1. The Religious Beliefs, Cults and Rituals
in Scandinavia, ca. AD 600 – AD 900

2. The Principal Deities

The pagan pantheon in the Nordic
lands during the Viking Age
contained many deities, but not all
of them were the object of devotion

The principal deities belonged to
two one of two groups: Æsir and
Vanir

These groups were at war with one
another but had reconciled and
lived together

Some of the deities were popular
throughout Scandinavia, whereas
the popularity of others were
restricted to only certain areas or
indeed even certain social classes
or professions

3. Distribution of Different Cults

The popularity of different cults varied from
region to region

It is assumed—because of mythical
allusions, royalty lists that trace their
descent from deities, place-name evidence
and archaeological finds—that the Æsir
were worshipped in the west and the Vanir
in the east of Scandinavia

A distribution map representing the
prevalence of the different cults, based
chiefly on place-name analysis and runic
inscriptions where these occur in significant
numbers, does tend to corroborate this
assumption

Nevertheless, we must bear in mind that
some cults seem to be primarily associated
The red indicates those regions where the with certain social classes or professions
worship of the Æsir was most prevalent, and therefore their distribution might
whereas the blue indicates those regions where
the worship of the Vanir was predominant. The
represent the consolidation of political
purple signifies those regions were both the power or specialist economic pursuits
Æsir and Vanir were popular

4. The Æsir
 The 'Æsir' are a group of deities
which contain some of the most
prominent gods of the Nordic
pantheon such as Odin, Frigg,
Thor, Baldur and Tyr
 In the Old Norse language, the
singular of a member of the Æsir is
áss (feminine singular ásynja,
feminine plural ásynjur)
 Some linguistic scholars associate
this word with the names of wooden
beams and the concept of World
Pillars holding the world aloft and
thus with celestial or sky deities
 This has parallels with the A depiction of sacrifices hanging
Hellenistic pantheon and others of from a tree, perhaps evoking the deity
the Indo-European tradition Odin hanging on Yggdrasil in his
quest for wisdom

5. Gylfaginning

The Gylfaginning comprises the
first section of Snorri Sturluson's
Prose Edda, following the
prologue

It means 'The Tricking of Gylfi',
where Gylfi is a Swedish king that
is tricked by a goddess and
brought to a palace where he is
asked questions and is told a
series of tales which he relates
upon his arrival home

Many translations of the Prose
Edda are available, some very
good examples being online and
therefore free to access

Here we will summarise the myths
The tricking of Gylfi, depicted in an and statements concerning the
Icelandic manuscript Æsir

6. The Members of the Æsir
 The members of the Æsir
enumerated in Gylfaginning are the
following:
 Odin, Thor, Baldur, Freyr, Freya,
Njord, Tyr, Bragi, Heimdall, Hoder,
Vidar, Ale, Ullr, Forseti, Frigg, Saga,
Eir, Gefjon, Fulla, Sjöfn, Lofn, Var,
Vör, Syn, Hlin, Snotra, Gna
 Some of these are known only as
names, being poorly developed in
any of the mythical cycles that
remain to us
 This does not necessarily mean that
they were insignificant: the majority
of what we know about the Nordic
pantheon derives from West Norse
sources and this may indicate the
unimportance of these deities in this
part of Scandinavia A figurine of the deity Odin, found
at Lindby in southern Sweden

7. The Vanir

In Nordic myth, the Vanir (singular Vanr) are
a group of gods associated with fertility,
wisdom, and the ability to see the future

The Vanir are one of two groups of gods
(the other being the Æsir) and are
associated with the location Vanaheimr

After the Æsir–Vanir War, the Vanir became
a subgroup of the Æsir and subsequently,
while the Vanir retain original group
association in the myth, they are also
referred to as Æsir

The Vanir are attested in the Poetic Edda,
the Prose Edda and Heimskringla

The Vanir are only attested in these Old
The ship figured prominently in the
myths of the Vanir and was Norse sources, unlike the Æsir, who are
associated with mortuary ritual. This attested widely in among the Germanic
example from Ladby in Denmark peoples
might reflect the cult of Freyr

