Death in Norse paganism was associated with diverse customs and beliefs that varied with time, location and social group, and did not form a structured, uniform system. After thefuneral, the individual could go to a range of afterlives includingValhalla (a hall ruled byOdin for the warrior elite who die in battle),Fólkvangr (ruled over byFreyja),Hel (a realm for those who die of natural causes), and living on physically in the landscape. These afterlives show blurred boundaries and exist alongside a number of minor afterlives that may have been significant in Nordic paganism. The dead were also seen as being able to bestow land fertility, often in return forvotive offerings, and knowledge, either willingly or after coercion. Many of these beliefs and practices continued in altered forms after theChristianisation of the Germanic peoples infolk belief.
The concept of the self in pre-Christian Nordic religion was diverse and is not presented as rigid or consistent in survivingOld Norse texts, nor is there a strict dualism of body andsoul as inChristianity. Despite this, components have been identified that could together comprise the individual:
It has been proposed that when the body had been broken down, through decay or immolation, the non-physical component of the individual could start the journey to a realm of the dead;[7] however, other sources emphasise physical life after death asdraugs.[8]
Prior to Christianisation, the North Germanic peoples practiced a variety of burial customs, such as cremation andinhumation, that varied in popularity over time. Remains were buried, such as inhowes, and were typically accompanied by grave goods.[9]
Germanicship burials are well attested, both in archeology, such as atOseberg andSutton Hoo and in writing, such asGisla Saga; sending out the deceased into the sea on a ship is also attested in literary sources, such as ofScyld inBeowulf andBaldr in theProse Edda.[10]
Hel, according toSnorri, is an underground realm ruled byLoki's daughterHel that is the afterlife for most individuals. Within or near Hel isNáströnd, a place of darkness and horror reserved for oath-breakers, murderers and adulterers. On Náströnd is a hall woven with the spines of snakes, a description which has been noted to show significant linguistic similarity with anOld English kenning for theChristian Hell,wyrmsele (snake hall).[11][12] Hel's realm is separated from the world of the living by the riverGjöll, spanned by the bridgeGjallarbrú. The gates are heavy, and close behind those who pass it, preventing them from returning to the realm of the living. Scholars believe that these ideas of Hel are influenced by Early Medieval Christianity, which taught of a realm of punishment in contrast toparadise. The wordHelviti, which still is the name of Hell in modernNorth Germanic languages, means "Hel's punishment".[13]
Hel was not necessarily conceived of as dark and dreary toheathen Scandinavians; the poemBaldrs draumar describes in Hel a hall, decorated with gold and a lavish feasting table ready for the celebration ofBaldr's arrival to the realm after his coming death.[14] Still, it was probably less desired than Valhalla to some individuals, with sagas telling of warriors who cut themselves with spears before dying in order to trick Hel into thinking that they had died heroic deaths in battle.[13]
In the story ofHadingus, inGesta Danorum, Saxo describes a land of the dead that may be Hel. In this account, Hadding is led by an old woman through a sunny land that could grow herbs even in winter, with a great wall that Hadding couldn't pass. The woman then cut the head of a cockerel and threw it over the wall, whereupon it came back to life and could be heard crowing on the other side.[15]
Valhalla is an afterlife where those who die in battle gather aseinherjar, in preparation for the last great battle duringRagnarök. In opposition to Hel's realm, which was a subterranean realm of the dead, it appears that Valhalla was located somewhere in the heavens. Valhalla is presented primarily as an abode for deceased men, with the principal female figures being thevalkyries who gather the fallen warriors on the battlefield and bring them to Odin's hall, where they pour mead for them.[13] InGisla saga, 'hel-shoes' are put on men's feet to allow them to walk to Valhalla.[16]
InHárbarðsljóð, Hárbarðr (who is typically identified as Odin), taunts Thor by saying that theearls who die in battle go to Odin, while Thor receives thethralls.[17]
