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THE ANCIENT SCANDINAVIAN RELIGION

THE GREAT GODS: THOR AND ODIN

The three gods and the goddess whose names are thus commemorated in the days of the week hold also a prominent place among the Scandinavian deities, where they appear under the names of Ty , Odin , Thor , and Frigg. But while Odin and Thor actually hold the place which they might be expected to occupy as objects of worship, the warlike deity Ty has apparently become of secondary importance. This is indicated not only by the native Scandinavian evidence, but also by what can be gleaned from external sources. In an Old English sermon by the Abbot AElfric, about the year 1000, the mention of some of the Roman deities leads the preacher to introduce the corresponding Danish names. Jove or Jupiter, he says, 'was called Thor among some peoples, and him the Danes love most of all.' Mercury, too, 'was honoured among all the heathens, and he is otherwise called Othon in Danish.' Of Ty there is no mention, although Mars is one of the Roman deities specified by name. In another homily by AElfric there is the same identification of Thor and Odin, along with 'the foul goddess Venus, whom men call Frigg,' but here also Ty is ignored.

More than merely negative evidence, however, is supplied by another outside source, which is the leading contemporary account of Scandinavian religion, viz. that given by the German historian, Adam of Bremen , in his description of the great temple of the Swedes at Upsala, and of the gods worshipped there. Here he writes, 'the people venerate the statues of three gods, so placed that the most powerful of them, Thor, has his seat in the middle of the bench. On either side of him Wodan and Fricco have their places. Of these the significations are as follows. Thor, they say, presides in the air, and governs thunder and lightning, winds and rains, fair weather and crops. The next, Wodan, that is "Fury," carries on wars and gives men valour against their enemies. The third is Fricco, bestowing peace and pleasure upon mortals.' The image of Wodan, he adds, resembled that of the Roman Mars; that of Thor suggested Jupiter, while Fricco was represented in a form resembling the minor deity Priapus.

The god here called Fricco was known to the Scandinavians themselves by the name of Frey , and that the triad thus specified by Adam were in fact the chief deities worshipped in the later stages of Scandinavian religion is abundantly proved by the native evidence. The identification of Odin with Mars in place of Mercury is also in full accordance with the later beliefs: in other words, Odin has taken the place of Ty as the chief war-god. Whether this was the main reason for the admission of Frey as third member of the supreme triad is uncertain, the earlier position of this god being altogether unknown. Thor, it will be noticed, still retains his place as the counterpart of the Roman Jupiter, and stands between the other two gods, as being the most powerful. The precise relationship, however, between Thor and Odin is not by any means so simple as this statement would suggest, and forms indeed one of the most difficult questions connected with the subject. This will be most clearly brought out by a detailed account of the relative place assigned to each of them in religious practice on the one hand, and in mythological accounts on the other; and the most correct impression of the facts will probably be obtained by dealing first with Thor.

For Norway and Iceland there is a considerable amount of more direct evidence than this. In several of the Icelandic historical writings it is expressly stated that some of the leading colonists had a special regard for Thor and his worship. Of one who came from the island of Mostr, on the south-western coast of Norway, it is told that he had the custody of Thor's temple there, and was a 'great friend' of the god, on which account he was called Thorolf . This Thorolf fell out with King Harald, and went to inquire of Thor, 'his loving friend,' whether he should make terms with the king or leave the country. The oracle directed him to go to Iceland. He pulled down the temple, and took with him most of the timber, as well as the earth from under the pedestal on which Thor had been seated. On coming near Iceland, he threw overboard the two chief pillars of the temple, on one of which the image of Thor was carved, and declared he would settle wherever Thor made these come ashore. After landing on the south side of Broadfirth, they found that Thor had come ashore with the pillars on a headland, to which they then gave the name of Thor's-ness, while a river in the neighbourhood was also named after the god. When this Thorolf had a son in his old age, he gave him to his friend Thor, and called him Thorstein. Thorstein also gave his own son to Thor, 'and said he should be a temple-priest, and called him Thorgrim.' Another son of Thorolf's sacrificed to Thor, that he might send him pillars for his house, 'and gave his son for this,' which probably means that he also dedicated his son to the god, though one account appears to imply that he actually offered him in sacrifice.

