In the time of our ancestors they would offer gifts to their ancestors who had come before. They believed that their ancestors would help them in time of need and that they were always looking out for their best interests.

 No less value was placed on friendship and loyalty. Many are the praises for a good and loyal friend. We are counseled directly and through example to go often with gifts to our friends.

35.Crooked and far             is the road to a foe,
Though his house on the highway be;
But wide and straight is the way to a friend,
Though far away he fare. (Havamal 35)

47.Young was I once,              and wandered alone,
And nought of the road I knew;
Rich did I feel             when a comrade I found,
For man is man's delight. (Havamal 47)

9. I rede thee, Loddfafnir!         and hear thou my rede,-
Profit thou hast if thou hearest,
Great thy gain if thou learnest:
If a friend thou hast        whom thou fully wilt trust,
Then fare to find him oft;
For brambles grow        and waving grass
On the rarely trodden road. (Loddfafnismal 9)

11. I rede thee, Loddfafnir!         and hear thou my rede,-
Profit thou hast if thou hearest,
Great thy gain if thou learnest:
Be never the first        to break with thy friend
The bond that holds you both;
Care eats the heart        if thou canst not speak
To another all thy thought. (Loddfafnismal 11)

36. Then eleventh I rede thee,

 that wrath thou shun,
And treachery false with thy friends;
Not long the leader's

  life shall be,
For great are the foes he faces. (Sigdrifumal 36)

In Green's introduction to his translation of Egil's Saga, he praises, among other things, Egil's loyalties to his friends and his willingness to face death on their account.

“Egil certainly must have been a remarkable man. Strong in body beyond his fellows, he was no less uncommonly gifted in mind, a poet as well as a soldier. Brave he was even to foolhardiness, yet wary withal and prudent; full of resource in danger, never giving up the game however desperate; a born leader, liked and trusted by his men. His character has its unpleasant side; he was headstrong, brutal at times when provoked, determined to have his own way, and overbearing in pursuit of it. Yet there is nothing mean or little about him; he does not engage in petty quarrels, he helps or hinders kings and great chiefs. He is outspoken and truthful, and his ire is especially stirred by meanness and falsehood in others. To women he is pleasant and courteous, as appears on several occasions. For the sake of his friend Arinbjorn and his kin he risks his life more than once.” (Egils Saga, Introduction, Green)

Egil himself shows the trust that should exist between friends:

“'Here,' said Egil, 'will the old saw be found true. All should be told to a friend. I will tell you that which you ask, about what woman I compose verse. ''Tis Asgerdr your kinswoman; and I would fain have your furtherance to secure this match.'” (Egils Saga, c.56)

And again it is Egil, who gives us the most eloquent praise of what the loyalty of friendship is.

                        'Gloomy on me glowered
                        In gruesome wrath a king:
                        But cuckoo faints and fails not
                        For vulture flapping near.
                        Aid good from Arinbjorn,
                        As oft, and peace I gat.
                        He falls not whom true friends
                        Help forward on his way.' (Egil's Saga, c.67)

There are many examples in the sagas of the loyalty between friends and to kin.

“Njal took the purse of money and handed it to Gunnar. Gunnar knew the money, and saw it was the same that he had paid Njal. Njal went away to his booth, and they were just as good friends as before. When Njal came home, he blamed Bergthora; but she said she would never give way to Hallgerda. Hallgerda was very cross with Gunnar, because he had made peace for Kol's slaying. Gunnar told her he would never break with Njal or his sons, and she flew into a great rage; but Gunnar took no heed of that, and so they sat for that year, and nothing noteworthy happened.” (Njal's Saga, c.37)

"I will hold to my faithfulness to thee," said Njal, "till my death day." (Njal's Saga, c.72)

“A good deal of money was offered for his acceptance, but he said he had not done the deed for the sake of money, nor for the sake of the lady, but out of friendship for Hreidar and Ivar.” (VGS, c.4)

“'I think you have reason,' Thorir said, "to mistrust forest-men. It may be you have heard tell of me as a man of blood and a disturber of peace, but never did you hear of such a monstrous deed of me as that I betrayed my host.” (GS, c.56)

“Answered Thorstein: Why should not all of us brothers then leave home? For we will not part with Thorer, but will stand by one another for weal or for woe.” (TVS, c.10)

“Now we must return to Jokul, Njorfe's son, who ruled the uplands after the death of Njorfe and Viking. They had preserved their friendship well until their death.” (TVS, c.25)

"A song of praise
Again I raise.
To the earl bold
The word is told,
That Knut the Brave
His aid would crave;
The earl, I knew,
To friend stands true." (OH, c.23)

 There is perhaps no other quality in a man or woman that would bring them more praise than the keeping of an oath or more ignominy than the breaking of one. To break an oath was unthinkable and those who did, were considered the most vile of the vile. The most terrible place in Hel was a place called Nastrond where three kinds of people were said to wade in streams of venom.

38.A hall I saw,                         far from the sun,
On Nastrond it stands,        and the doors face north;
Venom drops                        through the smoke-vent down,
For around the walls                do serpents wind.

39.I saw there wading                through rivers wild
Treacherous men (oath breakers)                and murderers too,
And workers of ill (adulterers)              with the wives of men;
There Nithhogg sucked        the blood of the slain,
And the wolf tore men;         would you know yet more?
(Völuspá 38-39)