The lord heard
Valkyrie word
And their horse gallop.
There were buoy-maidens
Dressed in armor
And in the hands were spears.
("Speeches of the Hakon". Poetry of the Skalds. Eyvind the Destroyer of the Skalds. Translation by S. Petrov)
Then came the solemn moment when the body of the deceased king was set on fire, and the ship, which during his life faithfully served him on sea voyages, was set up on the shore on a boardwalk. Then a bench was placed on the deck of the ship, and a woman climbed on it (Ibn Fadlan called her "the helper of death"), since, according to custom, it was she who killed the slave who volunteered to accompany the king to the Other World. She was dressed like the goddess Hel. It was she who made the last preparations for the performance of all the necessary burial rituals.
Funeral of a noble Rus in Bulgar. Henryk Siemiradzki (1833).
Only now the corpse of the deceased could be taken out of the temporary grave. The clothes in which he died were removed from him and re-dressed in brocade clothes with gold buckles and a hat made of sable fur, after which he was planted in a brocade tent placed on the deck of the ship. To keep the body looking decent and not toppling to one side, it was propped up with pillows. Vessels with drinks and dishes with dishes were placed nearby: the deceased had to feast on an equal basis with the others!
Now the time of sacrifice has begun. The first sacrificed a dog and two horses, which were the guides of the deceased to the next world. Then a rooster, a chicken and two cows were sacrificed. By the way, in the mounds there are often graves where there are no human remains at all. There are dishes, decorations, and with them - the skeleton of a dog. This meant that this person died somewhere in a foreign land, from where it was impossible to bring his body, and the tribesmen wanted to return at least the soul of the deceased to their homeland. The dog was considered a guide to the kingdom of the dead, and therefore it was buried instead of the owner.
Preliminary sketch of the painting by G. Semiradsky.
Meanwhile, a slave girl, who expressed a desire to follow her master, walked from one tent to another, where she copulated with the king's relatives, so to speak "for the sake of love for him." Then the dog and the rooster were cut again, and only after that did the slave's turn come.
They killed her in great detail; two Vikings strangled her with a rope, and the "helper of death" stabbed her in the chest with a dagger. At the same time, the girl screamed, therefore, in order to drown out her screams (it is not clear just why?), The audience struck with sticks on the shields. So, the sacrifice was made and the ship could be set on fire. But even here it was not so simple, and this ceremony also surprised the Arab traveler. For some reason, it was only possible to set fire to the ship naked, and besides, backing away at the same time. Nobody has been able to explain this yet!
Ibn Fadlan, of course, was greatly surprised by all this, since he was a devout Muslim and had an extremely negative attitude towards everyone who worships many gods. But the Vikings believed that this was the only way to get to Valhalla, otherwise it would be impossible. And if the body decays in the ground, then the deceased can turn into a monster, or turn into a living corpse, come out of the grave and harm people. Therefore, even if the ship itself was not burned, the corpse of the deceased was burned, but those accompanying him were often not burned. Well, who were they to worry about them like that ?!
Sketch for the painting by G. Semiradsky.
By the way, both Western and Eastern European folklore owe the appearance of the living dead to the Scandinavian edds and sagas.
Moreover, the Vikings were terribly afraid of the living dead. Therefore, we tried to protect ourselves from them by all means. If, for example, it was known that during his lifetime a person was known as a sorcerer, and there was simply no one to burn him, and there was no time (not a king, after all!), Then they cut off his head and put it at his feet, after which the grave was buried. Well, the ashes from the burning of "decent" people were either scattered over the sea, or buried in the ground, after which a mound was poured over this place, and grave stones were placed along the road to it.
But the Vikings were great adept at burial, and in addition to cremations and corpses, they used another original method of burial. It was believed that the path to the next world lies across a river or sea. Therefore, the Vikings often put the dead in boats or ships and trusted their will to the waves. It happened that the ship was preliminarily set on fire, and it, like a huge burning torch, with a sail filled with wind, quickly went into the sea.
With the adoption of Christianity, funeral rites of course changed. According to the Christian faith, no gifts for “the next world” were supposed. The Christian priests also did not approve of burial in barrows, and even more so "sailing on ships of fire." However, people are people … For example, the Norwegians came up with the idea of keeping the dead in the air until then (sometimes inventing the most unusual explanations for this!), Until the corpse began to deteriorate. Naturally, such a "body" inevitably had to be burned! This is how the new god was served, and the old traditions were followed !!!
Offerings from the Völva's grave (including an 82 cm iron rod with bronze details), Kapingsvik, Öland (Swedish Museum of National Antiquities).
Among the old and very important for us today customs of the Vikings was the custom of giving - giving the deceased various items that were placed with them in the grave. These offerings were made to both men and women (in this regard, the Vikings had a rare gender equality). Although the value of these offerings was completely different and depended on the social status of the deceased. The higher he was on the social ladder, the more offerings were found in his grave. That is, his fellow tribesmen tried to ensure his high status in the afterlife, otherwise in the "Other World" he could go down a few steps down the social ladder, which in no case could be allowed!
The bonds, that is, the nobility, received harness and weapons without fail. After all, they needed them on Valhalla, where the Viking could not "live" the life of a warrior without them. Accordingly, the artisan had to receive the entire set of tools he needed in order to continue his craft even after death. Well, women received jewelry and tools for housework, since it was believed that in the "Other World" she should look beautiful and be a good housewife.
So, having excavated one of the female burials, archaeologists found that it belongs to an old woman, a representative of the nobility. Of the jewelry she wore a magnificent pearl necklace with a silver pendant, and the pieces of clothing preserved in the grave were sewn from expensive fabrics. Also on the last journey with her went a large set of kitchen utensils: cups made of wood and clay, a frying pan, a saucepan, jugs, birch bark boxes, as well as a wooden bowl and a wooden spoon, decorated with intricate carvings.
It was customary to put food and drinks in the grave, and the animals and thrall slaves that belonged to him had to serve the master. The latter were simply buried in a hole located nearby. But, it is clear that in this case the burial was carried out so that he did not turn into a living corpse, but at the same time, so that nothing would interfere with his service even after death. That is, they did not chop off his head! Who needs a headless worker? That is, there were Vikings … great rationalists and did a lot "just in case", and not blindly following faith and traditions. At the same time, although a lot of money was spent on the funeral rite, the Vikings did not consider what was spent on the funeral an empty expense. And that is why they tried to build a larger mound over the grave of the deceased. This was how the strength of the clan was demonstrated! The larger the mound, the more people the clan has, and if so, then "like us ?!"
Memorial stones in the local history museum of the island of Gotland.
It is clear that near the cities there were also public cemeteries, where people of a lower rank were buried. By the way, the shapes and sizes of the burials again testify to the considerable imagination of the Vikings. There were also stone ships, burials in the shape of a triangle, square, and even round burials. Monuments were erected not only where the ashes were buried. In Scandinavia, there were also many cenotaph graves, that is, empty graves, since many people died overseas, or even "no one knows where."
Two stone "ships" in Badelund. Sweden.
We have the ninth day after the funeral, and also the fortieth day. Among the Vikings, the seventh day after death was considered important. On this day, the so-called suund or funeral ale was celebrated, since the ceremony of remembrance that took place on that day also included the drinking of intoxicated drinks - syumbel. At this ceremony, the earthly path of the deceased was already completed finally. Only after the suund could his heirs present their rights to the inheritance, and if the deceased was the head of the clan, then only after that his place was taken by another. human!