Of another settler, Helgi the Lean, who was brought up in Ireland, it is stated that when he came in sight of Iceland, he inquired of Thor where he should land; the oracle directed him to Eyafirth, and would allow him to go nowhere else. Before they came in sight of the firth, Helgi's son asked him whether he would have obeyed Thor's directions if he had sent him to winter in the Arctic Ocean. Yet Helgi was not absolutely devoted to Thor, as he also believed in Christ, and even called his Icelandic homestead by the name of Christness. It was to Thor, however, that he turned for aid in sea-faring and difficult enterprises, and in all matters that he considered to be of most importance.

Thorolf and Helgi were not the only settlers who allowed Thor to fix the place of their habitation in Iceland, and one in the south of the island also consecrated all his land to Thor and called it Thor's-mark. The tendency to appeal to Thor for help in time of need is further illustrated by an incident recorded as having taken place during the Wineland expedition of 1007-8. The explorers were in great straits for want of food, and had prayed for help, which seemed long in coming. One of the party, named Thorhall, was found by the others on the peak of a cliff, looking up to the sky, and muttering something, besides making strange gestures of which he would give no explanation. Shortly afterwards a whale came ashore, and Thorhall said, 'The red-bearded one was stronger now than your Christ. I have got this for my poetry that I made about Thor. He has seldom failed me.'

The firm hold which Thor had upon the minds of his worshippers is also illustrated by the way in which some of the converts to Christianity felt uneasy at abandoning him. Thorgils of Fl?i, in the south-west of Iceland, was one of the first to accept the new faith, and more than once he dreamed that Thor came to him with reproaches and threats for this desertion. Thorgils was firm, and defied the angry god, but his later perils at sea were believed by his companions to be the work of Thor, and some of them even wished to sacrifice to him for a fair wind, saying that people had fared much better when they made offerings to him.

The prominent place held by the worship of Thor in the old religion is also indicated by the frequent mention of images of the god in various temples ; this fact acquires special significance when contrasted with the lack of similar statements regarding Odin. It is also extremely probable that it was Thor, and not Odin, to whom the vague names of 'Land-god' and 'The Almighty God' were given; the latter was used, coupled with the names of Frey and Nj?rd, in an old oath-formula.

The form in which the hammer was commonly represented easily led to its association with the Christian mark of the cross. At a festival held in Norway in 952, Earl Sigurd dedicated the first toast to Odin, and after drinking from the horn handed it to King H?kon, who was a Christian. When the king took it, he made the mark of the cross over it. The heathens present protested against this, and Earl Sigurd attempted to satisfy them by saying, 'The king does like all those who trust to their own might and strength, and consecrate their toast to Thor. He made the mark of the hammer over it before he drank.'

The relationship of Thor to Odin, and the precise position of the latter among the Scandinavian gods, must now be more closely considered. In the sermon by AElfric already cited there is an interesting remark bearing on this, in these words: 'Now the Danes in their delusion say that Jove, whom they call Thor, was the son of Mercury, whom they call Odin, but they are not right in this' . AElfric's statement is in perfect accordance with the old Scandinavian myths, which represent Thor as the son of Odin and Earth, a relationship also attested by various poetical designations of the god. This is not at all what the historical evidence would lead us to expect, but the mythological account of Odin presents a still more striking contrast to what has been brought forward above as to the position of Thor. 'Odin,' says Snorri, 'is the highest and eldest of the gods; he rules over all things, and for as mighty as the other gods are, they all serve him as children do their father.... Odin is called All-father, because he is the father of all the gods.'

