RELIGION.—SACRIFICES TO THE ALFAR, DISIR, FYLGJA, HAMINGJA, AND
LANDVŒTTIR.
Sacrifices to the Alfar—Early worship of the Alfar—Spirits of the
Alfar—Sacrifices to the Disir—Ceremonies attending the
sacrifices—The Fylgja and Hamingja or following and family
spirits—They take various shapes—They appear in dreams—Guardian
spirits of the land.
The people made sacrifices to the Alfar (_Alfa-blót_) mentioned in the
earlier Edda, as well as to the Asar and Disir, who we have seen were
closely related to the former.[330] These sacrifices, of which there are
few accounts, and which seem to have been made in houses, are perhaps
traces of a religion previous to that of Odin of the North.
King Olaf Haraldsson sent as messengers to Olaf, King of Sweden, Björn,
his marshal, and the Icelandic scald Sigvat. After leaving Norway they
went across the Eidaforest.
“Then they went through Gautland, and one evening came to a farm called
Hof. The door was shut and they could not enter; the husband and wife
said it was holy there, and they went away. Then they came to another
farm; the housewife stood at the door and asked them not to go in,
saying they were holding _Alfa-blót_. Sigvat sang:—
Do not go farther in,
Wretched man;
I fear the wrath of Odin,
We are heathens.”
(St. Olaf’s Saga, c. 92.)
We have seen that the Alfar, from whom some people claimed their
descent, as others did from the Asar, were of two kinds, and dwelt at
Alfheim, not far from the Urd well by the ash Yggdrasil. They made the
fetter _Gleipnir_, with which the Fenris-wolf was kept tied; also the
ship _Skidbladnir_, Odin’s spear _Gungnir_, and Sif’s golden hair, &c.
“Why is gold called the hair of Sif? ‘Loki, son of Laufey, had, through
cunning, cut off all the hair of Sif (wife of Thor). When Thor knew it
he took Loki and would have crushed every bone in him if he had not
sworn to get the Svartalfar (black Altar) to make hair of gold for Sif
which would grow like other hair. Thereafter Loki went to the Dvergar,
called the sons of Ivaldi,[331] and they made the hair and _Skidbladnir_
and the spear of Odin, _Gungnir_. Then Loki staked his head to the Dverg
Brok that his brother Sindri would not be able to make three things as
good as these. When they came to the smithy, Sindri laid the skin of a
swine on the hearth and asked Brok to blow (the bellows), and not to
stop before he had taken from the hearth what he had put on it. When he
had left the forge and Brok had made the bellows blow, a fly[332] sat
down on his hand and pecked at it; he continued until the smith took
from the hearth a boar with golden bristles. Then Sindri put gold on the
hearth and asked him to blow and not to stop till he came back. He went,
and the fly came and sat down on his neck and pecked twice as hard, but
he blew until the smith took from the hearth a gold ring called
_Draupnir_. Then Sindri laid iron on the hearth and asked him to blow,
as this would be of no use if he stopped it. Then the fly settled down
between his eyes and pecked at his eyelids. When the blood ran down into
his eyes so that he saw nothing he swept away the fly as quickly as he
could, and the bellows fell down; then the smith came and said that now
all that was on the hearth had been made nearly useless. He took a
hammer from it and gave all these (three) things to his brother Brok,
and asked him to take them to Asgard for the wager.... Loki gave to Odin
the spear _Gungnir_, to Thor the hair for Sif, to Frey _Skidbladnir_....
Then Brok gave the ring (_Draupnir_) to Odin, and said that every ninth
night eight rings equally heavy would drop from it; he gave the boar to
Frey, and said it could run over sea and air by night and day faster
than any horse, and that the night or mijrk-heimar (the black world)
would never get so dark but there would be enough light from the shining
of its mane. He gave the hammer to Thor, and said that whatever he met,
however large the object was, he might strike it with the hammer and it
would never fail; if he threw it at anything it would never miss, and
never go so far as not to come back into his hand’” (Skáldskaparmal,
35).
“Ragnar (the son of Sigurd Hring) grew up in his father’s hird; he was
taller and handsomer than any man people had seen, and like his mother
and her kin to look at, for it is known from all old sayings about the
people that are called Alfar that they were much finer than other kinds
of men in the northern lands. The parents of his mother Alfhild and all
her kin sprung from Alf the old” (Sögubrot, c. 10).
