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. SACRIFICES TO THE ALFAR, DISIR, FYLGJA, HAMINGJA, CHAPTER XXVII "The Viking Age," by Paul B. Du Chaillu, vol. 1, p. 409-419 Sacrifices
to the Alfar -- Early worship of the Alfar -- Spirits of the Alfar
-Sacrifices to the Disir -- Ccremonies
attending the sacrifices -- The Fylgja and Hamingja or following and family spirits -- They take
various shapes -They appear in dreams -- Guardian spirits of the land. THE people
made sacrifices to the Alfar (Alfa-blót) mentioned in the earlier Edda,
as well as to the Asar and Disir,
who we have seen were closely related to the former. 1 These sacrifices, of which there are few accounts, and which seem to
have been made in houses, are perhaps traces of a religion previous to that of
Odin of the North. King Olaf Haraldsson sent as messengers to Olaf, King of Sweden, Björn, his marshal, and the Icelandic scald Sigvat. After leaving "Then
they went through Gautland, and one evening came to a
farm called DO not go
farther in, Wretched man; I fear the
wrath of Odin, We are heathens. (St. Olaf's Saga, c. 92.) We have seen
that the. Alfar, from whom some people claimed their
descent, as others did from the Asar, were of two
kinds, and dwelt at Alfheim, not far from the Urd well by the ash Yggdrasil.
They made the fetter Gleipnir, with
which the Fenris-wolf was kept
tied; also the ship Skidbladnir, Odin's
spear Gungnir, and Sif's
golden hair, &c. "Why
is gold called the hair of Sif? '
Loki, son of Lanfey, had, through cunning, cut off
all the hair of Sif (wife of Thor). When Thor knew it
he took Loki and would have crushed every bone in him if he had not sworn to
get the Svartalfar (black Altar) to make hair of gold
for Sif which would grow like other hair. Thereafter
Loki went to the Dvergar, called the sons of Ivaldi, 2 and they made the hair and Skidbladnirand
the spear of Odin, Gungnir. Then Loki staked
his head to the Dverg Brok
that his brother Sindri would not be able to make
three things as good as these. When they came to the
smithy, Sindri laid the skin of a swine on the hearth
and asked Brok to blow (the bellows), and not to stop
before he had taken from the hearth what he had put on it. When he had left the
forge and Brok had made the bellows blow, a fly 3 sat down on his hand and pecked at it; he continued until the smith
took from the hearth a boar with golden bristles. Then Sindri
put gold on the hearth and asked him to blow and not to stop till he came back.
He went, and the fly came and sat down on his neck and pecked twice as hard,
but he blew until the smith took from the hearth a gold ring called Draupnir. Then Sindri
laid iron on the hearth and asked him to blow, as this would be of no use if he
stopped it. Then the fly settled down between his eyes and pecked at his
eyelids. When the blood ran down into his eyes so that he saw nothing he swept
away the fly as quickly as he could, and the bellows fell down; then the smith
came and said that now all that was on the hearth had been made nearly useless.
He took a hammer from it and gave all these (three) things to his brother Brok, and asked him to take them to Asgard
for the wager. . . . Loki gave to Odin the spear Gungnir,
to Thor the hair for Sif, to Frey Skidbladnir.
