Worshiping in ancient Scandinavia - Freyfaxi

Every religion is always changing, and no matter how hard we try to follow the footsteps of our ancestors, we will never fully understand the essence of their spiritual beliefs. All religions have their branches also, and that happens on the spirituality of the Germanic and Scandinavian peoples of old as well. Some prefer to worship only the Aesir or the Vanir, others worship the underworld deities and the deities connected with a more primal scenary, and others just choose one deity and prefer to focus on that one archetype. Suffice to say that most neo pagans prefer to worship just Odin, or Thor, or even both; these two deities are very famous amongst neo pagans and everything else in this spiritual tradition seems of no importance. However, to our ancestors it was obviously different. In fact, as I've mentioned before,  Odin was not that famous back then, and people prefered to worship fertility deities rather than Warrior deities. The majority of the populace were farmers, herders and fishers. Only a few would worship warrior deities and death deities. Odin was a deity more related to death and war than magic and wisdom (as we commonly think nowadays). Odin's cult was very restricted and only for a certain elite of the society.

With that being said, I'll move on to the real subject of this post. One of the most worshiped deities of that time was the god Frey, mostly worshipped at Upsala (Sweden). Fricco or Freyr, a name which appears to be identical with the Teutonic word represented in Old English by frea - meaning - lord or king. It is stated by some historians and archaeologists that an image of Frey, which was worshipped at Thrandheim in Norway, had been sent there from Sweden. There are certain stories that mention this very image of Frey in Sweden which was carried about the country, and to which sacrifices were offered. This was common with certain deities and Tacitus mentions a cult with these similarities in his Germania; an image of a female deity carried to a forest and sacred grove, and sacrifices were made to her (including human sacrifices).

There were many sacrifices to the god Freyr, but mostly were animals. There are accounts of the sacrifice of black oxen offered to Frey by the mythical hero Hading. This sacrifice was often called Frodblod or perhaps Frodblót by theSwedes - Frey's sacrifice. There are frequent occurances of Frey - in Swedish (and Danish) - place-names which indicates the prevalence of the cult in both of these countries. 

The worship of Frey might also have been very popular in Norway, and from there it  passed to Iceland. The cult being passed on by the early settlers. As late as tenth century the people of Thrandheim are represented as refusing to break their image of Frey at the command of King Olaf, because people had long served  thisdeity and the god himself had done good to his people. There are accounts from the folk of Thrandheim that state the deity often talked with them  and told them things to come and also gave them peace and plenty. At the great festivals it was customary to drink to Frey, in order to secure peace and prosperity. A talisman on which the image of Frey was marked in silver is mentioned as having been owned by one of the petty kings of Norway about the late nineth century; this was given by King Harald to Ingimund.

In Iceland itself the traces of a popular cult of Frey are very clear, and more than one prominent person mentioned this cult in the sagas. One of these accounts, from Thorgrim, brother-in-law of Gisli Sursson, the saga says that he intended to hold a festival at the beginning of winter, and greet the winter, and sacrifice to Frey and in honor to the deity. When Thorgrim was murdered, and had been laid in a grave-mound, it was noticed that the snow never lay on the south or west sides of the mound, and the ground never froze there; it was supposed that he was so highly esteemed by Frey himself for the offerings he made to him, that the god did not wish Thorgrim's mound to freeze. Great attachment to this deity also appears in the story of Hrafnkel, who loved no other god more than Frey, and gave to him his possessions ; all his most valuable things. Among the offerings was a horse (Hrafnkel's own horse), which on that account bore the name of Freyfaxi. Another Freyfaxi belonged to Brand in Vatnsdal, and most people believed that he had a religious reverence for the horse. Horses owned by Frey are also mentioned as existing in Thrandheim in the days of Olaf Tryggvason by the end of the tenth century. Freyfaxi became the well known name for the cult of Frey and the celebration to him in August, during Lammas day (1st of August).

If you need more information and would like to talk with me, please feel free to visit my facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/ArithHarger/ where you cna also see my artistic works.

Freyfaxi / Loaffest and Hláfmæst - 1st of August

Freyfaxi / Loaffest and Hláfmæst


Like the Celtic celebration of Lughnasadh, the Northern countries of Europe and their people celebrated a similer festivity called Freyfaxi or Loaffest, and for the Anglo-Saxons this would be called Hláfmæst. These harvests traditionally occurred at the end of July or at the beginning of August, or with the coming of the full moon of August.