“The land which King Alf ruled was called Alfheim, and all the people
that spring from him are of the Alfa-kin; next after the Risar they were
finer than other people. King Alf was married to Bryngerd, daughter of
King Raum, in Raumariki; she was tall but not handsome, for Raum was
ugly;[333] the men who are tall and ugly are called _raumar_”
(Thorstein’s Saga Vikingssonar, c. 1).
The people thought that the spirits of the Alfar sometimes lived not far
from human habitations.
Kormak and Thorvard had fought, and the latter had been wounded; he
recovered slowly, and as soon as he could get on his feet went to find
Thordis (a Volva), and inquired how he could best recover his health. He
replied:—
“A short distance from here there is a hill, in which Alfar live. Thou
must get the bull, which Kormak killed, and with its blood redden the
outside of the hill, and make a feast for the Alfar of the meat, and
thou wilt recover” (Kormak’s Saga, c. 22).
_Disa-blót._—The sacrifices offered to the Disir, or genii who specially
guarded men and families and appeared when important events
happened,[334] seem to have been performed by women only, and to have
been usually made in the autumn or winter nights; sometimes human
sacrifices were made to them.
This worship from its very nature was probably of great antiquity, and
belonged to the religion practised by the Asar.
The earliest account of a _Disa-blót_ is in Hervarar Saga.
“A man named Arngrim was a Risi and mountain dweller, who took Ama Ymi’s
daughter from Ymisland, and married her; their son was Hergrim, called
_half-Tröll_. He was sometimes with the mountain Risar, and sometimes
with men; he had the strength of a Jötun; was much skilled in witchcraft
and a great Berserk;[335] he carried off Ogn Alfasprengi from Jötunheim
and married her; they had a son called Grim. Starkad then lived at
Ölfossar; he was by kin a Thurs, and like them in strength and nature;
his father was Störkvid. Ogn Alfasprengi was betrothed to Starkad, but
Hergrim took her from him while he was travelling north over Elivágar;
when he came back he asked him to give him back his wife, and at the
same time challenged him to ‘holmganga.’[336] They fought at the
uppermost waterfall at Eydi. Starkad had eight hands, and fought with
four swords at once. He won the victory, and Hergrim fell. Ogn was
looking on, and when Hergrim had fallen she stabbed herself and would
not marry Starkad. Starkad took all the property of Hergrim with him,
and also his son Grim, who grew up with him, and was both tall and
strong. King Alf, who ruled in Alfheimar, had a daughter Alfhild. At
that time the land between Gautelf and Raumelf was called Alfheimar. One
autumn there was a great _disablót_ (sacrifice to the Disir)[337] at
King Alf’s, and Alfhild went to it; she was more beautiful than any
other woman, and all the people in Alfheimar were handsomer than other
people at that time; but in the night, as she was reddening the _hörg_
with blood, Starkad Aludreng took her away to his home. Then King Alf
invoked Thor to seek for Alfhild, and Thor killed Starkad, and made
Alfhild go home to her father, and Grim the son of Hergrim with her.
When Grim was twelve winters old he went into warfare and became one of
the greatest warriors; he married Bauggerd, the daughter of Alfhild and
Starkad. He settled on an island in Halogaland called Bólm, and was
therefrom called Eygrim Bólm; their son was Arngrim Berserk, who
afterwards lived in Bólm, and was a most famous warrior” (Hervarar Saga,
c. 1).
“King Eirik Bloodaxe and Gunnhild came the same evening to Atli, where
Bard had prepared a great feast for him, and there was to be a
_disablót_. There was much drinking and feasting in the hall. The king
asked where Bard was, for he saw him nowhere. A man replied: ‘Bard is
outside helping his guests.’ ‘Who are those guests,’ inquired the king,
‘that he thinks it more his duty to be there than inside with us?’ The
man told him they were the huskarlar (servants) of Thorir hersir. The
king added: ‘Go to them as speedily as possible, and call them in here.’
When they came, the king received Ölvir well, and made him sit opposite
him in the high-seat, and his men on both sides of him. Egil was next to
Ölvir; then ale was brought in, and many memorial toasts were drunk, a
horn to be emptied at each. As the evening was drawing to a close many
of Ölvir’s men became drunk; some of them vomited in the hall, but
others went outside” (Egil’s Saga, c. 44).
Even at Upsala sacrifices were offered to the Disir.
“King Adils was at a _disablót_, and rode on a horse round the disarsal
(hall of the Disir); his horse stumbled and fell, and the king was
thrown off, and his head hit a stone so that it broke and his brains lay
on the stone. This caused his death. He died at Uppsalir, and is
mound-laid there; the Swedes called him a powerful king” (Ynglinga Saga,
c. 33).
