Climb the keel without fear!
That block is cold.
Let the blizzard be sea
Rushing, ending with you!
Do not grieve from the cold
Be tighter in spirit!
Dev loved you to your heart's content -
Death is only once per share.
(Skald Torir Yokul composed this, going to execution. Translation by S. Petrov / R. M. Samarin. POETRY OF SKALDS. History of world literature. In 8 volumes / Academy of Sciences of the USSR; Institute of World Literature named after A. M. Gorky. - M.: Nauka, 1983-1994. -T. 2. - M., 1984. - S. 486-490)
Let's start with the Vikings' view of death. It is clear that they were closely connected with the ideas of people of that era about the world order and about themselves, their fate and the place of the human race among the forces of nature and the gods of the Universe.
Image of warriors in a drakkar and a deceased warrior on horseback in front of the Valkyries on the Stura-Hammar stone.
Since the Vikings were pagans, then these ideas they also had a pagan character. At the same time, they believed that death is selective in nature and heroic death is not so terrible for a warrior as, for example, for a coward or a traitor. According to them, the most honorable death and, accordingly, a reward in the next world awaited the fallen in battle and not just the fallen, but the Viking who died with a sword in his hand! Odin's eight-legged horse then drove him to a meeting with the Valkyries - beautiful warrior maidens, who brought a horn of wine to the deceased, after which they took him to the beautiful heavenly palaces - Valhalla, where they became members of the squad of the gods themselves and the guardians of the supreme god Odin. And if so, then they themselves lived like gods. That is, they spent time in luxurious feasts, at which they ate the meat of the huge boar Serimnir, and although it was cut for meat every day, in the morning it came to life and was safe and sound. Yes, and delicious, well, just incomparable! The fallen warriors drank the milk of the goat Heydrun, strong as old honey, which grazed at the very top of the World Tree - the ash-tree of Igdrazil, and gave so much milk that it was enough for all the inhabitants of the heavenly city of the gods of Asgard. Moreover, the Vikings in the next world could overeat and get drunk as much as they wanted, but their stomach did not hurt, as did their head. That is, the Viking paradise is the dream of all drunkards and gluttons. Well, between feasts, warriors practice with weapons so as not to lose their skills. And it’s impossible to lose them, because all these warriors or Encherias who died in battle will have to fight the giants together with the gods Asami in the last battle with the evil Ragnarok or Rognarok (Death of the Gods) - which seemed to the Scandinavians to be the final end of the world.
However, not all of the soldiers who died fell into Odin's squad. Some ended up in the palaces of the goddess of love Freya. These were those who died on the battlefield, but did not have time to take a sword in hand, or those who died of wounds on the way from the war. They were also very happy there, but in a different way …
But cowards and traitors were destined for a terrible fate. They found themselves in the underworld of Hel - the daughter of the god of fire, cunning and deceit Loki and the giantess Angrboda, the ruler of the world of the dead, Helheim, where oblivion, and by no means cheerful feasts and abusive exploits, awaited them. This is not to say that the Vikings were not at all afraid of death. The fear of death is a natural manifestation of the human psyche. But the social is also superimposed on the natural. That is, the Vikings, for example, were very frightened by the "knowledge" that if all the burial traditions are not observed, the deceased will not find his place in the Other World and therefore will wander between the worlds, finding no rest in any of them.
This ghost could visit his descendants in the form of a revenan, that is, the spirit of the deceased, which in the form of a ghost returns to the place of his death, or a draugr - a revived dead man, similar to our vampire. Such "visits" promised the family all sorts of disasters and were a signal that the number of deaths in it would soon be much larger.
However, not all the reanimated dead were "bad" according to the Vikings' ideas. Among them there were also those who could bring good luck to their family. But since it was impossible to guess who the revived dead man would become, it was very risky to take risks with the burial ceremony, and the Vikings treated her in the most reverent way. That is why, by the way, ships, swords, and maids were sacrificed to the deceased, let it be better than to meet a ghost later, which will promise you and your loved ones misfortune!
