Sacrificial feasts, drinking rounds, name-givings, burials: the customs and rituals of the Vikings shaped their whole life – from birth to death. This overview shows what is secured and what is modern interpretation – and links to the detailed articles.
The central ritual was the blót, the sacrificial feast. Animals were sacrificed, the blood sprinkled on altar and participants, the meat eaten together. Cult and feast were inseparable.
At the sumbel the full horn went round the circle: people toasted the gods, remembered the ancestors and laid solemn vows. An oath sworn over the horn held.
The greatest feast was Yule at midwinter. To it came the Winter Nights, the álfablót and dísablót, the spring and the victory sacrifice. The attested dates are in our blót calendar.
The great stations of life were ritually accompanied too: the name-giving, marriage with handclasp and ring, farewell with burial mound and memorial stone.
The Vikings knew both cremation and inhumation, often with rich grave goods. Famous is the ship burial – yet the burning ship on the open sea is more a film image than the rule. More in our article on honouring the dead.
A blót was the Germanic-Norse sacrificial feast: sacrifice, common meal and drink in honour of the gods and ancestors.
The sumbel was a ritual drinking round in which the full horn went round the circle for toasts to gods and ancestors and for solemn vows.
Above all Yule (midwinter), the Winter Nights, the álfablót and dísablót, and spring and victory sacrifices. Fixed dates are patchily handed down.
In cremation or inhumation graves, often with rich grave goods. Ship burials existed, but the burning ship at sea is largely a modern image.
Germanic feasts (lead article) · Blót & sumbel · Blót calendar · Naming, marriage & farewell.
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