The Festival Year

A Survey of the Annual Festival Cycle and Its Relation to the

Heathen Lunisolar Calendar
Joshua Rood

MA
Old Norse Religion
Hskli slands
21/11/2013

This essay is an attempt to construct an annual calendrical model that would have existed among
the heathen peoples of Scandinavia and Northern Europe prior to the advent of the Christian
Julian calendar. The evidence suggests that this annual cycle would be based around the
movements of the sun and the moon, which determined when seasonal festivals and holy times
took place. Such a model should help to reveal widespread and deep rooted traditions around the
annual cycle that existed among heathen people prior to and during the Viking Age.

The Lunisolar Calendar

Evidence that heathen Scandinavians utilized the sun and the moon as a means of calculating
annual cycles is widespread and does not require more than a brief summary. The Eddic poem
Vafrnisml, st. 23 relates that:
Himin hverfa

Around heaven

au skolo hverian dag

They shall go daily

ldom at rtali

For men to count years1

Their primary purpose here is not simply to shine during day and night, but rather to count the
years (a rtali) Regarding the moon specifically, Vafrnisml, st. 25 says:
N ok ni

Waxing and waning

Skpo nt regin

Created the capable gods

ldom at rtali

For men to count years

In short, the waxing and waning of the moon (n og ni), itself was first and foremost, a function
that was fashioned by the gods to count the years. In Alvsml, st. 14 it is said that lfar call
(the moon) year-counter (kalla lfar rtala). Throughout the Icelandic sagas of the 12th and
13th centuries and in some of the oldest Scandinavian laws there are also numerous references to
the years being reckoned though waxing and waning moons.2 The means of transportation for
1
2

Eddadigte, 1962.
Nordberg, 2006, pp. 68-69.

these heavenly bodies is also readily evident as a very old and widespread concept. Eddic poetry
refers to the sun and the moon as being drawn by horses.3 There are many Bronze Age rock
carvings in Bohusln and southern Scandinavia which portray crossed discs which could be
identified as sun/moon images being pulled in wagons drawn by horses or in boats.4 Razers
engraved with similar images5 and the Trundholm Chariot, a crafted horse fashioned to a golden
disc6 have all been found in Denmark from this same early period. It can be safely concluded that
a connection between the sun/moon and transportation on vehicles is very old in heathen religion
and that they were responsible for the reckoning of time in years and months.
Remnants of this old method of counting annual cycles have been preserved throughout
Scandinavia. In Sweden the lunisolar method has continued as recently as the early 1900s,
where the Yule Moon (Jultungel) was the moon that shone during Epiphany, and the Dsting
Market7 was held on the following full moon, called Disa, Distungel or Distingstungel.8 The
relationship between the Jultungel and Epiphany is clearly a Christian modification of what had
originally been a relationship between a Yule Moon and the winter solstice. This same
relationship can be observed over a large geographic and temporal range. In around 1220, the
Icelandic Bkarbt relates that two related months, lir and Jlmnur were currently observed
in which lir fell between mid November to mid December, and Jlmnur followed from mid
December to mid January (Julian calendar).9 Naturally the winter solstice fell at the point where
one month ended and the next began.10 The idea of the two Yule months being positioned
around the winter solstice is not unusual and occures elsewhere: In the tenth century, the same
two lunar months are recorded in Old English as se rra Geola and se ftera Geola (the earlier
Yule and the later Yule).11 Yule itself is mentioned as early as about 350 in the Gothic
manuscript, Codex Ambrosianus which mentions the month before the Yule month (fruma

Grmnisml 37; Vafrnisml 23; in Eddadigte, 1962.

Coles, 2005,

Goldhann, 2004, p. 13.

6
Roussell. 1957. p. 40.
7
8
9

lfs saga Helga; in Heimskringla, 1944, p. 292.

Nordberg, 2006, p. 116.

Rmtl, 1914, p. 78.

Nordberg, 2006, points out that there was a 7 day discrepancy between the astronomical and Julian years when the Julian
th
st
calendar was converted to the Gregorian in the 12 century. As a result, the 21 of December in the Gregorian Calendar today
th
would be the 14 of December in the Julian from the 1100s. p. 148.
11
Nilson, 1920, p. 293.

10

jiuleis).12 In the eighth century the Anglo Saxon scholar, Venerable Bede recorded a full
calendar for the heathen Angles dwelling in southern Denmark:
The first month, which the Latins call January, is Guili; February is called Solmonath;
March Hrethmonath; April Eosturmonath; May Thrimilchi; June Litha; July, also Litha;
August, Weodmonath; September, Halegmonath; October, Winterfilleth; November,
Blodmonath; December, Guili, the same name by which January is called. They began
the year on the 8th kalends of January [25 December], when we celebrate the birth of the
Lord. That very night, which we hold so sacred, they used to call the heathen word
Modranecht, that is mothers night, because (we suspect) of the ceremonies they
enacted that night.
Whenever it was a common year, they gave three lunar months to each season. When an
embolismic year occurred (that is, one of 13 lunar months) they assigned the extra month
to summer, so that three months together bore the name Litha; hence they called [the
embolismic] year Thrilithi. 13
In 2006, Andreas Nordberg demonstrated convincingly that using material like this, it is
possible to reconstruct the old lunisolar system. His study can be read in Jul, disti
r r l

er

: kalendrar och kalendariska r er

r r s a or e

There

Nordberg argues that the heathen calendar was a lunisolar system in which months began on the
new moon so that the full moon shone on the middle of the month, and the next month began
with the next new moon. Because 12 lunar cycles are approximately 11 days short of a full solar
year, they would need to be regulated and intermittantly adjusted. According to Nordberg, years
were maintained as follows:

A) There are always two Yule lunar months. The first should always cover the winter
solstice so that the second Yule lunar month always started with the first new moon
following solstice.
B) If the new moon of the second Yule month emerged 11 days or less following the winter
solstice, then a 13th lunar month would be inserted that year. If this adjustment is not

12
13

Die Gotische Bibel, 1908, p. 472.

Bede: The Reckoning of Time, 1999, p. 53.

made, then the second Yule lunar month on the following year would begin before the
winter solstice, and the calendar would be too far off.
C) This 13th lunar month was to be added at the time of the summer solstice. This leap
month would be inserted every three years.14
In addition to the lunisolar calendar, the annual cycle was further divided by seasons, the
calculating of which was based around this calendar, and which determined the nature of annual
festivals and celebrations.
It is well established that medieval Scandinavians reckoned time according to nights and
winters. That is to say that day began at dusk, and the seasonal year began with the start of
winter.15 This natural year did not begin at the same time as the astronomical year, which we
have determined was the first new moon after the winter solstice. Today, the first day of winter
in Iceland begins on the Saturday between the 21st and 27th of October. Prior to the adoption of
the Julian calendar, winter would have almost certainly have begun on the full moon that
occurred after the equinox;16 during the month Bede calls Winterfilleth. The days going into
winter are called veturntur winternights in Scandinavian sources and marked not only the
beginning of winter, but the beginning of the natural year for early Scandinavians. They are still
called this in Iceland.
The natural split between the winter season and the summer season is still seen on
the Swedish and Norwegian wooden rune calendar (primstaven) where the front half represents
the winter and the back half represents the summer half of the year. The winter half of the rune
calendar starts on the winternights, and end less than a month after the vernal equinox. Similar
staffs have been found in Estonia and Finland.17 Terry Gunnell has argued that the heathen
seasonal calendar, like the latter Nordic calendar, was split into two seasons instead of four, in
which the winter was cosmologically dominated by women, death and magic; while summer was
ruled by men, trade, and war.18 Andreas Nordberg on the other hand has favored a year broken
into quarters and marked with festivals and religious gatherings.19 It seems logical to me that as
Nordberg suggests, a lunisolar calendar existed among heathen Scandinavians beginning on the
14

Nordberg, 2006, pp. 65-66.