It is indeed quite clear that the whole mythological system expounded by Snorri, and implied in all the old Scandinavian poetry, centres on the idea of Odin as the supreme god. As such he has two important sides to his nature. On the one hand he is a war-god, who assigns victory or defeat to men, and who takes the slain warriors to live with himself in Valhall; 'he is also called Val-father, because all those who fall in battle are his chosen sons: to them he gives places in Valhall and Vingolf,' says Snorri. On the other hand he is a god of wisdom and cunning, knowing all things, and a god of poetry whom the skalds regard as the author of their art. So far as the historical evidence is strong enough to prove anything regarding Odin, it indicates that a belief in both of those aspects was really a part of the old religion. We have already seen that Adam of Bremen describes Odin as the war-god among the Swedes, and Snorri also says that the Swedes thought he often appeared to them before great battles; 'to some he gave victory, and some he invited to himself, and either lot was thought good.' This association of Odin with war, and the assignation to him of all those who were slain in battle, are very prominent in the mythical sagas, which may be accepted as representing a genuine tradition in this respect, however much the details may be due to later invention. In these sagas one also finds the connection of Odin with death by hanging, which appears in some of his poetic names, and must be regarded as a real belief.

The purely historical evidence is, however, very limited. Perhaps the only mention of an actual offering to Odin is that found in the account of Earl H?kon's doings after he had, under compulsion, accepted Christianity in Denmark in 975. On leaving that country, he sailed round to the east coast of Sweden, landed there, and made a great sacrifice. 'Then two ravens came flying and croaked loudly, and the earl thought it certain that Odin had accepted the sacrifice, and that he would have success in fighting.' It is very probable, however, that sacrifices to this god were more common among the Danes and Swedes than among the Norwegians, and that this may account for the lack of reference to them in the Icelandic writings.

That the belief in Valhall was a real one is clearly shown by one or two passages in the sagas. King H?kon the Good had been a Christian, though latterly he had not made his religion prominent, in order to avoid offending his heathen subjects. When he was killed in battle in 961, he was laid in the grave-mound with all his weapons and best array. 'They made such speeches at his burying as it was the custom of heathen men to make, and sent him off on the way to Valhall.' A poem on H?kon's death and his reception by Odin in Valhall, which was composed at the time by one of his skalds, gives a very fine expression to the belief, which is also the leading theme in an earlier poem on the death of King Eir?k in 954. Even some who had not been killed in battle were apparently thought of as going to Odin in Valhall, if the passage in the saga of G?sli may be relied upon, in which Thorgr?m is represented as saying, 'It is the custom to tie hell-shoes on men when they shall go to Valhall, and I will do that with V?stein' . There is also a reference to the belief in Nj?l's saga, in the words of H?gni, 'I intend to take the halbert to my father' , 'and let him have it to Valhall and bear it there at the weapon-thing.' The same saga also represents Earl H?kon in Norway, when he found his temple burned down, as saying, 'The man who has done this will be driven away from Valhall, and never get entrance there.' It is doubtful, however, whether much weight can be given to these passages. The old practice of beginning a battle by throwing a spear over the enemy is in some of the mythical sagas explained as a dedication of them to Odin, and it is possible that this idea may be correct.

It is remarkable that in the Icelandic sources there is no clear evidence for a general worship of Odin in Norway or Iceland. In his account of the old festivals Snorri states that the first toast which went round was consecrated to Odin, and was drunk 'for victory and for power to their king.' And he also says that at the festival at Hladir in 952 Earl Sigurd 'consecrated the first toast to Odin.' The accuracy of Snorri's account has been questioned, but even if it is correct, it does not definitely establish Odin's position in popular belief. Among the Icelanders themselves there is nothing like the same evidence to show that Odin was generally held in esteem and veneration as there is in the case of Thor; and it is noticeable that in the few cases where a belief in, and reliance on, Odin are expressed, the speaker is usually a poet. Thus Egil Skallagr?msson, when he had suffered at the hands of King Eir?k , expresses in a verse his wish that 'the gods and Odin' may be angry with the king: in the second half of the verse Frey and Nj?rd are also mentioned by name. The poet Hallfred, who accepted Christianity in Norway in 996, makes several references in his verses to his former worship of Odin, but in words which clearly indicate that his capacity of skald had much to do with this. When he was afterwards accused of being still a heathen, it was the possession of 'an image of Thor' which formed one of the charges against him. It is, however, stated that previous to their becoming Christians Hallfred and his companions made a vow 'to give much money to Frey if they reached Sweden, or to Thor and Odin if they got to Iceland.' Kjartan Olafsson is also made to speak of Thor and Odin together, and Odin is specified in the abusive verse by Hjalti Skeggjason , which led to his prosecution for blasphemy against the gods. On the other hand there is no mention in any saga of any temple, image, or special priest of Odin in any part of Iceland.