. . . Then Brok gave the ring (Draupnir)
to Odin, and said that every ninth night eight rings equally heavy would drop
from it; he gave the boar to Frey, and said it could run over sea and air by
night and day faster than any horse, and that the night or mijrkheimar
(the black world) would never get so dark but there would be enough light from
the shining of its mane. He gave the hammer to Thor, and said that whatever he
met, however large the object was, he might strike it with the hammer and it
would never fail; if he threw it at anything it would never miss, and never go
so far as not to come back into his hand' " (Skáldskaparmal,
35). " Ragnar (the son of Sigurd
Hring) grew up in his father's laird; he was taller
and handsomer than any man people had seen, and like his mother and her kin to
look at, for it is known from all old sayings about the people that are called Alfar that they were much finer than other kinds of men in
the northern lands. The parents of his mother Alfhild
and all her kin sprung from Alf the old " (Sögubrot, c. 10). "The
land which King Álf ruled was called Alfheim, and all the people that spring from him are of the
Alfa-kin; next after the Risar they were finer than
other people. King Alf was married to Bryngerd,
daughter of King Raum, in Raumariki;
she was tall but not handsome, for Raum was ugly; 4 the men who are tall and ugly are called raumar"
( Thorstein's Saga Vikingssonar, c. 1). The people
thought that the spirits of the Alfar sometimes lived
not far from human habitations. Kormak
and Thorvard had fought, and the latter had been
wounded; he recovered slowly, and as soon as he could get on his feet went to
find Thordis (a Volva), and
inquired how he could best recover his health. He replied: -- "A
short distance from here there is a hill, in which Alfar
live. Thou must get the bull, which Kormak killed,
and with its blood redden the outside of the hill, and make a feast for the Alfar of the meat, and thou wilt recover" ( Kormak's Saga, c. 22). Disa-blót. -- The sacrifices offered to the Disir, or genii who specially guarded men and families and
appeared when important events happened, 5 seem to have been performed by women only, and to
have been usually made in the autumn or winter nights; sometimes human
sacrifices were made to them. This worship
from its very nature was probably of great antiquity, and belonged to the
religion practised by the Asar.
The earliest
account of a Disa-blót is in Hervarar Saga. "A man
named Arngrim was a Risi
and mountain dweller, who took Ama Ymi's daughter from Ymisland, and
married her; their son was Hergrim,
called half-Tröll. He was sometimes with the
mountain Risar, and sometimes with men; he had the
strength of a Jötun; was much skilled in witchcraft
and a great Berserk; 6 he carried off Ogn Alfasprengi from Jötunheim and
married her; they had a son called Grim. Starkad then
lived at Öfossar; he was by kin a Thurs, and like
them in strength and nature; his father was Störkvid.
Ogn Alfasprengi was
betrothed to Starkad, but Hergrim
took her from him while he was travelling north over Elivágar; when he came back he asked him to give him back
his wife, and at the same time challenged him to 'holmanga.'
7 They fought at the uppermost waterfall at Eydi.' Starkad had eight hands,
and fought with four swords at once. He won the victory, and Hergrim fell. Ogn was looking on,
and when Hergrim had fallen she stabbed herself and
would not marry Starkad. Starkad
took all the property of Hergrim with him, and also
his son Grim, who grew up with him, and was both tall and strong. King Alf, who
ruled in Alfheimar, had a daughter Alfhild. At that time the land between Gautelf
and Raumelf was called Alfheimar.
One autumn there was a great disablót
(sacrifice to the Disir) 8 at King Alf's, and Alfhild
went to it; she was more beautiful than any other woman, and all the people in Alfheimar were handsomer than other people at that time;
but in the night, as she was reddening the hörg with
blood, Starkad Aludreng
took her away to his home. Then King Alf invoked Thor to seek for Alfhild, and Thor killed Starkad,
and made Alfhild go home to her father, and Grim the
son of Hergrim with her. When Grim was twelve winters
old he went into warfare and became one of the greatest warriors; He married Bauggerd, the daughter of Alfhild
and Starkad. He settled on an island in Halogaland called Bólm, and was therefrom called Eygrim Bólm; their son was Arngrim
Berserk, who afterwards lived in Bólm, and was a most
famous warrior" (Hervarar Saga, c. 1). " KingEirik Bloodaxe
and Gunnhild came the same eveningto
Atli, where Bard had prepared a great feast for him,
and there was to be a disablót. There was much
drinking and feasting in the hall. The king asked where Bard was, for he saw
him nowhere. A man replied: 'Bard is outside helping his guests.' 'Who are
those cruests,' inquired the king, 'that he thinks it
more his duty to be there than inside with us?' The man told him they were the huslcarlar (servants) of Thorir hersir. The king added: 'Go to them as speedily as
possible, and call them in here.' When they came, the king received Olvir well, and made him sit opposite him in the high-seat,
and his men on both sides of him. Egil was next to Olvir; then ale was brought in, and many memorial toasts
were drunk, a horn to be emptied at each. As the evening was drawing to a close
many of Olvir's men became drunk; some of them
vomited in the hall, but others went outside" ( Egil's Saga, c. 44). Even at Upsala sacrifices were offered to the Disir.