See for example Germania, 1970, p. 110; Caesars Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, 1901, p. 215; Hlfdanar Saga Svarta in
Heimskringla, 1944, p. 44; lafs Saga Helga in Heimskringla, 1944, p. 462.
16
Gunnell, 2000, p. 127.
17
Nordberg, 2006, p. 41; Vilkuna & Jahres, 1962, pp. 43, 58.
18
Gunnell, 2000, p. 127.
19
Nordberg, 2006, pp. 40-43, p. 153.

15

first new moon following winter solstice and regulated by inserting a 13th month every three
years or as necessary at the summer solstice. A simultaneous natural calendar designated the
start of winter as occurred on the full moon of the winternights and the start of summer on a full
moon following the spring equinox. Since the beginning of winter, the beginning of the lunar
year, the beginning of summer, and the potential 13th lunar month all occur roughly every three
lunar months, the year is automatically broken into quarters. This does not automatically mean
that the year wasnt seen as two opposing halves, as we shall see.
Further evidence for the idea of quarterly festivals can be found throughout Scandinavian
and north European sources which repeatedly place them at intervals which we may call the
start of winter, midwinter the start of summer and midsummer.20 Estonian and Finnish
staff calendars regularly mark the years by quarters. For example, summer (suvipive) occurs
about April 14, midsummer (keskikes) occurs on 13-14 of July, winter (talvipive) occurs on or
about October 14th, and midwinter (talvenapa, winter breeding) falls on the 13-14 of January.21
These dates regularly appear in folktales, sagas, provincial laws and other every day
contexts.22 Nordberg argues that these fixed dates stem from a pre-Julian method of counting
28 days (exactly 4 weeks) after each solstice or equinox. After adjusting them to the Gregorian
calendar, and comparing them to their corresponding equinox/solstice, he demonstrates that they
do indeed occur exactly 28 days following the solar event, except for in one case, which showed
only a two day discrepancy.23 Nordberg provides the following dates.
Autumnal equinox 21 Sept.

+28 Days=

Winter Nights start 20 Oct.

Winter solstice 21 Dec.

+28 Days=

Midwinter starts 19 Jan.

Vernal equinox 20 March

+30 Days=

First day of summer starts 20 April

Summer solstice 21 June

+28 Days=

Midsummer starts 20 July24

There is some difficulty with his argument, however. Nils Lithberg believed that the shift
from one quarter to the next originally took place during the first full moon following the
20

grip of Nregskonungasgum 19, pp. 32-33.

Vilkuna, 1962, p. 43; Nordberg 2006, p. 41
22
Nordberg, 2006, ch. 2 and p. 150.
23
Nordberg, 2006, explains the two day discrepancy in the relationship between the vernal equinox and the first day of summer
as follows: Of the fou ast o o i al fi poi ts, oth solsti es a e the ost st aightfo a d to o se e. The easiest a of
determining the equinoxes is to assume that they occur halfway between the solstice; this is true of the autumnal equinox, but
the astronomical spring equinox occurs a couple of days earlier than its assumed date. This is not discernable to the naked eye,
however, and we can assume that the pre-Christian Nordic quarters started four weeks after the dates that were assumed to be
the astronomically correct solsti es a d e ui o es. p. 5 .
24
Nordberg, 2006, p. 151.
21

solstice/equinox, and that they became fixed into the Julian calendar when it was introduced to
the Nordic countries. He argued that this would account for the fact that winternights regularly
appear as three consecutive days.25 This can be seen in Vala-ljts saga, the third winternight
(hinar riju veturntur), and we can see evidence of the three day pattern extending to the
other calendric festivals.26 Snorri says that the heathen yule began at midwinter night, and that
yule itself lasted for three nights after.27 The Dalalagen refers to both winter and summer nights
in plural.28 Both Lithberg and Nordberg agree that these three day periods, observed most
readily in winternights, had originally existed at the transitional period from one seasonal quarter
to the next. Over time these dates would have been standardized into one day instead of three.
rni Bjrnsson notes that various Icelandic bishops attempted to shorten the three day period
into one,29 and Gunnell observes that these three were a liminal period belonging to neither
season.30 Lithberg explains these three days originally coincided with the three days that the
moon was full in the middle of the lunar month.
Nordberg himself agrees that [heathen religious] festivals were held at the time of a
new or full moon,31 and attempts to reconcile this information with his argument for fixed days
by proposing that while the actual start of the seasonal quarters began 28 days after the
solstice/equinox, the festivals related to these seasonal changes would have been celebrated on
the actual full moon following solstice/equinox. His explanation for why the official start of
each quarter was fixed to four weeks after a solstice/equinox is that otherwise the start of the
quarters would be tied to the moons, and would therefore shift up to about a month in different
years. It seems to me that if people had no problem celebrating their seasonal festivals on the
full moon (which shifted up to a month), then they would have had no problem with the official
shift in seasons taking place at that time as well. It seems only natural that this three night shift
between seasons would coincide with the three nights on which the moon shone its brightest.

The Yearly Cycle

25

Lithberg, 1921, p. 155, pp. 165-168.

26

Valla-Ljts saga, in slendinga sgur, 1987, p. 1832.

Hkonar saga Ga, in Heimskringla, 1944, p. 97. E r var jlahald hafit hkuntt, at var misvetrarntt, ok
haldin riggja ntta jl.
27

28

Cited in Nordberg, 2006, p. 41.

rni Bjrnnson, 1995, pp. 59-61; Gunnell, 2000, p. 128.
30
Gunnell, 2000, p. 128.
31
Nordberg, 2006, p. 153.

29

The ritual year began with the coming of winter and the winternights (veturntur). The period
of darkness that followed encompassed the yule festivities, around midwinter. The gradual
return of the sun in later months brought the thaw, the first days of summer, and the planting and
ploughing. Festivals would have taken place at intervals that were relevant to the turning
seasons and rituals related to the particular time of year would have been enacted. In Ynglinga
saga, Snorri says that there should be a sacrifice at the start of winter for a good year; one in the
middle of winter for good growth; the third in the summer: that was a victory sacrifice. 32
The grip af Noregs Konnungasgum recording lafr Tryggvason says:
He abolished blt and blt-drinking, in place of which, as a favor to the people, he ordained
holiday drinking at Yule and Easter, St Johns Mass ale and an autumn-ale at Michaels mass.33

Snorris account does not mention a Midsummer festival, but the other three events that he notes
correlate with the grip, describing heathen rituals that were tied to the changing seasons of the
year. The practice of replacing heathen festivals with Christian themes was common, and
reflects the strategy described by Pope Gregory in a letter sent to the abbot Mellitus who was
trying to convert the Anglo Saxons in the 7th century:
Tell him (Augustine) what I have, upon mature deliberation on the affair of the English,
determined upon, that the temples of the idols in that nation ought not to be destroyed; but let the
idols that are in them be destroyed; let holy water be made and sprinkled in the said temples, let
altars be erected, and relics placed. For if those temples are well built, it is requisite that they be
converted from the worship of devils to the service of the true God; that the nation, seeing that
their temples are not destroyed, may remove error from their hearts, and knowing and adoring the
true God, may the more familiarly resort to the places to which they have been accustomed.

