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The Religious Practices of the Pre-Christian and Viking Age North
There seems to have been, as can be seen in previous sections,
an inner room or area where the statues of the gods and the stalli were located.
This part of the hof would have been smaller than the main part of the building
in which the feasts were held assuming they were not held in a separate hall.
The feast hall had fire pits down the middle over which cauldrons of meat were
cooked for the blót feast. On each side of the fire pits would have been
tables and benches on which the participants in the feast sat and ate. (92)
This is also supported possibly, in Fridthjof's saga where we find the kings
and their wives sitting in a room were fires burned on the floors and their
wives sat anointing the gods. There was drinking going on in another room. (93)
Depending on the resources of the person who owned and/or maintained
the hof they could be very beautifully decorated. But even the smaller hofs
could have been carved with beautiful carvings in wood and hung with elaborate
tapestries. The hof dedicated to Thorgerd Hörgabrúd, who was possibly
the family dís of Hákon Jarl, is described as adorned with inlaying
of gold and silver on the inside and to have had so many windows that there
was not a shadow in the whole place. (94) When Charlemagne destroyed the Irminsul
(8th century) he is said to have removed great treasures of gold and silver
from there. Gold vessels, beautiful broaches, one of which was in the shape
of an eagle, and a great jeweled collar were among the treasures removed from
a site at Petrossa, Romania in 1837. The well known Gundestrup Cauldron may
have been dismantled and removed to deposit in the bog it was found in and is
thought by scholars to have been from a hof. (95) There are many places in the sagas where the hofs, especially
the smaller ones, are said to be tented and hung with tapestries. It was common
for Norse chieftains to hang their halls with beautifully made tapestries so
we can trust that this was a genuine practice for Northmen in decorating their
hofs. (96) In the late Kjalnesinga Saga there is a description of a hof that
is much similar to the one built buy Thorgrim Helgisson. It was one hundred
and twenty feet long by sixty feet wide. At the inner end was a 'circular annex'
shaped like a cap or hood. Tapestries hung within. Like Thorgrim's temple the
chief god was Thorr whose statue stood in the middle with the statues of the
other gods surrounding him. There was also a stalli topped with an iron plate
on which was a fire kept constantly burning and silver oath ring and a hlautbolli.
(97) Another feature we find common in descriptions of hofs is that
most have a gold ring which is hung on the door. There was one said to have
been ordered by Earl Hakon for the hof at Throndheim. (98) Another is described
as coming from the door of a temple at Hlader which Olaf had taken in Olaf Tryggvasson's
Saga. The dísarsalr (hofs dedicated to the dísir) are
described in the lore as well. In Fridthjof's Saga it is described as the highest
among buildings in the Baldr's Grove. It had fires along the floor and seats
on either side. (99) The hall was thatched with bleached linen which was probably
connected with the goddesses who are weavers and spinners. (100) The Dísar
hall described in Ynglinga Saga was big enough for King Adils to ride around
with his horse. There may be some indication here that the kings actions were
somehow disrespectful and where the cause of his horse stumbling which caused
his death. (101) (102) Unlike the temples of the Greeks and Romans, Northern hofs do
not seem to have been very much mention of going to them for purposes of healing.
(103) This seemed to be the domain of grave mounds and other open air sites.
(104) Most hofs seem to have been dedicated primarily to one god or
goddess although more than one were worshipped in the same hof. As can be seen
above there was usually one god who was placed in the center and was considered
the deity for whom the hof was primarily dedicated to. This spot seems to have
been normally taken by Thorr. (105) Freyr seems to have occupied this position
as well in many temples. (106) In Hrafnkel's Saga, the saga's namesake built
a hof that was holy to Freyr and he was called 'freysgothi.' (107) With the larger temples it was common to have a "temple tax" to assist in the upkeep of the hof. In one instance the hofgythja (gothi or gythja responsible for collecting the tax and up-keeping the temple) Steinvör had a problem getting a certain Thorleif to pay his temple tax as the other men in the district did. (108) In Ynglinga Saga we are told by Snorri that Othinn imposed a scat or tax on each person which was used to maintain readiness to defend the country and to pay for the sacrifice feasts. (109) When Freyr took over there were said to be several districts called Uppsala-Aud (Uppsala wealth) that were set apart to help pay for the maintaining of the hof and to help pay for the great sacrificial feasts. As may have been the case in most instances such as this, some of the land was considered the personal property of the hofghothi. (110) The temple near Helgafell that was built by Thórólf Mostrar-skeggr also had a temple tax of which everyone in the district was expected to pay. (111) Pillars, Posts and the Irminsul
From the archaeological evidence post holes and therefore posts
or pillars existed in Northern hofs. The descriptions in the sagas we have back
