Sources on the public cult of the pre-Christian Scandinavian peoples are scarce and almost all late. One of the most detailed, and most debated, is the description of the temple of Uppsala in Sweden, written by an eleventh-century German churchman, Adam of Bremen. Read with a critical eye and compared with the Icelandic sagas and with archaeology, it offers a vivid picture of the blót, the Norse ritual sacrifice.
Who Adam of Bremen was
Adam was a canon of the cathedral of Bremen, in northern Germany. Around 1075 he composed a work on the history of the archbishopric of Hamburg-Bremen, the Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum, which also dealt with the Christian mission in the North. The fourth book is devoted to describing the islands and peoples of the north.
Adam did not visit Uppsala himself. He gathered information from the Danish king Sven Estridsen, whom he knew, and from other witnesses, among them a Christian who, he says, had seen the sacrifices with his own eyes. His purpose was also polemical: to show the urgency of conversion. His reports should therefore be read as precious but not neutral testimony.
The temple and the statues
According to Adam, the people of the Svear had a most famous temple called Ubsola, entirely adorned with gold. Inside, the statues of three gods were worshipped:
| God | Position | Function according to Adam |
|---|---|---|
| Thor | in the centre, the mightiest | rules the air, thunder, lightning, winds, rain, fair weather and crops |
| Wodan | at one side | leads wars and gives strength against enemies |
| Fricco | at the other side | grants peace and pleasure to mortals, shown with an enormous phallus |
Wodan corresponds to Odin, and Fricco is generally identified with Freyr, the god of fertility. Thor appears with a sceptre, and Adam remarks that Wodan is depicted armed, as the Romans depict Mars.
Sacrifices were offered to each god according to need: to Thor in case of plague or famine, to Wodan in case of war, to Fricco for weddings.
The nine-year feast
Every nine years, Adam relates, a festival common to all the provinces of Sweden was held at Uppsala, from which no one could withdraw. Kings and people sent their offerings, and even those who had converted to Christianity had to pay to be exempted.
The sacrifice took place as follows: of every living creature of the male sex, nine were offered, and with their blood the gods were appeased. The bodies were hung in a sacred grove near the temple. That grove was held so sacred that every tree in it was considered divine because of the death of the victims. Dogs and horses hung there beside men. A Christian witness told Adam he had counted seventy-two bodies hanging. The festival lasted nine days.
The tree and the spring
A note added to the text, probably by Adam himself or a copyist close to him, describes near the temple an enormous tree with spreading branches, always green in summer and winter, of a kind no one knew. Beside it was a spring where sacrifices were performed: a living man was plunged in, and if he did not resurface, it was believed that the people's wish would be granted. Another note mentions a golden chain encircling the temple.
The evergreen tree and the spring immediately recall the ash Yggdrasill and the well of Urðr of Eddic mythology, although the link remains a hypothesis.
The blót in Snorri's sagas
The sagas of the Norwegian kings collected by Snorri Sturluson in the Heimskringla also describe the blót, in different terms. The saga of Hákon the Good tells how the farmers of Trøndelag celebrated the sacrifice:
- animals were slaughtered, above all horses;
- the blood, called hlaut, was collected in bowls;
- with special twigs the altars, the temple walls and the participants were sprinkled with blood;
- the meat was cooked and eaten at a communal feast;
- cups were drunk in honour of Odin for victory, and of Njörðr and Freyr for a good year and for peace.
King Hákon, a Christian, found himself in difficulty: the farmers demanded that he take part in the rite as his predecessors had. The tale shows the blót as a communal and political act, tied to the prosperity of all.
What archaeology says
At Gamla Uppsala there are great burial mounds from the prehistoric period and the remains of large buildings. Excavations have identified wooden structures and traces of ceremonial activity, but it has not been possible to identify with certainty the temple described by Adam. The relationship between the text and the remains is still under study.
A symbolic reading
Beyond the harshness of the practices described, the blót expresses a central idea of Norse religion: exchange between humans and gods. Something precious is offered to restore balance, to secure harvest, peace and victory. The communal feast strengthened the community. Today this theme can be read in inner terms: what is consecrated sincerely creates a bond, and the bond gives shape to the community.
In short
- Around 1075 Adam of Bremen described the temple of Uppsala, without having visited it.
- In the temple Thor was worshipped in the centre, with Wodan and Fricco at his sides.
- Every nine years a great festival was held with sacrifices of nine males of every kind.
- Snorri describes the blót as a communal rite with sacrificial blood, feasting and toasts to the gods.
- The archaeology of Gamla Uppsala confirms a central place but does not identify the temple with certainty.
