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JOURNAL OF SWEDISH ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCH

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Circular flow of tradition in Old

By Andreas Nordberg

Nordberg, A., 2018. Circular flow of tradition in religion. Fornvännen 113. .

This paper discusses processes that drove the ability of pre-Christian religion in to vary and adapt to shifting conditions and contexts in society. They also helped to keep religion cohesive over both social and geographical boundaries and hierarchies. Based on a substantially reduced and contextually modified vari- ant of McKim Marriott’s description of the changeability of religious traditions as a constantly on-going circular flow, I tentatively exemplify the dynamism of reli- gion in the Late through three case studies. The first of these concerns the relationship between local, regional and supra- regional ; the second addresses the axis mundi complex and the relationship between private and public ; and the third examines the exchange of mor- tuary practices and eschatological religious traditions across social boundaries. All these cases also illustrate the ability of religious elements to spread geographically, and in doing so adapt to varying sociocultural contexts. Such processes took place in all contexts where people interacted. The sociocultural foundations of religion can in this sense be compared to a multitude of overlapping, interacting, change- able networks of social and cultural relationships. The characteristics that kept religion dynamic and alive were flexibility and an ability to adapt to this sociocultural patchwork. Religion was part of culture, and just like culture, it was shaped by the constant circular flow of tradition.

Andreas Nordberg, Dept of Ethnology, History of and Gender Studies, Stockholm University, SE–106 91 Stockholm [email protected]

Cultural variation in time and space have always In terms of the variations in pre-Christian been a central issue in research into pre-Christian religion, it appears that historians of religion have and pre-modern Scandinavia. Anyone studying above all shown interest in change over time, cultural diffusion patterns will, however, find a while the study of regionality and social hierar- kaleidoscopic picture. Admittedly, from a gener- chies has mainly been pursued by toponymists alising bird’s-eye perspective it is possible to ob- and archaeologists. This is a multifaceted field of serve overarching structures, but strikingly often research, however, and often individual scholars the reach of various regional elements of culture decide whether to focus on regionality or on larger and tradition does not coincide with distinct common patterns. mutual boundaries. Cultural diffusion patterns For example: during the pre-Roman Iron Age, might therefore perhaps be best represented gra- internal burial arrangement and the composition phically as a continuum of innumerable, irregular of in urn graves in southern Scandi- overlapping distribution areas. navia bear considerable resemblance to the urn

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Circular flow of tradition in 77 grave tradition in the continental northern Ger- there are risks in overemphasising the sociocul- manic area. Based on these circumstances, many tural differences between a perceived locally and archaeologists have regarded this entire area as a regionally based people and a supra-regional - single cultural province or unbroken continuum. bile elite. This would in practice follow the now Swedish archaeologists Tore Artelius and Mats broadly questioned model launched in the 1930s Lindqvist (2007, p. 17 f) have, however, observed by a group of social anthropologists working with- that a completely different picture emerges if our in the so-called Community Studies school. A de- focus is placed on the graves’ superstructures. fining characteristic of this school was the sepa- This varies widely between regions, which may ration of culture into several local and regional indicate that southern was divided into popular Little Traditions on one hand, and a supra- several cultural regions during this period. regional Great Tradition maintained by the social Concerning the issue of regional differences and religious elite on the other. This model was and common supra-regional patterns in culture eventually abandoned as it is simply impossible and religion, various aspects of the same urn grave to divide culture in this manner, since social, cul- tradition therefore point in partly different direc- tural and religious interactions constantly take tions, which led Artelius & Lindqvist (p. 101 ff) to place between different regions, social groups and the conclusion that the urn grave tradition in a hierarchical strata. (For criticism of the Great/ multifaceted way actually exhibits local and regio- Little Tradition model, see e.g. Saler 2000, p. 34 nal expressions as well as supra-regional patterns. ff w. refs.) In a 1955 study, American anthropolo- Regarding the issue of a common Old Norse gist McKim Marriott explained these cultural religion, some researchers suggest that the com- movements between regions, social groups and mon Scandinavian elements of the religion pri- hierarchies as a constantly ongoing “circular flow”. marily belonged to a pan-Scandinavian aristo- cratic echelon of society. For example, archaeolo- Circular flow of tradition in pre-Christian gist Fredrik Svanberg (2003, pp. 101 f, 142 f) is of Scandinavia the opinion that the popular religious traditions Marriott accepted the theoretical framework of displayed such wide differences between regions the Community School. He studied how the that they cannot be reduced to variations of a supra-regional “indigenous civilisation” of Hindu common cultural heritage. Among the aristo- and the Great Tradition – main- cratic supra-regional elements, which Svanberg tained above all by wandering Brahmins – rela- describes as “superficial” in relation to the “over- ted to the many Little Traditions in rural village whelming cultural diversity” of popular culture, communities. According to him, individual vil- he includes sacred and theophoric place-names, lages, surrounding regions and Indian society iconography and certain items of material cul- overall had to be understood “as relative struc- ture, as well as mythology. Similar socially hier- tural nexuses, as subsystems within greater sys- archical regional and supra-regional patterns tems, and as foci of individual identification have also been highlighted by other researchers within a greater field” (Marriott 1955, p. 191). (e.g. Andrén 2007, p. 34 f). Some have even sug- Between these many different sociocultural sys- gested that the worship of the pre-Christian tems and subsystems were constant circular flows was limited to a supra-regional, socially delimit- of cultural traditions, which were often so long- ed aristocracy, while the wider population above lived, multifaceted and complicated that their all worshipped lesser animistic beings (e.g. Hell- directions were impossible to determine retro- ström 1996, pp. 229, 231 ff; Sanmark 2004, pp. spectively. Marriott claimed, however, that there 147 ff, 163, 177 ff). were three main processes in this circular flow. In In my opinion, it is unambiguous that aristo- one, elements spread between various Little Tra- cratic culture – however its social group should ditions in local villages and regional areas. In be delimited and defined – was supra-regional to another, elements of the Sanskrit Great Tradi- a higher degree than the more localised culture of tion, divested of several aspects and adapted to the people they governed. However, I think that local contexts, became established in the local