34

In short, essentially, the best way to convert heathen populations was to allow them to continue
their festivals under a more acceptable, Christian guise. It is also important to note that the
observances that took place over the course of the year took many forms, and changed over time
and place. At times it may be difficult to draw a line of distinction between mundane games or
religious rituals whether they are sporting events and competitions, drinking bouts, feasts,
dramatic reenactments, or the sacrifice of objects and animals.35 In part, this may be the result of
Christianization. Terry Gunnell notes that in other contexts, games and play activities seem to
32

Ynglinga saga, in Heimskringla, 1944, pp. 9-10.

grip af Nregskonungasgum, 1995, pp. 30-32.
34
Colgrave & Mynors, 1981, pp. 107-109.
35
Wessn, 1921, p. 120; Gunnell, 2000, p. 32.

33

have been linked to religious holidays from a very early period in time and notes that even today
we see traditional games such as football and tug-of-war taking place during the yule season in
Orkney and Shetland.36 Games meetings (leikmt) are often mentioned in the sagas, and they
are often associated with seasonal festivals. In Egils saga a ball game (knattleikur)37 is held
near the winternights.38 Eyrbyggja saga similarly states that the same type of game, knattleikur,
was played as an autumn tradition among the Breivk men during vetrntur.39 Of course this
does not always mean that every game or dance recorded in the sagas was a religious ritual, and
certainly any time there is a festival, that would imply the occurrence of mundane games. But in
many ways, games seemed to have formed a common part of the holiday on which they
occurred. In addition, we will see other games and activities which clearly seem to have formed
a direct part of a religious ritual.

The Winter Nights and the Dsablt

As noted above, the winternights (veturntur) seemed to have been officially celebrated over a
course of three days, on the first full moon following the autumn equinox, which was the full
moon of the month which Bede calls Winterfilleth (Winter Full). They are probably the best
preserved of the heathen holidays, and this may be because of their role as the start of the natural
year. Generally, the winternights fell at a time when the harvest was finished, the days were
darkening, and the cold was beginning to settle in. Bede refers to the month following
Winterfilleth as Blodmonath (month of immolations) and says that this was the time when
cattle were to be slaughtered and consecrated to their gods.40 This was traditionally the time of
year when the herds were culled so as to ensure enough feed to survive the winter, and the
winternights, the essential beginning of the year, marked the start of this season. Celebrations
seemed to revolve around the local farmstead, and were essentially invite only. In Gsla saga
Srssonar we are told It was the custom (sir) of many in that time to celebrate winter and have
feasts (veislur) and Winternights Sacrifice (Veturnttablt).41 Flateyjarbk says the feast

36

Gunnell, 2000, p. 33.

Gunnell, 2000, p. 129.
38
Egils saga, 2013, ch. 40, p. 77.
39
Eyrbyggja saga, 1935, p. 115.
40
Bede: The Reckoning of Time, 1999, p. 53.
41
Gsla saga Srssonar, 1943, p. 17. My translation.
37

(veisla) was prepared for the winternights. Few of those invited came because the weather was
very stormy and troublesome.42 Eyrbyggja saga says:
The next autumn at the winternights, Snorri the Goi held an autumn feast and invited all
of his friends. There was heavy ale drinking there.43
As mentioned above, sacrifices at this time would have been normal. Who the blt would have
been directed to may have varied. But two particular recipients are given support in the sources.
Namely, Freyr and the female spirits collectively called Dsir. Freyrs connection to
winternights is explicitely stated once, and inferred through various other sources. In Gisla saga
Srssonar it says that autumn, orgrmur planned a feast for winternights to welcome winter
and make a sacrifice to Freyr.44 In lafs saga helga, the Christian poet Sighvatur orarson is
said to have been denied admittance to a farm in the autumn because the locals were
participating in a sacrifice to lfar (lfablt).45 We may note that the lfar are a part of,
perhaps synonymous with the Vanir 46and in any case, were strongly associated with Freyr.47
Further evidence for Freyrs connection to the winternights can be found in the traditional
harvest celebrations involving horse races and fighting in Iceland around the public autumn
ing,48 found throughout sagas, and which the later bishop Oddur Einarsson prohibits priests
from attending in 1592.49 One might remember that the horse was an animal sacred to Freyr.50
It is also interesting to note that the Vlsa ttr from Flateyjarbk describes the autumn rituals of
a remote farmstead in Norway in which a horse phallus is preserved and treated as an object of
worship.51 The phallus and the horse both being connections to Freyr may lend further evidence
for associations between Freyr and the winternights. In addition, Terry Gunnell notes that the
autumn festivals commonly feature weddings in the saga accounts, and suggests this may be
evidence of a connection to Freyr.52 Weddings at this time may have been for the sake of
practicality, or may have have had some significance with the new year. Irregardless, as the

42

Flateyjarbk I, 1860-1868, p. 466. My translation.

Eyrbyggja saga, p. 98.
44
Gsla saga Srssonar, 1943, p. 27.
45
lafs saga helga, in Heimskringla, 1944. p. 314-315.
46
Hall 2007, p. 27.
47
Grmnisml, st. 5, in, Eddadigte, 1962.
48
Solheim, 1956, pp 51-78.
49
Gunnell, 1995, p. 35.
50
Hrafnkels saga Freysgoa, 1965, pp. 14-15.
51
Flateyjarbk II, 1860-1868, pp 441-446.
52
Gunnell, 2006, p. 65.
43

deity associated with marriage53 it is not unrealistic to imagine Freyr having a role in these
rituals. It should be noted that both the lfarblt and vlsa ttr take place in autumn but there is
no written reference to winternights, so their connection is conjecture. On the other hand, the
Dsir, who most certainly were worshiped at winternights, have a wealth of preserved references
which we may analyse.
In short, the Dsir appear to have been powerful female spirits that watched and protected
family lines and individuals.54 Arguably they are connected with the Germanic matronae,55 and
were associated with fertility and childbirth, as well as death and sometimes warfare. The Dsir
were obviously more than deceased female spirits, and more akin to minor goddesses. We find
places named after them (Diseberg/Disevi (SV); Disen (Nor),56 and they could have control over
life and death, and protect, families and clans.57 They may have had associations with Freyja,
whom Snorri calls Vanads (ds of the Vanir),58 and with Skai, who is once referred to as
ndurdis (Ski ds).59 Concerning the Dsablt, Vga-Glms saga says There was a feast
prepared for winternights and a Dsablt and all should attend.60 Egils saga also describes a
Dsablot taking place in late autumn.61 iranda ttr in Flateyjarbk describes a clearly
Christianized description of a winternights celebration taking place in Iceland in which two
groups of women described as Dsir appear, representing the older famililal Dsir of a guest
named irandi, and the new Dsir of Christianity. irandis old Dsir kill him to compensate
for the lack of tribute they would recieve from the new religion,62 though it is interesting to note
that irandis companions had procured an ox which they named Spmar (prophecy-man), to
be sacrificed. A second point of interest, which we shall see become a common feature of the
winter half of the year, is that during the feast, the guests were told not to go outside, because
great harm will come about.63 The Dsir in this instance are portrayed as dangerous entities
from outside the farmstead which have moved in and subsequently kill irandi. While the
53

Brunet-Jailly, 1998, p. 216; If marriages are to be celebrated (libations are poured to) F e . M t a slatio .
Simek, 1993 p. 61; Davidson, 1998, p. 47; Turville-Petre, 1964, pp. 221-227.
55
Simek, 2007, p. 205.
56
Gunnell, live lecture 17, 2013, and Simek 2007. Hundreds of stone altars engraved to the matronae have also been found
throughout continental Europe.
57
Gunnell, 2006, p. 130.
58
Snorra-Edda 2003, p. 125.
59
Snorra-Edda 2003, p. 38.
60
Vga-Glms saga, 2001, p. 17.
61
Egils saga, 2008, p. 84.
62
Flateyarbok I, 1944, pp. 465-476.
63
Flateyjarbk I, 1944, p. 466.

