northern belief about religion

[12], Rooted in ritual practice and oral tradition,[12] Old Norse religion was fully integrated with other aspects of Norse life, including subsistence, warfare, and social interactions. 848–49. [108] The myths were transmitted purely orally until the end of the period, and were subject to variation; one key poem, "Vǫluspá", is preserved in two variant versions in different manuscripts,[e] and Snorri's retelling of the myths sometimes varies from the other textual sources that are preserved. A passage in Snorri Sturluson's Ynglinga Saga states that Odin—whom he presents as a human king later mistaken for a deity—instituted laws that the dead would be burned on a pyre with their possessions, and burial mounds or memorial stones erected for the most notable men. breach of a taboo) and proximate causes (e.g. [76] However, it appears that the Scandinavian migrants had converted to Christianity within the first few decades of their arrival. Rúnar Leifsson, (2012). [193], The texts frequently allude to human sacrifice. [80] The Danish monarchy reverted to Old Norse religion under Horik II (854 – c. Quakers, or the Religious Society of Friends, was founded in England in the 17th century by George Fox and played a key role in abolition and women’s suffrage. [171] Snorri also mentions the possibility of the dead reaching the hall of Brimir in Gimlé, or the hall of Sindri in the Niðafjöll Mountains. [298] Also inspired by these Old Norse and Germanic tales was J. R. R. Tolkien, who used them in creating his legendarium, the fictional universe in which he set novels like The Lord of the Rings. Hamingjur, dísir and swanmaidens are female supernatural figures of uncertain stature within the belief system; the dísir may have functioned as tutelary goddesses. [228] In many cases, the grave goods and other features of the grave reflect social stratification, particularly in the cemeteries at market towns such as Hedeby and Kaupang. There then appeared a giant, Ymir, and after him the gods, who lifted the earth out of the sea. [263][264] The scholar Stefan Brink has argued that one can speak of a "mythical and sacral geography" in pre-Christian Scandinavia. The Religious Characteristics of States Dataset Project: Demographics reports the estimates of religious demographics, both country by country and region by region. [298], The mythological stories derived from Old Norse and other Germanic sources provided inspiration for various artists, including Richard Wagner, who used these narratives as the basis for his Der Ring des Nibelungen. Although freedom of religion is well established and practiced, some religious preference is given by the government. [166] According to the poem Grímnismál, Valhalla had 540 doors and that a wolf stood outside its western door, while an eagle flew overhead. The religious beliefs of modern Americans—and Asians, and Europeans, and Africans—span a wide range, and so do the spiritual traditions of Native Americans. In the early 19th century, the Lewis and Clark Expedition made contact with the Chinook and described them as a peaceful, prosperous people. [104] Snorri was also part of this revived interest, examining pagan myths from his perspective as a cultural historian and mythographer. [83] Haakon Sigurdsson later became the de facto ruler of Norway, and although he agreed to be baptised under pressure from the Danish king and allowed Christians to preach in the kingdom, he enthusiastically supported pagan sacrificial customs, asserting the superiority of the traditional deities and encouraging Christians to return to their veneration. There they waited until Ragnarok, when they would fight alongside the Æsir. [90], Across Germanic Europe, conversion to Christianity was closely connected to social ties; mass conversion was the norm, rather than individual conversion. [103] The religion of the peoples of Northern Europe ultimately derives from the same Indo-European source as those of the Celts and of early Rome, and like them, was influenced by the religions of the peoples wh… [26] Economic, marital, and religious exchange occurred between the Norse and many of these other groups. [223], Burial of the dead is the Norse rite of passage about which we have most archaeological evidence. In 1966, based on the results of a comprehensive archaeological survey of most of Scandinavia, the Danish archaeologist Olaf Olsen proposed the model of the "temple farm": that rather than the hof being a dedicated building, a large longhouse, especially that of the most prominent farmer in the district, served as the location for community cultic celebrations when required. [227] In other cases, such as in Iceland, cemeteries show very little evidence of it. [37], One important written source is Snorri's Prose Edda, which incorporates a manual of Norse mythology for the use of poets in constructing kennings; it also includes numerous