8. The Members of the Vanir
 All sources describe the deities Njörðr,
Freyr, and Freyja as members of the
Vanir
 An Euhemerized prose account in
Heimskringla adds that Njörðr's sister—
whose name is not provided—and
Kvasir were Vanir
 In addition, Heimskringla reports a tale
involving king Sveigðir's visit to
Vanaheimr, where he meets a woman
names Vana and the two produce a
child named Vanlandi, meaning 'Man
from the Land of the Vanir'
 While not attested as Vanir, the gods
Heimdallr and Ullr have also been
theorized as potential members of the
group. In the Prose Edda, a name listed
for boars is 'Van-child'
A figurine of Freyr from Rällinge,
Lunda in Södermanland

9. Lesser Entities

In addition to the deities described in
the mythical cycles, there were
lesser spiritual entities

Some of these were malevolent,
whereas others could be helpful if
propitiated through ritual

Examples of some of these lesser
entities are the Valkyries, trolls,
ghosts, giants, elves, faeries, and
spirits inhabiting mounds, wetlands,
etc.

All of these figured in the ritual and
religious life of those residing in
Scandinavia through the pagan era
but also well into the Medieval era

Some practices could still be
An amulet depicting a Valkyri, found encountered in relatively modern
at Birka, Björkö, Sweden folk beliefs

10. Studying the Religious Beliefs of the Viking
Age
Archaeological, Literary, Mythical and Place-Name
Research

11. The Icelandic Sagas

As mentioned earlier, most of our
information concerning the religion of
the Viking Age is afforded by the
Icelandic sagas

All of these were composed between
the twelfth and fourteenth centuries by
Christian clerics or scribes, and
therefore introduce biases into the
writings

Moreover, some of the traditions must
have only been vaguely recalled and
most probably elements of the myths
were misunderstood and subject to
rationalisation or revision to render them
more intelligible

Finally, there is the West Norse bias in
the mythical cycles and these myths
and their structure might not have been
shared throughout Scandinavia

12. The Principal Sources

The principal sources
concerning religion are found
in the Poetic Edda, the Prose
Edda, Völuspá and
Heimskringla

All of these are compositions
of roughly the thirteenth
century, but they undoubtedly
preserve older passages

Incidental remarks to religious
practices and beliefs are found
in other sagas, such as Egil's
Saga and Gísli's Saga, but
these are woven into
Odin holds bracelets and leans on his narratives for dramatic effect
spear while looking towards the völva in so it is difficult to assess how
Völuspá. Engraving by Frølich in the genuine these accounts might
transcription of the poem Völuspá are or if they are merely literary
embellishments

13. Heimskringla

Heimskringla consists of several
chapters, each one individually
called a saga, which can be
literally translated as 'tale'

The first of these is the most
relevant to a study of myth, for it
traces the prehistory of the
Norwegian royal dynasty, tracing
Odin, described here as a mortal
man, and his followers from the
East, from Asaland and Asgard,
its chief city, to their settlement in
Scandinavia

The subsequent sagas are (with
few exceptions) devoted to
individual rulers, starting with
Halfdan the Black, and ending
with Magnus Erlingsson

14. Gesta Danorum

Gesta Danorum is a work of Danish
history, by the 12th century author
Saxo Grammaticus ('Saxo the
Literate')

It is the most ambitious literary
undertaking of medieval Denmark and
is an essential source for the nation's
early history. It is also one of the
oldest known written documents about
the history of Estonia and Livonia

The work incorporates myths
concerning the origins of the Danish
kings and traces their descent to
deities such as Odin

Many myths are presented as history
and there are suggestions of ritual in
many stories, often referring to battle
cults and so forth

15. The Prose Edda (or Younger Edda)

The Prose Edda begins with a
Euhemerised Prologue followed by
three distinct books: Gylfaginning
(consisting of around 20,000 words),
Skáldskaparmál (around 50,000
words) and Háttatal (around 20,000
words)