54

connection between the Dsir and the wilderness is probably Christian, the motif of dangers from
the outside moving into the inner yard is common, beginning in winternights and lasting
through the winter period. The role that the Dsir played may have been two-fold, and
demonstrate their role as protective spirits connected with fertility, birth, and as well as spirits
who were associated with death. In addition to Freyrs connection to weddings, it makes sense
that family goddesses would be gifted, in the hope for fertility, and perhaps childbirth later that
year.64 That they would have played a role with the weddings that took place at the beginning of
the natural year (winternights) is not surprising, but we will see another activity that frequently
took place during the period following winternights with which they may also have been
associated.
Frequently during the culling of the flocks, farmsteads would give sacrifices and hold
rituals in an attempt to foresee what the year had in store for them. With the harvest completed,
surviving the winter was a matter that in many ways was up to fate (the norns?). Prophecy
was a deep rooted part of heathen society, and this was a natural time to conduct such rituals. In
Landnmabk it says that winter Ingolfr held a great sacrifice to discover what the future had in
store for him. The oracle told Ingolfr to go to Iceland.65 That winter in this context almost
certainly refers to the beginning of the winter and the time around winternights. In the account
of irandi, a man named orhallr, who was called a spmar (man who gives prophesies) had
been invited to the private winternights feast. A bull they intend to sacrifice is also called
Spmar.66 Eirks saga raua provides a detailed account of a travelling seikona 67 (seir
woman) who spends the winter period visiting households and foretelling how their year will
fair.68 In the account she spends what we may deduce is the period around winternights at a
farmstead in Greenland, where she is treated with a feast and in return, performs a ritual enabling
her to tell those present how they will fare that winter. In rvar-Odds saga, a seikona and
vlva named Heir travels to different feasts and tells people about the coming winter and their
fate.69 Seir was highly ritualized and generaly contained to the sphere of the woman. It has
been demonstrated convincingly that a central part of the seir complex involved communicating
64

Sigdrifumal 9 mentions their role in child birth.

Landnmabk slands, 1948, p. 8.
66
Saga of Olaf Tryggvason, Flateyjarbk.
67
Price 2002 provides a comprehensive overview of Seir. In short for our purposes, it is a form of sorcery, which entails in
part, the fortelling of the future by communicating with spirits.
68
slendinga saga, 1985, pp. 523-524.
69
Fornaldarsgur Norurlanda, 1959, p. 205.
65

with spirits, including the dead, fylgur, and Dsir.70 We may conclude that there was a custom of
fortelling the fate of the winter and new year around the time of winternights and that at that
same time there were sacrifices held to the Dsir. We may also postulate that these two customs
were connected. Perhaps prophecies were held and the Dsir sacrificed to in hopes for their
protection; or perhaps sacrifices were held to the Dsir as part of a prophetic ritual, and in turn
they helped provide information about the coming winter, in the same (or accompanying) role as
the seikonur described above.
The quarter of the year which began on the full moon of winternights marked a period of
expanding darkness. Vafrunisml suggests that night was made for the gods and day was
fashioned for men. 71 Winter was the night for the year, and on the basis of the above it was a
liminal period associated with magic and death.72 The festivals and rituals held at this time seem
to have been concerned with both procuring and foreseeing a good year. The old heathen
formula, til rs ok friar (to prosperity and peace for the year), preserved even in a Christian
context in Gulaings-lov73 is especially relivent to Freyr, who was likely associated with the
harvest, which occures in the month prior to winternights. The horse races and fights held at
official autumn ing events in Iceland and Norway may be the remnants of his worship, and as
noted he is mentioned as one of the reclipients of winternights sacrifices in the sagas. At the
same time, we see invite-only feasts and sacrifices at which the goddesses of the family were
worshiped, and prophecies delivered relating to the fate of the coming winter and year. We
might speculate that the poem Vlusp (prophecy of the vlva) which was originally either a
ritual or drama performance,74 may have its roots in the winternight prophecies for the coming
year, or stem from that tradition. We might also speculate that Freyrs connections to
winternights may have at some point been connected with the more public ing festivals at that
time, while the Dsir remained the recipients of family rituals.

Yule and Midwinter

Despite the apparent antiquity of midwinter sacrifices, which Simek says go back to the Stone
Age;75 the exact nature of the Nordic yule season and festivities in a heathen context are difficult
70

Price, 2002 primarily; see also Dubois, 1999, pp. 52 and 122-138.
Vafrnisml 11 and 13.
72
Gunnell, 2006.
73
Den ldre Gulaings-lov, 1846, p. 7.
74
See Dronke, 1997, Gunnell, 1995.
75
Simek, 1993, p. 379

71

to pin point. Nordberg has observed that the varying interpretations of the yule rituals range
from a sun festival, a feast for the dead or a fertility feast.76 Simek notes proportionally few
descriptions of heathen rituals in contrast with the richness of yuletide folk customs that have
survived in Northern Europe. These indicate that the celebrations in pre-Christian times must
have been quite significant, despite their ambiguity. It is probably a fact that yule and midwinter
never existed in a singular, unified context. It is nonetheless possible to demonstrate some
unifying patterns within the different, often intertwined customs which should shed some light
on the yule season in heathen Scandinavia. Snorri gives our most detailed description of the
heathen yule festivals in Hkonar saga ga, where cattle are sacrificed and blood is said to be
spattered on the pillars of the temple (hof) and on the gathered attendants. The flesh is then
boiled and made into a feast, and toasts drunk:
ins goblet was emptied for victory and power to the king; thereafter, Njors and
Freys goblets for peace and a good season (rs ok friar). Then it was the custom of
many to empty the bragarfull; and then the guests emptied a goblet to the memory of
departed friends, called the memory goblet77
Elsewhere it is stated that Hkon made it law that beer would be made for yule and the time kept
holy for as long as it lasted. As noted above, in Gulaingslg, it was a Norwegian law to drink
til rs ok friar.78 Simek postulates that this yule drinking may stem back to an older drinksacrifice.79 In a preserved piece of Haraldskvi, composed around 900 by orbjrn Hornklofi,
it says:

76

Uti vill jl drekka,

He wants to drink to yule outside

Ef skal einn ra

if he can decide alone,

Fylkir enn framlyndi,

the fame-seeking ruler-

Ok Freys leik heyja;

and perform Freys leikr;

Ungr leiddisk eldvelli

the young man was tired

Ok inni sitja,

of the fireside and sitting indoors

Varma dyngu

in the warm womens room

Eda vttu dns fulla

or down-filled cushions80

Nordberg, 2006, pp. 157-158.

Heimskringla, 1944, pp. 97-98.
78
Gulaingslg 6-7, 2013.
79
Simek, 93, p. 379.
80
Fulk, 2014.