citations, some of them the only record of lost poems,[38] such as Þjóðólfr of Hvinir's Haustlǫng. [72] The English church found itself in need of conducting a new conversion process to Christianise this incoming population. Norse mythology divided these deities into two groups, the Æsir and the Vanir, who engaged in an ancient war until realizing that they were equally powerful. Older folk will still tell tales of hearing a Banshee, or even of an encounter at night with a fairy sprite. [199] Mentions of people being "sentenced to sacrifice" and of the "wrath of the gods" against criminals suggest a sacral meaning for the death penalty;[200] in Landnamabók the method of execution is given as having the back broken on a rock. [87], Olaf Tryggvason sent a Saxon missionary, Þangbrandr, to Iceland. [281] In Old Norse society, religious authority was harnessed to secular authority; there was no separation between economic, political, and symbolic institutions. Steeples g… Numerous Old Norse works dated to the 13th century record Norse mythology, a component of North Germanic religion. [93] 4. [75] It is not well understood how the Christian institutions converted these Scandinavian settlers, in part due to a lack of textual descriptions of this conversion process equivalent to Bede's description of the earlier Anglo-Saxon conversion. Various cultic spaces were used; initially, outdoor spaces such as groves and lakes were typically selected, but by the third century CE cult houses were also purposely built for ritual activity. This world was inhabited also by various other mythological races, including giants, dwarfs, elves, and land-spirits. [230] A boat burial at Kaupang in Norway contained a man, woman, and baby lying adjacent to each other alongside the remains of a horse and dismembered dog. Some mythographers have suggested that this myth was based on recollection of a conflict in Scandinavia between adherents of different belief systems;[122][123] in Georges Dumézil's tripartite theory both the war and the division of the pantheon into two groups are related to Indo-European parallels, with the Vanir exemplifying the second "function", that of fertility and the cycle of life and death. The belief in causation is divided into ultimate causes (e.g. [203], Archaeological evidence supports Ibn Fadlan's report of funerary human sacrifice: in various cases, the burial of someone who died of natural causes is accompanied by another who died a violent death. The Tlingit compose a number of tribes in Alaska, British Columbia and the Yukon. [229] In certain areas of the Nordic world, namely coastal Norway and the Atlantic colonies, smaller boat burials are sufficiently common to indicate it was no longer only an elite custom. [52], Personal names are also a source of information on the popularity of certain deities; for example Thor's name was an element in the names of both men and women, particularly in Iceland. Norse mythology divided these deities into two groups, the Æsir and the Vanir, who engaged in an ancient war until realizing that they were equally powerful. The Moravian Church is sometimes confused as its own religion, one that is similar to the Mormon or Amish faiths, but in fact it's not a separate religion. [193][204] For example, at Birka a decapitated young man was placed atop an older man buried with weapons, and at Gerdrup, near Roskilde, a woman was buried alongside a man whose neck had been broken. The Moravian Church is a denomination within the Protestant religion and Moravians share the same core beliefs, including that Jesus Christ was born, died, and resurrected. The United Kingdom, comprised of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, guarantees freedom of religion to its citizens and residents through 3 different regulations. [289] Earlier examples were made from iron, bronze, or amber,[287] although silver pendants became fashionable in the tenth century. Their beliefs were based in animism, where the natural world interacts with a supernatural world. [257] Terms particularly associated with outdoor worship are vé (shrine) and hörgr (cairn or stone altar). [284] However, there are exceptions. From this emerged two realms, the icy, misty Niflheim and the fire-filled Muspell, the latter ruled over by fire-giant, Surtr. [105] As a result, Norse mythology "long outlasted any worship of or belief in the gods it depicts". [258] Place-name evidence suggests that cultic practices might also take place at many different kinds of sites, including fields and meadows (vangr, vin), rivers and lakes, bogs, groves (lundr) and individual trees, and rocks. Along with masked performances, Haida people celebrated with communal feasts called potlatches. [158] The Ragnarok story suggests that the idea of an inescapable fate pervaded Norse world-views. In particular, he is connected with death by hanging; this is apparent in Hávamál, a poem found