Some who die in battle are described as going to Hel rather than Valhalla.[18] Valhalla is also not exclusively reserved for those who die in battle, such as inKrákumál whereRagnar Loðbrok describes that he will soon be in Valhalla, despite being killed by snakes in a pit. InGautrek's Saga members of a household believe they will go to Valhalla after sacrificing themselves to Odin by jumping off a precipice namedÆtternisstapa (Family Cliff). The accuracy of this as a historic practice has been questioned; however, it is also referenced inKristni saga, andBede describes a similar or shared tradition in England.[19][20]
Grímnismál describes how Valhalla's roof is made of spears and shields, similar to the hall of thehowe-dweller Geirröðr inÞorsteins þáttr bæjarmagns.[21][22]
It has been proposed that Valhalla developed and gained importance around 500 CE, when Odin gained prominence relative to femalegods associated with death, amid other changes in religious practice, such as a shift in focus frombodies of water to halls and cult buildings, and the development of an aristocratic warrior elite in southern Scandinavia seeking territorial expansion.[23]
Fólkvangr is an afterlife field ruled over byFreyja, who chooses half of those who die in battle to reside with her there, attested solely in thePoetic Edda poemGrímnismál:
Fólkvangr er inn níundi, | Fôlkvang is the ninth, |
| —Old Norse text[24] | —Thorpe Translation[25] |
InEgil's saga,Þorgerðr Egilsdóttir after the death of her brother proclaims that she will not eat again until she dines with Freyja. In this section, Fólkvangr is not explicitly mentioned and the precise afterlife in which she believes she will meet Freyja is unclear.[16]
In Old Norse sources, the deceased can become animate after burial as adraug (also known asOld Norse:aptrgangr (after-walker) orOld Norse:haugbúi (howe-dweller)). Draugs are frequently hostile, especially when the person was unpleasant in life, becoming inhumanly strong and large, and causing destruction and killing in the local area; they commonly damage roofs by riding on them and inFlóamanna saga cause plague. This typically lasts until the body is exhumed and burned, or decapitated – practices continued after the conversion to Christianity.[26] Due to the dangers posed by the ash, it is typically buried away from the settlement.[27] InEyrbyggja saga, the ash is licked by a cow which gives birth to a calf that later kills the man who burnt the body.[28]
Individuals who become harmfulhowe-dweller are often cruel or unsociable in life, such as Glamr inGrettis saga and Þórólfr bægifótr inEyrbyggja saga.[29]Aptrgǫngur are not always monstrous, however, as in the case ofGunnar Hámundarson inNjal's saga:
Now those two, Skarphedinn and Hogni, were out of doors one evening by Gunnar's cairn on the south side. The moon and stars were shining clear and bright, but every now and then the clouds drove over them. Then all at once they thought they saw the cairn standing open, and lo! Gunnar had turned himself in the cairn and looked at the moon. They thought they saw four lights burning in the cairn, and none of them threw a shadow. They saw that Gunnar was merry, and he wore a joyful face. He sang a song, and so loud, that it might have been heard though they had been farther off.[30]
Fires in inhabited howes are also seen inGrettis saga during the encounter with the draug Karr the Old andHervarar saga ok Heidreks whenHervor goes to her fatherAngantyr's mound to obtain the swordTyrfing, in the latter of which it is termed (Old Norse:haugaeldrinn).[31] Once awake, the dead Angantyr refers to the entrance to his grave as "Hel's gate" (Old Norse:helgrind), suggesting there is no clear distinction between the realm and the physical place the individual inhabits after death.[32][33] In the episode in Hervarar saga ok Heidreks, the fire acts as a boundary between the living and the dead, akin to the fiery barrier that separates the realms of the gods andjötnar inSkírnismál.[34]
In addition to the ambiguity between Hel and the grave, the deceased can also return to their howe from Valhalla, as inHelgakviða Hundingsbana II, where the heroHelgi physically travels from there by night to his open burial mound where he lies with wifeSigrún. Here, Helgi is described as being bloody, with ice-cold hands and frost in his hair, and tells her that her weeping over him causes him pain, similar to inLaxdæla saga.[35]
The entry of the dead into hills is described inEyrbyggja saga where the worshipper ofThor, Þórólfr Mostrarskegg holdsHelgafell ("Holyfell"), a hill or mountain near his home, sacred. Þórólfr's son Þorsteinn Þorskabítr later dies, along with his crew, on a fishing expedition:
