THE SACRAL KINGSHIP

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE CENTRAL THE11IE OF THE VIII th INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS

FOR THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS

(ROME, APRIL 195 5)

Published with the help of the Giunta Centrale per gli Studi Storici, Rome

LEIDEN E. ]. BRILL

1 959

\

LA REGALITA SACRA

CONTRIBUTI AL TEMA DELL' VIII CONGRESSO INTERNAZIONALE

DI STORIA DELLE RELIGION!

(ROMA, APRILE 195 5)

Pubblicati col concorso

della Giunta Centrale per gli Studi Storici, Roma

LEIDEN E. J. BRILL

1 959

THE KING GOD AND HIS CONNECTION WITH SACRIFICE IN OLD NORSE RELIGION

BY

AKE V. STROM Uppsala

That kingship in Old Scandinavia was entirely sacral, is nowadays considered as a mere matter of fact. Scholars as SCHUTTE, EITREM and DE VRIES have pointed to the subject in different connections, 1) VON FRIESEN maintained the idea that the king was regarded as the husband of the fertility goddess,2) IvAR LINDQUIST tried to show that political and sacral leadership was the same thing from the be-ginning, 3) and NILS Lrn holds the opinion, that the king already ,,in this life was one with the god and bore hi s name."4) Drawing the lines from old Arian religion GEORGE DuMEZIL has discovered the Indo-European priest-king-ideology also in Scandinavia, where Odin, the mythical ancestor and patron of the kings, is pictured as an old Arian priest-king with his functions " souverainete magique, force guerriere, fecondite." 5) This is the background to the threefold role of the king in the Scandinavian sacrifice, called blot.

1) G . ScHtTTE, G11dedrteb11i11g i 11ordisk Ritw, in: Sa111lareu XXXVI, 1915, pp. 21-36, S. EITREM, Koi1ig A1111 in Uj;sala 1111d Kro11os, in: F eslskrift till Hj. Falk, O slo 1927, pp. 245-261, ]. DE VRIES, Altgerma11ische R eligio11sgeschichte II(= Grundriss der Germ. Philo!. XII : 2), Berlin-Lpz. 193 7, pp. l 17-119.

2) 0. VON FRIESEN, I-far det 11ordiska ku11gadii111et sakralt 11rspr1111g ?, in: Saga och serl 1932-1934, Uppsala 1934, pp. 15 -34.

3) I. LINDQUST, K1111gadiimet i hed11atidens Sverige, in: F estskrift till Jora11 Sah!gre11, Lund 1944, pp. 22 r-:~34 . We have the word 'king', k 111/llkaR., i.e. k u111111gaR or kommgaR (plur.) already on the runic stone of Ra k (p. 232). Cf. LrNDQUIST's inter-pretation of the Sparlosa-stone from the VII. century with its clear conception of the king-god (R.eligiiisa ru11texter II = Skr. utg. av Vetensk .-Soc. i Lund XXIV), Lund 1940, pp. 6 f. and r 8 r).

4) N. Lrn, Gudar og g11dedyrki11g, in: Nordisk kultur XXVI, Rclig ionsh istorie, Oslo 1942, p. 99.

6) G. D uMEZIL, M)'thes et die11x des Germ aim ( lVl)'thes et religions), Paris r 9 3 9, p. 20. Cf. A. V. STROM, Vetekomet ( = Acta Sem. Neotest. Ups. X I), Uppsala I 944, pp. 3 5 f.

KING GOD AND SACRIFICE IN OLD NORSE RELIGION 703

r. The king 11!as the bloterpar priference In the first part of Snorri's Ynglingasaga, where the gods are pre-

sented as the prototypes of the Svia-kings, it is said about Odin as king of Svipioo: "He should protect their country against war and blote for a year."6) The following quotation about Nior, who ac-cording to Vaf]:>r. 3 8 disposes of countless hargar and vi's, which shows a good old tradition by Snorri, states that he "kept up the blot and was called the king of the Sviar."7) Here we have a perfectly clear and evident connection between kingship and blot.