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78 Andreas Nordberg villages’ Little Traditions. Marriott called this less emphasised that the circular flow of culture process parochialisation. In a third process, Little often took such complex routes that the direc- Traditions from various villages were adopted tions of flow for most traditions were virtually into the Sanskrit Great Tradition; Marriott call- impossible to reconstruct retrospectively (Mar- ed this process universalisation. Often “little” riott 1955, pp. 71–91). This calls for reflection. local versions and the variant in the “great” tradi- Given the much scantier sources available to re- tion were then able to coexist, even in a single loca- searchers of pre-Christian Scandinavia, it is ob- tion. Furthermore, through combinations of par- vious that what was challenging to achieve with ochialisation and universalisation processes, some- the conditions Marriott had must be even more times local little traditions were adopted into the difficult for a researcher of Late Iron Age Scandi- great supra-regional tradition, thus spreading over navia. large geographic areas and subsequently being ab- This said, it is still apt to describe the proces- sorbed, adapted and established as a new little ses of cultural and religious change and variation tradition in totally different local communities in pre-Christian Scandinavia as a circular flow, (Marriott 1955, p. 197 ff). which both affected and was affected by all types Marriott’s fundamental acceptance of the Great of social situations; markets and þing assemblies, Tradition and Little Traditions categories of the marriages, friendships and business relationships, Community Studies school later earned him criti- the slave trade and war. Below I limit my discus- cism (e.g. Saler 2000, p. 34 f w. refs). However, the sion to the sphere of religion. The lived religion basic features of his model for illustrating the of Late was based on a cul- constantly shifting movements of culture elements tural-ecological foundation that did not differ as a circular flow have lasting value. I believe that, widely between various groups and social strata. in a contextually modified form, it can usefully Both aristocrats and commoners (if these cate- be applied as a theoretical tool in the study of pre- gories are permissible, because any definitive hier- Christian Scandinavia. Such a starting point, how- archical boundary between these social groups ever, is based on two important prerequisites: appears to have been far from self-evident, cf. Firstly, a study of the circular flow of tradi- Ljungkvist 2006) primarily depended on a basic tion in Old Norse religion cannot be conducted subsistence economy grounded in farming, ani- on the basis of some sociocultural hierarchical mal husbandry, hunting and fishing. This shaped two-tier model of society, which would ultimate- the lived religion, and these joint strands were ly be a variation on the Community School’s reinforced by the fact that many commoners had refuted Great Tradition and Little Traditions. Be- various forms of social connections to the aristo- low, in my discussion of the circular flow of reli- crats and their manors. gious tradition between local, regional and supra- For example, commoners were permitted to regional spheres, between different social groups attend some of the religious ceremonies that took and between private and public religious prac- place at or near the nobility’s residences. Addi- tices, my starting point is instead that these con- tionally, people from all social strata gathered at stant processes operated within a common cul- common local and regional sanctuaries for col- tural continuum. lective worship, which the nobility was to some Secondly, anyone wishing to study the circu- extent expected to lead. Some of these shared lar flow of religious tradition in pre-Christian sanctuaries were located at central places used for Scandinavia must accept (and be clear) that any joint worship, judicial assemblies and market attempt to exemplify these processes will be more gatherings, thereby constituting recurring meet- or less tentative. When Marriott conducted his ing places for people from different backgrounds. fieldwork in rural India, he was able to follow These central places were of varying importance, individual flows of tradition over a period of app- but were also parts of a common, overlapping roximately 3,000 years because he supplemented hierarchical network that linked together local, his anthropological material with an extensive regional, supra-regional Scandinavian and even and in part very old literary corpus. He nonethe- non-Scandinavian territories. Within this net-

