Viking New Year Traditions

After the sprinkling of the water in every room on the beds and all the inhabitants the house is sealed up tight and branches of juniper are set on fire and carried throughout the house and byre.

Viking new year traditions. Early on new year s morning householders drink and then sprinkle magic water from a dead and living ford around the house a dead and living ford refers to a river ford that is routinely crossed by both the living and the dead. Oh and the fireworks. In the 11th century adam of bremen wrote about the vikings based on secondhand accounts.

The festivities would also include the lighting of bonfires and tossing torches. He talked about a tradition practiced at uppsala sweden every nine years at the beginning of spring. Of course the new year ceremony consists of various different customs in different places.

The traditional new year ceremony would involve people dressing up in the hides of cattle and running around the village whilst being hit by sticks. Redding the house like the annual spring cleaning in some communities or the ritual cleaning of the kitchen for the jewish festival of passover families traditionally did a major cleanup to ready the house for the new year. First footing is perhaps the most famous of hogmanay traditions harking back to viking times.

Tradition says that to ensure good vibes for the rest of the year your first. As stated stories from the viking period are not always reliable but archaeological remains indicate that human sacrifice did happen occasionally. Sweeping out the fireplace was very important and there was a skill in reading the ashes the way some people read tea leaves.

The festivities would also include the lighting of bonfires and tossing torches.