The or was the

boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

sacrificed as part of the celebration of

Yule Yule, actually Yuletide ("Yule time") is a festival observed by the historical Germanic peoples, later undergoing Christianised reformulation resulting in the now better-known Christmastide. The earliest references to Yule are by way of indi ...

Germanic paganism Germanic paganism or Germanic religion refers to the traditional, culturally significant religion of the Germanic peoples. With a chronological range of at least one thousand years in an area covering Scandinavia, the British Isles, modern Germ ...

, on whose bristles solemn vows were made in some forms of a tradition known as .

Attestations

Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks

refers to the tradition of swearing oaths on Yule Eve by laying hands on the bristles of the boar, who was then sacrificed in the :

Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar

One of the prose segments in "" adds that the oaths were sworn while drinking the toast:

Ynglinga saga

In the is used for

divination Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout history ...

()."",

Rudolf Simek Rudolf Simek (born 21 February 1954) is an Austrian philologist and religious studies scholar who is Professor and Chair of Ancient German and Nordic Studies at the University of Bonn. Simek specializes in Germanic studies, and is the author o ...

, ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology'', tr. Angela Hall, Cambridge: Brewer, 1993, repr. 2000, , p. 298. Jan de Vries, ''

Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte ''Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte'' (''Ancient Germanic Religious History''), by Jan de Vries, was a survey of religious history first published in 1935-37 as ''Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte'', Grundriss der germanischen Philologie, 12, 2 ...

'', Volume 1, Grundriß der germanischen Philologie begründet von Hermann Paul 12/I, 2nd ed. Berlin:

De Gruyter Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. History The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Be ...

, 1956, repr. as 3rd ed. 1970, , p. 367 .

Scholarly reception

The association with the Yule and with the ceremonial gives the vows great solemnity, so that they have the force of

oath Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to g ...

s. This becomes a recurring topos in later sagas, although we have only these two saga mentions attesting to the custom of making vows on the sacrificial animal. The choice of a boar indicates a connection with

Freyr Freyr (Old Norse: 'Lord'), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, and weather. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was especially associated with Sweden an ...

, whose mount is the gold-bristled boar , and the continuing Swedish tradition of eating pig-shaped cakes at Christmas recalls the early custom.

Jacob Grimm Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He is known as the discoverer of Grimm's law of linguistics, the co-author of t ...

, ''

Teutonic Mythology Germanic paganism or Germanic religion refers to the traditional, culturally significant religion of the Germanic peoples. With a chronological range of at least one thousand years in an area covering Scandinavia, the British Isles, modern Germ ...

'', tr. James Steven Stallybrass, Volume 1, London: Bell, 1882
p. 51
According to Olaus Verelius's notes in his 1672 edition of , part of this would then be saved for mixing with the seed-corn and giving to the plough-horses and ploughmen at spring planting. As

pointed out, the serving of a boar's head at banquets and particularly at

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

, may also be a reminiscence of the Yule boar-.Rosén, p. 214.

Gabriel Turville-Petre Edward Oswald Gabriel Turville-Petre (25 March 1908 – 17 February 1978) was an English philologist who specialized in Old Norse studies. Born at Bosworth Hall, Leicestershire to a prominent Roman Catholic family, Turville-Petre was edu ...

suggested that names for Freyr and his sister which equate them with a boar and a sow respectively implied that consumption of the sacrificed boar was believed to be consumption of the god's flesh and absorption of his power. It was formerly usual to spell the word and to interpret it as "atonement-boar" (the rare element can also mean "sacrifice")."", ''An Icelandic–English Dictionary'', initiated by Richard Cleasby, subsequently revised, enlarged, and completed by , 2nd ed. with supplement by William A. Craigie, Oxford: Oxford/Clarendon, 1957, repr. 1975, , p. 580
online at Germanic Lexicon Project
However, following

Eduard Sievers Eduard Sievers (; 25 November 1850, Lippoldsberg – 30 March 1932, Leipzig) was a philologist of the classical and Germanic languages. Sievers was one of the '' Junggrammatiker'' of the so-called "Leipzig School". He was one of the most influe ...

, it is usually now spelled with a short and taken as meaning "herd boar, leading boar", as Lombardic is defined in the as the boar "which fights and beats all other boars in the herd".

References

Sources

* . "". '' PBB'' 16 (1892) 540–44. * . "". Volume 16, 1971. p. 433 {{DEFAULTSORT:Sonargoltr Freyr Germanic animal sacrifice Religious oaths Yule Wild boars