in the Poetic Edda. Although our literary sources are all relatively late, there are also indications of change over time. Classroom is the educational resource for people of all ages. [298] Since this research appeared from the background of European romanticism, many of the scholars operating in the nineteenth and twentieth century framed their approach through nationalism, and were strongly influenced in their interpretations by romantic notions about nationhood, conquest, and religion. [265], Several of the sagas refer to cult houses or temples, generally called in Old Norse by the term hof. [298] Scholarly interest in the subject then revived in the late 20th century. [45], Since the literary evidence that represents Old Norse sources was recorded by Christians, archaeological evidence especially of cultic sites and burials is of great importance particularly as a source of information on Norse religion before the conversion. The archaeologist Anders Andrén noted that "Old Norse religion" is "the conventional name" applied to the pre-Christian religions of Scandinavia. They performed ceremonies, rituals and dances wearing masks. The Landnámabók refers to two women holding the position of gyðja, both of whom were members of local chiefly families. [53], Andrén described Old Norse religion as a "cultural patchwork" which emerged under a wide range of influences, both from earlier Scandinavian religions and elements introduced from elsewhere. [285] Evidence for this has been cited from the Ynglingatal poem in which the Swedes kill their king, Domalde, following a famine. 178–80. Some churches use a sprinkling of water as Baptism, but most practice full immersion, where the candidate is fully immersed in water.This symbolizes the disciples’ own baptism as stated in John 3. [292] However, around 10 percent of those discovered during excavation had been placed on top of cremation urns, suggesting that they had a place in certain funerary rituals. Different from other denominations, the top five identifying beliefs of evangelical Christians are: SPECIAL: Prayer Changes Your Brain in 4 … Norse cosmology revolved around a world tree known as Yggdrasil, with various realms existing alongside that of humans, named Midgard. This mould had space for a Mjöllnir and a crucifix pendant side by side, suggesting that the artisan who produced these pendants catered for both religious communities. [113][114] One god, Baldr, is said in the myths to have died. [86] Sweden was the last Scandinavian country to officially convert;[75] although little is known about the process of Christianisation, it is known that the Swedish kings had converted by the early 11th century and that the country was fully Christian by the early 12th. About one in Northern Ireland - Northern Ireland - Religion: The demographic balance between Protestants and Roman Catholics in Northern Ireland is becoming increasingly delicate. Sources. Regardless of how old we are, we never stop learning. The raven also appears in Haida and Tsimshian belief systems. It was replaced by Christianity during the Christianization of Scandinavia. [66] Unlike other Nordic societies, Iceland lacked a monarchy and thus a centralising authority which could enforce religious adherence;[67] there were both pagan and Christian communities from the time of its first settlement. Christianity is the main religion in Northern Ireland. They sang songs and told stories, which were passed on through successive generations. The earliest of these, Tacitus' Germania, dates to around 100 CE[40] and describes religious practices of several Germanic peoples, but has little coverage of Scandinavia. [155] Snorri also relates that Hel and the frost-giants live under two of the roots but places the gods, rather than humanity, under the third root. Theophoric place-names, including instances where a pair of deity names occur in close proximity, provide an indication of the importance of the cult of those deities in different areas, dating back to before our earliest written sources. [299], Theories about a shamanic component of Old Norse religion have been adopted by forms of Nordic neoshamanism; groups practicing what they called seiðr were established in Europe and the United States by the 1990s. Because their ancestral lands are evergreen forests, the Haida became skilled woodcarvers. Before the water rite, a child could be rejected; De Vries, Volume 1, pp. Their religious beliefs became vocal in their spirituals—songs full of their pain, sorrow and resignation, their hope, joy and rebellion. As a result, artists featured Norse gods and goddesses in their paintings and sculptures, and their names were applied to streets, squares, journals, and companies throughout parts of northern Europe. [127] The status of Loki within the pantheon is problematic, and according to "Lokasenna" and "Vǫluspá" and Snorri's explanation, he is imprisoned beneath