77

In this account, aside from the reference to ritual drinking associated with yule, we see a
reference to something called Freys leikr. Essentially leikr can mean game, or dramatic
play. The poem could thus be referring to war, sex, or something else. Terry Gunnell provides
a theory in The Origins of Drama in Scandinavia which shall be summarized here. Firstly, he
demonstrates that leikir were often connected to heathen ritual context, as demonstrated in the
term leikgoi, meaning perhaps organizer of cult games.81 Vga-Glums saga and Flateyjarbk
contain a scene in which an outlaw named Gunnarr Helming flees to a temple in Sweden where
an idol of Freyr is kept by a priestess, who is said to be the earthly wife for the god. Around
midwinter she takes a full entourage and the idol on a wagon on a procession to different villages
where they are greeted with feasts and offerings, and would provide good crops and prosperity in
return. Part way through the trip, Gunnar wrestles with the idol, throws it out of the wagon,
and puts whatever costume it was wearing on himself. The story concludes with Gunnar going
from town to town disguised as Freyr, and accepting offerings from the people alongside the
priestess, his (now pregnant) wife.82 Gunnell postulates that this story may have stemmed from
an older ritual in which either an idol or a procession of masked figures played a part in dramas
connected to seasonal fertility. Rituals in which a god or goddess travel on a sacred wagon
accompanied by an earthly retainer symbolizing their spouse were not uncommon, as we will
see in the next section. Processions of masked figures, fertility rituals, and mock marriage are
frequently portrayed on the stone carvings in southern and central Sweden from the Bronze Age.
Sacred wagons depicted as carrying the sun have already been mentioned. Ceremonial wagons
have been unearthed in Dejbjerg and Gundestrup Denmark, in Oseberg Norway.83 Multiple
mask-like images such as on stone DR 66 in Aarhus Denmark have been found in southern and
central Scandinavia, and preserved masks have been found in Hedeby.
Gunnell postulates that in the case of the Gunnar story above, Gunnar must be
visualized as wearing a large, stylized human mask of some kind, like those that seem to be
worn by the dancing figures depicted on the Gummersmark brooch from Sjlland in
Denmark, and Alleberg collar from Sweden (600-300 BC).84 In later centuries, throughout
81

Gunnell, 1995, pp. 88-89.

Flateyjarbk, 1944, pp 372-377.
83
Gunnell, 1995, pp. 53-60. Both wagons are highly ornate, and the Dejbjerg wagon has been determined to be too delicate for
a thi g othe tha itual use. The Os e g ago s heels a ot tu , a d so it ust ha e ee used fo a itual he e it
could only be pulled back and forth.
84
Gunnell, 1995, pp. 54-60
82

Sweden and parts of Finland and Norway, traditional yule customs consisted of a ride between
farmsteads on horses that were led by a figure called the Halm-Staffan or julgubbe. The
julgubbe would be dressed in a costume in made of plated straw, and bore masks and headware
made of straw.85 Nils Lid has pointed out parallels between these traditions and Finnish horse
races where an image of the fertility god Peko was drawn on sledges in late January and early
February.86 Magnus Olsen has also suggested close similarities between Freyr and Peko and
their associations with fertility and horses.87 Gunnell also draws a parallel between bark
costumes in Scandinavian folk customs with the story of Gunnar and Freyr.88 In this light, the
reference to drinking to yule and playing Freyrs leikr could refer to participation in a drama
involving costumes and or processions in honor of Freyr. Such dramas could have been related
to Skrnisml, which also seems to take place in the dark time of the year, demonstrates Freyr
merging sexually or potentially wedding the earth, and when acted out, involves a procession.89
Richard North adds The vocabulary of Skrnisml is so loaded with hints of natural processes
that its primary meaning must inevitably be agrarian: this poem reflects a drama enacted by the
persons of Freyr, Skrnir and Gerr through which difficult land is prepared for planting and
harvest.90 Further associations between straw figures and yule can perhaps also be seen in the
straw figures given a seat of prominence in farmhouses during the Christmas festival, and given
offerings of beer and schnaps in parts of Sweden, Norway and Finland.91
Elsewhere, Freyr is described as the recipient of yuletide sacrifices:
King Heirek worshipped Freyr, and he used to give Freyr the biggest boar he
could find. They regarded it as so sacred that in all important cases they used to take the
oath on its bristles. It was the custom to sacrifice the boar at the sacrifice of the herd.
On Yule Eve, the boar of the herd was led into the hall before the king. Then men laid
their hands on his bristles and made solemn vows.92
While the worship of Freyr during the yule season almost certainly had to do with the
fertility cult and the return of the sun, we will see other customs that share similarities
85

Gunnell, 1995, pp. 100-107.

Lid, 1928, p. 156.
87
Olsen, 1915, pp. 111-115.
88
Gunnell, 1995, p. 101.
89
Gunnell argues that the play was originally a drama, and in reenacting it, has demonstrated it must have involved movement
between Freyr, to Ger, and back to Freyr.
90
North, 1997, p. 253.
91
Gunnell, 1995, p. 104.
92
Heireks konungs en vitra, in Fornaldarsgur Norurlanda, 1829, p. 531. Originally found in the Hauksbk.

86

(processions, costumes) during this time that have more to do with the more liminal aspects that
are associated with the yule season, such as the character of inn. While the blt in Hkonar
saga ga links inn with the king, and this likely was exactly where the center of his cult
resided, the yule season holds other elements that one can easily see inn presiding over.
As has been stated previously, winter was a time when this world and the other seem to
have been blurred, and was a time for observing omens, 93 a continuation of the customs
associated with the start of winter. This would have been a time where the Dsir were still seen
as being close, having recieved sacrifices only a few months prior, and whose protection was
counted on for the remainder of the winter. This was a time which Gunnell argues was strongly
associated with women, who ruled the domestic sphere, and wore the house storage keys as the
symbol of this status.94 From the earliest references to the religion of the Germanic tribes by
Latin historians in the first centuries, women are considered to be the sex connected to magic,
prophecy, and death.95 inn, sharing all of these characteristics and being the patron of kings
and warriors, can very well be seen as developing a role where he presides over yule under the
name of Jlnir, and in some places leading what comes to be known as the Christmas Wild
Hunt.96 This connection may have to do with his position at the center of the cult of the
berserkr and ulfhenar,97 which are often associated with images of warriors dressed in animal
skins, and wielding weapons or dancing. The tradition of dressing in animal skins, wearing
horns, and dancing with weapons can be traced back to the Bronze Age at least, where figures
wearing bull horns are carved into stones, and the bronze, horned helmets found at Viks.98
Images of figures in bear or wolf costumes, and accompanied by a horned, often dancing figure
are also found at Suttun Hoo (6-7th century)99 and Torslunda lund (6-7th century),100 on the
Gallehus horns (Dk 400 AD),101 and on the Oseberg tapestry (Vestfold Norway, 9th century).102
An image reminiscent of these can be found on the ceiling of the Hagia Sophia in Kiev when it

93

Gunnell, 2005, p. 295.

Gunnell, 2005, pp. 295-298.
95
The Geography of Strabo III, Bk. 7, ch 2; see also The Histories, p. 247.
96
Simek, 2007, p. 380.
97
For example, Heimskringla, p. 8; Price 2002 also makes a strong case for their connection to shamanism and gives them a
solid position within the realm of ins cult.
98
http://natmus.dk/en/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-bronze-age/the-viksoe-helmets/
99
Arent, 1969, plates 19-21.
100
Magnusson, 1976, p. 109.
101
Olrik, Axel, 1918, pp. 1-35.
102
Price, 2002, p. 385.