Seven manuscripts, dating from
around AD 1300 to around AD 1600,
have independent textual value

The purpose of the collection was to
enable Icelandic poets and readers
to understand the subtleties of
alliterative verse, and to grasp the
meaning behind the many kennings
that were used in skaldic poetry, but
much of the subject matter concerns
myth

16. The Poetic Edda (or Older Edda)
The following poems are in the
Poetic Edda:

Völuspá

Hávamál

Vafþrúðnismál

Grímnismál

Skírnismál

Hárbarðsljóð

Hymiskviða

Lokasenna

Þrymskviða

Völundarkviða

Alvíssmál

17. Völuspá

The poem starts with the völva requesting
silence from 'the sons of Heimdallr' (human
beings) and asking Odin whether he wants
her to recite ancient lore. She says she
remembers giants born in antiquity who
reared her.

She then goes on to relate a creation myth;
the world was empty until the sons of Burr
lifted the earth out of the sea

The Æsir then established order in the
cosmos by finding places for the sun, the
moon and the stars, thereby starting the
cycle of day and night

A golden age ensued where the Æsir had
plenty of gold and happily constructed
temples and made tools. But then three
mighty giant maidens came from
Jötunheimar and the golden age came to
an end

The Æsir then created the dwarves, of
whom Mótsognir and Durinn are the
mightiest

18. Ragnarök

The seeress then reveals to Odin that she knows
some of his own secrets, of what he sacrificed of
himself in pursuit of knowledge. She tells him she
knows where his eye is hidden and how he gave it
up in exchange for knowledge. She asks him in
several refrains if he understands, or if he would
like to hear more

The seeress goes on to describe the slaying of
Baldr, best and fairest of the gods and the enmity
of Loki, and of others. Then she prophesies the
destruction of the gods where fire and flood
overwhelm heaven and earth as the gods fight
their final battles with their enemies. This is the
'fate of the gods': Ragnarök. She describes the
summons to battle, the deaths of many of the gods
and how Odin, himself, is slain

Finally a beautiful reborn world will rise from the
ashes of death and destruction where Baldr will
live again in a new world where the earth sprouts
Carvings of snakes and dragons abundance without sowing seed. A final stanza
destroying the world at Ragnarök, describes the sudden appearance of Nidhogg the
north panel of Urnes Church dragon, bearing corpses in his wings, before the
seeress emerges from her trance

19. Ritual and Art
Evidence of Ritual from Textual and Archaeological
Sources

20. Rune Stones

Rune stones add valuable
information concerning myth
through their dedications to
deities, which offer independent
confirmation of the traditions that
we know through the literary
sources

Moreover, in Sweden, many are
richly decorated and some of
these panels depict mythical
scenes

Although some are certainly
obscure, others are clearly
intelligible through the traditions
recorded in the sagas

In addition to traditions regarding
deities, heroic myths are also
common

21. Altuna, Uppland

A good example of a mythical
scene depicted on a rune stone is
afforded by the specimen from
Altuna, in Uppland

This records what is most likely
the myth of Thor fishing, when he
catches the Miðgarð serpent and
nearly kills the beast with his
hammer, before it escapes

Again, this provides independent
confirmation of the traditions
recorded in the sagas and
therefore underscores how widely
dispersed some of these tales
were and how they the principal
ones were most likely similar
across Scandinavia

22. Tjängvide, Gotland
 An especially vivid mythical depiction
occurs on the rune stone from
Tjängvide in Gotland, which is now at
the National Museum of Sweden in
Stockholm
 This series of scenes seems to show
a ship heading off to battle, with a
panel above it showing slain men and
a man riding an eight-legged horse
being greeted by maidens carrying
flasks of drink
 The eight-legged horse is undoubtedly
Odin's steed Sleipnir and this scene
represents a warrior being received in
Valhöll after his death in battle
 The corpse in the scene likely
represents the warrior slain in battle,
which is situated above the painting of
Sleipnir