" KingAdils was at a disablót,
and rode on a horse round the disarsal (hall of the Disir); his horse stumbled and fell, and the king was
thrown off, and his head hit a stone so that it broke and his brains lay on the
stone. This caused his death. He died at Uppsalir,
and is mound-laid. there; the Swedes called him a
powerful king" (Ynglinga Saga, c. 33). Among the Disir two women, who are mentioned several times in the
Sagas, seem to have been regarded as special objects of worship. These are the
sisters Thorgerd Hörgabrud,
or Hölgabrud, and Yrpa. The
name of Hörgabrud signifies the bride of the altars,
and indicates her supposed holiness; and the second name, Hölgabrud,
undoubtedly shows that she has been especially worshipped in Hálogaland, whence the family of the great Hakon Jarl hailed; thus Thorgerd
and her sister came to be the special guardians of that family (see Human
Sacrifice, page 367). "A.
king called Hölgi, after whom Hálogaland
is named, is said to have been the father of Thorgerd
Hölgabrud. To both of them sacrifices were, made, and
a mound was raised for Hölgi; one layer was of gold
and silver, which were offerings, and another was of earth and stones"
(Later Edda (Skáldskaparmál),
c. 45). The Disir are often spoken of as Fylgja
(following spirit), and Hamingja (good luck or family
spirit); but there must have been some distinction between them and the Disir proper, as no sacrifices were offered to the Hamingja and Fylgja. 9 The latter seem to be synonymous, but the former
spirit, which at the hour of death left the dying person and passed to a dear
son, was the more personal, and it was believed that it could be transmitted
from one man to another. The
expressions kynfylgja (kinguardians),
attaifylgja (family guardians), which
sometimes occur in the Sagas, seem to indicate a belief that the eminent
qualities of a family were protected by these spirits. King Volsung married his daughter Signy
to King Siggeir. When Siggeir
departed -- " Signy said to her father: 'I do not want
to go with Siggeir, and my mind does not feel love
towards him, and I know by my foresight, and from our kynfylgja,
that this marriage will cause much sorrow to us if it is not soon. broken off" (Volsunga Saga,
c. 4). Sometimes the
guardian spirit of one man would follow another. Thorstein
went to find the Dverg Sindri,
and gave him good gifts, and they separated with the greatest friendship. The Dverg said -- "[Now
must we separate for some time, and fare thee well. I tell thee that my Disir will constantly follow thee. Thereupon Thorstein went to his boat and rowed to his men ( Thorstein Vikingsson,
ch. xxii.). "At
the time when Olaf came to Gardariki there were many
men in Hólmgard who foretold future things; they all
could tell by their wisdom that the fylgjas of
a young foreigner had come into the country, and that these were so luckylooking that never had they seen the fylgjas of any man like them; but they knew not who or
whence he was; nevertheless they showed with many words that the bright light
shining over him would spread all over Gardariki and
widely through the eastern half of the world" (Fornmanna
Sögur, I. c. 57). " Glum dreamed one night that he was standing outside his farm, and looking
over the fjord, and that he saw a woman going up the district from the sea, and
walking towards Thverá (the farm of Glum). She was so
large that her shoulders touched the mountains on both sides of the valley; he
went from the house to meet her, and invited her to him, and then he awoke. All
thought it marvellous, but he said: 'The dream is
great and remarkable; but thus will I interpret it: that my mother's father Vigfus must be dead, and that woman who was taller than the
mountains is probably his hamingja, for he surpassed
others in most things of honour, and his luck will
dwell where I am.' Next summer, when ships arrived from The shapes of
the various Fylgjas can best be found from the
forms in which the people thought they perceived them. They were inherited from
one man by his descendants and even relatives, so that some families had their
permanent guardianship; to them accordingly was often ascribed the success of
some individuals. The shapes
most frequently assumed were those of birds and animals, and in some such shape
every man was supposed to have his fylgja,
indictative of his character; cunning people were
said to have foxes for their fylgja;
fierce warriors, wolves; great, chiefs, eagles, oxen, bears, and other animals.