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Circular flow of tradition in Old Norse religion 79 work, the central places acted as centres, nexuses yance at the entire situation, he was not or hubs for cultural innovation, standardisation with these festivities, which were celebrated in an and diffusion. This is also likely to have affected area unknown to him and which were clearly religion. To mention an analogy, in Ancient Greece strictly private (Skj. B1, 220 ff). geographically separate areas were kept political- Another possible example can be found in ly, culturally and religiously cohesive by means of Vǫlsa þáttr in the long version of Óláfs helga. common links to certain prominent cult locations. This much-debated account (cf. Sundqvist 2016, In Scandinavia, central places probably had similar p. 365 ff) describes how the Christian king Óláfr significance, particularly those of supraregional in late autumn visited a farm in a remote area of importance, such as for example Tissø, , Lade northern , where the people celebrated a and Old . pagan feast related to fertility. The events are de- Below, through three tentative case studies, I scribed in great detail in the saga but have no intend to discuss the circular flows of religious equivalents in other sources, which might indi- tradition in Late Iron Age Scandinavia. cate a local or regional tradition. The focus of the festivities was Vǫlsi, personified by the severed Locality, regionality and supra-regionality in the penis of a stallion. Many researchers claim that circular flow of tradition Vǫlsi should be perceived as an incarnation of The periodically recurring public worship at the . This interpretation might be correct, but it most central sanctuaries in Scandinavia was sig- cannot be ruled out that Vǫlsi was in fact a local nificant for entire regions. For example, people that has not made any further mark in place- from all of Trøndelag gathered at Lade, while the names or written sources. þing assembly, market and cult at Uppsala appear According to Stefan Brink (2007), the gods to have been significant to all of Svithiod. Most that have left an imprint in Scandinavian theo- religious gatherings of course did not have such a phoric place-names are Óðinn, Þórr, Freyr/Frø, reach. Unfortunately, our knowledge of this en- /Ullinn, Njǫrðr/*Niærþer, Týr and probably tire field is considerably restricted by lack of . All these deities have a supra-regional, sources, but it seems reasonable to assume that almost pan-Scandinavian distribution, and some some pre-Christian festivities attracted partici- are even pan-Germanic. There are possibly also a pants regionally, although most festivals were cele- few isolated examples of place-names containing brated within local communities and individual the names of the gods , and . farms (cf. Sundqvist 2016, pp. 503–520). Of all However, for many of the gods and the year’s festivals, it is likely that only some were that feature in Old there is no celebrated throughout all the Germanic-speak- toponymic evidence whatsoever. This leads Brink ing parts of Scandinavia. In particular, these would to conclude that all gods and goddesses in mytho- have been annual festivities linked to the chang- logy were not subjects of actual worship. Brink is ing of the seasons and certain fixed calendrical certainly correct in this conclusion. Most poly- points in the astronomical year, such as (cf. theistic religions include deities that primarily Nordberg 2006). Other celebrations were known belong to the world of mythology and never only regionally, and some probably only had a receive worship. Nevertheless, we should not dis- local reach. count the possibility that some of the deities Some literary evidence may point to such re- named sporadically in the extant mythical sour- gionally celebrated festivities. For example, in Aus- ces but not in place-names may have been local trfararvísur the Sigvatr Þórðarson describes or regional gods only. arriving at a village named Hof in the forest of As regards the relationship between local, re- Ed, in what is today Värmland province in Swe- gional and supra-regional gods, it may be possible den. Every farm he called at denied him over- to identify overall patterns that can easily be night lodgings and turned him away because they accommodated within the concept of the circular were celebrating álfablót (a to the ). flow of religious tradition. Judging by Sigvatr’s immense surprise and anno- In certain circumstances, the cult of a local

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80 Andreas Nordberg deity can spread over an increasingly large area. Hǫrn, Gefn and Sýr (SnE, 1988, p. 29), and in In some cases, it may even become universalised Skáldskaparmál 435 Snorri also adds the names and part of the supra-regional of gods. Þrungra and Skjálf (SnE, 1998, p. 115). It is possi- At least parts of the Old Norse pantheon probably ble that some of these names originally denoted developed in this manner, although the trajecto- local and regional goddesses, which, for various ries of that development are completely beyond reasons, were later identified with Freyja (Nord- the scope of empirical study. Such processes can, berg 2012, p. 128). however, be discerned behind figures such as Óláfr Britt-Mari Näsström (1995, p. 85 f) instead Geirstaðaálfr in the Norwegian county of Vest- ascribes the list of names to Freyja being wor- fold, as well as Irpa and Þorgerðr Hǫlgabrúðr in shipped in various guises in various locations. It the Hálogaland area of Norway, who appear to is well known that local gods can arise through have arisen as protective spirits (genii loci, com- individual functional aspects of supra-regional pare Hǫlgabrúðr ‘the bride of Hǫlgi’, i.e. the epo- deities branching off and adapting to local con- nymous hero of Hálogaland) and subsequently texts. The local hypostasis can then adopt one of developed into regionally worshipped gods. The the supra-regional deity’s many bynames, at the cult of Þorgerðr and Irpa even seems to have same time as it is separated from the bulk of the spread to (cf. Hultgård 2014, p. 33 ff; Sund- mythology surrounding the supra-regional deity. qvist 2016, p. 469 ff). Sometimes the hypostasised local (dess) and A local deity can also become universalised the supra-regional deity are subsequently wor- and part of the supra-regional pantheon by being shipped in parallel within the same area. Here it identified as a hypostasis of a supra-regional god may be relevant to highlight, for example, the (cf. Marriott 1955, pp. 207–218). This can occur enigmatic figure of OSw. *Liudhgudha or *liudh- in two directions. On the one hand a local deity gudha ‘ of vegetation’, which together can be interpreted as a manifestation of a supra- with the final element -vi ‘holy place’ occurs in regional god with similar function. On the other three Swedish place-names: Ludgo (>Liuthguthuvi hand, people with supra-regional political and 1293) in Södermanland province, Luggavi in ideological ambitions can harness local commu- Närke and Luggude in Skåne. nities and regions by identifying their local dei- Per Vikstrand, who has discussed these place- ties with the gods that they themselves focus on. names in detail (2001, p. 310 ff), argues that the In India – if I may be permitted to use an great geographic distances between the locations additional analogy with that area – it has been in question imply that *Liudhgudha was original- common to allow local and regional goddesses to ly a noa name for, or *liudhgudha a fixed epithet ritually marry one of the male Sanskrit gods for, a supra-regional goddess who was worship- (often Šiva), who in this context also represents ped throughout this vast area. In that case, the the superior royal power (Harman 1989; for a hypostasis *Liudhgudha may also have been paro- possible Scandinavian parallel, cf. Ström 1983). chialised over time, adopting the functions and This enables the goddesses to continue to be wor- characteristics of a local deity. shipped in their local forms, in parallel with them Supra-regional deities can have varying local also being identified in certain contexts as as- and regional traits. Although this is difficult to pects of a supra-regional goddess. prove, it is probable that several of the supra- In my opinion it is at least hypothetically pos- regional gods were manifested in regionally vary- sible that some of the many bynames of the god- ing ways in different parts of Scandinavia. dess Freyja can be explained through similar sec- Anders Hultgård exemplifies this possibility with ondary identifications. For instance, in chapter a hypothetical central Swedish “ Upsalien- 35 of Snorri relates that Freyja “gave sis” with distinctive regional characteristics herself many names when she roamed among (2014, p. 32). Another example might be suggest- strangers looking for [her husband] Óðr [= ed from the god Ullr’s alternative name form Óðinn]” (gaf sér mis er hon fór með ókunnum Ullinn, which is found regionally in certain Nor- þjóðum at leita Óðs). She called herself Mardǫll, wegian place-names.