This is a time for the First Harvest of the year, when the first seeds are thrown into the fertile soils in February, and in August the golden fields of wheat can be harvest, providing food for the entire family or tribe. The hard work of the year and all the efforts would pay off and the people could live and survive for another year and another winter.

The name Freyfaxi comes from Freyr's horse and it has an interesting backgound story, and like the name suggests, Freyr is the god of Fertility just like his Sister Freyja/Freya, but nt just the fertility when it comes to sexual interactions, but also the fertility of the soils, for Freyr is also the God of Agriculture.

At this time, in this festivity, people tend to make offerings to the God Freyr because of his connections with agricultur, since this is a time for harvesting, but in truth, people can make their offerings to whomever they want, making offerings to all of those who helped in times of need, because it is not just planting the seeds, but also the love we give to the soils, the hard work, so it can give us food, so this is also a time to celebrate with the family, to make offerings to the Landvættir, the spirits of the soils, to make offerings to the gods and to the living who helped us, also to our ancestors who watch over us and may take action in the fields of each family, taking care of them even after death.

The story behind the name:

This celebration is not just turned to the family and to the harvests, but also to the values and virtues of each one, that lead us to a better life. So there is a story behind this celebration, the story of Hrafnkel.

This story is about a man which was a clan-chief called Hrafnkell Freysgodi, he had a farm and lots of sheep, he also had a beautiful blue stallion that lived and roamed in the mountains near Hrafnkel's farm with a herd of mares. Like the last name of Hrafnkell suggests, "Freysgodi", he was a man of Freyr and he had a lot of faith in the god of agricultur and fertility, so he gave his stallion to the god, making and oath, that if any other man than Hrafnkell himself rode this horse, he would kill him, the horse could only be mounted by Hrafnkell and by Freyr. Oaths were not to be taken lightly at these times, if a man made an oath he would have to fulfill it. The horse was called Freyfaxi, Freyr after the name of his new owner, the god Freyr, and faxi meaning "eye-catching mane".

Hrafnkell hired the oldest son of his neighbor, his name was Einar, and his work would be to take Hrafnkell's sheep to pasture everyday, and deliver them every evening to their place in a mountain-cabin, he would also have to cut the fire wood that was needed in the farm. He was also tasked to look after Freyfaxi and the 12 mares, of course Hrafnkell told Einar about his oath, so Einar could use any of the other horses for whatever he needed, whenever he needed, expect mount Freyfaxi, and Einar thought that this  was a very fair deal.

Einar worked hard and well for the entire summer, but one day, some sheep were missing, and he couldn't find them anywhere, and sheep in those times were of great value, he searched for an entire week, so in despair, he went to the mares, hoping to ride one to go into more distant sites, but when he arrived, all the mares ran away, only Freyfaxi stood there, motionless as a stone, Einar thought, that his only way to find the sheep was getting into Freyfaxi's back and ride, Hrafnkell would never know about this, and so he did and he actually found the sheep, turning all of them to their rightful place, doing his job as always.

Freyfaxi galloped all the way down the mountain, till he was near Hrafnkell's farm, the horse was all wet from sweat, so it was leaking from every hair, he was very muddy and panting, from the privious ridding with Einar, so Hrafnkell knew that someone had mounted Freyfaxi and it wasn't Freyr, so Hrafnkell went in searching for Einar with and axe, and after a long conversation, he asked Einar if he had mounted Freyfaxi, Einar said he couldn't deny that, so he told him the truth, and why he had to do so. Hrafnkell said to Einar that he had done well in telling the truth, and he would have forgive Einar but he was bound by that dire oath, and when oaths are made, they have to be fulfilled, so Hrafnkell gave a fatal blow to Einar, killing the young man. Later Hrafnkell made a  respectable gravesite for Einar.
 Einar's father was of course not happy about this, and this is just the beginning of a long and tragic saga, Hrafnkell in this story is always bound to his oaths, and ends up with a tragic life, making a lot of enemies, he would have to fight all his life, because of his deeds, he couldn't break his promise to the god, even if this gave him so much pain and suffering.

This is a story that shows us the importance of oaths, and we mustn't take them lightly, we can't make oaths when our mind isn't clear, we only make oaths when we know we will fulfil them, or otherwise, if we break them, it will be hard for others to trust us again and we will lose our honor. This shows that in these times, the word of a person was worth a thousand contracts, but it seems today, people lack from a lot of values and virtues, and most lost their way, we can't trust anyone unfortunately. So this festivity is also to remember that your actions will always have consequences upon others and we must maintain our honor.

If you need more information or if you want to check my works, take a look at my Facebook page and make a like at --> www.facebook.com/ArithHarger