View source for Dísablót

{{short description|Sacrificial feast in Germanic paganism}}
{{italic title}}
[[Image:Disarblot by Malmström.jpg|thumb|The dísablót by [[August Malmström]].]]
[[Image:Disting 2008.jpg|thumb|The celebration lives on as an annual market in [[Uppsala]], [[Sweden]]. A scene from the disting of 2008.]]
The '''''Dísablót''''' was the ''[[blót]]'' (sacrificial holiday) which was held in honour of the female spirits or deities called ''[[dísir]]''<ref name=practices>{{Cite web |url=http://www.northvegr.org/northern/book/religious017.php |title=''The Religious Practices of the Pre-Christian and Viking Age North'' at Northvegr |access-date=2006-11-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927235136/http://www.northvegr.org/northern/book/religious017.php |archive-date=2007-09-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  (and the [[Valkyrie]]s<ref name="nationalenc">The article ''Diser'' in ''[[Nationalencyklopedin]]'' (1991).</ref>), from pre-historic times until the [[Christianization of Scandinavia]]. Its purpose was to enhance the coming harvest.<ref name=nationalencyklopedindisablot>"Disablot", ''[[Nationalencyklopedin]]''.</ref> It is mentioned in ''[[Hervarar saga]]'', ''[[Víga-Glúms saga]]'', ''[[Egils saga]]'' and the ''[[Heimskringla]]''. The celebration still lives on in the form of an annual fair called the [[Disting]] in [[Uppsala]], [[Sweden]].
The Dísablót appears to have been held during [[Winter Nights]],<ref name=practices/> or at the [[March equinox|vernal equinox]].<ref name=nationalencyklopedindistingen>The article ''Distingen'', in the encyclopedia ''[[Nationalencyklopedin]]''.</ref> In one version of ''Hervarar saga'', there is a description of how the sacrifice was performed. Alfhildr, the daughter of king Alfr of [[Alfheim]], was kidnapped by [[Starkad]] Aludreng while she was reddening a [[horgr]] with blood.<ref name=practices/><ref>[http://www.home.ix.netcom.com/%7Ekyamazak/myth/norse/kershaw/NLS-hervor-is.htm ''Hervarar saga'' in Old Norse, N. M. Petersen's edition] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070519021250/http://www.home.ix.netcom.com/~kyamazak/myth/norse/kershaw/NLS-hervor-is.htm |date=2007-05-19 }}</ref>
This suggests that the rite was performed by women, especially in light of what is generally believed to be their nearly exclusive role as priestesses of the pagan Germanic religion.<ref name=practices/> However, according to the ''[[Ynglinga saga]]'' part of the ''Heimskringla'', the [[king of Sweden]] performed the rites, which was in accordance with his role as [[Gothi|high priest]] of the [[Temple at Uppsala]]. The mention of the Dísablót concerns the death of king [[Eadgils]] (''Aðils'', ''Adils'') who died from falling off his horse while riding around the shrine:
{{cquote|King Adils was at a Disa sacrifice; and as he rode around the Disa hall his horse Raven stumbled and fell, and the king was thrown forward upon his head, and his skull was split, and his brains dashed out against a stone. Adils died at Upsal, and was buried there in a mound. The Swedes called him a great king.<ref name="SnorriLaing1930">{{cite book |last1=Sturluson |first1=Snorri |last2=Laing |first2=Samuel |title=Heimskringla: The Norse King Sagas |year=1930 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.507001/page/n57/mode/2up |page=30}}</ref>}}
In Sweden, the Dísablót was of central political and social importance. The festivities were held at the end of February or early March at [[Gamla Uppsala]].<ref name=historiska>[http://www.historiska.se/histvarld/artikel.asp?id=20990 The article ''Landsting'', at the official site of the Museum of National Antiquities, Sweden] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060930053606/http://www.historiska.se/histvarld/artikel.asp?id=20990 |date=2006-09-30 }}.</ref> It was held in conjunction with the great fair [[Disting]] and the great popular assembly called the [[Thing of all Swedes]].<ref>[https://runeberg.org/nfbf/0272.html The article ''Disablot'', in the encyclopedia ''Nordisk familjebok''].</ref>
The [[Iceland]]ic historian [[Snorri Sturlusson]], who was well-informed of Swedish matters and visited the country in 1219,<ref>[http://www.foteviken.se/historia/ynglinga/yng_start.htm The article ''Snorres Ynglingasaga'' at the site of the [[Foteviken Museum]], Sweden</ref> explained in the ''[[Heimskringla]]'' (1225):
{{cquote|In Svithjod<ref>An obsolete name for [[Sweden]], more specifically what today is named [[Svealand]]. Literally: "the Swedish people".</ref> it was the old custom, as long as heathenism prevailed, that the chief sacrifice took place in Goe month<ref>The month of February.</ref> at [[Gamla Uppsala|Upsala]]. Then sacrifice was offered for peace, and victory to the king; and thither came people from all parts of Svithjod. All the Things of the Swedes, also, were held there, and markets, and meetings for buying, which continued for a week: and after Christianity was introduced into Svithjod, the Things and fairs were held there as before.<ref>[[s:Heimskringla/Saga of Olaf Haraldson/Part II|Saga of Olaf Haraldson, part II]].</ref>}}
The shrine where the Dísir were worshiped was called ''dísarsalr'' and this building is mentioned in the ''[[Ynglinga saga]]'' concerning king Aðils' death. It also appears ''[[Hervarar saga]]'', where a woman becomes so infuriated over the death of her father by the hands of [[Heiðrekr]], her husband, that she hangs herself in the shrine.
The Scandinavian ''dísablót'' is associated with the Anglo-Saxon ''[[modranect]]'' ("mothers' night") by [[Gabriel Turville-Petre]].<ref>''Myth and Religion of the North'' (1964), 224-227.</ref>  The Anglo-Saxon month roughly equivalent to November was called blot-monath.
The number of references to the Disir ranging from the [[Merseburg Charms]] to many instances in Germanic mythology indicate that they were considered vital deities to worship and that they were primary focus of prayers (e.g. the charms) for luck against enemies in war.
==See also==
* [[Tamfana]]
* [[Ásatrú holidays]]
* [[Valkyrie]]
==References and notes==
{{reflist|2}}
{{Dísir and idisi}}
{{Germanic pagan practices}}
{{Norsemythology}}
[[Category:Germanic animal sacrifice|Sacrifice]]
[[Category:Ceremonies]]
[[Category:Viking practices]]
[[Category:Magical terms in Germanic mysticism]]
[[Category:March observances]]
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