That the attribution of the art of poetry to Odin, and his consequent position as the special god of poets, was no mere conventional figment of the skalds is best attested by Egil's poem on the loss of his sons. Towards the end of this the poet expresses his resentment against 'the lord of the spear,' in whom he had confidently trusted before he sent this loss upon him, and so destroyed the friendship between them. Now he has no pleasure in worshipping Odin, 'yet,' he adds, 'Mimir's friend has given me recompense for my woes: he gave me an art' 'free from fault and stain.'

As the above will show, there is a real difficulty in reconciling the historical statements as to the worship of Odin and Thor with the relative positions assigned to them in the old mythology. The explanation which seems to clear away this difficulty in the most satisfactory manner is the suggestion that Thor and Odin really belong to different stages in the development of Scandinavian religion. On this view Thor was originally the chief god, and to a certain extent continued to hold this position to the end. His supremacy, however, was in the later period of heathenism seriously threatened by the growing cult of Odin, which was at first foreign to the Scandinavian peoples, and was received by them from the South Germanic races. This would easily account for the seemingly greater popularity of Odin among the Danes and Swedes than among the Norwegians and Icelanders, to whom the new cult would be later in spreading. In this connection it may be noted that some of the poetic names for Odin, such as 'the friend of the Gauts,' 'Tyr of the Gauts' , appear to indicate that his worship was associated with the people of that name in southern Sweden. It was in Gautland that the poet Hallfred was nearly sacrificed to Odin in 997, and here also in 1018 the poet Sigvat was refused admission to a farm where a sacrifice was taking place, because they 'were afraid of Odin's anger.' It may even be significant that Earl H?kon's sacrifice already mentioned was performed on the coast of Gautland.

The ninth and tenth centuries were a period of new development and great changes within the Scandinavian countries. The Viking expeditions brought a large part of the population into direct contact with war and battle, while the former petty kings disappeared, or lost most of their importance, before strong rulers like Gorm in Denmark or Harald in Norway. In the courts of these new sovereigns there was a life and splendour previously unknown in the north, and under the royal favour the art of poetry flourished to a remarkable extent. It appears fairly certain that in these surroundings the cult of Odin found most favour, and that the conceptions of the god which meet us in the mythology were developed among men who found a pleasure both in fighting and in poetry, and who modelled their ideas of the warlike deity on the monarch to whose court they attached themselves. Odin was thus the god of the warrior, the poet, and the friend of kings, while Thor retained his former place in the hearts of those who still followed the old way of life in the secluded valleys of Norway or Iceland. Something of this distinctly appears in the figures of the two gods as they are presented in the old poems and legends. Odin bears all the stamp of the new life and culture about him; Thor is rather a sturdy yeoman of the old unpolished type. Odin is a ruler in whom knowledge and power are equally combined; Thor has little more to rely upon than his bodily strength. Even in small matters the contrast is marked: Odin lives by wine alone, while Thor eats the flesh of his goats and drinks the homely ale. Odin's weapon is the spear; Thor's is the more primitive hammer. It is to Odin that all the warriors go after death; Thor gets only the thralls. In some of the poems there is an obvious tendency to assign to Thor an undignified and even ludicrous part, which is strongly at variance with the veneration in which he was actually held, as we have seen above. It would, perhaps, be unsafe to attach very much importance to this, as it, is quite uncertain how far these poems can be accepted as evidence for religious beliefs. It is perhaps more significant that while writers like Snorri tell how Odin and various other gods came from the south-east into Denmark and Sweden, there is no similar account as regards Thor. In the historical period, too, there were distinguished families in Sweden and Norway whose genealogy was traced back to Odin and Frey, while no one claimed descent from Thor. Both of these facts may reasonably be regarded as supporting the view that Odin belongs to a later period in the history of Scandinavia than Thor, and some such explanation appears to be requisite to account for the striking differences in the traditional statements regarding the two chief gods of the old religion.

