What Is Vanirblot?

Vanirblot is, admittedly, the name I coined for the apparent festival day (celebrated by at least some of our Norse Ancestors) which coincides with the modern Pagan celebration of Beltane. I coined the term because the archaeological evidence at Hulje, Sweden paints a very definitive picture of a feast/festival day which celebrated Freyr and Freyja specifically. What was that archaeological evidence? The ritual deposition of makeshift arrows or spears (definitively associated with Freyr and Ullr) and offerings of flax (most often associated with Freyja). I firmly believe that we can learn far more from the archaeological record than from maintaining a tunnel-vision-type study of the written lore. The archaeological record, after all, is actually contemporary to what people were practicing: it opens a window into the actual lives of the Ancestors. Meanwhile, everything in the written lore dates from a period long after those people’s lives were over: it’s second-hand information, not a primary source. 

I observe Vanirblot because I’m pretty positive that people in Iron Age Sweden observed something similar, and I operate from an Iron Age Swedish historical base in my practice. That doesn’t mean that I expect the entire world to observe Vanirblot along with me, anymore than it is likely that the Iron Age Scandinavians living in Sweden back then would have expected their neighbors to the north or south to do so. It does mean that I expect people to respect my decision to observe this time of year in my own way (and in that historically-based way) because guess what? Respect is timeless!

Ultimately, we all have to make choices based on what the heart tells us to do, and when I discovered the definitive archaeological evidence of a spring festival centered around the Vanir in Ostergotland Sweden, my heart screamed “shout this from the rafters! Reveal, reconstruct, revive, and revel!” So that’s exactly what I work to do every year, at this time of year.

Reveal: In 2010, archaeologists discovered an important ritual site along a river in Hulje, Sweden. Hulje is located three hours south of Gamla Uppsala (roughly one day’s ride by horseback), in Ostergotland. The site and its artifacts date from the Late Bronze Age and early Pre-Roman Iron Age to Early Medieval Times (circa 700 CE to 1100 CE). Finds at the site included cooking pits of exceptional size, fire-cracked stones and other waste materials from ceremonial meals, evidence of a ritual platform, and a well apparently used for ritual depositions. The evidence shows that this was clearly a public site, serving large numbers of people at specific times of year, likely for ritual/festival purposes. Feasting happened at this site, and those feasts likely consisted of meals of bread or other meal items composed of barley and wheat, the meat of sheep and cattle which were apparently butchered off-site, and the consumption of large amounts of beverages, more than likely some sort of beer. One of the most distinguishing factors of these remnants of ritual feasts, however, is that the food was seasoned with herbs, specifically with Summer Savoury (Satureja hortensis), an herb adopted from Roman practice. Ritual depositions in the well include bundles of flax, the sacrifice of a young dog, the remains of a large ram, a wooden rake head (associated with harvest and/or planting), a sickle, handstones for grinding grain, and spears of alder and hazel. Other depositions were found along the edge of the nearby stream, including a blue bead, the bone of a dog, and a pot filled with animal remains and vegetables.

Reconstruct: Many of the well depositions may be dated conclusively to have happened in late April/early May, including the remains of the young ram (the lambing season in the area occurs around that time). The basketwork within the well was most likely procured during spring or early summer, likely before the modern month of July. The pairing of specifically agriculture-related objects and bundles of flax (all within the “feminine sphere”; flax is specifically associated with Freyja, one of Whose bynames is Harn or Horn, a word etymologically traced as another word for flax or linen) together with spear-imagery (within the “male sphere”; often linked to Ullr, but also to Freyr, in the sense of “Alf-shot”) suggests ritual observances associated with a male-female pair of deities associated with fertility: Freyja and Freyr. Rather than consisting of animal sacrifices, as encountered at other sites across Sweden, the ritual activities enacted at Hulje in April/May focused largely around water and well depositions and communal feasting with and alongside the Gods.

Revive: May Day or Beltane observances, centering around the “coming together” of a pair of deities associated with fertility, may be found in numerous societies contemporary to the period from which the Hulje site is dated, including the Celts (Beltane) and the Romans (Floralia and Maiouma, Maiuma, or Orgies, a festival honoring Dionysus and Aphrodite). Considering the other strong evidence we find of adoptions and adaptations from the Romans into Swedish society in the Vendel Period and after (such as helmet construction), it would not be a historical “flight of fancy” to assume that the observance of Maiouma might likewise have been adopted and adapted in Sweden, into some now-nameless festival, likewise apparently observed at the beginning of May, and substituting Freyr and Freyja for Dionysus and Aphrodite. Summer Savory, the herb adopted and adapted from the Romans and used to flavor the meals at Hulje, is often associated with sensuality and sex magick, perhaps lending further proof of similarities between the observances at Hulje and the Roman Maiouma. The material culture discovered at Hulje definitely suggests similarities in the methods of observance: feasting, alcohol consumption, theatrical reenactments of myths (possibly suggested by the platform), ecstatic dancing (see previous suggested use of platform), and apparently water depositions (a possible connotation implied by the account of the Maiuma by John the Lydian in De Mensibus, circa 543 CE, which describes men throwing each other into the waters of the sea).

Revel: So how does one take all of this information and apply it in modern practice? First and foremost: eat, drink, and be merry! Make a meal to share with the people you love and the Gods, featuring a variety of “first fruits” of the season: mushrooms, berries, hearty beef dishes, barley. Perhaps flavor that meal with Summer Savory, for a dash of sensuality and sex magick. Drink up: if not beer, wine; if not wine, fresh fruit juices such as cranberry, strawberry, or grape. Take a moment to tell a tale: the myth of Freyja and Brisingamen; the Lay of Hyndla; Freyr, as He pines for Gerdha. Dance: throw on some Freyja/Freyr-appropriate tunes and move as they move you, or as you imagine Freyr and Freyja might move to them. Make offerings: pour a blot of your favorite libation; craft a spear to toss into the sea or a local stream (make sure everything is bio-degradable and won’t harm the local wildlife!) as a blessing for not only your own fertility, but that of the Land and the Landvaettir; plant something as an offering to Freyr and Freyja; offer your ecstatic dance or even your tale-telling to the Gods.

Above all, at this and every time of year, let us use such definitive evidence of communal gatherings in Iron Age Scandinavia as a reminder to respect each other. My practice may be distinctly different from your practice and vice versa, but hopefully we’re both working, in our own unique ways, to try and make this world a better place. So spread respect, and with it love, and with that, hope. And whether you choose to observe Vanirblot or Beltane or whatever else or even nothing at all, may we together raise voices, hearts, and minds for a fertile spring and summer, wherein peace grows as plentifully as wildflowers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cline, Eric. H. Three Stones Make A Wall: The Story of Archaeology. Princeton University Press, 2017.

Petersson, Maria. “Hulje: Calendrical Rites
Along a Small Stream”. Electronic Journal of Folklore volume 55, pp. 11-48, 2013.

Renfrew, Colin & Bahn, Paul. Archaeology: Theories, Methods, & Practice, Third Edition. Thames and Hudson, 2000.