Þat var eitt kveld um haustit, at sauðamaðr Þorsteins fór at fé fyrir norðan Helgafell. Hann sá, at fjallit laukst upp norðan. Hann sá inn í fjallit elda stóra ok heyrði þangat mikinn glaum ok hornaskvöl, ok er hann hlýddi, ef hann næmi orðaskil, heyði hann, at þar var heilsat Þorsteini þorskabít ok förunautum hans ok mælt, at hann skal sitja í öndvegi gegnt feðr sínum. | That same harvest Thorstein fared out to Hoskuldsey to fish; but on an evening of harvest a shepherd-man of Thorstein's fared after his sheep north of Holyfell; there he saw how the fell was opened on the north side, and in the fell he saw mighty fires, and heard huge clamour therein, and the clank of drinking-horns; and when he hearkened if perchance he might hear any words clear of others, he heard that there was welcomed Thorstein Codbiter and his crew, and he was bidden to sit in the high-seat over against his father. |
| —Old Norse text[36] | —Morris Translation[37] |
Landnámabók supports this, stating that Þórólfr's kinsmen believed they would enter into the fell when they died.Njáls saga also gives an account of Svanr, a wizard, who was welcomed into the mountain Kaldbak after he drowned at sea. The belief in entering into hills, such as Þorisbjorg and Melifell, upon death is referenced elsewhere in Landnámabók. A similar belief amongSámi continued into the modern period. It has been suggested that belief in the dead living in howes and mountains are connected, with both being presented as halls on the inside.[38]
It has been noted that those who are associated with this belief in saga literature and Landnámabók are related to one another. This had led to the proposal that the belief was part of a local, or family practice that was brought toIceland early in the 10th century.[39]
Rán, the wife ofÆgir, is a god who receives into her halls those who drown at sea, as described in sources such asFriðþjófs saga andSonatorrek.[40] InSkáldskaparmál, she is described as catching the drowned in her net.[41] Nonetheless, Rán's halls are not the sole afterlife for those who die at sea, such as inEyrbyggja saga when Þorsteinn Þorskabítr and his crew die on a fishing trip but are seen entering into Helgafell.[42] Ejybyggja saga also describes Þorod and his men being killed when their ship is driven ashore, whereupon their bodies are lost. At the funeral feast, the men enter dripping wet and are welcomed because of the belief that attending one's own funeral after drowning was a sign that one was well received by Rán.[43][44]
Gimlé is a golden hall attested inVöluspá that will be the residence of mankind afterRagnarök.Snorri Sturluson adds to this description inGylfaginning, stating that it is reserved for those who acted virtuously in life and is located in the thirdheaven,Víðbláinn, separate fromAndlàngr andAsgard. Along with Gimlé, two more halls are listed by Snorri that are namedBrimir andSindri; however, some translators such as Caroline Larrington read these names as belonging to the owners of the halls.[45][46] Snorri's additions are believed by scholars to have been heavily influenced by Christian teaching, based on the levels of heavens and also that Snorri interpreted Ragnarök as theJudgement Day for one's actions. Belief in these afterlives thus do not likely represent a pre-Christian worldview.[47]
TheásynjaGefjun is attended by women who die unmarried according toGylfaginning.[48] This is not attested elsewhere and may be an invention bySnorri although it has been noted that the association between the god and chastity is also seen inVölsa þáttr, when she is invoked by a girl who opposes the religious practice involving an embalmed phallus.[16]
Surviving texts indicate that there was a belief inrebirth inGermanic paganism.[49] InHelgakviða Hundingsbana II andHelgakviða Hjörvarðssonar in thePoetic Edda describe the rebirth of the loversHelgi Hundingsbane andSváva, and Helgi andSigrún respectively.[50] Rebirth is also suggested in somesagas such as ofStarkaðr andOlaf Geirstad-Alf, the latter case of which is directly associated with entry into the deceased's burial mound.[51] Scholars have also explored the potential association with the naming newborns after the dead, often through the family line.[52]
Scholars have proposed thatcyclic time was the original format for the mythology.[53] Most notably, the destruction of the world inRagnarök and its subsequent rebirth, as described inVöluspá andGylfaginning, could be seen as a cycle, although it is never explicitly stated to occur more than once.[54]
Old Norse sources describe burial mounds acting as places of religious activity, often with the aim of bringing or maintaining the fertility of the land. In some sources such asSaga Ólafs ens Helga, they are referred to asOld Norse:blothaugar (sacrificialhowes).[55]
