When you read more sensational stories about Viking history, you will often hear tell of barbaric human sacrifices! While there is evidence of occasional human sacrifices among the Vikings in exceptional circumstances, the practice was rare. It seems primarily to have been associated with kingship. Ahmad ibn Fadlan observed Volga Vikings, a group of Swedish…
Several different types of magic are known from the Norse world. There is Seidr magic used by powerful seeresses and Volva (witches). Then there is rune magic practiced by warriors and the Galdrastafir runic magical staves from medieval Iceland. Galdr is another magical art known from the Viking world. This is a type of magical…
The Vikings believed that the runes were not a created alphabet but a fundamental part of the fabric of the universe discovered by Odin and shared with mankind. Used correctly, they could magically shape the world. We have written previously on the blog about the historical development of the runes and what we know about…
The great Viking era began in the 700s when Viking ship technology advanced to the point where they could successfully raid their European neighbors and colonize new lands in the North Atlantic Sea. The Viking Age ended when the Pagan warrior clans had transformed into Christian states under strong kings who developed political relationships with…
We know that Viking culture had sacred spaces to worship their gods because they are mentioned in the surviving sagas and sources. But very little specific detail survives. We must piece together what these spaces might have been like from descriptions in texts written in Christian times, descriptions of the cult practices of earlier related…
One of the things that we get asked about most is Norse holidays. Which ones did the Vikings celebrate, how did the Vikings mark them, and how do they relate to the important holidays that we celebrate today? With those questions in mind, let’s take a look at the Norse calendar and how it frames…
If you are a student of Viking history or Norse mythology then you have probably come across the name Snorri Sturluson. He is one of our main sources for both the legendary stories of the gods and the histories of the Norwegian kings. But considering just how important Snorri Sturluson is as a source, it…
It is well known that the Vikings originally hailed from the modern Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, all of which were formed in the Viking age when areas ruled by chieftains were consolidated into confederated alliances. We also know that the Vikings raided around Europe and eventually began to settle in some of…
Questions of destiny and pre-determined fate loom large in Viking culture. They believed that the moment of every person’s death was preordained from the moment of their birth and that even the gods are subject to the laws of fate. The Ragnarok prophecy tells the story of the death of all the gods, which is…
Every year in the Danish city of Odense, named after the Norse god Odin, there is an annual flower festival. This reflects the importance of flowers in Scandinavian culture. You are unlikely to enter a home in Sweden or Norway without finding potted plants with carefully cared-for flowers. But were flowers equally important in the…
Are Bog Bodies Evidence of Viking Human Sacrifice?
Galdr – Norse Magical Song
Galdrastafir – Magical Runic Staves
Why did the Vikings Convert to Christianity?