Chapter 3

The great anniversaries of the heathen coincide with popular assemblies and assizes (27) In the Ynglînga saga cap. 8 they are specified thus: þâ skyldi blôta î môti vetri (towards winter) til ârs, enn at miðjum vetri blôta til grôðrar, it þriðja at sumri, þat var sigrblôt (for victory). In the Olafs helga saga cap. 104 (Fornm. sög. 4, 237). en þat er siðr þeirra (it is their custom) at hafa blôt â haustum (autumn) ok fagna þa vetri, annat blôt hafa þeir at miðjum vetri, en hit þriðja at sumri, þa fagna þeir sumari; conf. ed. holm. cap. 115 (see Suppl.). The Autumn sacrifice was offered to welcome the winter, and til ârs (pro annonae ubertate); the Midwinter sacrifice til grôðrar (pro feracitate); the Summer one to welcome the summer, and til sigrs (pro victoria). Halfdan the Old held a great midwinter sacrifice for the long duration of his life and kingdom, Sn. 190. But the great general blôt held at Upsal every winter included sacrifices 'til ârs ok friðar ok sigrs,' Fornm. sög. 4, 154. The formula sometimes runs 'til ârbôtar' (year's increase), or 'til friðar ok vetrarfars gôðs (good wintertime). In a striking passage of the Gutalagh, p. 108, the great national sacrifices are distinguished from the smaller offerings of cattle, food and drink: 'firi þann tima oc lengi eptir siþan troþu menn â hult oc â hauga, vi ok staf-garþa, oc â haiþin guþ blôtaþu þair synum oc dydrum sinum, oc fileþi miþ mati oc mundgati, þat gierþu þair eptir vantro sinni. Land alt hafþi sir hoystu blôtan miþ fulki, ellar hafþi huer þriþiungr sir. En smêri þing hafþu mindri blôtan med, fileþi mati oc mungati, sum haita suþnaustar: þi et þair suþu allir saman.'

Easter-fires, Mayday-fires, Midsummer-fires, with their numerous ceremonies, carry us back to heathen sacrifices; especially such customs as rubbing the sacred flame, running through the glowing embers, throwing flowers into the fire, baking and distributing large loaves or cakes, and the circular dance. Dances passed into plays and dramatic representations (see ch. XIII, drawing the ship, ch. XXIII, and the witch-dances, ch. XXXIV). Afzelius 1, 3 describes a sacrificial play still performed in parts of Gothland, acted by young fellows in disguise, who blacken and rouge their faces (see ch. XVII, sub fine). One, wrapt in fur, sits in a chair as the victim, holding in his mouth a bunch of straw-stalks cut fine, which reach as far as his ears and have the appearance of sow-bristles: by this is meant the boar sacrificed at Yule, which in England is decked with laurel and rosemary (ch. X), just as the devil's offering is with rue, rosemary and orange (ch. XXXIII).---The great sacrificial feast of the ancient Saxons was on Oct. 1, and is traced to a victory gained over the Thuringians in 534 (see ch. VI); in documents of the Mid. Ages this high festival still bears the name of the gemeinwoche or common week (see ch. XIII, Zisa), Würdtwein dipl. magunt. 1 praef. III-V. Scheffers Haltaus p. 142. conf. Höfers östr. wb. 1, 306. Another chronicle places it on Sept. 25 (Ecc. fr. or. 1, 59); Zisa's day was celebrated on Sept. 29, St. Michael's on the 28th; so that the holding of a harvest-offering must be intended all through.---In addition to the great festivals, they also sacrificed on special occasions, particularly when famine or disease was rife; sometimes for long life: 'blôta til lânglifi,' Landn. 3, 4; or for favour (thockasaeld) with the people: 'Grimr, er blôtinn var dauðr (sacrificed when dead) für thokkasaeld, ok kallaðr kamban', Landn. 1, 14. 3, 16. This epithet kamban must refer to the sacrifice of the dead man's body; I connect it with the OHG. pichimpida [[funeral ritual]] funus, Mid. Dut. kimban [[to comb (?)]] comere, Diut. 2, 207. conf. note to Andr. 4.