This was the case, too, in real hi story. Not only the Ynglingasaga reports the blot of Ynglinga-kings in chapter after chapter. Other sources, too, tell us e.g . that the king had to give to Frey the largest boar avai lable at yule-time. 8) The conflict between king Inge and Blot-Sveinn in 1080 A .D. reveals to us the old Swedish opinion about the king 's irremissible duty to perform the sacrifice,9) already mentioned in a scholy to Adam of Bremen about king Anund in Upsala.1) In the same way king Hakon in Norway, who was a Christian, was forced to take activ part in the blot-veizlcz, which proves the stubborn ideas about the r ole of the king as the true bloter by virtue of his office. n)

Other bloters performed their duty as representatives of the king. There are two kinds of not regal bloters, namely state officials and

6) Y11gli11gasaga (abbr. Ys .), chapter 8, Heimskringla, ed. F. J6NSSON (abbr. I-Ikr.), I , pp. zo f. On the euhemerismus of Snorri see A. HEUSLER, Die gelehrte Urgeschichte im altis!ii11dische1t Schnfttum (= Abha11dl. der jJre11ss. Akad. der Wiss . 1908 : 3), pp. 88-90, and W. BAETKE, Die Giitterlehre der S11orra-Edr!a (= Berichte iiber die Verhandl. der Siichs. Akad. der IViss. zu Lpz, Phil.-hist. Klasse, XCVII: 3), Berlin 1950, pp. 20-3 2.

7) Ys. 9, p. 22. 8) Hcrvarar saga ok Hei5reks konungs ( = Samfund til Udg. af Gammel Nordisk

Littcratur, abbr. SUGNL, XL VIII), Khvn 1924, pp. 54: 24 f. and l 29: 6-9. 0) Hcrvarar saga, p. 160. Cf. H . LJUNGBERG, Den nordiska religionen och kn'sten-

domen (= Nordiska texter och 1mdersiik11i11gar XI) , Uppsala 1938, p. 233-38, which discusses the question of sources and estimates the H ervararsaga as a valuable one (p. 23 5, note l) .

10) Schol. 140. See WESSEN, Studier i Sveriges hedna myto!ogi ochfomhistoria ( = Upps. Univ. Arsskr. 1924: 2, Fil. 6), p. l 88.

11) Saga Hakonar g65a, ch . 17 (Hkr. I, pp. 191-193). R. VON KIENLE seems to show a complete lack of understanding about the special role of the king in sacrifi-cial matters, when he writes that king Hakon was forced to blote "sicher nicht nur um den christlichen Konig wieder dem Heidentum zuzufohren, sondern weil die Teilnahme an cincm solchen Opfer notwendige Selbstverstandlichkeit war for den Stammesgenossen" ( Germanische Ge111ei11schaftsformen, Deutsches Ah11e11erbe, Reihe B, Abt. Arbeiten zur Germanenkunde, Bd. 4, 1939, p. 25 3).

A. v. STROM

priests, both of them having their duty and power from the disin-tegrated sacral kingship. 12) In old Norse time there is no difference between a state official and a priest. The Glavendrup runic stone in Denmark from 900 A.D. speaks of a certain Alle who is called "k up a. uia, lips haipuiarpan piakn", "the priest of the sanctuaries, the honourable prince of the housecarls". 13) The old-Norse word erilaR is no doubt the same as the later iarl and stands according to the present unanimous opinion for a social class, a nobility with political and sacral functions. 14) As ERIK KROMAN has shown, the decisive point in the character of the erilaR is "the connection with the royal po-wer".15) On the Kragehul-speer as early as 3 50-5 50 A.D. we read ek erilaR and then the sacral word 111!Ju, 'consecrate'. 16)

The state officials later on, the earls, have continued to be in charge of the sacrifices. It is said about earl Sigurd (Siguror Hlaoa-iarl), that he "heft upp b!6tveizlu1t1 iii/um af hendi konungs"17) . The phrase "af hendi konungs" indicates that the earl performed the bloting 'on behalf of' the king, as his representative. The other state official in Norway, the herse, also had sacrificial duties.18)

It was the same case with the second kind of bloters, the golJar. The name is probably mentioned for the first time on the Nordhuglen-stone in Norway about 400 A.D.,19) and I want to show, that the origin of their office can be derived from sacral kingship by pointing at the two important requisites, which they used in the sacrificial cul-tus: the ring and the sprqy.

The ring was originally a royal sign. "Die Ringgabe gehort zum eisernen Bestand im Verhiiltnisse des Fiirsten zu seinen Gefolgsleuten",

12) Cf. A. V. STROM, Religion och getnemkap, Uppsala I 946, pp. 4 I f. and r 5 3. 13) Text in: L. ]ACOBSEN-E. MOLTKE, Danmarks r1111ei11skrifter, Lomme-udg.,

Khvn I 942, p . 5 6f. Cf. H. ANDERSEN, J\[yt om G/a11endrt1pstene11, in: Acta Philo/. Scand. XX, r949, PP 3 I r-333.