the earth until Ragnarok, when he will fight against the gods. 867). For some gods, particularly Loki,[115][116][117] there is no evidence of worship; however, this may be changed by new archaeological discoveries. Complete cure or even the slightest improvement in a malady or illness is viewed as a miracle. Some of these areas, such as Iceland, the Orkneys, Shetland, and the Faroe Islands, were hardly populated, whereas other areas, such as England, Southwest Wales, Scotland, the Western Isles, Isle of Man, and Ireland, were already heavily populated. motor vehicle accident) of illness, injury or death. [130] Ancestor veneration may have played a part in the private religious practices of Norse people in their farmsteads and villages;[131][132] in the 10th century, Norwegian pagans attempted to encourage the Christian king Haakon to take part in an offering to the gods by inviting him to drink a toast to the ancestors alongside a number of named deities. [24] The scholar of Scandinavian studies Thomas A. DuBois said Old Norse religion and other pre-Christian belief systems in Northern Europe must be viewed as "not as isolated, mutually exclusive language-bound entities, but as broad concepts shared across cultural and linguistic lines, conditioned by similar ecological factors and protracted economic and cultural ties". [182], The primary religious ritual in Norse religion appears to have been sacrifice, or blót. [1] See for instance[2] Other terms used by scholarly sources include "pre-Christian Norse religion",[3] "Norse religion",[4] "Norse paganism",[5] "Nordic paganism",[6] "Scandinavian paganism",[7] "Scandinavian heathenism",[8] "Scandinavian religion",[9] "Northern paganism",[10] "Northern heathenism",[11] "North Germanic religion",[a][b] or "North Germanic paganism". Items in lower case italics are classes of religion and not actual religions. [139] Texts also mention various kinds of elves and dwarfs. [291] These have typically been interpreted as a protective symbol, although may also have had associations with fertility, being worn as amulets, good-luck charms, or sources of protection. [224] There is considerable variation in burial practices, both spatially and chronologically, which suggests a lack of dogma about funerary rites. [251] Since the 19th century, some scholars have sought to interpret other aspects of Old Norse religion itself by comparison with shamanism;[252] for example, Odin's self-sacrifice on the World Tree has been compared to Finno-Ugric shamanic practices. [95] For those living in isolated areas, pre-Christian beliefs likely survived longer,[96] while others continued as survivals in folklore. 853–54. [224][225] Both cremations and inhumations are found throughout Scandinavia,[224][226] but in Viking Age Iceland there were inhumations but, with one possible exception, no cremations. [138] For many, they may have been more important in daily life than the gods. Various forms of burial were conducted, including both inhumation and cremation, typically accompanied by a variety of grave goods. Throughout its history, varying levels of trans-cultural diffusion occurred among neighbouring peoples, such as the Sami and Finns. Excavated examples include the Oseberg ship burial near Tønsberg in Norway, another at Klinta on Öland,[229] and the Sutton Hoo ship burial in England. The Old Norse word brúðhlaup has cognates in many other Germanic languages and means "bride run"; it has been suggested that this indicates a tradition of bride-stealing, but other scholars including Jan de Vries interpreted it as indicating a rite of passage conveying the bride from her birth family to that of her new husband. Like other natives in the region, the Chinook had shamans who performed rituals and communicated with the spirit world. [134][135], The norns are female figures who determine individuals' fate. They had contact with Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist evangelists and were greatly influenced by these religions. [205] Many of the details of Ibn Fadlan's account are born out by archaeology;[206][207][115] and it is possible that those elements which are not visible in the archaeological evidence—such as the sexual encounters—are also accurate. Depictions of some of these stories can be found on picture stones in Gotland and in other visual record including some early Christian crosses, which attests to how widely known they were. This world was inhabited also by various other mythological races, including giants, dwarfs, … [71] Several place-names also contain Old Norse references to mythological entities, such as alfr, skratii, and troll. [149], Völuspá portrays Yggdrasil as a giant ash tree. [102] For instance, Old Norse mythological themes and motifs appear in poetry composed for the court of Cnut the Great, an eleventh-century Christian Anglo-Scandinavian king. 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