what religious beliefs did vikings or barbarians have?

Question

I was just curious about beleif systems in history.

Answer 1

From a paper I once authored for an upper-division religion course:

Background - Vikings and Celts

The Vikings invaded France, other parts of Europe and the British Isles between the eighth and eleventh centuries. They also temporarily colonized Greenland and settled in Iceland. They also discovered and explored parts of North America! Scandinavia was Christianized much later than the rest of west central Europe (800-1300 BCE). Much of the sources we have about magic practiced by the Scandinavians was written by Christian Scandinavians during the fourteenth century.

The Celts of cultural group spread into northern Europe around 1000 BCE. A great Celtic migration began around 500 BCE where they settled and imposed their culture on central and western Europe, including northern Italy and the Mediterranean region. The Celts sacked Rome in 390 BCE and in 279 BCE they raided Delphi and Greece and established colonies even in Turkey. The Celts were the main population of Gaul (France), Ireland, and southern Britain in early Roman era. Due to their isolated location, Ireland and Scotland generally remained beyond the range of Roman conquest. The eventual Christianization of Celtic culture began with Romanization, and continued well into the Middle Ages. Celts were eventually assimilated by other peoples such as the Gothic and Germanic tribes entering from Eurasia. By the beginning of the Middle Ages Celtic culture was surviving in Northern France, Ireland and parts of Britain, Scotland.

Scandinavian (Norse, Viking) Magic

The sources of descriptions of Scandinavian magic came from sagas and eddas. Sagas were subjective historical perspectives of power relations, political conflicts, or family feuds. Some themes of sagas included pagan-Christian conflicts. Eddas were texts concerning mythologies in poetic form, including Snorri Sturluson's prosettas. Both sagas and eddas were the works of Christian authors so our interpretations of these Norse materials should be considered with a cautious eye to inherent biases.

In Scandinavia witchcraft was practiced by men and women equally. Runes, an alphabet used in Norse culture, were carved into wood, bone or stone for magical practices. After Christianization of Scandinavia runes were used for prayers. To the Scandinavians, words were powerful and created the reality around them. Fate was seen to be useless to struggle against, hence divination was important to find the keys to the hidden parts of reality. In fact, divination was often a community event when the diviner would arrive at a local village.

Scandinavian people believed in the existence of guardian spirit that appeared as animals or as a woman. They would appear in dreams that foretold future events. The death of a guardian spirit in a dream was thought to predict the death of its owner. Animals appeared as guardian spirits in three forms: a bear, symbolizing strength; a wolf symbolizing and evil mind; and an eagle, representing social position. The female guardian spirit was thought to be a guardian helper for the family. One Norse magical legend was Odin, a shape shifter. Another legend was Volva, who was considered to be a prophetess. The Sami, an indigenous people of Lapland, were believed to have magical powers.

Celtic Magic & Witchcraft of Ireland

Polythesism and unotheism dominated pre-Christian religion in Ireland. Some 374 names of gods and goddesses have been recorded from early documents of the period. In addition to great gods, Celtics saw the world as teeming with supernatural beings. Some aspects of these beliefs have survived, including beliefs about fairies, have survived into the modern era. Three levels of social ranking according to depth of mastery of knowledge were used in Celtic Ireland. First were Druids, next philosopher poets, and lastly, bards. Scholars are uncertain if women were included in Druid category.

Druids

Druids were religious specialists among the pre-Christian Celts. The Druids were considered both protectors and promoters of society and embodied the survival and posterity of society. As such, Druids were exempt from serving in war, and were the guardians of tradition, genealogy, and law. Druids would sometimes serve as judges and peacemakers. Since the Druids were considered to be conversant in a divine language, they would interpret perceived divine communications. Druids were viewed as prophets, diviners, astrologers (determining lucky and unlucky days), healers (via spiritual means, protection against evil), were able to shape-shift, to conjure, and sometimes exhibited the ability of to fly.

Fairies

Fairies (from the Latin fata, the goddess of fate) were considered to be supernatural creatures that were often small in size. Several accounts from Irish tradition exist concerning the origin of of fairies:

- humans or pagan gods predating the Celts that were driven into the hills when Celts arrived in Ireland;
- fallen angels that were not good enough to be redeemed nor bad enough to be damned that were tricked by the Devil to assist him; and
- the souls of the dead, especially the damned.

