Infopanel 14

The culture of burial

The burial customs of the Vikings varied greatly from region to region. Initially, cremation of the dead was the predominant practice, but later burial became more common. More distinguished deceased persons were often “enveloped” in their ships, i.e., the grave was covered with a large artificial mound, which in the case of kings could reach monumental proportions with a diameter of 70 m and a height of 10 m. The deceased was buried in it with a variety of grave goods, which could include horses, dogs, and slaves.

The afterlife

Only warriors who fell in battle came to Valhalla to join Odin – but what happened to everyone else? Different ideas about the whereabouts of the dead competed with each other: Were they in a pale underworld called Hel? Drowned in the realm of the sea goddess Ran? Or did they dwell as undead in burial mounds? There was no uniform idea about what exactly happened after death. No wonder, then, that Christianity scored points with its clear ideas of paradise for good people and hell for the wicked. Especially for women, who had no chance of reaching Valhalla, the idea of a just reckoning for earthly behavior after death was an attractive alternative.

Christianization

In general, the Christianization of the Vikings seems to have been relatively gentle, apart from isolated attempts at so-called “sword missions” – i.e., violent proselytizing – such as those carried out under the Norwegian king Olaf Tryggvason (995-1000). However, after Olaf's death, there was initially a strong pagan counter-movement. Nowhere else was it as gentle as in Iceland, where in 1000 the Althing decided to convert to Christianity with a series of minor exceptions, such as allowing the consumption of horse meat to continue.