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Circular flow of tradition in Old Norse religion 81 Various supra-regional gods can secondarily because several places in Sweden, Norway, Ice- take over each other’s functions and mythical land, the Faroe Islands and have been motifs. One well-known example of this is the named after it (Vikstrand 2013, p. 152 ff). connection between Óðinn and Týr. Another People from many parts of Scandinavia regu- concerns the relationship between Freyja and larly visited Uppsala. Many came to participate Frigg. The last two have so many common traits in the distingen council assemblies and to trade at that several researchers suggest that they origin- the ’s market. Professional warriors and ally were one and the same goddess, even though made their way there to take up employ- they indisputably constitute two separate deities ment in royal and aristocratic retinues. Aristo- in the preserved mythical texts (cf. Näsström 1995, crats with their own retinues stopped there for p. 98–123; Grundy 1996). In my view, these sim- lengthy stays. Visitors from various backgrounds ilarities are due instead to a development in the attended the sanctuaries and participated in reli- opposite direction. The cult of Freyja appears to gious activities there. Thus Uppsala’s traditions have been limited to Scandinavia. Frigg (Frija, were able to influence religion in other parts of Frea) on the other hand was a prominent goddess Scandinavia. At the same time, visitors brought among the Continental . She their own traditions and parallel variants of com- seems to have held a weaker position in Scandi- mon traditions, which could conversely be adap- navia, where she above all belonged to the world ted to and integrated with the worship in Upp- of and was not the subject of extensive wor- sala – and thus later again influence new visitors ship. This may indicate that the traditions about from other parts of Scandinavia. Through such Frigg spread from the Continent to Scandinavia, encounters cultural and religious traditions were where the goddess’s similarities to Freyja were reshaped and harmonised in constant, slow cir- instrumental in both of them subsequently att- cular processes. racting some of each other’s mythical motifs. Central places constituted hubs and nexuses The pre-Christian religion was never a static for the circular flow of tradition, and it can be monolith. Constant negotiations and interac- assumed that the public worship that took place tion took place between its local, regional and there was often more lavish, extensive and com- super-regional dimensions. On the one hand these plex than the cult at more local sanctuaries and processes contributed to rich religious variation on private farms. If the categories of Great Tradi- across pre-Christian Scandinavia. On the other tion and Little Traditions had been accepted, in a they constituted a force that helped to create pre-Christian Scandinavian context it would have cohesion among all the various aspects of reli- been more natural to link them to these spatially gion. As I wish to illustrate below, both these based sociocultural spheres, rather than to a so- aspects of the lived religion’s numerous spatial cially hierarchical division between the commo- relationships are also central to understanding ners and the elite. For the aforementioned rea- the social hierarchies of religion and the relation- sons I nonetheless advise against applying these ship between private and public within the frame- categories. But the fundamental question that work of the circular flow of tradition. could have made them of interest in this particu- lar case remains relevant: what was the relation- Private and public in the circular flow of tradition ship between the grand, collective religious wor- It is difficult to overestimate the significance of ship at the large, public sanctuaries and the less central places with large, public sanctuaries for lavish private cult on individual farms? the circular flow of religious tradition. Take (Old) In my attempt to discuss this issue below, I Uppsala as an example. This central place was a use two locations with pre-Christian sanctuar- social, economic, judicial, political and not least ies: the royal estate complex in (Old) Uppsala religious hub in Late Iron Age Svithiod. The fact and a more ordinary Late Iron Age farm at Skeke, that it was even of pan-Scandinavian importance Rasbo parish, north of Old Uppsala. I will limit is evident not just from Uppsala’s almost mythi- my discussion to the well-known and in recent cal status in several Old Norse texts, but also years thoroughly investigated axis mundi com-