10 From numerous Sagas we find that they frequently
assumed the shape of bears, which went in front of the persons they wanted to
guard, and sometimes presented themselves in the form of the human being whose
genii they were, but never in the shape of wornen
11 like the Disir proper.
Those of the deceased were believed to warn their relatives, kinsmen, and
friends, and appeared at or before important events in the life of the person
whom they guarded, sometimes while he was awake, but as a rule in dreams, and
it was believed that a sudden sleepiness foreboded their coming. Wherever those
under their protection went they accompanied them, preceding them to such
places as they intended to visit. When Halfred while on a voyage to A woman was
seen to walk along the ship; she was large and had on a coat of mail, and
walked on the waves as if on land. Halfred looked and
saw that it was his female guardian (fylgja-kona),
and said: "I declare myself altogether sundered from thee.' She asked,
'Wilt thou, Thorvald, receive
me?' He replied he would not. Then Halfred the young
(a son of the poet Halfred) said, 'I will receive
thee;' she then vanished. Then Halfred said: 'I will
give to thee, my son, the sword of the king, but the other things shall be laid
in my coffin if I die on board the ship.' He sang ('God rules; I fear hell;
every man must die'). A little after he died, and was laid in a coffin with his
things, a cloak, a helmet, and a ring, and then thrown overboard" ( Halfredar Saga, c. 11). The chief Hall
of Sida had a feast. In the night Thidrandi
his son heard some one knocking repeatedly at the door, and went out with a
sword in his hand. "He
heard the sound of horses' feet from the north, and saw nine women 12 riding in black clothes with drawn swords in their hands. He also
heard horse-feet from the south, and saw nine women all in white clothes on
white horses. He wanted to go in and tell this vision to people, but the
black-dressed women were quicker and attacked him, while he defended himself
valiantly. "A
long while after Thórhall (one of the guests) awoke
and asked if Thidrandi was awake, and got no answer.
He said it was too late. They went out. The moon shone and the weather was
frosty. They found Thidrandi lying wounded" (Fornmanna Sögur). "One
summer King Ivar Vidfadmi
went with his host west from "That
morning Thorstein awoke in his room, and said 'Art
thou awake, Thórir?' 'I am,' answered Thórir, 'but have slept till now.' Thorstein
said: 'I want to get ready to go away from this room, for I know that Jökull will come hither to-day
with many men.' 'I do not think so,' said Thórir,
'and will not go; but how hast thou found it out?' 'I dreamt,' said Thorstein, 'that thirty wolves ran hither and seven bears,
with an eighth red-cheeked bear, which was large and fierce; with them also
were two she-foxes, which ran ahead of the flock and were rather
fierce-looking; I disliked them most. All the wolves attacked us, and it seemed
to me that at last they tore all my brothers asunder, except thee alone; but
nevertheless thou didst fall. Many thought I was killed by the bears, but I
killed all the wolves and the smaller she-fox; then I fell. What thinkest thou this dream signifies?' said Thórir. 'I think,' said Thorstein,
'that the large red-cheeked bear is Jökul's fylgja, but that the other bears are the fylgja of his brothers, and all the wolves I have
seen are men with them, for they are likely to show the tempers of wolves to
us. With regard to the two she-foxes, I do not know the men who have those fylgja; I think they have lately come to Jökul, and they must be disliked by most men' " ( Thorstein Vikingsson, c. 12). The child of
an Icelandic woman by name of Orny, having been
exposed, 14 was saved by a bondi named
Krumm, and by him raised as his own, and called Thorstein. One day when the boy was seven years of age Krumm went with him to Krossavik,
where the grandfather of the boy, Geitir, lived.
