The undertaking of this article is one that I have felt was needed for some time. Since the Northern Way is a Reconstructionist tradition I wanted to shed a little light on the actual practices of our Northern fore-fathers. The common opinion is that there is little in way of information about the religious practices of the Pre-Christian and Viking Age North. I therefore expected to find maybe 20 or 30 pages worth of notes and, from that, be able to offer some very rough outlines. It was not long before I realized that there was more information out there than I had thought. What I found is that there was information to be found. It was like someone had made a puzzle that was the Religious Practices of the North and then taken those puzzle pieces and spread them to the wind. Every book I read or every saga I looked through, would yield more pieces to that puzzle. I am confident that, had I had time and had been able to study more sources, I would have found more pieces to that puzzle. Unfortunately I had a deadline and I had to stop somewhere and start working on writing this article. So I took the puzzle pieces I had gathered and began to organize them. With each puzzle piece I began to see an overall picture of the Religious practices of the Pre-Christian and Viking Age North. I did not find all the puzzle pieces and I most likely never will, but I believe that I now have enough to be able to get a fairly decent picture of those religious practices.

It is certain that scholars have made many studies of the religious practices of the North. I don't consider myself a scholar by any means, although I hope that my studies will one day earn me that title. I think that, as excellent as the work done by scholars on this subject is, it still lacks a view point which would, in my opinion, shed much light on the subject. That point of view is that of the believer, that is, the point of view from one who sees the Regin as reality instead of some attempt of "primitive" man to describe the forces of nature or any of the other various theories that come from the religion called Science (*). I hope to be able to offer that view (i.e. of a believer) and that those reading this article will find that view of use.

My goals with this article are to first present the actual practices that we have evidence of from the lore and from established and quality scholarship and from actual sources in the lore and folklore. I hope to present it in an organized manner by grouping it into logical groups. Then I would like to offer my thoughts on how we, as modern Northmen and Northwomen, can take those practices and incorporate them into our modern practice as we honor the Regin and strengthen the ties that we have with them. I will leave it to the reader to judge as to whether or not I have been successful in this.

The types of places considered holy are surprisingly varied. A holy area might be in a grove of trees or a particular tree. A large standing stone or a spring might be considered holy or a hill or a lake. Any striking landmark might be considered holy. From the evidence we have, it seems that these types of holy sites were the norm until the Viking Age (roughly from 700 C. E. until about 1100 C. E.) at which time built structures became more prominent. Despite this, natural landmarks as holy ground continued well until the Christian conversion and beyond.

The Hof

Holy groves and various other holy sites of that sort continued but as the Viking Age neared its end the hof became more common. Zoëga gives the definition for the word "hof" as "Heathen temple." (1) These "Heathen temples" were also called goðahús (House of the Gods) or blóthús (House of Sacrifice). (2) Although the word hof is generally taken to indicate a temple of some sort there is some debate as to whether or not this is true as there have been no actual Northern temples to survive into modern times. Archeology has yielded no sure answer to this question either. Because the word 'hof' occurs in many place names it was once thought that this indicated the existence of many temples but later scholarship has postulated this to be nothing more than the assumptions of "later antiquarians." (3) If the word hof does refer to a temple proper then judging from the place names there would have been quite a few temples.

The word hof may have referred to farm buildings. Hof could have referred to a large communal hall where large gatherings for the feasts that were held on holy nights where held. (4) It would have been used after the blót or sacrifice. If this were the case, the animal which was sacrificed was killed at the holy site and prepared for cooking in the hof, while the parts that were dedicated to the gods were left hanging on a holy tree or on poles. An example of this type of hof was excavated in an area in north-eastern Iceland called Hofstaðir. When it was first excavated it was thought, from the ground plan, to be a large temple. Later scholarship thinks it more probably that this was a great hall for a farmhouse and that it was used by the leading gothi of the area to hold feasts during the major Holy Days. It would not have been built for purely religious purposes and could have been used for other purposes. (5) Possible proof of this in the lore comes from the story of how the Christian skald Sigvatr Þorðarson (c.1020) was sent by the Christian king of Norway to arrange a marriage between the king of Norway and the daughter of the king of Sweden. At this time Norway was Christian but the people of Sweden still clung to the ways of their ancestors. When Sigvatr came to a farm that was called "hof" seeking shelter he was turned away. The farm wife there explained that they were in the midst of the álfablót (Feast of the Alfs/Elves) and that she feared the anger of Othinn if the skald were allowed in. He experienced this at several farms. As noted one of the farms he visited was called hof. This could have been referring to the hall which he was barred from entering. (6) Further proof of this might be found in the word Dísasal (7) which is the name given to a place of worship for the goddesses or dísir in many sources. The Old Norse word salr means room or hall and the words salskynní and saldrótt mean homestead and household folk respectively. (8)

Although we cannot be sure that there were temples built that were solely for the religious purposes early on, they most certainly developed some time during the Viking Age and perhaps earlier. While natural features in the land were regarded as holy sites, there developed a need for an enclosed or fenced off area as the word vé (9) (holy enclosure) indicates. From the evidence we have the use of idols to represent the Regin was a late development. We know that the Germans in the 1st centuries did not represent their gods and goddesses with images. (10) It is possible that the need for an enclosure developed as a response to the development of depicting the gods and goddesses in human form. These idols would have needed a place to set them apart and or house them.

The enclosure may have developed from something as simple as a raised earthwork or an ditch that was made to surround (enclose) the holy area. The area enclosed could be circular, square or rectangular and include other holy features such as posts/pillars, springs ect. (11) There are various examples of this type of enclosure from archaeological finds. One called the Goloring which is near Coblenz is circular in shape and has a diameter of about 190 metres. The dating of this site is thought to be around the sixth century B.C.E. This site contained a large posthole in the center. Could this have been for an Irminsul (see "Pillars and Posts")? Another example is in Czechoslovakia and was rectangular in shape (80 meters by 20 meters) which was surrounded by a ditch. In it were bones of children and animals. This site is thought to have had an artificial platform and pits holding bones and pottery fragments. There was a stone in the shape of a rough pyramid about 200 cm. high which stood in the place where the offerings were made. The center of this enclosure was taken up by the grave of what is thought to be the grave of a priestess. It dates back to the third century B. C. E. (12)

The best evidence for a pre-Viking Age temple is found at Trondheim Fjord. As was common practice with the Christians, a church was built on the spot but there were signs of an earlier building that dated back to 500 C. E. which contained numerous post holes. There was signs of burning, as if the previous building there had been burned down by Christians in order to make way for their church to replace the older Northern temple. Also found were tiny pieces of gold foil which were commonly used on figures known as goldgubber in Denmark. (13) There have been attempts to rebuild temples such as the reconstruction of the temple at Uppsala but that reconstruction is based on the ground plan of a Wendish temple at Arcona which was destroyed by the Danes in the twelfth century. (14)

Whether the word 'hof' originally designated a large meeting hall where the community would gather for the sacrificial feast after the blót, which was held at a separate site, or if it designated a temple proper or, as Rudolf Simek suggests, that temples were simply roofed versions of hörgrs (see 'The Hörgr'), (13) it is clear that by the end of the Viking Age it had come to designate a temple which was solely dedicated to religious functions. (14)