14) E. KROMAN, Mttsika/sk Akcent i Dansk, in: Acta Philo/. Scand. XX, r949, p . r92.

16) KROMAN, op. cit., p. r95 . 16) JACOBSEN-MOLTKE, p. 53. The word erilaR is found nine times in the archeo-

logical material (KROMAN, p. 25 8 in note top. r90). 17) Saga Hakonar g65a, ch. r 4, Hkr. I, p. r 86. 18) P.A. MuNCK, Norrone Gflde- og He/tesagn, 3 ed., r922, pp. ro6 f. 19) BuGGE-0LSEN, Norges indskrifter inti/ reformationen, II: 2, Christiania r9r7,

p . 640. About the position of the golJi see VON KIENLE, pp. 28 r ff. Snorri derives the order from the euhemeristic sacral kingship (Y s. ch. IV, p. I 3).

KING GOD AND SACRIFICE IN OLD NORSE RELIGION 70 5

according to DE VRrns. 20) A famous regal ring is known among the Gautar in Beowulf. 21) In 876 A.D. Danish vikings in England swore an oath to king Alfred on pcw1 hdlgan biage, 'on the holy ring', which apparently belonged to the king. 22) The ring Sviagriss was inherited in the Ynglingadynasty, 23) and FRANCIS MAGOUN, who has written about the old-Germanic ring, states that Sviagriss "was sacred, imbued with royal priestly mana and, from its very name, '(young) pig of the Swedes', not inconceivably dedicated to Frey and used as a stalla-hringr. " 24)

Having been used in Gothic cultus since the beginning of our era, 25) the ring is spoken of as the sign of the Norse goiJi in several sources, amongst them the Ulfljot-law, stating that a ring should be placed in every headsanctuary and that the gooi should have it on his arm ti/ logpinga, when he celebrated the blot. 26)

The other requisite tool of sacrifice was the sprcry, called hlautteinn. 27) What it looked like is a matter of dispute, but I agree with BAETKE, who gives the following description: "Hlauttein ist der Zweig oder Stab (Zweigbiischel), mittels

A. v. STROM

from pagan time calls the victor of the battles 'Tyr teinhlautar', 'the god of the blood spray.'31)

When this spray is called tein, we have the same word as in 11Jistil-tein, the mistletoe by which Balder was killed. 3 ~) FRAZER has collected much material about the mistletoe and its use in religious cult. 33) H e says: "From time immemorial the mistletoe has been the object of superstitious veneration in Europe."31) The druids have used the mistletoe.35) Aeneas entered the realm of death by means of it. 36) And FRAZER continues : "Some say that the divining-rod in Sweden /that is used to seek treasures/ should be cut at Midsummer Eve from a mistletoe bough."37) So the mistletoe in Swedish folk-lore has the function of giving oracles and wealth, quite as other twigs in Tacitus Germ. 10. Returning to Norse texts we find that the tein in the case of Balder gives death and opens the realm of death, but in the blot the tein has its proper function: opening the way to life, wealth and new knowledge.

The golden bough or branch of life played a prominent role in Nor-se religion as is shown by literary and archaeological material. In the Maglehoi-grave in D enmark (XI. century B.C.) a twig of mountain ash is found among other cultic objects.38) On some golden plates from Norway a bridal couple is to be seen with a leafy branch between them.39) It is noteworthy, too, that the branch of life is used partly at winter solstice, partly at family feasts, apparently on occasions when a new period is beginning40). Later on we find 'the May' in the whole Europe as a bough that is used to introduce summertime through various customs41).

31) KocK, op. cit., p. 69 . 32) "Vex vioarteimmgr/cf. hlautvio in Voluspa 63l/ei1111;yrir vestan Valhiill; sd er

Mistiltei1111 ka!!aor (Gylfaginning ch. 3 3 (48), in: Edda Snorra p. 64). 33) J. FRAZER, The golden bough, VII, Balder the beautiful, II, 3. ed. 1930, p. 76-94,

279303. 34) FRAZER, op. cit., p. 76. 35) FRAZER, op. cit., pp. 76 f. 36) Verg. Aen. VI: 203 -209. Cf. N. E . HAMMARSTEDT, Om fastlagsriset och a11dra

lifsstiinglar, in: Nordisk tirlskrift, 1902, p. 269, FRAZER, ojJ. cit., p. 285, cf. pp. 293 f. and 315-320.

