When I first set out to write this article I had intended to only examine examples involving the dísir. But as I set out in my research I quickly began to see that if I was going to be able to come to any conclusions concerning these ancestral guardians, I would have to examine all the female spirits who concerned themselves with the well being and/or orlog of man. So I set out to examine valkyrjar, fylgjur and hamingja as well. I found many more references than I thought there would be and quickly found that the lines of differentiation between dísir, valkyrja, fylgjur and hamingja were many times very blurry and sometimes even non-existent. Even so if we examine each of these female beings side by side we might be able to come to some fairly confident conclusions.

The word dís (plural dísir) can mean sister, female guardian angel or maid in Old Norse. (1) Grimm links the Old Norse dís with the Old High German 'itis', and the Old Saxon 'ides'. (2) The dísablót or 'sacrifice to the dísir would normally take place during the beginning of winter, perhaps during the Winter Nights blót. (3) Other sources give the time of year as in Autumn. (4) There was an event in Sweden called Dísting that was held in February at Upsala. It was not a sacrifice to the dísir despite its name. It was a Thing (legal assembly) and not a blót but it may have descended from an earlier dísablót. (5) Despite this I think we can be safe in saying that celebrating dísablót Winter Nights is a viable option for reconstructing a blót calendar for modern Northmen and Northwomen.

The exact practices of the dísablót are, for the most part, unknown and sometimes contradictory. We have instances that point to the dísir having their own temple as well as sacrifices done in the out of doors. This may not be a contradiction though. It may be that the yearly sacrifice was done out of doors on a hörgr and that there was also a temple in which sacrifices and worship could be made at any time during the year. In any case we have two methods described, the latter of which we will come back to later in the article. In Hervarar Saga King Harald's wife, when finding that her husband was killed in battle as a sacrifice to Othinn, slew herself in the temple of the Dísir and in Friðþóf's Saga (IX) The hall of the dísir is said to be inside the enclosure at 'Baldr's Meadow'. (6) Simek suggests that the word Dísarsalr points to temple worship. (7) The first part of the word should be familiar by now and the second part of the word comes from the Old Norse word 'salr' that means 'a room, hall'. (8)

Perhaps one of the best descriptions of the dísablót comes from the Rafn Version of Hevrarar Saga the dísir sacrifice was done out of doors at night and consisted of a ceremony in which a hörgr was reddened with blood by the kings daughter. Although a hörgr usually signifies an altar constructed of loose stones Olsen (M. Olsen, Farms and Fanes in Ancient Norway trans. By Gleditsch, Oslo, 1928) postulates that the hörg in Norwegian place names could have come to have represented an early type of sanctuary smaller than the public hof. (9) In the case of the Hevrarar Saga though, it is evident that the type of hörgr is one that is outside, and that is the normal meaning of the word hörgr. Another bit of evidence that may support the idea of dísir being worshiped outside comes from folklore. “…traditions survive up to recent times of stones in Iceland sacred to the land-dísir which had to be left undisturbed, so that the grass remained uncut round them, and children were forbidden to play games close by, in case the protective spirits were offended. (10) It is interesting to note here that it is the king's daughter and not the king who makes the sacrifice to the dísir. This could very likely point to the fact that it was primarily the duty of the gythja to conduct the dísablót.

Davidson states that Þorgerðr Hölgabrúðr may be an example of dísir worship as she appears to aid Jarl Hákon in battle who worships her in ways similar to methods of worship for supernatural women mentioned elsewhere in the lore. Further she suggests that these hörgr's, that is, in their latter sense as a shrine, may have belonged primarily to the worship of dísir; citing the fact that Þorgerðr Hölgabrúðr is called Hörgabrúðr in Flateyjarbók. (11)

The Dísablót was in one case accompanied by a great feast. This feast is described in Egil's Saga. “Many toasts were drunk, each involving a whole ale-horn.” Many became incapacitated and some vomited in the main room while others actually made it outside the main door. It was said to be held in Autumn. (12)

The dísir were often involved in battles, sometimes in ways very similar to valkyries. (13) In Ásmundr Saga Kappabana, Ásumndr dreams that armed konar (women) appear to him before combat. They tell him they are his spádísir and promise to help him. (14)  Quoting from the Merseberg poem Grimm uses the example of these “exalted dames” (dísir) to show their participation in battle.  “Others letted the host (hinder, make late) others again grasped (clawed) at chains or wreaths, i.e., withs and twigs with which to twist shackles, or to twine garlands for the victor. “ (15) In Fornaldar Sögur: Hálf's Saga (XV) we find:

  Dead must be

  All your dísir

  Luck is gone, I say,

  From Hálfr's warriors,

  I dreamed this morning

  That our powers

  Vanquished yours

  When they met together.