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82 Andreas Nordberg plex centred on the conception of the similarities to Old Norse mythical motifs of the or world pillar and the cultic tree or pillar. In this cosmic tree, which is often described as ancient, tradition complex, which is very old and is found enormous and of an unknown species, with a over the entire northern hemisphere and in large perpetually green crown of leaves and growing parts of the Middle East, the tree and the pillar next to a cosmic spring. are interchangeable functional variants. Both are Why Adam describes the Uppsala tree in this found in pre-Christian Scandinavian literary, manner has been the subject of debate. As far as I archaeological and onomastic sources (cf. Holm- can see, the most common explanations have been berg 1922; Drobin & Keinänen 2001; Vikstrand a) that Adam was aware of the pre-Christian my- 2001, p. 292 ff; Andrén 2004). thical motifs of the world tree and used them to The best-known literary description of a pre- pad out his Uppsala depiction, b) that Adam’s Christian sacrificial tree is undoubtedly found in informants were describing the mythical world the account of the legendary sanctuary complex tree to him, and he mistook the account for a in (Old) Uppsala, written in about AD 1076 by description of the Uppsala tree, or c) that his in- the German cleric Adam of Bremen. He describes formants described the actual Uppsala tree by a large banqueting hall (Lat. triclinium), which he means of mythical motifs. I believe the third also identifies as a temple (Lat. templum), in alternative to be the most plausible, and that this which statues of Óðinn (Wotan), Þórr (Thor) and makes Adam’s account all the more interesting. Frø (Fricco) occupy central positions. He men- The distance between Old Uppsala and Skeke tions a holy grove where extensive take in Rasbo parish is about 15 km. There, a farm dat- place. He also mentions that the participants sing ing from the Migration and Periods has obscene cultic songs, and he adds: been excavated (Larsson 2014, pp. 109–125, 174 ff, 193 f, 301, 357 ff). It was situated on a hill and Close to this temple stands a mighty tree had several buildings spread among older graves that stretches out its branches far and wide and burnt mounds dating from the . and that is always green, in both winter and The hilltop was separated from the rest of the farm summer. No one knows what species it is. by a wooden fence. At the heart of this fenced-off There is also a spring, at which the pagans area stood a ceremonial hall (one during the Mig- are accustomed to perform sacrifices and ration Period, and a different one during the sub- into it to plunge a living man. And if he is sequent ). Just outside the hall ex- not found, the people’s wish will be granted. tensive food preparation areas were discovered, including hearths and cooking pits, as well as a Prope illud templum est arbor maxima late ramos Bronze Age boulder grave. This monument appears extendens, semper viridis in hieme et aestate; to have been used in the Late Iron Age as a sacri- cuius illa generis sit, nemo scit. Ibi etiam est fons, ficial site, since large quantities of animal bones ubi sacrificia paganorum solent exerceri et homo from, for example, cows, horses, pigs, geese and vivus inmergi. Qui dum non invenitur, ratum chickens, had been deposited there. Other ordi- erit votum populi. nary food waste etc. was found in a different area. Immediately adjacent to the hall and sacrificial (Adam of Bremen, Book IV, schol. 138, site was a well that appears mainly to have col- ed. Schmeidler 1917). lected rain water. At the bottom of it were found the remains of a wooden post, which appears to As this passage has been discussed extensively, have stood there as a permanent fixture. especially in recent decades, in terms of source The position of the well, right next to the sacri- criticism, parallels and interpretations from a his- ficial site, appears to argue against the possibility tory of religions perspective (cf. Sundqvist 2016, of it providing the hall and cooking areas with pp. 110–132, 249–257), I will not dwell on these water, because the large quantities of deposited aspects. Note only that Adam describes the tree raw animal remains immediately adjacent to the and spring in Uppsala in terms with dramatic well would have made its water undrinkable.

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Circular flow of tradition in Old Norse religion 83 Bearing in mind the general and very widespread ‘large/gigantic log/pillar’ (Drobin & Keinänen cultic-cosmological symbolism of the spring/well 2001, p. 141), but according to Rudolf it meant and the pillar/tree, it might be suggested that the “pillar of the universe, as it supports everything” well and the vertical post at Skeke formed a key (universalis columna, quasi sustinens omnia; Rudolf part of the cultic-cosmological architecture of of Fulda 1925, p. 676). Rudolf’s description of the enclosed ceremonial area. This hypothesis is the pillar thus alluded to the world pillar of the the starting point for the following discussion. cosmological , in the same way that Adam Similar archaeological remains have been described the Uppsala tree with references to the found throughout Scandinavia. In this particular mythical world tree. context, however, the proximity of Skeke to Such mythologised descriptions were assigned (Old) Uppsala raises the very question that I dis- to grand sanctuaries and holy places such as those cuss here. What relationship may there have been in Uppsala and Eresburg because the public, offi- between the cultic pillar–well at Skeke, the cultic cial cult in which the mythical passages were re- tree–spring in Uppsala and the universal mythi- cited, was particularly extensive and significant cal motifs of the world tree or world pillar and the at those sites. This is especially evident in Adam’s cosmic spring or well? The tradition complex as depiction of the public worship at Uppsala, where such appears to be very old in Scandinavia (cf. the holy spring and the tree seem to have been at Andrén 2004). The farm at Skeke was in use dur- the very heart of the cult. In my opinion how- ing the Migration and Vendel Periods, which was ever, the cultic pillar and well at Skeke also ap- when the royal estate complex at (Old) Uppsala pear to have formed a variant of the same tradi- developed and was in its absolute heyday. Admit- tion complex. Can we therefore assume that the tedly, Adam of Bremen did not describe the Upp- same forms of symbolic mythical language and sala sanctuary until the final part of the extensive cult practices were also in use there? Period, but for the purpose of this discussion, let Possibly, but not necessarily. In a general com- us assume that the cultic tree was either quite old parative perspective, private worship tends to at that time, or had replaced an earlier one with lack detailed mythical frames of reference. Mar- similar functions. Both alternatives are hypo- riott (1956, pp. 199–206) was thinking along the thetical yet plausible. It is highly likely that some same lines when he showed that traditions and of the people who lived on the farm at Skeke vis- tradition complexes from the “Great Tradition” ited the large gatherings in Uppsala, participated that were parochialised and adapted to smaller- in the cult and were influenced by what took scale situations and local contexts tended to lose place there. many of their earlier aspects, at the same time as Adam’s use of mythical imagery in his de- they were assigned new, contextually more func- scription of the cultic tree at Uppsala probably tional meanings. Marriott also demonstrated that stems from the authority of the cult and ceremo- both variants of the same tradition could subse- nial centre. In the religiously charged atmosphere quently coexist. of the worship, the sanctuaries constituted micro- Most likely, similar relations also existed in cosmic representations of the universe, and it is pre-Christian Scandinavia, and I suggest that probable that passages from myths about the together, the cultic pillar and well at Skeke and world tree and the world pillar were recited in the the cultic tree and spring at Uppsala could be an at the actual cultic trees and pillars. As the example of this. Fundamentally, they were pro- former were identified with their cultic replicas, bably variants of the same tradition complex. the relevant mythical motifs might become at- The tree and spring at Uppsala represented an tached to the actual trees and pillars (Nordberg extensive and complex variant that appears to 2011, p. 219). A parallel to this aspect of Adam’s have been closely connected to cosmological account can be found in a description by the monk mythical motifs as well as extensive rites and cult Rudolf of Fulda of the pagan ’ famous cultic practices for the well-being of the entire people pillar Irminsûl in the Eresburg , Hochsauer- and country. The pillar and well at Skeke, mean- landkreis. The name Irminsûl etymologically means while, may represent a much simpler and more