THE REMAINING GODS AND OTHER OBJECTS OF WORSHIP

The worship of Frey, however, must also have been very popular in Norway, from which it passed to Iceland with the early settlers. As late as 998 the men of Thrandheim are represented as refusing to break their image of Frey at the command of King Olaf, 'because we have long served him and he has done well by us. He often talked with us, and told us things to come, and gave us peace and plenty.' At the great festivals it was customary to drink to Frey in order to secure peace and prosperity. A talisman on which the image of Frey was 'marked in silver' is mentioned as having been owned by one of the petty kings of Norway about 872; this was given by King Harald to Ingimund, and tradition associated it in a mysterious way with the place where the latter finally settled in Iceland.

At Eyafirth in Iceland there was a temple of Frey, which is mentioned several times in the saga of V?ga-Gl?m. Thorkel, says the story, went to Frey's temple, taking with him an old ox, and addressed the god thus: 'Frey,' said he, 'you have long been my confidant, and have received many gifts from me, and repaid me well. Now I give you this ox, so that it may come to pass that Gl?m will leave this land as much under compulsion as I do now. And show me now some token whether you receive this or not.' Thereupon the ox bellowed, and fell down dead, and Thorkel then believed that Frey had accepted his gift. The saga also mentions that Frey would not allow outlaws to make his temple there a sanctuary. Gl?m himself afterwards had a dream that many men had come there to see Frey. He asked who they were, and they said, 'We are your departed kinsfolk, and are making intercession with Frey that you may not be driven away from this ground; but Frey answers shortly and angrily, and recalls the ox that Thorkel gave him.' Then Gl?m awoke, and had less liking for Frey all the rest of his life.

The worship of Nj?rd in Sweden and Norway is implied in the fact that places named after him are found in certain parts of these countries. When he is mentioned in the Icelandic writings, it is usually in conjunction with Frey. The practice of drinking the second toast to Nj?rd and Frey 'for peace and plenty' has been already mentioned. In the old heathen form of oath, taken by suitors and others at the legal assemblies, the deities invoked were 'Frey and Nj?rd and the Almighty God' . The two names are also combined by Egil in a verse in which he prays that Frey and Nj?rd may be angry with King Eir?k, while in one of his poems he refers to them as the givers of wealth. With this may be compared the proverbial expression 'as rich as Nj?rd,' which occurs in old Icelandic. In one of Hallfred's verses Frey and Nj?rd, Odin, Thor, and Freyja, are all mentioned together in contrast with God and Christ: in another the poet says, 'I am forced away from Nj?rd's offspring and made to pray to Christ.' These passages are sufficient to show that the cult of Nj?rd was closely connected with that of Frey, and make it probable that he was a deity of some importance even in the popular religion, but at best he remains a somewhat vague figure among the Scandinavian gods.

