Viking Rituals

Following on from a previous post on Mind Bending Meads I stumbled upon an interesting discussion from the Book of Shadows (the internet version) on the use of Mead in Viking rituals.

Mead is an important part of the Asatru religion and has a place in both of the major Norse rituals: The sumble is a drinking ritual where stories, oaths, and poetry are shared and mead.s function here is obvious. In this day and age mead is even more important to the blot or sacrifice ritual. The blot is actually quite simple. A God or Goddess is called upon and a sacrifice is poured in their honor. In ancient times this was most often an animal sacrifice and blood was poured out onto the ground or altar. Today an alcoholic beverage of some kind is the usual sacrifice.

Perhaps the act of writing a blog about mead is the 21st version of the sumble, telling stories with some assistance from the copious amounts of Mead I've been drinking.

The Book continues

One interesting item to start with is that mead was apparently sometimes strained through rye, which contains the hallucinogenic chemical ergot. This may offer some insights into Seidhr, a Nordic shamanic practice, and the frenzy of the berserkers.

Again an interesting combination of sweet Mead, the drink of the gods and a hallucinogenic shot.

And although I am not to be tempted from my workshop of Medb, who after all occupies the sacred space in my living room, she is perhaps not the only goddess (or god) appropriate to the Drinker of Mead.

Frey, a God of farming and harvest, was said to have two close companions, Bygvir and Beyla. Bygvir was the spirit of the barley and Beyla of the honey . both important Gods to brewers and appropriate companions for the God of fertility.

Finally, we have a few myths involving mead directly. Mead was known as Kvasir.s blood and it.s primary association was with wisdom. Kvasir was a being who was the wisest in all the universe, but he was killed and a mead created out of his blood that when drank brought the drinker wisdom. Aegir, a God of the Sea, was held to be the patron of brewing and the finest of mead and ale for the Gods to drink in Valhalla. Odin is said to never eat, but to exist purely on mead, just as the Greek Gods had their nectar.