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84 Andreas Nordberg pared-down local variant, perhaps with partially any kind in Early Iron Age and Late Bronze Age different meanings and functions. In this sense, graves, bones from dogs are not entirely uncom- Uppsala and Skeke may be an example of how mon there either. The role of the dog in mortuary grand, public “official” variants of a tradition com- practices was thus ancient and common among plex were able to coexist with locally adapted ver- both commoners and the elite (cf. Nordberg sions – although both were perceived as equally 2004, p. 247 ff w. refs). relevant and functional within their respective The central position of the horse in Scandina- sociocultural contexts. vian eschatology appears to have quite a different background. In north-eastern central Sweden, Social hierarchies in the circular flow of tradition horses are found sporadically in some rich war- Anyone intending to study the exchange of reli- rior graves dating from the 4th century AD. They gious traditions between socially hierarchical are often present in 5th-century chamber graves groups in pre-Christian Scandinavia within the (Sw. sing. (kist)kammargrav), and several horses framework of the circular flow of religious tradi- are frequently found in boat graves from the 6th tion has good reason to look at eschatology and and 7th centuries. These graves are linked to a burial customs. Conceptions of death usually larger pan-Germanic sphere, characterised by change slowly, but individual elements in mortu- among other things a distinctive aristocratic war- ary practices may change more rapidly. In Late rior ideology with prominent equestrian ideals Iron Age Scandinavia, the positions of the dog, (Nylén 1973; Oexle 1984; Hyenstrand 1996, p. horse and burial mound superstructure in escha- 104 ff). In commoners’ graves, however, horses tology and burial traditions constitute interest- were not included more regularly until the 7th ing examples of this. I will concentrate my discus- century (Iregren 1972, p. 79; Petré 1984, p. 115; sion below on the development of these burial Sigvallius 1994, pp. 70, 82 f). This chronology customs in eastern central Sweden. From a very may indicate that the horse was first introduced general point of view, one might say that in this as a more exclusive component in funeral cere- part of Scandinavia it was common during the monies for aristocratic warriors with interna- period to bury the dead under mounds together tional contacts, and then gradually became part with a horse and one or two dogs. Nonetheless, of a more widespread common heritage. In the the dog, horse and burial mound actually repre- 8th and 9th centuries, horses were part of the sent three very different paths of eschatological burial customs of both aristocrats and common- development that converged in eastern central ers, and in the eschatological myths the horse Sweden during the Late Iron Age. now served as a psychopomp that carried or The position of the dog in eschatology and pulled the dead in a cart on the long journey to burial practices is ubiquitous and very old. In the Other World (Nordberg 2004, p. 241 ff). 1938 the German researcher of religion Freda The tradition of building burial mounds app- Kretschmar showed that the tradition complex ears to have taken a different course of develop- was widespread in large parts of the world, with ment in the Lake Mälaren area. Although the pro- the exception of , Australia, South cesses that contributed to the spread of mound America and southern and central . She also burial over eastern central Sweden are partly demonstrated that dogs were usually portrayed unknown, there is a great deal to indicate that the as psychopomps (best known through Cerberus start of this development can be traced to Nor- in Greek mythology), which guided those travel- way, where the tradition continued for a very long ling to the underworld and guarded the entrance time from the Bronze Age to the Viking Period to the Kingdom of Death so that only the dead (Solberg 2000, pp. 77 f, 135, 186 f, 222 f). In Swe- could enter. In Scandinavia both motifs occur in den the oldest mounds from the Iron Age are Old Norse myths and images (for example, on found in central northern Sweden (Sw. Mellan- the picture stones of ). Dog remains are norrland), which during much of Prehistory had also regularly found in Late Iron Age graves, and direct cultural links across the mountains with although there are usually few bone fragments of Trøndelag in central Norway. For example, in the

