[gothic-l] Re:The Great Sacrifice

[Ingemar Nordgren]

gothic-l at yahoogroups.com wrote:

>Sahin wrote:
>"the great  Nordic sacrifice,to have sexual orgies and sing obscure songs. ", jesus christ!! what is this? a satanic ritual?
> Ingemar Nordgren <ingemar.nordgren at ebox.tninet.se> wrote:Hi all,
>
>Tonight it is time for the great  Nordic sacrifice reported by Adamus
>Bremensis and Thietmar von Merseburg held only once in nine years. Now
>it is time to string up nine living species in the sacrificial tree
>and to have sexual orgies and sing obscure songs.Tonight the
>sacrificial  moon-cycle of eight years starts for a new round. Hail
>our great gods of the vanir and asir families.
>
>Hi Sahin,
>
This is a shortage of a description Adamus Bremensis and Thietmar von
Merseburg make of the Great nordic Sacrifice in Sweden (Adam) and
Denmark(Thietmar). Every ninth year all people in the realm had to send
representatives to the sacrifice. Adams book was published c:a 1075. The
sacrificial cycle starts January 19th.  Lars Larsen gave a good English
summary of Adams text on Germanic-l, and he also added the Latin
original. I give you his version below, but note that the temple he
mentions is unproven and todays researchers beleive it could have been
a  church competing with Hamburg-Bremen. The sacrifice however seems to
be real stuff but probably older. Adam himself never were in Sweden and
his informant was the Danish king Svend Estridssen:

Chapter 27.
Each god have their own priest that executes the sacrifices for the
people.If plague and hunger is threatening they sacrifice to Thor.
If war it is Odin. If wedding is to be celebrated to Frey.
Furthermore all provinces of Sweden in common have a religious feast
every ninth year. Noone is excluded from participating in this feast.
Kings and their people, everyone sends gifts to Uppsala. But what is
worse than any punishment:the christians must buy themselves free
from these ceremonies. The sacrifice goes on like this:
They sacrifice 9 heads of any living male creature, with the blood
it is their custom to reconcile with the gods.
The bodies are hung in a sacred grove nead to the sanctuary. This
grove is so sacred for the heathens that every tree in it is
believed to have divine power as a consequence of the death and
putrefaction of the sacrified. Here is also hung dogs and horses
togehter with men. A christian told me that he has seen 72 of these
hanging between one and another. Also they sing which is customary
during such rites, numerous songs are obscene therefore it is better
not to mention them here.


Omnibus itaque diis suis attributos habent sacerdotes, qui
sacrificia populi offerant.
Si pestis et fames imminent, Thor ydolo lybatur, si bellum, Wodani,
si nuptiae celebrandae sunt, Fricconi. Solet quoque post novem annos
communis omnium Sueoniae provintiarum sollempnitas in Ubsola
celebrari. Ad quam videlicet sollempnitatem nulli prestatur
immunitas. Reges et populi, omnes et singuli sua dona transmittunt
ad Ubsolam, et, quod omni pena crudelius est, illi, qui iam
induerunt christianitatem, ab illis se redimunt cerimoniis.
Sacrificium itaque est:
Ex omni animante,quod masculinum est,novem capitaofferuntur, quorum
sanguine deos [tales] placari mos est. Corpora autem suspentur in
lucum, qui proximus est templo. Is enim lucus tam sacer est
gentilibus, ut singulae arbores eius ex morte vel tabo immolatorum
divinae credantur. Ibi etiam canes et equi pendant cum hominibus,
quorum corpora mixtim suspensa narravit mihi aliquis
christianorum LXXII vidisse. Ceterum nenia, quae in eiusmodi ritu
libationes fieri solent, multiplices et inhonestae, ideoque melius
reticendae.

Have a good time
Ingemar







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