Still more uncertain is the question how far such deities as Heimdall, the wakeful warder of the gods, Bragi, the special god of poetry, and some others, really held a place in ordinary religious belief as distinct from the myth-creating fancy of the poets. Even such a striking mythological figure as the peace-maker Baldr, the most beautiful and lovable of all the gods, is strikingly ignored in all historical references to the old worship . This is also the case with nearly all the goddesses, not excepting Frigg herself, the wife of Odin, the mother of Baldr, and the highest of them all, according to Snorri. It would appear, however, that Frigg had to some extent retired into the background before another goddess Freyja, the sister of Frey. We have already seen that when the days of the week received their Germanic names it was Frigg who was equated with the Roman Venus; but in the Scandinavian mythology it is Freyja, not Frigg, who is the goddess of love. Snorri describes Freyja as riding in a chariot drawn by two cats, 'and wheresoever she rides to battle, she has half the slain and Odin the other half.' This association of Freyja with Odin, which seems to imply that Frigg was almost on the point of being displaced by a rival goddess, also appears in the verse for which Hjalti Skeggjason was found guilty of blasphemy. It is implied, too, in a passage in Egil's saga, in which Thorgerd is represented as saying, 'I have had no supper, and will have none, until I come to Freyja. I know no better counsel for myself than my father's: I will not live after my father and brother.' The fact, too, that in the mythical sagas Freyja is almost the only goddess mentioned, indicates that her name had been remembered as one of special note in the old religion.

Among the Scandinavians, as among other branches of the Aryan race, the practice of hero-worship appears to have been known. Adam of Bremen records it as occurring among the Swedes, who in the life of St. Ansgar are also said to have paid divine honours to one of their kings , assigning to him a temple and special priests. In Norway it is mentioned that offerings were made on the grave-mound of Olaf, at one time king in Vestfold; and probably some kind of religious feeling towards the deceased person is implied in the worship of grave-mounds, which was sufficiently prevalent to be specially forbidden in the early Christian law of Norway. One of the early settlers in the Faer?es, Gr?m Kamban, is also said to have been worshipped after his death on account of his popularity.

Not only human beings, but even animals, were perhaps occasionally worshipped by individuals. An old tradition related that a King ?gvald, in the west of Norway, chiefly worshipped a cow, and took it about with him wherever he went; and at a later and more historical date H?rek of Rein is said to have worshipped an ox. When Floki set out to look for Iceland he sacrificed to three ravens, which he then took on board with him that they might show him the way. It may also be noted that, if a very curious legend can be depended on, there were even traces of phallic worship in Norway as late as the days of Olaf the Saint .

In connection with this worship of natural objects may be noticed the curious belief in Iceland that certain families passed after death into hills or hillocks in their district. This is told, for example, of Thorolf who settled Thorsness and had great reverence for the hill there: 'He called it Holy-fell, and believed that he would go there when he died, and all his kinsmen on the ness.' Even the kinsmen of Aud, who was a Christian, had great religious faith in some hillocks on which she had erected crosses: 'They believed that they should die into these hillocks, and Thord Gellir was led into them before his sons took their place among men, as is told in his saga.'

TEMPLES AND IMAGES

While Iceland was being colonised from Norway, the place and number of the temples would depend on the religious zeal of the settlers in the various districts, but when a fixed constitution was adopted in the year 930 special regulations were made with reference to this. 'The land was divided into quarters, and there were to be three places of assembly in each quarter, and three chief temples in each assembly-district. Men who were noted for intelligence and just dealing were selected to have charge of the temples; these had to appoint the law-courts at the assemblies, and to superintend the legal proceedings there. Each man had to give toll to the temple, as they now give toll to the church.' References to the payment of this tax are not infrequent in the sagas, and one of the results of the preaching of Christianity by Thorvald and Bishop Frederic in 981-985 was that in the north of Iceland 'many men abandoned sacrifices and broke their idols, and some would not pay the temple-tax.' We also meet with such remarks as, 'the men of Geitland had to maintain half of the temple along with Tungu-Odd.' The chief temples were thus legally endowed religious buildings, but it would appear that there were others which were the private property of individuals, and no doubt many of those which were entitled to legal support were originally erected by the more prominent of the settlers. An interesting case of temple endowment is that recorded of Gr?m Geitskor, who travelled over all Iceland to find the most suitable spot for holding the yearly assembly. For his trouble he received a 'penny' from every man in the island, and this money he gave to the temples. One of the early settlers in the east of Iceland is recorded as having taken formal possession of an unoccupied piece of land for the behoof of a temple which he had built there.