According to Celtic folklore fairies are mostly indifferent to human affairs, but they can be persuaded to act for good or evil. Fairies can become visible and are thought to live underground in fairy mounds known as Sidhe (pronounced sheed), which were the ancient burial grounds of Neolithic and Bronze Age Ireland. Leprechans and Banchees were also considered fairies. Fairies are generally thought to be harmless yet they would retaliate if affronted by humans. Some stories exist claiming that fairies stole children and replaced them with changelings.

Both good and bad fortune can be attributed to fairies. Performing a service for fairies might result in a blessings for livestock or crops. Interrupting a fairy ritual or hurting a fairy may result in bad luck or even death. Belief in fairies was widespread into the twentieth century. In 1959 roadwork in County Mayo, Ireland was altered because it was believed the route was encroaching the site of a fairy palace. Construction workers went on strike refusing to earn the wrath of the fairies. Similar delays have occurred in Iceland where care is taken to not disrupt elf populations. Here is a diary entry from a couple visiting Ireland in 2000:

"After spending the morning in nature, we enjoy the afternoon in the city of Galway, and then Eddie Lanihan returns that night to tell us Irish folk and fairy tales in a candlelit room. Known as a seanchai in Gaelic, Eddie has a theatrical style that leaves us convinced that he really believes in the fairies he talks about. Fairies and such still play a prominent role in Irish culture - Eddie tells of the construction of a new road which we have passed several times in our travels. We wondered about the fact that the road has been rerouted to avoid a hawthorn bush that Eddie claims is a fairy tree. Since white fairy blood has been seen around its base, Eddie was able to convince the road builders that bad things will happen at this place if the bush is disturbed, hence the diversion of the road!"

Fairies have two societal orders: solitary and social. According to Celtic tradition, social fairies are ruled by a monarch, a queen. They live in hills underground or in bodies of water. Time does not exist in fairylands. Persons can visit fairylands on special occasions, yet spending ostensibly one day, may result in an return to earth a hundred years later! In fairyland, there is no ugliness, sickness, or death and inhabitants entertain themselves with feasting and dancing.

Banshees

A banshee is a fairy woman whose appearance and wailing was considered a foreshadowing of death. Banshees had fiery red eyes caused from perpetual weeping. Banshees were also thought to wail for the dead of old Irish families. Several banshees wailing together were thought to foretell the death of someone great or very holy. Different families had there own banshee, and some banshees were known by name. These beliefs were based on the assumption that the old families were connected to the supernatural forces of Ireland.

Thin Places

As noted above, suspension of or disregard for linear time was a familiar theme in magic lore and fairy stories. In medieval Ireland space was thought to have thin places or wrinkles that allowed spiritual practitioners to observe what is happening far away or to travel to distant places, thus transcending time and space.

Celtic Celebrations - Beltaine

Beltaine is celebrated on May 1st, and is one of four great feasts of the Irish calendar. Marks end of the dark half of the year and in folk use, the first day of summer. Regarded as a good time to begin large projects. Practice of lighting bonfires on Beltane eve has persisted since pre-Christian times. Otherworld people thought to be especially active on Beltane eve. Some believe fairies can be seen at their revels and humans must be careful not to disturb them.

Celtic Celebrations - Samhain ("saw-wain")

Samhain is celebrated on Nov. 1st, and is the most important seasonal feast of the pagan Irish year. Samhain was given a Christian interpretation by missionaries and recast as All Souls Day, and All Souls Eve, or All Hallows Evening (Halloween). The day denotes the end of old year and the birth of the new, which begins with the dark season. Between sunset on All Hallows Eve and sunrise on Samhain, a "between time" exists, believed to be the time when normal rules of time and space are suspended. During this time the barriers between the seen and unseen world are dissolved and spirits can interfere with human affairs and mortals can enter the realm of the dead. All Hallows Eve is also a time of prophecy, the best time of the year to make spells, a time when fairies are out and seen dancing with ghosts, and the souls of dead family members are said to return to their homes for welcoming.

Puca

Puca, a shape-shifting animal spirit is thought to be moving about on Samhain night. Puca may take many forms, but most often appear as a supernatural horse. They are said to prophesy when consulted and to take humans on midnight rides leaving them exhausted at home the next morning.

Shape-shifting

Shape-shifters were said to be able to transform from human into animal forms. In Irish magic and witchcraft lore, there were three types of shape-shifters:

- super-humans with the ability to change form by choice;
- a form imposed on another person as punishment or revenge; and
- a creature that can be transformed for a special purpose.