37) FRAZER, op. cit., p. 69. 38) HAMMARSTEDT, op. cit., p. 275 . 39) B. PHILLPOTTS, The elder Edda and ancient S ca11di11avia11 drama, r 920, p. I 20. 40) HAMMARSTEDT, op. cit., p. 269. 41) M. FossENIUS : Majgren, majtrad, majstllng, 1951, pp. 52-82 (speaking of " fetch-

ing or introducing the summer").

KING GOD AND SACRIFICE IN OLD NORSE RELIGION 707

The bough in religious and especially sacrificial connections, as is the case with the hlauttein, is an old Indoeuropean acquaintance. Prof. ErrnEM tells us, that the vedic priest had a sacrifice spray or bundle, that he

A. v. STROM

wedding ceremony. BERTHA PmLLPOTTS has proposed to take the two opening stanzas in Sigrdrifumal as a wedding ritual, arguing from the adjoining prose, which mentions the bridal cup,50) and I agree with her, drawing attention to their dual forms ( okkr tveim) and to the word 'gamanruna', 'love-rune' (F. JoNSSON) in st. 5 .51) When now the couple is praying:

Md/ ok manvit gefto okkr mcerum tveim ok /ceknishendr, meoan lifmn,

we remember, that healing hands are regarded as a special royal proper-ty, as M. BLOCH has shown, especially for the Frankish and Anglo-saxon kings52), and the same is known about St. Olaf53) and Magnus the Good in Norway64), as well as about Konr ungr, "the king", in Rigsp . 43.

2. The king received blot.

The sources give us no examples of blot directly to living kings. But nevertheless we can hold the opinion, that the king received blot - in two ways.

First, sacrifice often is performed for the benefit of the king, for his power and victory. It is told about the Norwegians, that the first sacrificial cup was drunk ti/ sigrs ok rikis konungi55) . In Sweden we find a big blot at summer time, that is called sigrb/ot, and apparently had the same aim56). In St. Olafs saga Snorri mentions, in stead of this, a head sacrifice in the spring at Upsala ti/ friiJar ok sigrs konungi57). The king, accordingly, received the fruits and aims of certain blots.

Secondly, there is much evidence of kings and chieftains being bloted to after death, a notion that HILDA ELLIS finds "by no means

50) PHILLPOTTS, op. cit., pp. l40 f. 51) On the connection between wedding ritus and sacral kingship see A. v AN

GENNEP, Rites de passage, I909, p. 202. 52) M. BLOCH, Les rois thattmaturges, I 924, esp. pp. 89-97. Cf. 0. WEINREICH, Antike

Hei/1111gmJ1111der, I909, pp. I4-37 Cf. also Mahabharata XV: 3: 68. 63 ) 6!afs saga helga, ch. I 5 5 and I 89 (Hkr. II, pp . 375 and 437). 64) Saga Magn{1s gMa, ch. 28 (Hkr. III, p. 50). 56 ) Saga Hakonar gooa, ch. I4 (Hkr. I, p. I87) . 56) Ys., ch. 8 (Hkr. I, p. 20). 67) Saga 6Jafs bins helga, ch. 77 (Hkr. II, p. I 34). 68) H. ELLIS, The road to J-Je/. A st114J1 of the co11ccptio11 of the dead in old Norse liter-

KING GOD AND SACRIFICE IN OLD NORSE RELIGION 709

unfamiliar to the Norse mind."58) After the death of king Gudmund of Sweden, it is told in the beginning of the Hervararsaga, "the people bloted to him and called him their god."59) The Norwegian brother kings Olaf Geirstadalf and Halfdan the Black received blot after death, 60) and Snorri tells us, that the rather mythical king Holgi in Halogaland and his daughter, p6rgeror Holgabruor, were worshipped as go

710 A. v. STROM

Olof was burnt in usual manner after death on the shore of the river Fyris and that he is not identical with Olof in Vermland66).