Among the Disir two women, who are mentioned several times in the Sagas,
seem to have been regarded as special objects of worship. These are the
sisters Thorgerd Hörgabrud, or Hölgabrud, and Yrpa. The name of
Hörgabrud signifies the bride of the altars, and indicates her supposed
holiness; and the second name, Hölgabrud, undoubtedly shows that she has
been especially worshipped in Hálogaland, whence the family of the great
Hakon Jarl hailed; thus Thorgerd and her sister came to be the special
guardians of that family (see Human Sacrifice, page 367).
“A king called Hölgi, after whom Hálogaland is named, is said to have
been the father of Thorgerd Hölgabrud. To both of them sacrifices were
made, and a mound was raised for Hölgi; one layer was of gold and
silver, which were offerings, and another was of earth and stones”
(Later Edda (Skáldskaparmál), c. 45).
The Disir are often spoken of as Fylgja (following spirit), and Hamingja
(good luck or family spirit); but there must have been some distinction
between them and the Disir proper, as no sacrifices were offered to the
Hamingja and Fylgja.[338]
The latter seem to be synonymous, but the former spirit, which at the
hour of death left the dying person and passed to a dear son, was the
more personal, and it was believed that it could be transmitted from one
man to another.
The expressions _kynfylgja_ (kinguardians), _attarfylgja_ (family
guardians), which sometimes occur in the Sagas, seem to indicate a
belief that the eminent qualities of a family were protected by these
spirits.
King Volsung married his daughter Signy to King Siggeir. When Siggeir
departed—
“Signy said to her father: ‘I do not want to go with Siggeir, and my
mind does not feel love towards him, and I know by my foresight, and
from our _kynfylgja_, that this marriage will cause much sorrow to us if
it is not soon broken off” (Volsunga Saga, c. 4).
Sometimes the guardian spirit of one man would follow another. Thorstein
went to find the Dverg Sindri, and gave him good gifts, and they
separated with the greatest friendship. The Dverg said—
“Now must we separate for some time, and fare thee well. I tell thee
that my _Disir_ will constantly follow thee. Thereupon Thorstein went to
his boat and rowed to his men” (Thorstein Vikingsson, ch. xxii.).
“At the time when Olaf came to Gardariki there were many men in Hólmgard
who foretold future things; they all could tell by their wisdom that the
_fylgjas_ of a young foreigner had come into the country, and that these
were so lucky-looking that never had they seen the fylgjas of any man
like them; but they knew not who or whence he was; nevertheless they
showed with many words that the bright light shining over him would
spread all over Gardariki and widely through the eastern half of the
world” (Fornmanna Sögur, I. c. 57).
“Glum dreamed one night that he was standing outside his farm, and
looking over the fjord, and that he saw a woman going up the district
from the sea, and walking towards Thverá (the farm of Glum). She was so
large that her shoulders touched the mountains on both sides of the
valley; he went from the house to meet her, and invited her to him, and
then he awoke. All thought it marvellous, but he said: ‘The dream is
great and remarkable; but thus will I interpret it: that my mother’s
father Vigfus must be dead, and that woman who was taller than the
mountains is probably his hamingja, for he surpassed others in most
things of honour, and his luck will dwell where I am.’ Next summer, when
ships arrived from Norway, the death of Vigfus was heard of” (Viga Glum,
c. 9).
The shapes of the various _Fylgjas_ can best be found from the forms in
which the people thought they perceived them. They were inherited from
one man by his descendants and even relatives, so that some families had
their permanent guardianship; to them accordingly was often ascribed the
success of some individuals.
The shapes most frequently assumed were those of birds and animals, and
in some such shape every man was supposed to have his _fylgja_
indicative of his character; cunning people were said to have foxes for
their _fylgja_; fierce warriors, wolves; great chiefs, eagles, oxen,
bears, and other animals.[339] From numerous Sagas we find that they
frequently assumed the shape of bears, which went in front of the
persons they wanted to guard, and sometimes presented themselves in the
form of the human being whose genii they were, but _never_ in the _shape
of women_[340] like the Disir proper. Those of the deceased were
believed to warn their relatives, kinsmen, and friends, and appeared at
or before important events in the life of the person whom they guarded,
sometimes while he was awake, but as a rule in dreams, and it was
believed that a sudden sleepiness foreboded their coming. Wherever those
under their protection went they accompanied them, preceding them to
such places as they intended to visit.