Mention has already been made of the likeness of Thor carved on the chief pillars of the temple in Mostr, and no doubt similar representations of the god were not uncommon. In that part of the story of Thormod the poet which takes place in Greenland, about 1027, a large chair is described as having on its back an image of Thor with his hammer.

CEREMONIES AND MINISTERS OF RELIGION

Sacrifice might be offered either by individuals on their own account, or by some prominent man on behalf of the community. It was, indeed, the duty of the latter to 'keep up the sacrifices,' on which the public peace and prosperity were believed largely to depend. The king as head of his people was especially bound to maintain this religious rite, and the adoption of Christianity by the Norwegian kings naturally brought them into direct collision with the national feeling on this point. When King H?kon in 952 proposed that his subjects should worship Christ, give up the heathen gods and the sacrifices to them, and keep holy each seventh day, he was met by the reply that they desired him rather to follow the custom of his father, and 'sacrifice for peace and plenty to them.' On the other hand, the importance attached to the practice by the more religious among the people is shown in the case of Loft the Old, who emigrated to Iceland from Gaular in Norway. He 'went abroad every third summer on his own account and that of his uncle Flosi, to sacrifice at that temple in Gaular of which his mother's father, Thorbj?rn, had been the custodian.'

The great festivals took place especially at three seasons in the year. One of these was at the close of autumn 'to greet the winter.' At mid-winter came the festival of Yule , originally held in the middle of January, but afterwards altered to correspond with Christmas. The third was held at the end of the winter 'to greet the summer.' The precise time of each, however, may have varied in different parts of Scandinavia; Adam of Bremen, for instance, represents the great Upsala festival as taking place about the spring equinox, while Snorri places it a little earlier. As late as 1020 these three festivals were still kept up by the majority of the inhabitants in the district of Thrandheim in Norway, and must have been maintained in Sweden for nearly a century later. The return which the worshippers hoped to obtain from the gods for the sacrifices offered was mainly good seasons, abundant crops, peaceful times, and victory in war if it arose. To some extent each festival appears to have had a special object, but the statements on this point are not quite in agreement with each other. No doubt the desires of the worshippers were expressed in formal prayers offered up by the one who presided over the sacrifices, but no specimen of these has been preserved. Adam of Bremen asserts that in the sacrifices at Upsala use was made of many incantations of an odious character, but of the precise nature of these there is no indication. The drinking of the various toasts was certainly accompanied by formal speeches, of which those used in Iceland at a later date are probably the Christianised representatives.

It is noteworthy that in most of the references to these great religious festivals there is no statement that the sacrifices were offered to any particular deity, the usual expression being simply 'to sacrifice for peace,' etc., or 'to the gods.' The same vagueness sometimes appears when more private offerings are mentioned; it is simply said that the person 'performed a great sacrifice.' It may naturally be assumed, however, that the deity appealed to would vary according to the boon desired, or the preferences of the worshipper. Adam of Bremen, in fact, states that in event of pestilence or famine the offering was made to Thor; in case of war it was given to Odin; while Frey was the recipient on the occasion of a wedding. The Swedes are also said to have sacrificed to Frey for peace and plenty, and Thorgrim in Iceland honoured the same god at the beginning of winter . Earl H?kon's sacrifice to Odin has already been mentioned , and is in agreement with Adam of Bremen's statement.

SELECTED WORKS

The chief works in English in which information on ancient Scandinavian mythology and religion may be found are the following:--

Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty at the Edinburgh University Press.

FOOTNOTES

This discrepancy between the Roman and Scandinavian myths is also noticed by Saxo Grammaticus.

Compare the vow of Hallfred and his companions mentioned on p. 19.

In the ceremony of entering into 'foster-brotherhood,' each person swore to avenge the other, 'and named all the gods as witnesses.'

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

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