94

was built in 1037.103 It depicts a masked warrior standing near a second man with a mustache,
round shield and an axe, The fresco has been identified as depicting the Varangian Guard; an
elite force of Scandinavian warriors who served the Emperor in Constantinople from the 10th to
the 14th centuries.104 An account that might give life to these images is given by Constantine VII
Porphyrogennetos, in 953; where he describes what he calls the Gothikon; an elaborate
Christmas time dance performed by warriors of supposed Scandinavian origin. The account
describes skin-clad warriors who wore various masks who danced in circles around their
leaders, while others clashed what were either staves or axes against their shields and chanted a
word that Constantine can only describe as sounding like Tol! Most scholars readily agree
that this word should be identified as Old Norse jl (Gothic: jileis).105 This account could put a
seasonal ritual context to the long history of images portraying mask and skin clad dancers. An
association with the cult of inn would also provide the appropriate context for yule tide
dances or other rituals involving animal skins, and an association with the wild, or frenzy. A
tradition which parallels this is that of visitations from the wild, not by humans, but by the
dead, or by dangerous supernatural entities.
Eyrbyggja saga tells a story about how a farm at Fra on Breiafjrur is overtaken at
yule by the ghosts of various people who have died both on land and at sea.106 In another saga,
Grettr smundsson gets into a fight with the draugr of a dead shepherd, and then has a conflict
with the troll-woman of Barralur. Both of these events take place at yule.107 Other stories
tell of visits from berserker warriors (directly connecting them to this tradition of the outside
coming in) and even of a polar bear threatening peoples house.108 The Juleskreia, or Oskereia
is a widespread motif throughout Norway and Sweden during the Middle Ages and later in
which groups of malevolent spirits, described as either the dead, or as trolls, ride down out of the
mountains and into the farmsteads around the time of the winter solstice. Often these figures
take the form of women on horses.109 Terry Gunnell has remarked that the theme of unwelcome
yule guests has survived in Iceland into the current time, but that the exact nature of the guests
has changed from what were originally ghosts or trolls, to what are often elves or huldurfolk
103

Berthold, 1972, pp. 225-226; and Gunnell, 1995, p. 71.

Davidson, 1976, pp. 180, 186, and 191; Gunnell, 1995, p. 72.
105
Gunnell, 1995, pp 73-74.
106
Eyrbyggja saga, 1985, pp. 146-147.
107
The Complete Sagas of the Icelanders, 1997, II, pp. 100-107 and 151-155.
108
The Complete Sagas of the Icelanders, 1977, pp. 77-81 and 83-85.
109
Gunnell, 1995, p. 100.

104

today.110 Yule traditions regarding the julebukk and its female counter part, lussi have survived
into the modern period in Sweden and Norway, and have many parallels throughout Scandinavia,
continental Europe with the Austrian krampus and Swiss perchten.111 These traditions have
many varieties but all involve people dressing in furs and wearing goat or animal horns, and
processing through town, either demanding food and drink, or generally acting crude or
menacing. The julegeit was a spirit that was said to dwell in the mountains and come down into
the farmstead around the winter solstice. The Icelandic Grla is first mentioned in slendinga
saga in the 13th century, and has survived until modern times, where she dwells in the Icelandic
mountains, and feeds on children during the yule season.112 How old these traditions are in truth
cannot be determined, but they are widespread, and cant have any Christian origin. When we
look at them through the context of the yule season as a liminal period where the veil between
the other world and this world is thin, then they make sense.
There is one final element which we might add to the yule season, and it connects to the
idea of winter being associated in part with the sphere of women. While in some instances, the
Wild Hunt is a sort of furious host led by inn; it is also often portrayed as female, as we have
seen with the oskereia. Likewise these female figures are often portrayed as riding horses and
wielding weapons, and may have become blended with the valkyrja concept at some point. The
Dsir have also been portrayed on horses and wielding weapons above, and at times their
function overlaps with that of the valkyrja.113 As stated above, they are also associated Freyja, or
else with Skai, who is also known to done male armor and weapons, and is associated with the
masculine sport of hunting. In Gylfaginning, Snorri describes her as dwelling in the mountains,
and hating the dwelling of her husband, Njrr, who we may say was an important figure in
trade and war (aspects firmly rooted in mens sphere).114 It would not be so farfetched to see
Skai as a winter goddess, who represents the mountains and winter, and who must rotate her
dominion with her husband, who rules the affairs of civilization. Lotte Motz argues for an
additional element to the custom of dressing in skins during the yule season by posing that the

110

Gunnell, 2004.
Motz, 1984.
112
Gunnell, 2001.
113
See the First Merseburg Charm (Simek, 2007, p. 84.) f o a out 9 , he e the idisi a e des i ed i di g a hosts i
fetters while setting others free. The Valkyrja are also described in this same role.
114
Snorra Edda, 2003, pp. 37-38.
111

roots stem from the custom of hunting for prey in the wilds during the winter season.115 She
argues that in a hunting society, a midwinter feast held in honor of a goddess of the wilderness
such as Skai would make sense. I would postulate that if she is a goddess of winter and
wilderness, then the period where the wilderness has come down out of the mountains and over
the fields and farms is a period when she has come down out of the wilderness, essentially to
the world of men. Skai is never portrayed leading a furious host; but in Germany Frau Holle,
who is also seen as a winter goddess who rules the wilderness, is often put at the head of such a
host.116 Whether or not there ever was belief in a host in heathen times is up to debate, but the
notion of the barriers between the outside and the inside blurring is widespread.
Additionally, it is possible that a goddess like Skai or Holle who represented the wilderness was
seen as coming down into the settlements during Midwinter and the yule season.

Summer and the Dsting

There is significantly less information regarding the celebrations and festivals that took place
during the summer half of the year, and they shall be covered in one section. When Bede
described the period of the vernal equinox in his calendar for the Angles, he explains:
Hrethmonath (around March) is named for their goddess Hretha to whom they sacrificed
at this time. Eostermonath (around April) has a name which is now translated Paschal
month and which was once named after a goddess of theirs named Eostre in whose
honor feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by
her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time honored name of the old
observance.117
Neither Eostre nor Hretha have cognates in the Norse language, and it has been suggested that
they may have been the names of matronae whom the Angles worshiped with festivals during
the lunar months of Hrethmonath and Eostermonath respectively.118 Richard North also notes
that Bede implies that Good Friday had replaced a heathen festival, and suggests that this festival
would have coincided approximately with the Greco-Roman Megalensia, which was an ancient
festival celebrating the mother goddess Cybele with feasting and games.119 I suggest in turn that
the festivals in honor of Eostre took place during the full moon of Eostermonath, and that she
115

Motz, 1984, p. 159.