The Vikings buried their dead by cremations and burial in the ground. It is clear that much depended on a person's position during life. Someone was buried in earthen pits, and for someone a whole burial structure was built, where many valuable gifts to the deceased were placed. Usually cremations and corpses are rarely found in the same burial ground. The reasons for this division are also unclear. However, there is no doubt that both the burning and the filling of mounds over the graves - all this was before Christianity was introduced in Scandinavia, that is, it took place until the 11th century.
Interestingly, there are a lot of ancient graves in Sweden and Norway, dating back to the Viking Age, as well as earlier,: there are about 100 thousand of them in Sweden alone. But in Denmark, such burials are quite rare. But there are about the same number of burial mounds dating back to the Bronze Age.
In Norway, the "age of mounds" began in the 9th century, and in Iceland this method of burial is almost the only one. In Sweden, mounds with unburnt corpses are less common than in other Scandinavian countries.
Studies carried out by archaeologists during the excavation of burials of the Viking Age, it was found that if the burial was planned in a mound, they first dug a hole one and a half meters deep. It was in it that the entire ship was installed as a whole. At the same time, his nose had to look towards the sea. The mast was removed, after which a burial chamber was built on the deck of boards, usually in the form of a tent. Since there were no cabins on the Viking ships, they set up something like a large tent on the deck at night. Such a burial chamber imitated such a dwelling, familiar to a Viking, on a ship.
Note that burial in a boat, combined with the burning of the deceased, began to dominate on the territory of mainland Sweden already in the Wendel era. So, in Wendel archaeologist Hjalmar Stolpe back in the 1870s. the earliest and richest inhumations were found in the boat. There were buried men, warriors and leaders with especially rich inventory, weapons, ornaments, banquet sets, tools and implements of labor, as well as horses and cattle. "Wendel style" - so after that they began to call objects decorated with the characteristic "animal ornamentation of the II and III Salina style".
In Valsjerde, on the way to Wendel, on the banks of the Füris River and 8 km from Uppsala, a burial ground with a chamber burial of a noble person was also discovered, made at the turn of the 5th-6th centuries, and from the 7th century. the custom of burying the head of the clan in a boat becomes dominant and remains here until the very end of pagan times. Archaeologist Sune Lindvist in the 1920s and 1930s. here 15 burials in a boat were examined, and all of them belonged to the period from the end of the 7th to the end of the 11th centuries.
Various Viking rites have been described by several Arab merchants, including both the merchant and the historian Ibn Fadlan. He called their funeral "a licentious orgy." And, apparently, he had certain grounds for this. For example, he was surprised that after the death of the Norman king, his friends and relatives looked happy and cheerful, and did not grieve at all. Since the Arab traveler did not know their language, he could not understand that they were not sad at all, not because they were so insensitive, but because they firmly believed that great mercy would soon be shown to their master: he would find himself in their northern paradise - on Valhalle - and will feast there with the god Odin himself. And this was the highest honor that could only fall to the lot of a mortal.
Therefore, it was foolish for them to grieve and indulge in grief. On the contrary, they rejoiced at this and … began to do things that were completely unacceptable from the point of view of an Eastern person, namely, to divide the property of the deceased. Moreover, they divided it into three approximately equal parts. One went to his family, the other went to sewing funeral clothes, and the third was spent on a memorial feast, which required a lot of food and drink.
After that, the body of the deceased was lowered into a temporary grave for ten days. That was how much it was believed was needed to prepare his worthy funeral. Food, drinks and even musical instruments were placed next to him so that he could eat and drink there and entertain himself.
While the deceased was in this grave, all of his slaves were interrogated to find out which of them would like to follow him to the Other World in order to serve him there as well. Usually one of the slaves agreed to this voluntarily, since it was a great honor for her. Then the chosen girl began to prepare for death, and the tribesmen and relatives of the deceased began to perform the rite of his funeral.
When all the preparatory "activities" were over, the Vikings began the celebration. Moreover, they celebrated a funeral feast for the deceased for several days, because only such magnificent wires could adequately honor the memory of their king.
