Processions and Ritual Movement in Viking Age Scandinavia

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Chapter 1

Chapter Title: Processions and Ritual Movement in Viking Age Scandinavia. Chapter Authors: Luke John Murphy and Simon Nygaard.

Book Title: The Norse Sorceress. Book Subtitle: Mind and Materiality in the Viking World. Book Editors: Leszek Gardela, Sophie Bønding, and Peter Pentz. Published by Oxbow Books.

Processions and Ritual Movement in Viking Age Scandinavia.

Introduction

In this chapter we survey and analyse evidence for processions and their possible functions in Viking Age Scandinavia. We propose two forms of processional movement, and examine forms of ritual transport and their likely venues. Although older studies of 'procession' as part of human ritual activity defined it as purely linear - that is, a ritual movement from Point A to Point B (and occasionally back again) - we also incorporate evidence for circulatory movements around a particular place, which seems to have played a significant role in pre-Christian Nordic culture. Indeed, what we term circulatory processions are arguably more numerous in our written source material than their linear counterparts, although the ever-growing archaeological record may nuance this picture in years to come. Linear processions are mostly found in funerary contexts, and consist of ritual movement from one place to another, potentially also including a non-ritual return to the starting point via the same route. Circulatory processions, on the other hand, seem to have typically begun and ended at a particularly sacred place (such as a sacral building, grove, or lake), and to have been conducted by one or more representations of a deity and their ritual specialist(s), who progressed around local or regional landscapes. In at least some cases there is evidence to suggest that ritual activities were conducted at stops along the way, and it is possible that linear processions formed subsidiary parts of a larger circulatory procession at the latter's stopping points.

In order to analyse which features these processions may have had, we employ Bernhard Lang's typology of processions. Lang describes four main types of processions:

Functional processions are probably the most common in human society generally, and consist of the ritualisation of a movement that would happen regardless, such as the transportation of a coffin from the church to the grave.

Hierophoric processions are those where an icon or other symbol of the sacred is transported from one place to another, as in archaic Near Eastern processions.

Mimetic processions are re-enactments of sacred, mythical, or historical events, such as the performance of mythic narratives by human actors in so-called 'mythological drama', for instance, medieval European passion plays.

Demonstrative processions are displays of the ritual's participants themselves, as when groups with a particular identity (be that political, religious, ethnic, or some combination thereof) express their association through public displays of affiliation, such as the Orange Order marches in Northern Ireland.

These types can also be combined, producing hybrid forms.

Processions in pre-Christian Nordic religions have received very little scholarly attention, particularly when compared to other ritual categories like 'sacrifice' or 'initiation'. Some of this neglect is due to the way processions have often only been examined as parts of wider ritual performances, compounded by difficulties in identifying processions in our source material. Studies like ours must therefore rely on interpretation, looking for evidence of processions implicit in the terse wording of medieval texts and the ambiguous remains of material corpora. Anders Hultgård's study of 'cultic circumnavigations' offered the first systematic overview of some textual accounts describing religious processions. However, this work contains no discussion of funerary processions, pays very little attention to archaeological material (and none to iconographic evidence), and examines only travel via vehicle, omitting any

Circulatory Processions

Prosperity Cults

Ritual Drama

Conclusions on Circulatory Processions

Linear Processions

Funerary Processions

Linear Processions in Non-Funerary Contexts

Conclusions on Linear Processions

Other Evidence for Processions in Viking Age Scandinavia

Forms of Ritual Transport

Linear Monuments and Ritual Roads

Conclusion

Overview

The chapter investigates the significance of processions in pre-Christian Nordic culture, proposing two forms of ritual movement: linear and circulatory. By examining textual sources and archaeological evidence, the authors aim to enhance the understanding of ritual transport and its cultural implications.

Key Points

1Processions in Viking Age Scandinavia can be categorized into linear and circulatory forms
2Linear processions often occurred in funerary contexts, while circulatory ones began and ended at sacred places
3The chapter employs Bernhard Lang's typology to classify different types of processional movements
4Evidence from historical texts and archaeological findings is used to support the analysis of these rituals

Details

Authors: Luke John Murphy, Simon Nygaard
Category: Humanities

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