The loss of support of one's dísir was often thought to be the source of bad luck or to mean that one was fey (destined to die soon). Dubois says, “In Scandinavian paganism the presence of the guardian spirit often went unnoticed until the time of ones death.” (16) In Hálf's Saga it was dreamed by his opponent that Hálf's forces would be vanquished and the reason for this was that his (Hálf's) dísir had deserted him. (17) In the Poetic Edda in Atlamál in Groenlenzku we find the following:
  

   26. Methought dead women
    in the night came hither;
   not ill-clad were they:
   they would choose thee,
   forthwith invited thee
   to their seats.
   I ween thy Dísir
   have forsaken thee.”

   - The Poetic Edda: Thorpe translation 1866

It is obvious that the loss of one's dís meant that things would fare quite badly for the person. In Volsunga Saga we find the same thing, that is, the appearance of ones dísir heralding death. In Chapter XXXVI in a dream again, we find, “Yet again I dreamed -- that women came in, heavy and drooping, and chose thee for their mate; may-happen these would be thy fateful (dísir) women." . In an early poem of Bjorn of Hitdale he refers to foreseeing Dísir, who are summoning him to his death. (18) It is interesting to note that Eyjólfr's enemies were thought to have triumphed over him because their fylgjur were more powerful than his own. (19) We'll come back to this later when examining possible connections between fylgjur and dísir.

A man's dís would sometimes warn him of impending danger, many times coming to him in dreams. In Vatnsdæla Saga (XXXVI) a woman who attended Þorsteinn and his family came to him in a dream warning him not to leave. The same happened to another Þorsteinn in Draumr Þorstein Sídu-Hallssonar. He was visited by three women who warned him that his thrall was plotting to kill him. (20)

The dísir were generally considered to be ancestral spirits or connected to a particular ancestral line. In the afore mentioned Vatnsdæla Saga we are told that Þorsteinn's dís had attended him and his family. We may be able to go even further and say that the dísir were the spirits of female ancestors who had died and stayed on to guard their ancestral line. In Atlamál Groenlenzku the dísir are specifically described as “dead women” according to Jochens. (21) That they are described as dead women seems to imply that they were ancestors.

As we will see is the case with hamingja a person's dís could be borrowed. In Þorstein's Saga Víkingssonar XXII the dwarf Sindri, when bidding farewell to Þorsteinn, promises that his (the dwarf's) dísir shall follow and protect him. (22)

In some instances the dís was considered the wife of the person she watched over and would receive him as her husband upon his death. In Volsunga Saga XXXVI we find, “Yet again I dreamed – that women came in, heavy and drooping, and chose thee for their mate; may-happen these would be thy fateful (dísir) women.” In Gisli Sursson's Saga when he was living the life of an outlaw two women would come to him in his dreams. One was destructive and hostile and foretold his death by violence and the other was compassionate and welcoming and promised to receive him into her dwelling. (23) Perhaps lending credibility to the idea that Þorgerðr Hölgabrúðr as being a dís is the fact that Jarl Hákon is called “Þorgerðr's husband. (24)

Upon the death of the person that the dís watched over she would transfer to another person, most often someone in the same family line. One of the best examples of this is in Hallfreðar Saga (XI)

They saw a women walking after the ship; she was tall and clad in a coat of mail; she walked over the waves as if she were on land. Hallfreðr gazed at her, and saw she was his fylgjukona. “I declare all between me and thee at an end,' he said. “Will you receive me, Þorvaldr?” (Hallfreðr's brother) she asked. He said he would not. Then Hallfreðr the younger (Hallfreðr's son) said “I will receive you.” After this she vanished. Then Hallfreðr said “To you, my son, will I give the sword, the king's gift; but the other treasures you shall lay beside me in my coffin, if I die here in the ship. (25)

In the afore mentioned Draumr Þorstein Sídu-Hallssonar, the three women who come to warn Þorsteinn in his dreams return to him three times. After the third time they are weeping and ask “Where shall we go after your day?” Þorsteinn replies that they should go to his son Magnus. They reply to him that they will not be there with him long and foretell of the death of Þorsteinn's son. (26)

