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Bloody feast: This is how the Vikings celebrated at Christmas time
Helje Kringlebotn Sødal smiles is a professor at the Norwegian University of Agder. (archive image) photo
© UiA/dpa
The Vikings celebrated festivals in winter with animal sacrifices, whose blood splattered on walls and guests. A researcher describes what else happened.
For the Vikings, traditional celebrations during our Christmas season were both a bloody and joyful affair. As the Norwegian University of Agder (UiA) announced, blood, sacrifice and drunkenness were among the festivities Vikings before the Christianization of Norway put an end to the most brutal components of festivals of this kind.
“The sacrificial ceremonies and community feasts with plenty of food and drink were the most important aspects of the Viking festivities,” reported UiA professor Helje Kringlebotn Sødal. In contrast to modern Christmas, these celebrations were not at all suitable for children. There were no Christmas presents like today, and there was also a lack of comfort.
Gods were worshiped with animal sacrifices
Anyone who wishes someone “Merry Christmas” in Norway, Denmark and Sweden today says “God Jul”. According to UiA information, the term “jul” comes from the Old Norse “jól”, a winter sacrificial ceremony that was celebrated between the winter solstice in December and mid-January. The Vikings drank in honor of the gods and paid homage to them with animal sacrifices. During the ceremonies, sacrificial blood was sprayed on walls, statues and the guests.
Consecrated beer and meat were drunk and eaten, as Kringlebotn Sødal was quoted in a statement from their university. Otherwise, “jól” was a celebration in your own home and extended family circle. There was also a lot of toasting and drinking there – in a way similar to many of today’s Christmas family celebrations.