In some accounts the recipient of worship are deceased rulers such as King Guðmund in theHauksbók manuscript version ofHervarar saga ok Heidreks.[56]Hálfdanar saga Svarta, inHeimskringla, describes that harvests were better under the rule ofHalfdan the Black than with previous kings. When he died, his body was divided in four, and each piece was buried in a howe to ensure the continuation of the good harvests in each area. TheFlateyjarbók account further adds that many people performedblóts at the mounds until it was outlawed. InÞáttr Ólafs Geirstaða Alfs, Hálfdan's brother Olaf is buried in a howe upon death and during a famine, the people began performing blóts to bring plenty, and calling him Olaf Geirstad-Elf (Old Norse:Ólaf Geirstaða Álfr). Similar accounts inYnglinga saga andÓlafs saga Tryggvasonar give aeuhemeristic description ofFreyr as a king of Sweden who was buried in a howe when he died and was subsequently worshipped and called a god.[57]
The tradition of putting out gifts such as food and beer on mounds has survived into modern times throughoutNorthern Europe such as to theOrcadian hogboon or hog-boy, which derives its name fromOld Norse:haugbui (howe-dweller),[58][59] atWayland's Smithy in England,[60] and to elves in Sweden.[61]
A recurring motif inOld Norse literature is an otherworldly encounter connected with a male figure sitting on a howe, who is commonly a herdsman, such as thejötnar, as withEggþér,Þrymr.[62][63]Þorleifs þáttr jarlaskálds, fromFlateyjarbók, describes how the shepherd Hallbjörn remembered a verse told to him in a dream by the deadskald Þorleifr as he slept on his howe, and was thereafter a great poet.[63] The similarity has been further noted between this image andGunnar Hámundarson singing from within his own howe inNjal's saga.[64] Similarities have been noted with otherNorthern European cultures, such as theWelsh andIrish, in which howes are also a place to encounter and receive knowledge from the otherworld.[65]
Sitting on a howe is also associated with rulership. In literary sources, sitting on mounds is linked to holding power and accordingly, King Hrollaugr descends from his seat upon a howe when he isvassalised byHarald Fairhair inHaralds saga hárfagra.Things were often held at sites with howes. In Sweden, some of these mounds have flattened tops, such as Injald's howe in Husby which dates to theMigration Period. It has been proposed that these served as platforms for public ceremonies.[66] The howe sat upon is often said to be of a direct relative of the king such as of his wife, as inHjálmðérs saga ok Ölvérs andGöngu-Hrólfs saga, or his father, as inFriðþjófs saga. Sitting on a dead ruler's howe is further recorded as a way to assert one's claim to the throne, as is described inÓlafs saga helga when the child Björn sits on the mound of his father to challenge the kingship of his uncle.[67] The connection is also seen with producing a rightful heir inVölsunga saga in which it is upon a howe that King Rerir receives an apple from one ofFrigg's maids in theform of a crow that allowed his wife to conceiveVölsung.[68][69] Again, these practices show similarities with those of Medieval Welsh culture.[70]
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InHávamál, Odin when speaking of the spells he knows states:
Þat kann ek it tolfta: | I know a twelfth, |
| —Old Norse text[71] | —Orchard Translation[72] |
This skill is used after the death ofMimir when Odin preserves his head and uses him as a source of hidden knowledge. He also raises the dead using agaldr inBaldrs draumar when he commands avölva to reveal why his sonBaldr is having bad dreams, and so finds out that the god will soon die.[73]
InGrógaldr,Svipdag goes to the howe of his dead mother and wakes her, whereupon she describes herself as having lain in the mould after leaving the world of the living. She then teaches himgaldrar to protect him from danger, including the curse of a dead Christian woman, similar to the waking of Sigrdrífa inSigrdrífumál[74][75]
InHrolfs saga kraka, the half-elf daughter of KingHelgi, Skuld defeatsHrólf Kraki in battle by reanimating those who fall on her side asdraugs, who are stronger than they were in life.[76]
In some cases, both sides of the conflict are continuously revived, leading to a nearly everlasting battle. This can take place in the afterlife, most famously inValhalla when theeinherjar train for the coming conflict atRagnarök. It is also seen in the journey ofHading to the land of the dead inGesta Danorum between those who died in battle, and in the story of Thorstein Uxafotr from theFlateyjarbók, where the fight takes place in the grave.[77]