The interpretation of the Y nglingatal is a matter of disagreement just now. The view of NOREEN, GR0NBECH and others, that historic facts are related, has lately been attacked by my namesake, FoLKE STROM in Gothenburg, who comes to the defence of a mythological interpretation, once brought out by HENRIK SCHUCK. In his recent book on Dises, Norns and Walkyries, I954, STROM tries to show that a lot of stanzas in the Y nglingatil reflect a mythical conception of a ritual regicide, arranged or even committed by the queen as the re-presentative of Freya, the great Goddess.67) "Under her authority the greatest of sacrifices, the sacrifice of kings, has been performed, either it has been real or symbolical."68)

I am not fully convinced of the validity of this construction, but the last few words of STRoM's seem to leave the question open whether there is historical evidence in the Y nglingatal for the king being bloted or not, and I, too, leave this part of the question open, although I am inclined to hold the former opinion. The mythical side of the mat-ter is at all e:vents paid due attention to by mentioning that Odin, the king god, according to the famous stanza I 3 8 in Havamal, bloted him-self to himself by hanging in the tree of life.

The king was bloted. There are more valid proofs than the Y ng-lingatal and the Ynglingasaga. We find, for example, that quite as the representatives of the king performed blot on behalf of him, in the same way they played a special and important part as substitutes for the king by being chosen as bl6tvictims. Let us take I>6rodd Snorra-son, who was sent to Jamtland in order to collect taxes for the Nor-wegian king Olaf Haraldsson. The peasants of Jamtland, it is said in Heimskringla, wanted to hang some of I>6rodd's people, and have some of them to blot.69) The same thing happened to the scald Hall-fred, when he was sent out by St. Olof.70)

The main representative of the sovereign is of course his son. We have e.g. the narrative of earl Hakon, recently attacked by BAETKE

66) AD. NOREEN, Yng/ingatal(= Vitterh. akad: s. hand/. XXVIII), 19z5, p. z46. 67 ) FoLKE STROM, Diser, 11ornor, va/kyrjor (see above), pp. 3 z-49 . 68) F. STROM, op. cit., pp. 49. 69) Saga O lafs hins helga, ch. 141 (Hkr. II, p. p9). 70) Hallfredar saga ( = 1. s. XXXI), Reykjavik 1901, ch. 8, p. z9.

KING GOD AND SACRIFICE IN OLD NORSE RELIGION 7II

as Christian fabulation,71) but defended as historical by FoLKE STROM who seems to me to be right.72) The earl is bloting to his special patroness Thorgerd Holgabrud, and he offers her all other men except himself and his sons Eirik and Svein. 73) She chooses his younger son Erling, who is seven years old, and Hakon blotes him ti/ sigrs ser. 74) Against this background there is a certain plausibility in the story about king Aun in Upsala, who sacrified a son of his every nine years in return for a longer life for himself. 75) After mentioning the sacrifice of Halfdan the Old in Skaldskaparmal Sr (62), p. 181, B. PHILLPOTTS sums up: "All this looks like the dim memory of a time when the sons of a king were sacrificed in order to preserve his divine life , and only when he became very decrepit was a surviving son allowed to succeed him."76)

We seem to have at least one instance of sacrificing the queen,77) but in this connection I want to deal a little more with the role of the Dowager Queen at the death of the king . As already mentioned, FoL-KE STROM is of the opinion, that the queen arranged a regicide, when the king had done his duty. We have, according to my idea, much more evidence for an other role of the kings wife, namely her being bloted at the burial of the king.

The late Danish scholar VrLH. THOMSEN and after him HELGE LJUNGBERG, speeking of the killing of the wife at the funeral of the husband in Russia, have stated, that this is not known in the Northern

71) \Y/. BAETKE, Christliches L eh11g11t in der Sagareligio11 (Berichte iiber die Verb. der Sachs. A kad. d. IViss. z11Lpz , Philol.-hist. Kl. 98:6), Berlin 1951, p. p.; cf. p. 45, n. 2. I canno t agree with BAETKE's proofs of Christian influence on many stories, e.g. w hen he declares the bl6t of Floki Vilgerdson and his three ravens as an in-fluence from "Noahs drei Tauben; schon die Dreizahl macht [den Bericht] ver-dachtig" (p. 3 3) - in spite of the fact, that in Gen. 8: 7-12 there are not three doves, but one raven and one dove!, and in spite of the pagan expression hrav11bl6ts guiJi, "the pries t of raven-blot", used by Hallfred (KocK, p. 86).

