LITMIR.BIZ

      Fig. 779.—Probably a sacrificing slab, on a rocky ridge at Viala, Vingåkers parish, Södermanland, overlooking Lake Kolsnaren; 7 feet 10 inches in length, 5 feet 10 inches in width, and 10 inches thick.

      “A mound composed of earth and pure pfennings; for thither must be carried a handful of silver and a handful of mould for every one who dies, and also for every one who is born. Odd said: ‘Then kinsman Gudmund you shall go ashore with your men to the mound this night, according to this man’s direction; and I will take care of the ships with my men.’ They did this, and went to the mound, where they collected as much money as they could carry, and with their burden returned to the ships. Odd was well satisfied with the results, and delivered the man into their keeping. ‘Keep good watch over him,’ he said, ‘for his eyes are all the time turned towards the shore, so that he could not have found it as disagreeable there as he says.’ Odd with his men then went ashore, and up to the mound. Gudmund and Sigurd, meanwhile watching the ships, put the man between them, and began to sift away the mould from the silver; but when they least expected it he jumped up and overboard, and swam towards the land. Gudmund snatched a harpoon and shot after him; it pierced the calf of his leg, but he reached the shore and disappeared in the forest. When Odd with his companions arrived at the mound, they each decided to take burdens according to their strength, but on no account heavier than could be easily carried”²⁶⁹ (Orvar Odd’s Saga, c. 9 & 10).

      Among the human sacrifices were those called blódörn (blood eagle), so called on account of the skin or flesh being cut down the whole back to the ribs, from both sides of the spine, in the shape of an eagle, and of the lungs being drawn through the wound. This special mode of sacrifice seems to have been practised on the slayer of a man’s father.²⁷⁰

      “After King Harald Fairhair’s sons had grown up they became very unruly, and fought within the country. The sons of Snœfrid, Halfdan Háleg (high leg) and Gudröd Ljómi, slew Rögnvalld Mœra Jarl. This made Harald very angry, and Halfdan fled westward over the sea, but Gudröd got reconciled to his father. Halfdan went to the Orkneys, and Einar Jarl fled from the isles to Scotland, while Halfdan made himself king of the Orkneys. Einar Jarl returned the same year, and when they met a great battle took place, in which Einar was victorious, and Halfdan jumped overboard. The following morning they found Halfdan on Rinar’s hill. The Jarl had a blood eagle (blodörn) cut on his back with a sword, and gave him to Odin for victory. After that he had a mound thrown up over Halfdan. When the news of this reached Norway his brothers were very angry, and threatened to go to the islands and avenge him; but this Harald prevented. Somewhat later Harald went westward across the sea to the isles; Einar went away from the islands, and over to Caithness (Katanes). After this men intervened and they became reconciled. Harald laid a tribute on the islands, and ordered them to pay sixty marks of gold. Einar Jarl offered to pay the tribute, and in return possess all the odals (allodial rights). This the bœndr agreed to, for the rich thought they would buy them back, and the poor had not property enough to pay the tribute. Einar paid it, and for long after the jarls possessed all the odals, until Sigurd Jarl gave them up to the men of the Orkneys. Einar Jarl ruled long over the Orkneys, and died on a sick bed” (Flateyjarbók, p. 224, vol. i.).

      The custom of a man giving himself to Odin on a sick bed by marking himself or being marked with the point of a spear, probably arose from the disgrace which was supposed to attach to a man who died unwounded in his bed, and not in battle. Odin himself²⁷¹ followed this practice, which enabled a man to come to Valhalla. … When tired of life, or of old age, men gave themselves to Odin by throwing themselves from the rocks.

      Eirik the victorious, who fought against Styrbjörn, gave himself to Odin in order to get the victory; and Harald Hilditönn was killed by Odin himself, because he had become so old.

      The earliest account given of a human sacrifice in the North is that of Domaldi, which, if we may trust the genealogies, took place about the beginning of the Christian era.

      “Domaldi inherited and ruled the land after his father Visbur. In his days there was in Sweden great hunger and famine; then the Swedes made large sacrifices at Uppsalir. The first autumn they sacrificed oxen, but the season did not improve; the second autumn they sacrificed men, but the season was the same or worse; the third autumn the Swedes came in crowds to Uppsalir when the sacrifice was to take place. The chiefs held their consultations, and agreed that the hard years were owing to their king, and that they must sacrifice him for good years, and should attack and slay him, and redden the altars with his blood. And thus they did” (Ynglinga Saga, ch. 18).

      “Before the holding of the Althing (in the year 1000) in Iceland the heathens held a meeting, and resolved to sacrifice two men from every district of the land (Iceland was divided into four quarters), and to invoke their gods that they should not let Christianity spread over the country. Hjalti and Gizur had another meeting with the Christians, and said they would have human sacrifices as many as the heathens, adding: ‘They sacrifice the worst men and cast them dawn from rocks and cliffs, but we will choose them for their virtues, and call it a victory-gift to our Lord Jesus Christ; we shall live the better, and more warily against sin than before. Gizur and I will give ourselves as a victory-gift on the behalf of our district’ ” (Biskupa Sögur i.).

      From the following passage it will be seen that when Christianity gained a footing in Iceland, human sacrifices were abandoned:—

      “Thorólf Heljarskegg (Hel-beard) settled in Forsœludal (Iceland); he was a very overbearing man and unpopular, and caused many a quarrel and uproar in the district. He made himself a stronghold (virki) south at Fridmundará, a short way from Vatnsdalsá, in a ravine; a ness was between the ravine and the river, and a large rock in front of it. He was suspected of sacrificing men, and there was not one in the whole valley that was more hated than he” (Vatnsdœla, ch. 16).

      Hallstein, an Icelandic chief, son of the Norwegian chief, Thorólf Mostrarskegg,

      “Dwelt at Hallsteinsnes. There Hallstein sacrificed his son, in order that Thor might send him high-seat-pillars (126 feet); thereafter a tree came on his land, sixty-three ells in length and two fathoms (6 ells = 12 feet) thick; this was used for his high-seat-pillars, and of it are made the high-seat-pillars of nearly every farm in the Thverfjords” (Landnama ii., c. 23).²⁷²