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Circular flow of tradition in Old Norse religion 85 Swedish province of Medelpad the oldest burial cannot at any rate have been detrimental to the mounds found so far date from the 2nd century kings and regional leaders to emphasise a common (Selinge 1977, pp. 227 f, 235, 281, 284, 412 ff; Bratt burial custom and thereby manifest their affinity 2008, p. 34 ff). with the commoners whom they governed. It is not entirely clear how this emergence of This could possibly also explain a noteworthy the mound tradition in central northern Sweden detail in this context. In the Uppsala region the was related to developments in the Lake Mälaren uppermost elite adopted the barrow tradition in provinces, but the tradition developed later to the decades around AD 600, while certain fami- the south than in more northerly parts of the lies of the lower elite instead developed the late country. In the provinces immediately north of Roman Iron Age and chamber Lake Mälaren, it appears possible to date a few grave tradition into the Vendel Period boat inhu- mounds to the 4th century. In the 5th century, mation custom. This may possibly have been be- burial mounds were at first built sporadically, cause the kingship institution in Uppsala was, at and then increasingly often at many cemeteries. least officially, based on a popular mandate, while By the early 6th century they constituted a com- the region’s lower-ranking warrior aristocrats, mon form of grave superstructure at hamlet ceme- some of whom were buried in boats, lacked such teries. Mounds were thereafter a dominant type locally rooted legitimacy and instead guaranteed of grave monument up to about AD 1000 (Ben- their ranking through personal and historical nett 1987, p. 73 ff; Ljungkvist 2006). allegiances to the folk-kings in Uppsala. There is also another interesting difference When the tradition of great barrows became between the Lake Mälaren area and more north- established within the aristocracy in the 7th and erly regions. Although the number of prehistoric 8th centuries, this seems to have helped to further graves per century and square kilometre is far universalise the general, popular burial mound smaller in Norway than in the Lake Mälaren area, tradition in eastern central Sweden. It possibly both small mounds for commoners and huge also contributed to the mound superstructure aristocratic barrows were built in parallel there gaining greater ideological significance; on the throughout the Iron Age. The same is evident in one hand as a legal monument, and on the other central northern Sweden. But this pattern is not as the only type of grave that, after becoming seen in eastern central Sweden, where the first established, was retrospectively sanctioned mytho- aristocratic great barrows were not built until logically. In both cases it is notable that no such after AD 550, when the burial mound had already aspects – as far as we can discern from the sources been a common grave superstructure at hamlet – were linked to any other form of grave monu- cemeteries for several generations (Bratt 2008, ment in Scandinavia. pp. 29 ff, 42). The function of the grave mound as a legal Even though a great deal is unclear regarding monument emerges most clearly in two ways. At the development of the mound tradition in east- least in Norway the ruler appears to have sat on a ern central Sweden, at least in my opinion a pro- mound when exercising his power in certain si- cess may be discernible in which it spread from tuations (cf. Sundqvist 2016, p. 493 ff). The name Norway to central northern Sweden and from Tingshögen for several barrows in Sweden pos- there gradually southwards to the old folkland sibly indicates that similar traditions existed there. provinces within , Södermanland and It also seems that, at least in the 11th century, southern Västmanland. It is uncertain why the mound monuments manifested allodial rights tradition of great barrows was established among and confirmed an allodial farmer’s ownership of the aristocrats of the Lake Mälaren provinces later a farm and its infield and rights to utilise outfield than in several other Scandinavian regions. How- land. There is evidence of this tradition in large ever, as the burial mound tradition had already areas of Scandinavia and in the Scandinavian been widespread for a few generations among the colonies in Iceland and the British Isles (Zachris- peasantry in the Lake Mälaren provinces when it son 1994, p. 226 ff; Solberg 2000, p. 148 f). also became established within the nobilities, it It is difficult to say how far this way of mani-

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86 Andreas Nordberg festing allodial rights dates back in Norway. In confusing. Snorri was both well travelled and eastern central Sweden the mounds can hardly well read. Through Icelandic and Norwegian have assumed their legal significance before the as well as his own experiences during his mound tradition became universalised during journeys, he must have been well aware that bur- the Vendel and Viking Periods. To the best of my ial mounds were a common “heathen” type of knowledge, the mythical sanctioning of the mound grave for both women and men in Scandinavia superstructure (if it even existed) is only hinted and Iceland. Despite this, he explicitly links the at in chapter 8–10 of ’s Ynglinga grave mound tradition to gǫfga menn in the Svear Saga. There, Snorri states that some of the burial heartland in his . customs and eschatological conceptions of the In my opinion, the most plausible explana- pagan age in old Svithiod were introduced by tion for this is that Snorri was actually describing (euhemerised) Óðinn himself, who decided that the situation in Norway, where only one or very “in memory of noblemen [gǫfga menn] a mound few individuals per generation and farmstead should be created, and in memory of all those were buried under mounds. However, this does men honoured with various distinctions, stand- not explain the association with Uppsala and ing stones should be erected, and this custom eastern central Sweden. It is therefore perhaps endured for a long time”. He also explains that it worth very cautiously putting forward an alter- was Freyr who founded the Uppsala royal estates native (or complementary) possibility. Might (ON. Uppsalaauðr) and that the Svear buried him Snorri’s focus on Svithiod and the Ynglinga kings in a mound at Uppsala when he died (ÍF 26, 1979, indicate that his information, at least in part, p. 20 ff). stemmed from regional, semi-mythical accounts From a source-critical perspective, there are about the establishment of the grave mound tra- obviously many potential pitfalls here, but we dition within the patriarchal dynasties in the can at least make two observations: firstly it is Svear heartland? Many scholars have suggested undeniable that Freyr (OSw. Frø) was linked to that Snorri may have learnt of certain regional the Uppsala kings and the royal estates of Upp- traditions regarding Svithiod and Uppsala in sala (cf. Sundqvist 2002). Secondly, Snorri’s in- conjunction with his visit to the Eskil formation follows a larger and more general mythi- Magnusson in Västergötland province, in 1219. cal pattern, in which the god Óðinn appears as a Did Snorri on that occasion learn of a semi-mythi- culture hero who created and shaped the world cal tradition about the emergence of the grave and human beings; who introduced cultural phe- mound tradition among the Svear? This idea is of nomena such as mead, and skaldic ; course highly hypothetical, but also tempting, as who founded social institutions and classes; who it would then be all the more interesting that this established religious traditions and rituals such mythical sanctioning of the grave mound tradi- as calendrical annual feasts and human sacrifices; tion was specifically linked to the Uppsala kings and who, not least, was closely associated with and the Svear heartland. In this context, this may death and the dead. From this perspective it is have constituted a stage in the universalisation of quite plausible that traditions also existed re- the grave mound tradition in eastern central garding Óðinn as the establisher of burial rites. Sweden. Having said this, there is yet another impor- We can of course only speculate about the lat- tant detail in Snorri’s account that is worth focus- ter. What is clearer, however, is that the cultural ing on, viz the claim that the burial mounds were relationship between various socially hierarchi- reserved for gǫfga menn m. pl. This expression can cal groups is often much more complex than we be translated literally as ʻhonourable, revered men’, think. It is not possible in a general sense to sepa- but in this context is more likely to mean ‘noble- rate religious traditions into two hierarchical men, aristocrats’ – compare gǫfug-menni neut. strata representing the general population and ‘distinguished men, noblemen’, gǫfug-kvendi neut. the elite. Nor should we regard the exchange of ‘distinguished, high-born woman’, etc. (Heggstad religious elements between these groups as, for 1963, p. 238). Snorri’s claim can initially seem example, a kind of general process of gesunkenes