When Halfred while on a voyage to Iceland fell sick—
“A woman was seen to walk along the ship; she was large and had on a
coat of mail, and walked on the waves as if on land. Halfred looked and
saw that it was his female guardian (fylgja-kona), and said: ‘I declare
myself altogether sundered from thee.’ She asked, ‘Wilt thou, Thorvald,
receive me?’ He replied he would not. Then Halfred the young (a son of
the poet Halfred) said, ‘I will receive thee;’ she then vanished. Then
Halfred said: ‘I will give to thee, my son, the sword of the king, but
the other things shall be laid in my coffin if I die on board the ship.’
He sang (‘God rules; I fear hell; every man must die’). A little after
he died, and was laid in a coffin with his things, a cloak, a helmet,
and a ring, and then thrown overboard” (Halfredar Saga, c. 11).
The chief Hall of Sida had a feast. In the night Thidrandi his son heard
some one knocking repeatedly at the door, and went out with a sword in
his hand.
“He heard the sound of horses’ feet from the north, and saw nine
women[341] riding in black clothes with drawn swords in their hands. He
also heard horse-feet from the south, and saw nine women all in white
clothes on white horses. He wanted to go in and tell this vision to
people, but the black-dressed women were quicker and attacked him, while
he defended himself valiantly.
“A long while after Thórhall (one of the guests) awoke and asked if
Thidrandi was awake, and got no answer. He said it was too late. They
went out. The moon shone and the weather was frosty. They found
Thidrandi lying wounded” (Fornmanna Sögur).
“One summer King Ivar Vidfadmi went with his host west from Sweden to
Reidgotaland, and landed in Selund. He sent word to his son-in-law
Hrœrek to come to him; he told this to Aud his wife, who asked if he
intended to go to meet his kinsman and invite him to a feast on shore.
In the evening, when King Hrœrek retired, Aud had prepared a new bed
with all the clothes in it new, and placed it on the middle of the
floor; she requested him to sleep therein, to remember what he dreamt,
and tell it her in the morning; and she made herself another bed. In the
morning, when asked about his dream, ‘I dreamt,’ he said, ‘that I was
standing near a forest, beside a fine level field, and there saw a stag.
Then a wild beast, with a mane like gold, ran out of the forest; the
stag thrust its horns under the shoulder of the beast, and it fell dead.
Thereupon I saw a large dragon fly to where the stag was, at once seize
it in its claws, and tear it asunder. Then I saw a she-bear with her
cub, which the dragon wanted to take, but the bear defended it; and then
I awoke.’ She answered: ‘This is a remarkable dream; and beware thou of
King Ivar, my father, that he does not deceive thee when thou meetest
him, for thou hast seen kings’ _fylgjas_, and there will be fights with
them, and it will be well if this stag is not thy own _fylgja_, which
seems most likely to me”[342] (Sögubrot, c. 2).
“That morning Thorstein awoke in his room, and said: ‘Art thou awake,
Thórir?’ ‘I am,’ answered Thórir, ‘but have slept till now.’ Thorstein
said: ‘I want to get ready to go away from this room, for I know that
Jökull will come hither to-day with many men.’ ‘I do not think so,’ said
Thórir, ‘and will not go; but how hast thou found it out?’ ‘I dreamt,’
said Thorstein, ‘that thirty wolves ran hither and seven bears, with an
eighth red-cheeked bear, which was large and fierce; with them also were
two she-foxes, which ran ahead of the flock and were rather
fierce-looking; I disliked them most. All the wolves attacked us, and it
seemed to me that at last they tore all my brothers asunder, except thee
alone; but nevertheless thou didst fall. Many thought I was killed by
the bears, but I killed all the wolves and the smaller she-fox; then I
fell. What thinkest thou this dream signifies?’ said Thórir. ‘I think,’
said Thorstein, ‘that the large red-cheeked bear is Jökul’s _fylgja_,
but that the other bears are the _fylgja_ of his brothers, and all the
wolves I have seen are men with them, for they are likely to show the
tempers of wolves to us. With regard to the two she-foxes, I do not know
the men who have those _fylgja_; I think they have lately come to Jökul,
and they must be disliked by most men’” (Thorstein Vikingsson, c. 12).