Motz, 1984.
117
Bede: The Reckoning of Time, 1999, p. 53.
118
North, 1997, p. 227; Meaney, 1966, pp. 2-8.
119
North, 1997, p. 228.
116

may have either been a matron associated with fertility, or else a mother goddess related to
processional ceremonies similar to those of Nerthus. The full account of Nerthus cannot be
covered here, but Tacitus describes a procession in which a wagon containing the idol of a
goddess was periodically taken from an island grove where it was kept, and processed by a priest
throughout the territories of the Swabians, around southern Jylland or Schleswig-Holstein.120
This account is interesting for several reasons. The priest and goddess were possibly thought of
as husband and wife, as Turville-Petre points out, or else the idol may be wed to the earth.121 It
also likely began in the early summer, as the procession would have taken some time to loop
through the territory. The idol is pulled by cattle, and is washed in a secret lake. The debate
over who Nerthus was has been an ongoing one, and I will make no attempts to contribute to
it, other than to demonstrate the complexity of the question. Lotte Motz has posed that the
worship of Nerthus was a local phenomenon, most closely tied to Frau Holle/Perchte.122 On
account of the masculine form of the name Nerthus, many scholars have argued that she may
have in fact been Njorr, or as Eve Picard has suggested, the once feminine Nerthus became a
masculine Njorr to make her physically consistent with the grammatical ending of her name.
Gunnell has suggested that she may have been a female counterpart to Njorr, and at least
demonstrates close similarities to other fertility gods in later Scandinavian sources.123 Richard
North argues that Tacitus, who says Nerthus, that is Terra Mater, had originally been told
about a procession in which a god named Nerthus went on a procession over Terra Mater. Not
that she was Terra Mater. He concludes that Nerthus was male, Terra Mater was female and
Tacitus misunderstood his source.124 Regardless of exactly who Nerthus was, it is generally
agreed that we see a procession between a God and a Goddess (either with an idol and a human
representative, or by an idol and the earth itself) and that perhaps this is a sort of symbolic
marriage between the heaven and earth to bring fertility to the soil. Stone petroglyphs depicting
processions and unearthed wagons demonstrate that such ceremonies may have taken place as far
back as the Bronze Age.125 We also see parallels with the procession of Freyr in later Sweden,
which took place sometime between midwinter and the beginning of spring. Both are
120

Strm, Nordisk hedendom, p 40.

Turville-Petre, 1964, p. 172; See further, Strm, 1985, p. 41; Gunnell, 1995 p. 54.
122
Motz, The Goddess Ne thus: A Ne App oa h. 99 .
123
Picard, 1991, p. 164.
124
North, 1997, p. 20.

121

125

Djebjerg wagon, National Museet.

processions in which a deity in a wagon, and a priest possibly dressed in costume and
symbolising their spouse, process over the land in order to ensure rebirth and good growth.
Tacitus describes another goddess that might be related:
Some of the Suevi also sacrifice to Isis. Of the occasion and origin of this foreign rite I
have discovered nothing, but that the image, which is fashioned like a light galley,
suggests an imported worship.126
About the year 1133, at a forest near Inden (Germany), a ship was built on land and drawn
throughout the countryside, where it was greeted with celebrations, and dancing. A detailed
report of the procession can be found in Rodulfs Chronicon Abbatiae S. Trudonis.127 In the
account, it is declared by the clergy that malevolent spirits lived in the ship and that the ship
must be dedicated to Venus, Mars, Neptune or Bacchus. Obviously we can assume the names
refer to Germanic gods, and the same can also be said for Tacitus reference to Isis above. That
ship processions at the beginning of spring were common throughout Germany can be seen in
the Minutes of the town-council of Ulm, dated 1530 which prohibit dressing in costume and
processing with plows or ships.128 Regarding Tacitus reference to Isis: it may have reminded
him of the annual Navigium Isidis which took place annually in early March during his time, in
which the Romans held a procession involving a ship dedicated to Isis to mark the reopening of
the rivers.129 This does not mean that the deity worshiped by the Suebians held anything further
in common with Isis than an annual ship procession in early spring. The deity could have been
connected with Freyja, who has considerable similarities to Isis, or another similar goddess, such
as Nehalennia, whose name has been inscribed on numerous votive altars around the 3rd century,
and who is often portrayed bearing baskets of fruit and leaning against the prow or an oar of a
ship.130 Scholars have tried interchangeably connecting Freyja, Nerthus, Nehalennia, and Isis to
the various customs above. It is likely that as customs changed with place and time, so too did
the deities associated with them. In the sources provided we have been able to discern a very
clear pattern of wagon and ship processions, often associated with goddesses and fertility, taking
place in the spring; especially in mainland Europe. I argue that these would have been
126

Germania, 1970, pp. 108-109.

Grimm, 2012, p. 259.
128
Cited by Grimm , 2012, pp. 263-265.
129
Grimm, 2012, p. 258; Stalleybrass, citing Apuleius and Lactantuis, two writers later than Tacitus, reporting on a custom that
reached back to a much older date.
130
Simek, p. 228.
127

associated with festivals that took place on either the full or new moon following the vernal
equinox, marking the beginning of summer.
Another specific festival which we may study is called the Dsting, and occured during
the Swedish month of Gja, and has continued in Christian form into recent centuries, although
it has preserved its heathen name. Snorri mentions it in In lfs saga helga:
It was an ancient tradition in Sweden, during heathen times, to hold a main sacrifice in
Uppsala in the month of Gi (18th feb-24 march). At that time, a sacrifice was made for
peace and victory for the king, and people from all over Sweden were supposed to come
there. There was also a market, which lasted for a week. But when Sweden became
Christianthe market was moved and held at Candlemass.131
Two centuries prior, in the 1000s, Adam of Bremen describes the temple at Uppsala as
housing the statues of Thor, Wotan, and Frikko (Freyr), he also describes an event that occurred
every 9 years at this location,132 which appears to have been a specialized version of the Disting,
which took place every year. Many of the details he describes would thus also match the annual
event. Saxo Grammaticus claims that the event centered on the worship of Freyr,133 and both
Adam of Bremen and Saxo refer to unseemly dances and songs.134 Saga of King Heidrek the
Wise describes King Ingi refusing to sacrifice at a ing assembly in Sweden at this time. The
kings kinsman takes up the role, and a horse is slaughtered and hanged from a tree.135 Gautreks
saga and Saxo both also describe King Vikar being hanged at a Swedish ing. The Swedish
Upplandslg mentions the Disainx fr r (truce of the Disaing) in force during time of
Disaing, a legal meeting that began on Disaings dagur (The Day of the Disaing). The law
clause also mentions the market of the Dsting.136 The worship of the Dsir at this event is never
specifically mentioned. There are however, references to a Dsarsalur, in two separate
sources.137 Both references use the singular Dsar, instead of the plural Dsir. The hall was thus
dedicated to a single Ds, perhaps Freyja or another known goddess. With this being the extent
of our insite into the connection between the Dsir and the Dsaing, we are left with conjecture.
131

lfs Saga Helga, in Heimskringla, 1944, p. 292.

The history of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen, 1959.
133
Gesta Danorum (History of the Kings of Denmark), 1931, Bk 5.
134
Saxo He had e o e disgusted ith the o a ish od o e e ts, the latte of a to sa d the soft ti kli g of ells , p.
172; Adam- The i a tatio s usto a il ha ted i the ituala e a ifuold a d u see l . Ch 7.
135
The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise, 1960.
136
Upplandslagan, 1916, p. 169.
137
Ynglinga saga, in Heimskringla, 1944, p. 29; The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise, 1960, p. 63.
132

Gunnell and Strm138 both suggest that this event was originally centered around the cult of the
Dsir, and that the name was retained when it became supplanted by the masculine gods Freyr,
rr, and inn. That this is possible is evident in the fact that it retained its name even after it
was Christianized, even into modern times. Gunnell questions whether this original festival may
be explained as follows:
One wonders whether the conceptmight be explained by every person having an
individual ds, a family thus having many, and the festival thus being dedicated to all of
these protecting spirits, the single head of which might have been Freyja, who bore
responsibility for the welfare of the whole nation.139
The suggestion is entirely theoretical, but it explains why, unlike the western Nordic
winternights, Dsablt, the Dsing was a public, national event. I postulate that originally the
event had been a local festival and market dedicated to the Dsir of the gathered people, and that
at some point the aristocracy took control and placed the more national gods at the center.
Regarding when the Dsting took place, Adam of Bremen places the event at the the
vernal equinox, near the first days of summer in the lunisolar calendar. Snorri places it during
the Icelandic Gi, and then explains that it was moved to Candlemass. Nordberg explains that
Snorri misunderstood his source,140 noting that the Swedish Gja occured later than the Icelandic
Gi. To his mind, Adams placement is more accurate, falling right in the middle of the Gja,
around the time of the full moon. That the Dsting continued to take place during the full moon
of the later Swedish Dstingstungel even after it was moved and Christianized indicates it took
place during the full moon.141 We can confidently move it back to the older, Swedish Gja. The
Dsting market and festival originally would have occurred during the full moon nearest the
vernal equinox, in the middle of Swedish Gja, Bedes Hrethmonath. It is interesting to note
that this moon occurs a month prior to Eostermonath, and may give credence to Bedes
suggestion that goddesses were also worshiped during the two months encompassing the vernal
equinox.
We have scant sources that may reliably give us any picture for what sorts of festivals
took place during the heathen midsummer. We know that this time would be important for

138

Strm, 1954, p. 54; Gunnell, 2000 p. 134.

