Winter Nights or

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

''vetrnætr'' was a specific time of year in medieval

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

. According to Zoega's ''Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic'', ''vetr-nætr'' referred to "the three days which begin the winter season". The term is attested in the narrative of some of the ''

Fornaldarsögur A legendary saga or ''fornaldarsaga'' (literally, "story/history of the ancient era") is a Norse saga that, unlike the Icelanders' sagas, takes place before the settlement of Iceland.The article ''Fornaldarsagor'' in ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (1991) ...

'', mostly to express passage of time ("as autumn turned into winter"). ---- The exact term "winter nights" is not mentioned in the

Ynglinga saga ''Ynglinga saga'' ( ) is a Kings' saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It is the first section of his ''Heimskringla''. It was first translated into English and published in 184 ...

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

where (in chapter 8) the three great

sacrifices Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exi ...

of the year are prescribed: Specific sacrifices held at the beginning of winter during the Old Norse period were

álfablót The Álfablót or the Elven sacrifice is a Norse paganism, pagan Scandinavian blót, sacrifice to the elf, elves towards the end of autumn, when the crops had been harvested and the animals were most fat. Unlike the great blóts at Gamla Uppsala, U ...

and

dísablót The ''Dísablót'' was the '' blót'' (sacrificial holiday) which was held in honour of the female spirits or deities called '' dísir'' (and the ValkyriesThe article ''Diser'' in '' Nationalencyklopedin'' (1991).), from pre-historic times unt ...

. Of these, dísablót came to be a public sacrifice, according to the Ynglinga saga performed by the king of Sweden. By contrast,

was a sacrifice held at each homestead separately for the local spirits, under the explicit exclusion of any strangers.

References

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Early Germanic calendar Early Germanic festivals Germanic paganism Observances