While there he rushed forward on the floor, as is the habit of children,
stumbled and fell. As Geitir laughed, the boy asked
him why he found it so funny. Geitir answered: -- " 'It
is true; for I saw that which thou didst not see.' 'What was it?' said Thorstein. 'I can tell thee. When thou camest
into the room a young white bear followed thee, and ran before thee on the
floor; when he saw me he stopped, but thou didst rush on and stumble over the
young bear; I think thou art not the son of Krumm,
but of higher kin' " 15 ( Fornmanna Sögur, iii. p. 113). "He ( Thórhalli) dreamt a dream and
went northward to Finni. When he came to the door he
said: 'I should like thee to explain a dream which I have dreamt.' Finni said: 'Go; I will not hear thy dream,' and pushed the
door and said: 'Go away as quick as thou canst, and tell it to Gudmund of Mödruvellir, or else
thou shalt be driven away with weapons at once.' Then
he went away to Mödruvellir. Gudmund
had ridden that day out into the district and was expected home that night. Einar, his brother, lay down and
fell asleep. He dreamt that an ox, very fine-looking, with large horns, walked
up through the district; it walked up to Mödruvellir
and went to every house of the farm, and at last to the high-seat, and there
fell dead. Thereupon Einar said: 'This forebodes
great tidings, and this is the fylgja of a man.' Then
Gudmund came home, and it was his custom to go to
every house of the farm br. When he had come to his
high-seat he leant back and talked with Thórhalli,
who told him his dream. Then he rose in the seat when food was brought. It was
hot milk, warmed with stones. Gudmund said: 'This is
not hot.' Thorlaug said: 'Now I do not know where thy
liking for the heat comes from.' He drank again and said: 'This is not hot.'
Then he sank backward and was dead. Thorlaug said:
'This is great tidings, which will be heard widely; no man shall touch him, and
often has Einar had forebodings of lesser tidings.'
Then Einar came and prepared the body and said: 'Thy
dream, Thórhalli, has no small power, 16 and Finni has seen in thee that the man to
whom thou didst tell the dream would be death-fated, and he liked Gudmund to become so. Cold must he have been inside, as he
did not feel anything (Ljósvetninga, c. 21). The country as
well as the people had its guardian spirits, or Landvoettir,
by which it and its inhabitants were protected, and which were supposed to assume
different shapes. What the Disir and Hamingja were to the family, the Landvttir
were to the whole or a large tract of the country; and though they were
sometimes attached to special men, whom they followed, they were more closely
connected with the land than with the people, and there was a heathen law in They were
subordinate to the guardian gods of each country, and excited dreams in men,
and on behalf of the guardian god watched over those places at which they
dwelt; they especially liked to dwell on mountains, and sometimes the dead were
assigned places with them. 17 "It
was the beginning of the heathen laws that, men should not go with a head-ship
with dragon-heads) out on the main sea, or, if they did, they should take the
heads off before they saw land, and not approach it with gaping heads and
yawning snouts, that the landvoettir might not
be frightened" (Landnama, c. 7). These landvttir sometimes loved special men, and followed them. " Björn (an Icelander) dreamt one night
that a rock-dweller came to him and offered to enter into partnership with him,
and he consented. Thereafter a he-goat came to his goats, and they increased so
much that he soon became very rich. After this he was called He-goat Björn. Second-sighted men saw that all landvttir followed He-goat Björn.
to the Thing, and Thorstein
and Thórd (his brothers) to hunting and fishing (Landnama, iv. c. 12). Egil, fleeing
from the pursuit of King Eirik Bloodaxe
and his men, got a vessel to go to "And
when they were ready to sail Egil went upon an
island. He took into his hand a hazel-pole and went on a projecting rock,
pointing landwards. He took a horse's head and it upon the pole; then he said
the following words: 'Here I raise a pole as a curse, and I turn this curse
upon King Eirik and Queen Gunnhild.'
He turned the horse's head so that it pointed landwards. 'I turn this curse on
the guardian spirits who dwell in this country, so that; they shall all go
astray, and no one of them shall meet or find his home until they have driven
King Eirik and Gunnhild
from. the land. He thrust the pole into a rift in the
rock, and let it stand there; lie carved runes on the pole which told all this
imprecation. Thereupon he went on board ship and sailed" ( Egil's Saga, c. 60). Notes
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