TheDísablót was theblót (sacrificial holiday) which was held in honour of the female spirits or deities calleddísir[1] (and theValkyries[2]), from pre-historic times until theChristianization of Scandinavia. Its purpose was to enhance the coming harvest.[3] It is mentioned inHervarar saga,Víga-Glúms saga,Egils saga and theHeimskringla. The celebration still lives on in the form of an annual fair called theDisting inUppsala,Sweden.
The Dísablót appears to have been held duringWinter Nights,[1] or at thevernal equinox.[4] In one version ofHervarar saga, there is a description of how the sacrifice was performed. Alfhildr, the daughter of king Alfr ofAlfheim, was kidnapped byStarkad Aludreng while she was reddening ahörgr with blood.[1][5]
This suggests that the rite was performed by women, especially in light of what is generally believed to be their nearly exclusive role as priestesses of the pagan Germanic religion.[1] However, according to theYnglinga saga part of theHeimskringla, theking of Sweden performed the rites, which was in accordance with his role ashigh priest of theTemple at Uppsala. The mention of the Dísablót concerns the death of kingEadgils (Aðils,Adils) who died from falling off his horse while riding around the shrine:
King Adils was at a Disa sacrifice; and as he rode around the Disa hall his horse Raven stumbled and fell, and the king was thrown forward upon his head, and his skull was split, and his brains dashed out against a stone. Adils died at Upsal, and was buried there in a mound. The Swedes called him a great king.[6]
In Sweden, the Dísablót was of central political and social importance. The festivities were held at the end of February or early March atGamla Uppsala.[7] It was held in conjunction with the great fairDisting and the great popular assembly called theThing of all Swedes.[8]
TheIcelandic historianSnorri Sturlusson, who was well-informed of Swedish matters and visited the country in 1219,[9] explained in theHeimskringla (1225):
In Svithjod[10] it was the old custom, as long as heathenism prevailed, that the chief sacrifice took place in Goe month[11] atUpsala. Then sacrifice was offered for peace, and victory to the king; and thither came people from all parts of Svithjod. All the Things of the Swedes, also, were held there, and markets, and meetings for buying, which continued for a week: and after Christianity was introduced into Svithjod, the Things and fairs were held there as before.[12]
The shrine where the Dísir were worshiped was calleddísarsalr and this building is mentioned in theYnglinga saga concerning king Aðils' death. It also appearsHervarar saga, where a woman becomes so infuriated over the death of her father by the hands ofHeiðrekr, her husband, that she hangs herself in the shrine.
The Scandinaviandísablót is associated with the Anglo-Saxonmodranect ("mothers' night") byGabriel Turville-Petre.[13] The Anglo-Saxon month roughly equivalent to November was called blot-monath.
The number of references to the Disir ranging from theMerseburg Charms to many instances in Germanic mythology indicate that they were considered vital deities to worship and that they were primary focus of prayers (e.g. the charms) for luck against enemies in war.