23. Ornaments

In the latter half of the Viking Age,
when Christianity was asserting
itself, it became common for
Scandinavians to begin wearing
amulets depicting Thor's hammer

This was probably an imitation of
the Christian custom of wearing a
cross

Numerous moulds have been
found in Scandinavia and in
places of Scandinavian settlement
for the hammers, and some of
them were also used to produce
Christian crosses

No other symbol from the pagan
tradition was worn like this, and
this possibly represents the
popularity of the cult of Thor

24. Priests & Ritual Centres
The Structure of Worship and Cult Centres

25. Common Worship

Periodic sacrifices and communal
worship occurred throughout the
landscape

Sometimes these were dedicated
to lesser deities or tutelary spirits
associated with families, districts
or perhaps even an individual

These lesser deities or spirits
were known as dísir (singular dís)
and their festivals and sacrifices
were called dísablót

This was probably the most
common form of worship, which is
notoriously difficult to detect
through the archaeological record
as it leaves little unequivocal trace
except when votive offerings
occur

26. Natural Features

Some of the worship probably
focused on statuettes or figurines
standing outside

Examples of these may have
been recovered by archaeologists
near bog deposits, thus showing a
continuity in some ritual practice
over the late Iron Age-Viking Age

Especially significant locations in
the landscape were groves
(lundr), cultivated ground (akr),
mounds (haugr), islands (ey),
ridges (áss) and prominent rocks
(berg)

Those presiding over these rituals
were probably headmen and
women of the community

27. Relationship to Settlement
 The local religious sites must
have been situated in the
immediate vicinity of the
settlements
 Examples of this have been
encountered at places such as
Tissø on the island of Sjælland in
Denmark
 This site was a rich trading
settlement with large long houses,
but there was an associated ritual
structure adjacent to the biggest
structure and nearby lay the lake
of Tissø, which derives its name
from the deity Tyr and has also
afforded quantities of votive
deposits from the Iron Age and
the Viking Age

28. Priests and Priestesses

Most of the rites, as mentioned
already, were probably carried out
by the chieftain of the settlement

These have been described as
secular priests described in
Iceland as goði (the feminine is
gyði)

The main rite was blot and was
usually sacrificial, involving the
killing of an animal (sometimes
even humans) and the destruction
of artefacts
Reconstruction of the ritual 
Usually they were followed by
structure found at Uppåkra in communal feasts of eating and
Sweden. Rites and rituals officiated drinking, but those pertaining to
over here must have been done by fertility sometimes were
professional priests or priestesses accompanied by sexual
rather than by local chieftains licentitiousness

29. Convivial Meals

It appears that the animals
sacrificed in such a fashion were
cooked in pits lined with hot
stones, which are not common
outside of sites that we associate
with ritual activity

In addition to this, there are
buildings that may have ritual
significance such as that found at
Tissø that were known as hof

Many of these, such as the
Icelandic examples of Hofstadir
and Mýrvatn, contain such
cooking pits

This may permit us to infer that
Figure of the deity Odin from
meat was cooked in a special way Uppåkra in Sweden
for cult meals

30. Hörgr

An older and more widespread
name associated with ritual
practises is hörgr, which has a
primary meaning of a pile of
stones

These stone piles were chiefly
cairns and the significance of
them extends back into the Iron
Age and even the Bronze Age

Another sacred site is denoted by
the word vé, and it appears that
this also indicates a site in the
open rather than an enclosed
building represented by hof

Large temples are known from
only an handful of sites, usually
associated with royal centres

31. Temples

We know little about the temples
in Scandinavia, but there are
suggestions that they were
associated with royal sites and
therefore often gave prominence
to certain deities that were widely
worshipped by the aristocracy

In Denmark and southern
Sweden, the main cult centres
appear to have been dedicated to
Odin

This is deduced through place-
names and suggestions from the
mortuary record which suggest
that there was a mortuary rite
associated with an equestrian
warrior class

32. Gamle Uppsala