72) F. STROM, op. cit., p. 50-52. 73) J6msvikinga saga, ch. 34 (SUGNL VII l 882), p. l l 5. 74) Saga Olafs konungs Tryggvasomir (= Fornmanna Sogur I, 1825), ch. 90,

p. 174, Cf. J6msvikinga saga, ib. XI, pp. l 34 f. 76 ) Ys., ch . 25 (Hkr. I, pp. 45-47). Cf. F . STROM, op. cit., pp. 49 f. 76 ) B. PHILLPOTTS, The elder Edda, p. 13 1. - The author has elsewhere tried to

show that the ties of the usual Teutonic family are not valid in the case of kings (A. V. STROM, Vetekornet, 1944, pp. 36 f.).

77 ) "/ Eirikr/ dtti !ngigeriJi, dott11r Hara Ids hdrfagra; hen11i bl6tuiJu Sviar" (]:>attr Hauks Habrokar, in : Fornma1111a siigur X, Khvn 1873, p. 198, Flat. I, p . 577).

712 A. v. STROM

countries in historical times. 78) L JUNGDERG writes: "The sacrifice of the wife with the dead chieftain is unknown from the Norse sources anyway. " 79)

As far as I can see, a chain of circumstantial proofs can nevertheless give evidence for this rite in the Northern countries. Most to the point is the statement in Flateyjarbok: "This was the law of the Swedes, if they lost their king, to put the queen in the hillock with him."80) An historical example of this rule is given to us by the Persian author lBN RosTEH from Ispahan, who wrote about 912 A.D. of the rus, that is to say, the people on the Swedish coast, to the north of the lake Malaren.81) He discribes a funeral ceremony to us and mentions all things that are put into the tomb of the chieftain. Then he continues : "At last they throw the favourite wife of the deceased alive into the grave ... and she dies there."82)

There is another custom, too, besides the burying alive of the Queen and that is her being burnt at the funeral pyre of the sovereign. Saxo gives an explicit example: The king "Asmund's body was buried in solemn state at Upsala and attended with royal obsequies. His wife Gunnhild, lath to outlive him, cut off her own life with the sword ... Her friends, in consigning her body to burial, laid her with her hus-band's dust".83) At least two mythical testimonies, too, can be brought out. Both the Volsungasaga and the Siguroarkvioa in skamma in the elder Edda tell us that Brynhild demands to be burnt on the funeral pile of Sigurd, whom she regards as her true husband, and this is also carried out. 84) Something like that is related about Nanna, the wife of

78)" Pi en s:\dan skik kender vii selve Norden hidtil intet excmpel i den historis-ke tid" (V. THOMSEN, Det nmiske riges grund!aJggelse ved Nordboerne, in: Samlede Afhandlinger, I, r9r9, p. 285).

79) "Offret av kvinnan tillsammans med den

KING GOD AN D SACRIFICE IN OLD NORSE RELIGION 7 I 3

Balder. When the god is dead and laid in the ship, his wife "burst with sorrow and died; she was carried on the pyre and it was set on fire." 85) We have learned, that the myth as a rule takes its material from a cultic experience or a transformed historical reality,86) and that is why, be-cause of these proofs, we can conclude that the D owager Queen was hurried or burnt at the funeral of the king or chieftain.

4. The meaning of blot The king bloted, the king received blot, and the king or queen were

bloted. But what was the aim of the royal sacrifice? What did the Norse forefathers want to attain and bring forth by their bloting.?

This question is very little observed in the history of religion and it needs a thorough consideration. I restrict myself to one point : they bloted ti/ sigrs but also ti/ drs okfriiJar, for year and peace. 87)

This formula is nearly always, e.g. by GR0NBECH, translated as 'for harvest and peace', 'for good year and quietness'. 88) But according to my judgement this is not the original meaning.

Perhaps we can catch the real sense by studying some programmatic passages, where dr is replaced by other words. When Snorri is speaking of the blot at vetrnottum, he sometimes calls it a blot ti! drs, 89) but some-times says that its aim is to 'greet the winter' (fagna vetri) .90) We meet the same expression for the same blot in a family tale. 91) In the same way Snorri states that the blot in spring is celebrated to 'greet the summer' (fagna sumri). 92) We also find that Snorri in the very formula

85) Gylfaginning, ch. 33 (48), pp. 65 f. 86) See e.g . S. H. HOOKE, M)'th and ritual, 1933, esp. p. 3, E. 0. ]AMES : Com-

parative religion, 1938, pp. 97-1 00, G. WIDENGREN, Religio11ens varld, 2nd ed., 195 3, pp. r 32-15 r. For Norse religion see W . GR0NBECH, The mlt11re of the Tmtons, II, 193 r, pp . 260-340 : Essay o n ritual drama.