Human Sacrifices are from their nature and origin expiative; some great disaster, some heinous crime can only be purged and blotted out by human blood. With all nations of antiquity they were an old-established custom (28); the following evidences place it beyond a doubt for Germany (see Suppl.). Tac. Germ. 9: Deorum maxime Mercurium colunt, cui certis diebus humanis quoque hostiis litare fas habent. Germ. 39: stato tempore in silvam coeunt, caesoque publice (in the people's name) homine celebrant barbari ritus horrenda primordia. Tac. Ann. 1, 61: lucis propinquis barbarae arae, apud quas tribunos ac primorum ordinum centuriones mactaverant. Tac. Ann. 13, 57: sed bellum Hermunduris prosperum, Cattis exitiosius fuit, quia victores diversam aciem Marti ac Mercurio sacravere, quo voto equi, viri, cuncta victa occidioni dantur. Isidori chron. Goth. aera 446: quorum (regum Gothicorum) unus Radagaisus...........Italiam belli feritate aggreditur, promittens sanguinem Christianorum diis suis litare, si vinceret. Jornandes cap. 5: quem Martem Gothi semper asperrima placavere cultura, nam victimae ejus mortes fuere captorum, opinantes bellorum praesulem aptius humani sanguinis effusione bellorum praesulem aptius humani sanguinis effusione placandum. Orosius 7, 37 of Radagaisus, whom he calls a Scythian, but makes him lead Goths to Italy: qui (ut mos est barbaris hujusmodi generis) sanguinem diis suis propinare devoverat. Procopius de bello Goth. 2, 15 of the Thulites, i.e. Scandinavians: quousi de endelecestata iereia panta kai enagizousi. twn de iereiwn sfisi to kalliston anqrwpoj, onper an dorialwton poihsainto prwton. touton gar tw Arei quousin, epei qeon auton nomizousi megiston einai. Ibid. 2, 14, of the Heruli: polun tina nomizontej qewn omilon, onj dh kai anqrwpwn qusiaij ilaskesqai osion autoij edokei einai. Ibid. 2, 25, of the already converted Franks at their passage of the Po: epilabomenoi de thj gefuraj oi Fraggoi, paidaj te kai gunaikaj twn Gotqwn, oujper entauqa eupon iereuon te kai autwn ta swmata ej ton potamon akroqinia tou polemou erriptoun. oi barbaroi gar outoi, Cristianoi gegonotej, ta polla thj palaiaj doxhj fulassousi, qusiaij te crwmenoi anqrwpwn kai alla ouc osia iereuontej, tauth te taj manteiaj poionmenoi. Sidonius Apollinaris 8, 6 of the Saxons: mos est remeaturis decimum quemque captorum per aequales et cruciarias poenas, plus ob hoc tristi quod superstitioso ritu necare. Capitul. de partib. Saxon. 9: si quis hominem diabolo sacrificaverit et in hostiam, more paganorum, daemonibus obtulerit. Lex Frisionum, additio sap. tit. 42: qui fanum effregerit.........immolatur diis, quorum templa violavit; the law affected only the Frisians 'trans Laubachi,' who remained heathens longer. What Strabo relates of the Cimbri, and Dietmar of the Northmen, will be cited later. Epist. Bonif. 25 (ed. Würdtw.): hoc quoque inter alia crimina agi in partibus illis dixisti, quod quidam ex fidelibus ad immolandum paganis sua venundent mancipia; masters were allowed to sell slaves, and christians sold them to heathens for sacrifice. The captive prince Graecus Avar de (a) Suevis pecudis more litatus (ch. XIII, the goddess Zisa). (29) For evidences of human sacrifice among the Norse, see Müller's sagabibl. 2, 560. 3, 93. As a rule, the victims were captive enemies, purchased slaves or great criminals; the sacrifice of women and children by the Franks on crossing a river reminds of the Greek diabathria; (30) the first fruits of war, the first prisoner taken, was supposed to bring luck. In folk-tales we find traces of the immolation of children; they are killed as a cure for leprosy, they are walled up in basements (ch. XXXV. XXXVI, end); and a feature that particularly points to a primitive sacrificial rite is, that toys and victuals are handed in to the child, while the roofing-in is completed. Among the Greeks and Romans likewise the victims fell amid noise and flute playing, that their cries might be drowned, and the tears of children are stifled with caresses, 'ne flebilis hostia immoletur'. Extraordinary events might demand the death of kings' sons and daughters, nay, of kings themselves. Thoro offers up his son to the gods; Worm mon. dan. 285. King Oen the Old sacrificed nine sons one after the other to Oðin for his long life; Yngl. saga cap. 29. And the Swedes in a grievous famine, when other great sacrifices proved unavailing, offered up their own king Dômaldi; ibid. cap. 18.



ENDNOTES:

28. Lasaulx die stihnopfer der Griechen u. Römer, Würzburg 1841. pp. 8--13.  (back)

29. Adam of Bremen de situ Daniae cap. 24, of the Lithuanians: dracones adorant cum volucribus, quibus etiam vivos litant homines, quos a mercatoribus emunt, diligenter omnino probatos, ne maculam in corpore habeant.  (back)

30. Hence in our own folk-tales, the first to cross the bridge, the first to enter the new building or the country, pays with his life, which meant, falls a sacrifice. Jornandes cap. 25, of the Huns: ad Scythiam properant, et quantoscunque prius in ingressu Scytharum habuere, litavere Victoriae.  (back)