The child of an Icelandic woman by name of Orny, having been
exposed,[343] was saved by a bondi named Krumm, and by him raised as his
own, and called Thorstein. One day when the boy was seven years of age
Krumm went with him to Krossavik, where the grandfather of the boy,
Geitir, lived. While there he rushed forward on the floor, as is the
habit of children, stumbled and fell. As Geitir laughed, the boy asked
him why he found it so funny. Geitir answered:—
“‘It is true; for I saw that which thou didst not see.’ ‘What was it?’
said Thorstein. ‘I can tell thee. When thou camest into the room a young
white bear followed thee, and ran before thee on the floor; when he saw
me he stopped, but thou didst rush on and stumble over the young bear; I
think thou art not the son of Krumm, but of higher kin’”[344] (Fornmanna
Sögur, iii. p. 113).
“He (Thórhalli) dreamt a dream and went northward to Finni. When he came
to the door he said: ‘I should like thee to explain a dream which I have
dreamt.’ Finni said: ‘Go; I will not hear thy dream,’ and pushed the
door and said: ‘Go away as quick as thou canst, and tell it to Gudmund
of Mödruvellir, or else thou shalt be driven away with weapons at once.’
Then he went away to Mödruvellir. Gudmund had ridden that day out into
the district and was expected home that night. Einar, his brother, lay
down and fell asleep. He dreamt that an ox, very fine-looking, with
large horns, walked up through the district; it walked up to Mödruvellir
and went to every house of the farm, and at last to the high-seat, and
there fell dead. Thereupon Einar said: ‘This forebodes great tidings,
and this is the fylgja of a man.’ Then Gudmund came home, and it was his
custom to go to every house of the farm bœr. When he had come to his
high-seat he leant back and talked with Thórhalli, who told him his
dream. Then he rose in the seat when food was brought. It was hot milk,
warmed with stones. Gudmund said: ‘This is not hot.’ Thorlaug said: ‘Now
I do not know where thy liking for the heat comes from.’ He drank again
and said: ‘This is not hot.’ Then he sank backward and was dead.
Thorlaug said: ‘This is great tidings, which will be heard widely; no
man shall touch him, and often has Einar had forebodings of lesser
tidings.’ Then Einar came and prepared the body and said: ‘Thy dream,
Thórhalli, has no small power,[345] and Finni has seen in thee that the
man to whom thou didst tell the dream would be death-fated, and he liked
Gudmund to become so. Cold must he have been inside, as he did not feel
anything’” (Ljósvetninga, c. 21).
The country as well as the people had its guardian spirits, or
_Landvœttir_, by which it and its inhabitants were protected, and which
were supposed to assume different shapes. What the Disir and Hamingja
were to the family, the Landvœttir were to the whole or a large tract of
the country; and though they were sometimes attached to special men,
whom they followed, they were more closely connected with the land than
with the people, and there was a heathen law in Iceland preventing the
people from disturbing them.
They were subordinate to the guardian gods of each country, and excited
dreams in men, and on behalf of the guardian god watched over those
places at which they dwelt; they especially liked to dwell on mountains,
and sometimes the dead were assigned places with them.[346]
“It was the beginning of the heathen laws that men should not go with a
head-ship (with dragon-heads) out on the main sea, or, if they did, they
should take the heads off before they saw land, and not approach it with
gaping heads and yawning snouts, that the _landvœttir_ might not be
frightened” (Landnama, c. 7)
These landvœttir sometimes loved special men, and followed them.
“Björn (an Icelander) dreamt one night that a rock-dweller came to him
and offered to enter into partnership with him, and he consented.
Thereafter a he-goat came to his goats, and they increased so much that
he soon became very rich. After this he was called He goat Björn.
_Second-sighted_ men saw that all _landvœttir_ followed He-goat Björn to
the _Thing_, and Thorstein and Thórd (his brothers) to hunting and
fishing” (Landnama, iv. c. 12).
Egil, fleeing from the pursuit of King Eirik Bloodaxe and his men, got a
vessel to go to Iceland.
“And when they were ready to sail Egil went upon an island. He took into
his hand a hazel-pole and went on a projecting rock, pointing landwards.
He took a horse’s head and fastened it upon the pole; then he said the
following words: ‘Here I raise a pole as a curse, and I turn this curse
upon King Eirik and Queen Gunnhild.’ He turned the horse’s head so that
it pointed landwards. ‘I turn this curse on the guardian spirits who
dwell in this country, so that they shall all go astray, and no one of
them shall meet or find his home until they have driven King Eirik and
Gunnhild from the land.’ He thrust the pole into a rift in the rock, and
let it stand there; he carved runes on the pole which told all this
imprecation. Thereupon he went on board ship and sailed” (Egil’s Saga,
c. 30).