87 ) The formula is found in I>orarinn loftunga's Gl:dognskvi5a, st. 9 (KocK, p . l 5 3), cf. F. STROM, Diser etc., p. 19, and H. MAGER0Y, G/(Jl/og11skvi5a ( = Bidrag ti/ nordisk ftlologi, XII), O slo 1948, pp. 32 and 70. STROM'S opinion that the rune J on the Stentoften-stone from VII to VIII century (JACOBSEN-MOLTKE, op. cit., p. 96) gives the same meaning, is very uncertain.

88) GR0NBEC1-1, op. cit., II, p. 116-1 88 . So, too, J. de VRIES, Altgerm. Rcl.-geschichte II, p. l r 8 and - in spite of w hat is cited from him on p. 7 l 4 note 97 below - BAETKE, Das H eilige, p. 217, n. l, LJ UNGBERG, Den 11ordiska religionen, p . 262, F. STROM, Discr etc., pp. r 6 f. and l 9.

89) Ys., ch. 8 (Hkr. I, p . 20). 00) Saga 61:1.fs bins helga, ch. 109 (Hkr. II, p. 223). 91) Saga Gisla Surssonar (1.s. 2 5, r 922), ch. ro, p. 20, and ch. r 5, p. 3 2. 92) Loe. cit.-in no te 90. Cf. STROM, in: R1NGGREN-STROM, p. 342.

A. v. STROM

til drs okjrj{Jar replaces dr by an other word, which does not indicate quality but quantity of time. 93)

The greeting of winter and of summer is illustrated by an old I s-landic custom, discribed to us by ]oN ARNA.SON and commented by AxEL OLRIK.94) The different fami ly members introduced the different months by a special rite.

The morning, when the month Porri 'went to the farm', the master had to rise early, to greet him welcome. He should go out with naked legs and so on. During the day he gave a banquet for the men in the neighbourhood, which is called porrablot. The wife ought to get up early the first morning in the G6amonth and to be scantily dressed as to 'invite G6a to the farm' by saying:

Velkomin sertu, Goa min, og gakktu inn i bceinn, vertu ekki ilti i vindim11n vorlangan daginn. 95)

She had to give a fea st for her neighbours' wifes the same day. It is quite clear, that this rite, being a rest of the old blot as it is in-

dicated by the name porrablot, is supposed to have the power of creating the new space of time, in this case the new month. 9G) In the same way, a blot ti/ drs may have had the intention of creating a new year. It must not be forgotten that the original meaning of dr is 'year', and not 'a good year'. 97) The king and his representatives bloted not in order to provide for a good and fertile year only, but to provide for a year to

93) "ti/ frirJar ok vetrar-fars gdds", in: Saga 6 Iafs hins helga, ch. 108 (Hkr. II, p . 220) . - As time went on, the new meaning o f dr as a good year came in, and so we find substitutes like ti/ drbotar (op . cit. ch . 107, p. 219) and tilgrurJrar (Ys. ch. 8) .

04) J6n ARNASON , ls!e11zkar pjorJsiig11r og ajintjri, II, Lpz 1864, p. 572 f . AxEL 0LRIK, lfYetter111acbe111111d Nc11jabr.rvt011d im Nordm, in: Zeitscbr. des Vereins fiir Vo!ks-k1111de, XX, 1910, p. 57-61.

05) ARNASON, op. cit., p. 5 7 3. 06) About greeting the new moon or the new year elsewhere in Europe, see

OLRIK, op. cit., p. 5 9 01) "Ar, unser W ort J ahr (got. jer, ags. gear), bedeutet eigcntlich J ahreszeit (ur-

sprilnglich wohl Frtihjahr, dann Jahr liberhaupt) und erst sekundar die Beschaffen-heit und den

KING GO D AND SAC RIFICE IN OLD N ORSE RELIGION 715

come. ns) Without blot there would be no future at all. In a mediaeval Chri stian wedd ingsong there is still a wish for "aar oc helsa karlek ther mcdh fridh",99) 'years, health, love, and peace', which can't be rendered by 'good year', but 'many years' .

So the result is, that the royal blot shows us the king as the creator of a new year and as the link between time and eterni ty.

08) "Fri!Jr ist der Friede,