In the telling ofHjaðningavíg inSkáldskaparmál,Hildr brings back to life each night the fighting armies onHoy of her father and lover, while in the account inSörla þáttr,Freyja is responsible for raising the dead. Many of these accounts show incorporation of Christian narrative elements to overcome this magic, such as intervention fromSaint Olaf.[41][78]
Early sources have an additional complex of beliefs which is connected with the afterlife: death could be described as an erotic embrace between the dead man and a lady who represents the afterlife. This lady was oftenHel, but it could also beRán who received those who died at sea.Rán's nine daughters are also depicted as erotic partners in death. There is good reason to believe that such erotic elements are not justskaldic playfulness, but authentic pagan notions, since they appear in the oldest knownskaldic poems. In the 9th century poemYnglingatal, the kings are said in several stanzas to be in "Hel's embrace". Several skaldic poems and sagas describe death in battle or on the sea with erotic terminology. The skald praises the brave sea warrior who fights in vain against the natural forces, but who finally has to give up, and then he enters Rán's bed or is embraced by her nine daughters.[79]
Several ofGotland's 2 to 3 m tallphallicimage stones, raised in remembrance of the dead, show scenes alluding to death and eroticism. The stones have richly decorated surfaces and they often in the upper field depict a welcoming scene in the realm of the dead between a man and a lady. The lady offers adrinking horn to the man who arrives onSleipnir. It is the man's phallic shape, among other things, which has led scholars to connect the images to the literary sources. The scene could depict the deceased who is united with Hel or with Rán. It is primarily kings and chieftains who are portrayed with an erotic death, but also the death of a hero can be portrayed in the same way.[79]
The connection between death and eroticism is probably ancient in Scandinavia, and to this testify numerous "white stones", great phallic stones that were raised on the barrows. The tradition goes back to the 5th century, and in total 40 such stones have been discovered, mostly on Norway's southwestern coast. It is possible that death required an extra portion of fertility and eroticism, but also that the living received life force from the dead. The thought might have been that life and death have the same origin, and if an individual died, the fertility and the future life of theætt would be ensured.[79]
Phallic stones from newer time are also found in church areas (where they are often white and have symbols from Christian time), like inSandeid church yard, two inBygland cemetery, three inTalgje church yard, at least one at theVærøy Church and a lost stone fromRanem priest house mentioned byGerhard Schøning. Some of the phallic stones calledsåsteinar were in use until 20th century during sowing in spring, when farmers smeared them with butter. There are known eight such stones inTelemark, one inSlidre and one inArnafjord, but not all of them were certainly in modern use.[citation needed]
Another account of phallic stones connected to wedding rituals arepikksteinar, placed in so-calledbrudled rows made of menhirs and other stones in the mountains ofSetesdal andSirdal. Wedding processions going from farms nearby to a closest church were crossing mountains and passing the menhir rows and the phallic stones. There are known many such stone rows, but only few of them (ca. 15) have phallic stones.[80][81] Some of the wedding paths are still in use per 2007.[citation needed]
Ibn Fadlan's eyewitness account of aRus' funeral describes a slave girl who volunteered to be sacrificed. When the chieftain had been put in the ship, she went from tent to tent where she had sex with one man each time, who said to her to tell their deceased lord that they did it out of love for him. Lastly, she entered a tent that had been raised on the ship, and in it, six men had intercourse with her before she was strangled and stabbed.[82] The sexual rites with the slave girl have led to the proposal that she was considered to be a vessel for the transmission of life force to the deceased chieftain.[83] However, the choice to be sacrificed was offered to both males and females, and that single-sex, joint burials occur, such as with theOseberg ship burial, suggesting that companionship was their main function; assumptions regarding gender roles complicate these interpretations where the rationale for the rites are not explicitly described.[84]