Afterlife during Vikingage

There has been a big variety of different burial rituals during Anicent Scandinavian times, and what these all mean we can only guess due to the lack of written down sources. There are however a lot of hints that has been left for us to be interpreted, and during the Iron age we do have carved down sources, later medieval written down tales and many investigated graves that can help us understand the Iron age Scandinavian’s view of the afterlife. In this blogpost we will mainly focus on the mythological tales of Valhalla, Hel and Folkvagnr etc, but also talk a little bit about real life finds that ties in to the stories of life and death.

There are theories that during a warrior’s grave ceremony (such as grave Bj.581 in Birka) that a ceremonial spear would be thrown into the grave as a sacrifice to Odin. Maybe the warriors who didn’t die in battle had these rituals done in their graves to make sure that they would arrive at Valhalla either way.

Not only the warriors buried in chambers with spears thrown in their honour would have a way in to Valhalla, but there is also support for the cremated warriors (many people were cremated during the iron age in Scandinavia), many of them are buried with miniature versions of weapons found in the ashes. From the Ynglinga Saga we can learn the following (published around 1225):

There has been finds of small pendants in silver from the Scandinavian Iron Age that seems to represent the Valkyrias carrying their meadhorns in Valhalla. These pendants could have been a way of representing the person wearing them wanting to get to Valhalla after their passing. Since it was the task of the valkyrias to bring themt here. Why these amulets are also believe to represent valkyrias is because of their likeness to similar imagery in stone carvings. On one picture stone from Gotland the same outline as the pendants can be seen, the valkyria can be seen just besides a rider of an eight-legged horse (presumably Odin). This stone was found on Gotland, Sweden, and is theorised to depict the welcoming of a hero into Valhalla.

Valhalla is an amazing fortification located in Gladsheim in Asgard. Valhalla is clearly visible with its golden shine glittering in the sunlight. The golden roof rests upon big spears, and the benches of Valhalla are covered in chainmail. By the western door can a giant wolfs head be seen, and an eagle is tirelessly flying around underneath the ceiling. In preparation for the day of Ragnarök, there is also a rooster named Gullenkamme, who’s purpose is to sing one last time to awaken the warriors to prepare.

Valhalla has according to the Grímnismál 540 entries and 540 halls. Why it is so big is because these halls are where Odin’s chosen warriors end up after they’ve died honourably in battle. The Einhärjar is the name of these warriors. It was Odin who chose the warriors, and it was the task of the Valkyrias to sweep over the battlefields on top of their flying horses to bring these warriors “home” to the halls of Valhalla.

Every morning the Einhärjar gets fully dressed for battle, then they kill each other off until sunset, this they do in preparation for the final battle. When the sunset arrives all of the blood outside of Valhalla dries up and every cut off limb gets reattached again just like nothing has ever happened. The Einhärjar start their evening just as in the shape they started the day. Then until late in the evening there’s a big feast in the halls of Valhalla.

The Valkyrias provides them with mead and no one’s horn is empty, this is made sure by the huge goat Heirdrun who’s magical and can produce an unlimited supply of mead. With a lot of wars going on during these times, and a lot of death as well, Odin had a very good way of keeping his warriors fed. There was a huge boar named Särimner who’s meat provided more than enough for the warriors. Every day he is butchered and every morning he wakes up in one piece again.

To die an honourable death and to enter the halls of Valhalla probably was something very important during a time of hunger, war and death.

Freyja is often viewed as the goddess of love and magic. As well as that is true, she is also a goddess of war and death. Therefore, fallen warriors also go to Freyja’s halls.

Freyja is a very powerful goddess, powerful enough to be the one to teach Odin about the art of magic (in Old Norse called seidr). Since Freyja is a war goddess just as much as Odin is a war god, half out of all the fallen warriors of Midgard goes to Freyjas hall Sessrumne. After these warriors have fallen, they get taken to the realm of Folkvang (which translates into battlemeadow). Freyja is known to act as a patron over young warriors and helps them to become successful in their search for glory.

The hall of Sessrumne is huge, and just like in the halls of Valhalla, the warriors get to fight eachother. Not only does warriors go to Sessrumne, but also high regarded and brave women end up there.

The goddess of farming and the protector of virgin women is named Gefjon. Even though her name means “the giving” she is by no means a weak and timid goddess. Quite the opposite.

