Sacrifice Blots

During the heathen era of Sweden, several annual sacrifice feasts called blots were held. The men got together with their own beer and different kinds of cattle to sacrifice. All the blood from the slaughter was called hlaut and the bowls it was kept in was called hlautbowls. Hlauttenar was used to splash the blood over the walls and the men themselves. They were drinking a lot and they usually started with one beer for Odin, to get victory. Sometimes Odin was replaced with Thor. Then it was time for Njord’s full and Frey’s full. After that the vikings drank for their fallen or dead friends. They used blotchips, woodpieces with carved runes. The blotchips were trowed in the hlautbowl and then they tried to see the future in the runes. A male sacrificing priest was called blotgode and the female blotgydja. The heathen supreme priest was called allherjargode. Three of the most important blots were the alvablot, the midwinterblot and the victoryblot. The alvablot was in October and was celebrated to the year’s crop. The midwinterblot was held in January for a good coming year and the victoryblot was in springtime. In Uppsala, close to Stockholm, was a blot called allherjarblot held every ninth year. For nine days the celebrities hung up nine animals, but even humans, in the trees of the sacrifice alley. The temple of Uppsala is one of Northen’s biggest and most wellknown pagan place. The following was said by Adam of Bremen about the Uppsala cult

“In this tempel, decorated with gold, the people worship the statues of three gods standing like this; the mightiest of them, Thor is in the middle. On his both sides stand Wothan and Fricco. Their meaning is the following. Thor, they say, controls the air, the thunder and lightning, the wind and the rain, good weather and fertility. The other one or Wothan, which means Furious, controls the wars and makes the human brave against her enemies. The third one, Fricco gives the humans’ peace and lust … Every ninth year there is a blot held in Uppsala for all the Swedish countries. No one is allowed not to come. Kings and farmers, everybody send their gifts to Uppsala. The ones who has converted into Christianity must buy themselves free from this feast. The sacrifice victims are nine male animals or humans whose blood shall appease the mentioned gods. The bodies are hanged in a tree alley close to the temple … There are also dogs and horses beside humans. One Christian man has told me that he has seen 72 bodies hang there. At the ritual they sing magic songs which are so rude that I better not tell them.”