Gunnell, 2000, p. 135.
140
Nordberg, 2006, pp. 107-110.
141
See part 1.
139

regulating the lunisolar cycle, and we know that lafr Tryggvason moved what had been
drinking festivals during this time to Saint Johns Mass. Bonfires have long been associated with
midsummer in Scandinavia, and in western Norway they tend to take place around Saint Johns
Day, featuring mock marriages called Jonsokbryllup (Jonsok Weddings).142 Maypoles have been
associated with midsummer and can be traced back to the middle ages, and in Sweden particular
they are still popular. While it is difficult to trace the origins of folk customs, we might see the
origins of the maypole in heathen tree/pole worship, as exemplified in the accounts of the Oak of
Jupiter (Thor),143 or the Irminsul,144which were both recorded in the 8th century, and have a
wider connection to the worship of trees among the heathen. Swedish petroglyphs from the
Bronze Age depict figures carrying or dancing around raised poles. At Frs, the remains of a
tree surrounded by the remains of ritually deposited animals145 correlates with the description of
the Uppsala grove, and with the recent finds of posts at Upsalla surrounded by animal skeletons.
Throughout Sweden are tricorn stone monuments where ritual deposits and cooking took place,
and which Stefan Brink argues represented Yggdrasil or some more local cosmic tree. It is
therefore reasonable that, like the Halm-Staffan, and the procession of Freyr, the maypole and
pole or tree worship were a part of a common religious tradition. Its also reasonable to assume
some or all of the above elements have played a part in whatever festivities may have taken place
on the full moon after the summer solstice. According to slendinabk, in the middle of the 10th
century the official Alingi of Iceland took place When ten weeks of the summer had passed,
and this had been made the law of the land the previous summer, but before this, men had come
one week earlier.146 This makes the summer Alingi dependent on the full moon of the month
beginning after the vernal equinox, if we go by the lunisolar calendar. However, it is probable
that by the time the Alingi had been established, the shift in calendar from moons to weeks had
already begun to take place. While it is possible that ing events in the middle of summer
similar to that of Iceland took place throughout Scandinavia, we must acknowledge that there is a
serious lack of evidence. While we may assert that there is a pattern of celebration and ritual, in
the form of bonfires, drinking, and pole or tree customs during the period of midsummer, it is

142

Gunnell, 1995, p. 136.

Robinson, 1916, pp. 62-64.
144
Scholz, 1972, p. 49.

143

145
146

Magnell & Iregren, 2010.

slendinga Sgur og ttir, 1987, p. 52.

less certain as to whether there were ever large scale festivals as we have seen for the other
periods of the year.
In conclusion, the heathen Scandinavians reckoned time with a lunisolar calendar which
was tethered to the winter solstice, occurring between two months which were probably called
some variation of yule. This calendar was maintained by periodically inserting an extra lunar
month near the summer solstice. The natural year began on the winternights, which occurred or
were celebrated during the first full moon following the autumn equinox; and was split into four
quarters, which either began on, or were celebrated on the first full moon following an equinox
or solstice. It is likely that these were the times when annual festivals and religious observations
took place, and in the words of Nordberg, they likely included rituals that alluded to, and in
ritual terms repeated, the cosmological creation. We repeatedly find rituals that mention r ok
frir; something that Simek calls a formula used in Germanic cult language.147 Rituals such
as blt would have taken place at these times to mark, ensure, and maintain a successful year.
These festivals would have also incorporated any variety of political and local factors. If we
were to follow the seasonal events of a typical village in southern Sweden in 1000, we might see
something similar to what follows.
The veturntur celebrations occur on the full moon after the autumn equinox. On those
nights, people pull into their homes, or go to the bigger estates of those who invite them. There
would be ritual drinking, and in the evenings, the ritual slaughter and feast of an animal
dedicated up to the Dsir, or to Freyr (or both). During the days there would be games,
especially at the larger gatherings, where ball games, tournaments, and horse fights might have
taken place. If there are public events, bigger rituals involving horses may be dedicated to Freyr,
and weddings would take place on farmsteads and at halls. The local ing assemblies would
have been political, but religiously sanctified. In the month following veturntur, farmsteads
would be slaughtering cattle, preparing their stores, brewing, and perhaps participating in
prophetic rituals or inviting established spmenn/konur to determing how they might better get
by the winter and the year to come. As the yule season proceeds and midwinter draws near,
which is to be celebrated on the full moon a couple weeks after the darkess night of the year,
one might not cross the fields of the homestead unless they must, for fear of trll or draugr or
other supernatural perils; or they might leave offerings out to keep these spirits at bay; a practice
147

Simek, 2007, p. 18.

perhaps replaced by the painting of crosses on church doors in later years in Norway to keep the
Oskoriea at bay.148 The midwinter festivals might involve any number of processions or
ceremonies involving animal costumes, mock fighting, initiation rituals,149 and sacrifices to
inn, Freyr, Skai, r, Njorr or whatever gods cult is strongest in that region, as well as to
the dead. Shortly following midwinter, there might be processions for fertility spirits, most
notably Freyr, and there might be dramatic rituals performed to try and encourage the return of
the sun, and the softening of the earth. Processions of these sorts might continue through the
spring, and might involve female deities instead of Freyr. On the full moon closest to the spring
equinox, in the month of Gja, the whole area would come together to celebrate the Dsing with
a market, dramas, games, and sacrifices the Dsir, or even one powerful, national Ds. The
public cults would also hold sacrifices and rituals dedicated Freyr or inn or r. The summer
would bring hard work, travel, and trade. There might be rituals to Njr, or r, or, as is always
the case, a region continued to hold particular rituals that centered around the gods that the local
shrines or hills or groves were dedicated to. Midsummer might be a time to celebrate the long
days, and there might be dancing, decorating and worshiping cult trees or pillars, and there might
be big bonfires. With the coming of autumn there would be the harvest, and the festivities
centered around that, before the full moon brought winternights and the next year. This is of
course, a fictional model, and a basic, vague one at that; but beyond the timeframes and general
themes associated with different times of the year, the nature of calendrical festivities would
have varied with time and place. That being said, this article as a whole is hopefully
comprehensive enough and establishes enough of a foundation that it will be of value in
reconstructing the heathen annual calendar within its own context, and will also serve as a map
or guide for any researcher trying to place recorded events in written sources into the proper
seasonal time frame.

148
149

Gunnell, 2000.
Jens Peter Schjdt, 2008.

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