Shape shifting, while attributed to act of will, was more often the result of a magic practice, usually by a Druid. Belief in shape-shifting persisted into modern times where fairies were believed to change at will and witches could change into animal form, often a hare or a cat.

Hazel

In pre-Christian Ireland, the hazelnut was considered to be the source of wisdom and the hazelnut tree the Irish tree of life. Hazel was important to fairies and witches made magic wands from the tree. Divining rods are also made of hazelnut wood.

Enchantment

Enchantment was the process of influencing a person by supernatural means. This influence could take the form of changing a person into animal form, causing sickness, or even death. Persons so enchanted would see an altered version of reality, sometimes attributed to the Druid's Fog called up during a spell.

Pishogue

A pishogue was an Irish spell used by Druids, fairies, and witches that confused a person, causing them see things in a manner that did not match reality. This spell was believed to be used by St. Patrick to make himself and a group of followers appear as a herd of deer to an approaching enemy.

English Cunning (cunnan- to know) Folk Practices

The term cunning refers to practitioners that engaged in magic, healing of the sick, love magic, divination, and the un-bewitching the bewitched. The Cunning were thought to possess unusual knowledge, either inherited, from innate ability, or acquired from supernatural source. As late as the nineteenth century anyone in English countryside would still recognize the term.

Other terms from English magic included Wiccan from Anglo-Saxon and Viking sources, conjurer, wizard, white witch, and Drycroeft (practice of magic). Familiar spirits were mentioned in sources that served a witch, sorcerer, or magician. Cunning folk would describe their familiars as fairies, others would use terms such as angels, imps, saints, spirits of the dead, or sprites.

Cunning folk practices included:

- divination;
- love magic;
- finding of lost objects;
- un-bewitching;
- healing;
- conjuration;
- treasure seeking;
- thief magic; and
- identifying persons as witches (anit-witch actions).

Cunning folk were left out of the witch trial events as they were not neat fits with the accuser-accused relationship common for these events.

Church Responses To Paganism

The church accommodated and integrated many aspects of these pagan cultures into Christian practices, but only up to a point. For example, Pope Gregory the Great advised foreign missionaries to not demolish pagan temples, instead to re-consecrate them for use as Christian churches. The meanings of pagan festivals were to be redefined in Christian terms. As noted, toleration of paganism extended only so far, identifying the veneration of pagan gods as demonic and idolatry. Practitioners of magic were urged to visit the confessional to repent. One record of the penance for driving stakes into an image of a person, included fasting for three years.

The first Irish witchcraft trial was that of Dame Alice Kyteler in 1324, who was convicted along with eleven other persons. This trial is noteworthy in that it was the first such case that considered witches to be part of a secret cult who acquired their magical powers via intercourse with demons. Medieval Irish folklore says women did same things that fairies do- steal milk, shape shift, make people fly. One of the strongest spells, spell of the dead hand, wherein hand removed from corpse and used to steal neighbor's butter. Lady Kyteler was a powerful and influential member of the social elite. She escaped to England the night before her scheduled execution. After being tortured, Kyteler's female servant, Petronella, was burned at the stake. The last witchcraft trial in Ireland was 1711, where eight women pilloried and imprisoned for one year.

Answer 2

Look up 'Odin' and 'Thor' on the net - this will give you all of the background that you need on Viking religious beliefs.

Answer 3

First .. Muslims are not allowed to date .. or to take gf or bf ... so , clearly .. he is not a following that rule ... but ,,, Muslims are allowed to Marry chaste women among Muslims and the people of the scripture ... and as Jw doesn't consider Jesus (pbuh) a God ... so the chance is better ... ( 5 ) This day [all] good foods have been made lawful, and the food of those who were given the Scripture is lawful for you and your food is lawful for them. And [lawful in marriage are] chaste women from among the believers and chaste women from among those who were given the Scripture before you, when you have given them their due compensation, desiring chastity, not unlawful sexual intercourse or taking [secret] lovers. And whoever denies the faith - his work has become worthless, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers. Quran (5:5) May Allah guide you both to His straight path ...

Answer 4

Vikings had primarily the Norse belief system, and many barbarians followed druidism, or other many god "pagan" systems.

Answer 5

Paganism/heathen
the viking beliefs are still held today under the name of Asatru

Answer 6

Google "Odin"