Up to this point we have examined examples of dísir that were helpful and protecting to the man they were attached to. There are also examples of dísir killing or seeking to kill those they are attached to. These “dark dísir” may or may not be a late Christian addition to the lore of the dísir. Probably the most famous example of this is in Flateyjarbók: Oláf's Saga Tryggvasonar. There the story of the death of Þiðrandi is told. Nine women clad in black ride down upon Þiðrandi with drawn swords and kill him. Nine women clad in white try to intercede but cannot reach Þiðrandi in time. These two sets of nine women are said to be the Dísir of the family of Hallr (father of Þiðrandi). The women in black are the Dísir of the old faith, which Hallr has rejected to embrace the new faith, that is, Christianity. They slay his son, Þiðrandi as “punishment” or “tribute” for Hallr forsaking the old ways. The white clad women are said to be the Dísir of the new faith. (26) In Gisli Sursson's Saga when he was living the life of an outlaw two women would come to him in his dreams. One was destructive and hostile and foretold his death by violence and the other was compassionate and welcoming and promised to receive him into her dwelling. (27) When King Aðils falls from his horse and dies while riding around the hall of the dísir in Ynglinga Saga, was he killed by the dísir for some improper action? These examples seem to point to the possibility of the dísir as acting in the role of dispensers of justice.

The dísir seem to have been closely connected with childbirth. It is in this area where they cross over most into functions that are very “norn-like”. Jochen's says that in Nordic sources the dísir are most often mentioned collectively and given the responsibility of controlling human destiny, especially at childbirth and on the battlefield. (28) Oddrúnagrátr and Sigdrifomál reference appeals to Freyja, Frigg (29) and the dísir during childbirth and specifically in Sigrdrífumál we find that whoever helped in birth would have runes inscribed on the palms of the hands and would clasp the joints of the mother and call on the dísir for aid. (30)    

1. A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic Geir T Zoëga 1910. Back

2. Grimm's Teutonic Mythology by Jacob Grimm 1883, vol. 1. Back

3. The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature by Hilda Roderick Ellis (Davidson) 1968, p. 136. Back

4. Egil's Saga “The Sagas of the Icelanders: Ed. Örnólfur Thorsson 2000. Dísablót was being held and was accompanied by a great fest. “Many toasts were drunk, each involving a whole ale-horn.” Many became incapacitated and some vomited in themain room while others actually made it outside the main door. (XLIV) It was said to be held in Autumn, p67. Back

5. Dictionary of Northern Mythology by Rudolf Simek 1996, p.61-62. Back

6. The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature by Hilda Roderick Ellis (Davidson) 1968.p. 53; and Viking Tales of the North (Friðþóf's Saga) by Rasmus B. Anderson 1877. Back

7. Dictionary of Northern Mythology by Rudolf Simek 1996, p.61. Back

8. A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic Geir T Zoëga 1910. Back

9. The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature by Hilda Roderick Ellis (Davidson) 1968, p. 137. Back

10. The Lost Beliefs of Northern Europe by Hilda Ellis Davidson 1993, p.113. Back

11. The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature by Hilda Roderick Ellis (Davidson) 1968,p. 136-137. Back

12. The Sagas of the Icelanders (Egil's Saga) edited by Örnólfur Thorsson 2000, (XLIV) p.67. Back

13. Old Norse Images of Women by Jenny Jochens 1996, p. 38. Back

14. The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature by Hilda Roderick Ellis (Davidson) 1968, p. p. 135. Back

15. Grimm's Teutonic Mythology by Jacob Grimm 1883. Back

16. Nordic Religions of the Viking Age by Thomas A. Dubois. 1999, p. 52 Back

17. The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature by Hilda Roderick Ellis (Davidson) 1968, p. 134.

 Fornaldar Sögur: Hálf's Saga (XV):

 Dead must be

 All your dísir

 Luck is gone, I say,

 From Hálfr's warriors,

 I dreamed this morning

 That our powers

 Vanquished yours

 When they met together. Back

18. The Lost Beliefs of Northern Europe by Hilda Ellis Davidson 1993, p. 118. Back

19. The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature by Hilda Roderick Ellis (Davidson) 1968, p. 129, Ljósvetninga Saga (XXX). Back

20. Ibid., p. 131. Back

21. Old Norse Images of Women by Jenny Jochens 1996, p. 37. Back

22. The Lost Beliefs of Northern Europe by Hilda Ellis Davidson 1993, p. 119. Back

23. The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature by Hilda Roderick Ellis (Davidson) 1968, p. 136. Back

24. Ibid., p. 130. Back

25. Ibid., p. 131. Back

26. Ibid., p. 134. Back

27. The Lost Beliefs of Northern Europe by Hilda Ellis Davidson 1993, p. 119. Back

28. Old Norse Images of Women by Jenny Jochens 1996, p. 38. Back

29. The Lost Beliefs of Northern Europe by Hilda Ellis Davidson 1993. Back

30. Nordic Religions of the Viking Age by Thomas A. Dubois. 1999, p. 112. Back