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Circular flow of tradition in Old Norse religion 87 Kulturgut, in which the elite are the givers and the References wider population the recipients. The exchange of Adam of Bremen = Schmeidler, B. (Ed.) 1917. Hambur- religious elements between groups in society was gische Kirchengeschichte. Scriptores Rerum - complex, kaleidoscopic and took place in all carum in usum scholarum ex monumentis germa- niae historicis separatim editi. Magistri Adam Bre- directions within the framework of the circular mensis Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontifi- flow of religious traditions. cum. Hannover–Leipzig. Andrén, A., 2004. I skuggan av : trädet mel- Conclusion lan idé och realitet i nordisk tradition. Andrén, A. Above, I have discussed some of the processes et al. (eds). Ordning mot kaos. Studier av nordisk för- kristen kosmologi. that on the one hand helped to keep pre-Chris- Lund. – 2007. Skandinavisk religion i tid och rum. Andrén, tian religion in Scandinavia cohesive over social A. & Carelli, P. (eds). Odens öga: mellan människor and spatial boundaries and hierarchies, and on och makter i det förkristna Norden. Lund. the other hand sustained the ability of religion to Artelius, T. & Lindqvist, M., 2007. Döda minnen. Stock- vary and adapt to shifting conditions and con- holm. texts in society. Based on a substantially reduced Bennett, A., 1987. Graven – religiös och social symbol: struk- turer i folkvandringstidens gravskick i Mälarområdet. and contextually modified variant of McKim Stockholm. Marriott’s description of the changeability of reli- Bratt, P., 2008. Makt uttryckt i jord och sten: stora högar och gious traditions as a constantly ongoing circular maktstrukturer i Mälardalen under järnåldern. Stock- flow, I have attempted to exemplify the dynamism holm. of religion in the Late Iron Age through three Brink, S., 2007. How uniform was the Old Norse reli- case studies. gion? Quinn, J. et al. (eds). Learning and understand- ing in the Old Norse world: essays in honour of Margaret The first of these concerns the relationship Clunies Ross. Turnhout. between local, regional and supra-regional tradi- Drobin, U. & Keinänen, M-L., 2001. Frey, Veralden olmai tions and tradition variants; the second address- och Sampo. Kontinuitäten und Brüche in der Religions- es the relationship between private and public geschichte. Festschrift für Anders Hultgård. Berlin & worship; and the third examines the exchange of New York. religious traditions across social boundaries. All Grundy, S., 1996. Freyja and Frigg. Billington, S. & Green, M. (eds). The Concept of the Goddess. London. these cases also illustrate the ability of religious Harman, W., 1989. Sacred marriage in the study of reli- elements to spread spatially, and in doing so adapt gion: a perspective from India on a concept that to varying sociocultural contexts. Such processes grew out of the . Religion 19. took place in all contexts where people interacted. London. The sociocultural foundations of religion can in Heggstad, L., 1963. Gamalnorsk ordbok med tyd- this sense be compared to a multitude of overlap- ning. Ny umvølt og auka utgåve av ’gamalnorsk ordbok’ ved Hægstad og Torp. Oslo. ping and interacting, changeable networks of Hellström, J.A., 1996. Vägar till Sveriges kristnande. Stock- social and cultural relations. The characteristics holm. that kept religion dynamic and alive were flexi- Holmberg, U., 1922. Der Baum des Lebens. Helsinki. bility and an ability to adapt to this sociocultural Hultgård, A., 2014. Kultplats och gudatro: Om fram- patchwork. Religion was part of culture, and just växten av lokala gudomar på germanskt område. like culture, it was partly shaped by the constant Nyman et al. (eds). Den heliga platsen. Sundsvall. Hyenstrand, Å., 1996. Lejonet, draken och korset. Sverige circular flow of tradition. 500–1000. Lund. ÍF 26 = 1979. I. Íslenzk fornrit 26. Hið Acknowledgement íslenzka Fornritafélag. B. Aðalbjarnarson (ed.). This work was sponsored by Riksbankens Jubi- Reykjavík. leumsfond/The Swedish Foundation for Huma- Iregren, E., 1972. Vårby och Vårberg II: Studie av kreme- nities and Social Sciences. rat människo- och djurbensmaterial från järnåldern. Stockholm. Kretschmar, F., 1938. Hundestammvater und Kerberos II. Stuttgart. Larsson, F. (ed.), 2014. Skeke – gudar, människor och gjutare. Rituella komplex från bronsålder och äldre järn-

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