There is a famous tale of how Gefjon lured king Gylfe of Sweden so successfully that she took a part of Sweden with her. With the help of her sons, which were 4 giant oxes, and a plow as big as a longship she ploughed off an island named Sjalland. Where this piece of land had been taken the sea took over and created a lake called Mälaren.

It is not very certain in the source material where it is Gefjon resides, but wherever it is that is where the women who passes away as virgins resides after death. It is told that Odin married away his son Skojld to Gefjon as a token of his gratitude towards her. Together they introduced the first kings of Denmark according to the sagas.

All roads going down leads to Hel it is told. The entrance of Hel, Gnipahellir, is guarded by a big dog named Garm. Garm is chained to his post, without the chains he would roam free and create terror in the other realms. His chest is painted red with the blood of the individuals trying to turn back away from Hel when they see its terrifying entrance. All roads going down leads to Hel, no matter if it’s from Asgard, Jotunheim or Midgard. Hel is not only filled with the dead of mankind, but also Jotuns and gods.

Especially murderers, cheaters and oathbreakers end up there, and those are the ones who deserve to get punished, for all eternity in Hel. There is even a special location for these sinners there, an island named Nastrand (beach of the corpses). On Nastrand horrific torture chambers can be found, where no sun reaches, where the walls and ceiling are braided snakes with their mouths open, dripping with venom. The sinners who end up on Nastrand has probably had to die twice before getting there. In order to get there they have had to walk through the lake Slid, which is filled with not only water but also daggers, swords and knives. The dead who wants to escape Nastrand has to throw themselves down all of the nine worlds all the way to the cold Nifelheim.

The horrific tales of Nastrand do not end at torture, they are also building an incredible and horrendous ship on its beaches. A big dragonship named Nagelfar. Nagelfar is built by the toe- and fingernails of the men and women who dared to die without having their nails groomed properly. This ship is meant to be built to join in the icegiants on their fight with the gods during Ragnarök. So everyone who wish to uphold the event of Ragnarök, make sure to groom properly.

Hel is just one of the different places you could end up after death, it is as you’ve probably understood by now not the nicest of places to end your living-dead days. It is however the biggest one, because it is not only sinners who go here. Also, it contains people who die and haven’t really lived exceptional lives or stood out all that much while living. It is a grey and cold place, just as grey and cold as its ruling queen.

Hel has the same name as her domain (which also is called Helheim). She is the third out of Loki’s children with the giantwitch Angrboda. It is told that when the gods found out about Hel, they threw the hideous child down to Nifelheim, and in the fall she hurt the side of her body. Hel’s body is in a way cut in half, where one half is dark blue and the other pale as a corpse. Odin made Hel the queen of the underworld and he gave her the power over every dead soul that enters her domains.

Hel can be seen riding her third legged horse outside of her hall of Eljudne. All in all, it seems like being a good person who takes care of others and yourself was very important if you didn’t want to end up in Hel together with Hel pulling your nails out.

There are more places than the examples up above where one could end up after their life had ended. The drowned would end up in Ran and Ägir’s hall located at the bottom of the sea, where they are feasting on Ägir’s famous ale. Farmers and thralls who had worked excellently during their life could be taken care of by Thor in Trudvang. The righteous of mankind would end up at the halls of Gimle, called the most beautiful of all the houses in Asgard with its golden roof.

Some spirits however don’t seem to have gone anywhere but stayed where they were left, in their graves. The name of these “again-walkers” is Draugr. These are according to sagas and folklore often guarding the treasures their bodies were buried with. These creatures were made through extreme greed, bloodthirst and improper burial rituals. And there are many different types of archaeological finds showing that humans were trying to make the dead stay where they had been buried.

“I galdr against the spirit, against the spirit that is inclined to walk, against the rider, against the running, against the sitting, against the falling, against the traveling, against the flying. Everything will lose its vitality and die.” – Swedens runicscriptures 216.

The quote above is a runic carving that was found in Högstena, Sweden. It is believed to be put in place to hinder the dead rising from its grave once more.

Burials during the Scandinavian Iron Age withheld a lot of different rituals, components, and local traditions. We will discuss these further in a more expanded blogpost further down the line. However it is clear to see that these rituals and traditions were extremely meaningful to these times, and it was important to send grave goods with their loved ones to what we can only guess would be their idea of the afterlife.

Best regards!
– Elin aka MooseLady