5. Hence is derived the word Yeol or Yule, [Ang. Sax. Geol,] the old name for Christmas. Vide Junii Etymolog. Anglican. T.
6. Matrem Deûm venerantur Æstii: insigne superstitionis, formas aprorum gestant. Tacit. Germ. c. 45.
7. This was a petty king of a province of Sweden. See Wormius, in Monum. Dan. p. 25, 26.
8. Saxo Grammat. lib. x.
9. Worm. Monum. Danic. lib. i. p. 28.
10. Neque animadvertere, neque vincire, neque verberare nisi sacerdotibus permissum, non ducis jussu, sed velut Deo imperante. Tacit. Germ.
11. Celtic nations. Orig.