this up as well. From the descriptions of the groundsill which Stave Churches
are built on we can see that there is a good possibility that most of these
pillars were practical in nature though that does not rule out their ritual
significance. Many times what started out for practical reasons in time becomes
holy. The central support pillar in these hofs may have been an example of this
duel purpose, both practical and holy. Besides offering support and stability
to the central part of the hof this central pillar could have represented the
world tree, the center of the nine worlds. That these pillars were considered holy is easily seen in the
sagas. The high seat pillars were considered holy to Thorr. (112) We have more
than one example of pillars being thrown overboard into the water and in order
to see where they would make landfall. The pillars were thought to have been
guided by Thorr. Ingólf and Hjörleif together, Lodmund the old and
Thórólf Mostrar-skeggr all three used this method when sailing
for Iceland. These stories are told in Landnámabók and in Eyrbyggja
Saga. (113) An archaeological find in 1926 found post holes underneath the
church at Gamla Uppsala. They were arranged in such a way that if connected
would have formed concentric rectangles. (114) This shows an arrangement that
seems to be present in most hofs, that is, the stalli and statues being in the
center of the hof, much like the world tree and Mithgarthr is the center of
the nine worlds. This very possibly shows an intentional design that was set
up to mirror the cosmological beliefs of the Northern Way. As I hope to show
later when talking about Sacred Ground, the hofs and other holy sites were set
up so that the most holy part of the temple was in the center and the central
support pillar which was some times called the Irminsul would have represented
the World Tree, Yggdrasill. Davidson lends support to this theory (as does Grimm
[115]) when she says, Among Scandinavians of the Viking Age a tree appears to
be the main symbol of the central pivot of the universe, but the so-called 'high-seat
pillars' of wood which formed the main support in the center of halls and sanctuaries
might be viewed as a northern version of the Germanic pillars raised in holy
places." (116) The pillar was a very significant feature in holy sites for the
Germanic peoples. At Eresburg, the Anglo-Saxons had a high wooden pillar that
they called Irminsul. (117) It was thought that this pillar was connected with
a god named Irmin which some believe is connected to Tiwaz (Tyr). (118) Rudolf
of Fulda describes the Irminsul as a universal pillar supporting the whole,
which would serve to connect it to the World Tree. (119) Irminsul is also spelled
as Hirminsul in the Chron. Moissiac. The Franks in the 8th through 13th centuries
connected the word Irminsul with pillars with a Northern image carved on them.
Grimm speculates that the Thorr's pillars, the Anglo-Saxon Æthelstân-pillars
and the later Roland-pillars are connected with the Irminsul. (120) Again the Christians made use of this when they could, but more often they made a show of chopping down these pillars as they did with holy trees and groves. The great pillars of the Christian temple of the Grail are described in the Hanover MS as irmensûl. (121) In the Frankish annals Charles the Great destroyed a chief seat of 'Heathen superstition' that was called Irminsûl. (122)
The idea of holy ground is one that is common to most religions
and the Northern Way was no different. There were certain rules that must be
followed when one treaded on holy ground. One prohibition that seems to have been almost universal is that
no violence was to be done on holy ground for any reason, excepting sacrifices
of course, which were not considered in the same category. To commit violence
on holy ground was considered an outlaw offence, which for Northmen was almost
a death sentence. An outlaw had no rights and could be killed on sight without
penalty. So it is easy to see how serious an offense Northmen considered the
committing of violence on holy ground. We have more than a few examples of this
in the literature. At the afore mentioned Sacred Oak at Romove, no tree could
be cut down nor was any beast allowed to be slain there. (123) At Helgafell
no man or beast was allowed to be injured in any way and no violence could be
committed there. (124) In Eybyggja Saga we are told that the hof area was considered
so holy that men should not defile the field with blood-shedding nor where they
allowed to relieve themselves there. "..to that end was appointed a skerry
called Dirtskerry." (125) In Landnámabók Thorhad considered
the fjord where he landed in Iceland as so holy that nothing was to be slain
there except homestead cattle. (126) Learn more about the Northern Way on Northvegr Forums or join the Northvegr Félag Mailing List. © 2004-2007 Northvegr. Most of the material on this site is in the public domain. However, many people have worked very hard to bring these texts to you so if you do use the work, we would appreciate it if you could give credit to both the Northvegr site and to the individuals who worked to bring you these texts. A small number of texts are copyrighted and cannot be used without the author's permission. Any text that is copyrighted will have a clear notation of such on the main index page for that text. Inquiries can be sent to info@northvegr.org. Northvegr™ and the Northvegr symbol are trademarks and service marks of the Northvegr Foundation. |
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