Ancestors, their worship and the elite in Viking Age and early medieval Scandinavia
Ancestor worship is often assumed by contemporary European audiences to be an outdated, distant and primitive tradition with little relevance to our societies, past and present. This study questions that assumption and seeks to determine whether ancestor ideology was an integral part of religion in Viking age and early medieval Scandinavia. The concept is examined from a broad socio-anthropological perspective, which is then used to generate an overarching 'lens' for a set of case studies which analyse the cults of specific individuals in the Old Norse literary tradition. The thesis argues that the views of social anthropologists have been ignored in Old Norse scholarship for too long and that they have great potential to contribute to our understanding of the religious diversity present in typical folk-religious societies worldwide, including those of pre-Christian Scandinavia. Of particular importance in this context is the concept of 'god', which in most traditional cultures is intimately related to the idea of family ancestors. The situation of gods in Old Norse religion has been almost exclusively addressed in isolation from these socio-anthropological perspectives. The public gravemound cults of deceased
Laidoner, Triin
Ancestor worship ; Elite (Social sciences) ; Civilization, Viking ; Scandinavia
Ancestors, their worship and the elite in Viking Age and early medieval Scandinavia. Ancestor worship is often assumed by contemporary European audiences to be an outdated, distant and primitive tradition with little relevance to our societies, past and present. This study questions that assumption and seeks to determine whether ancestor ideology was an integral part of religion in Viking age and early medieval Scandinavia. The concept is examined from a broad socio-anthropological perspective, which is then used to generate an overarching 'lens' for a set of case studies which analyse the cults of specific individuals in the Old Norse literary tradition. The thesis argues that the views of social anthropologists have been ignored in Old Norse scholarship for too long and that they have great potential to contribute to our understanding of the religious diversity present in typical folk-religious societies worldwide, including those of pre-Christian Scandinavia. Of particular importance in this context is the concept of 'god', which in most traditional cultures is intimately related to the idea of family ancestors. The situation of gods in Old Norse religion has been almost exclusively addressed in isolation from these socio-anthropological perspectives. The public gravemound cults of deceased
worship elite viking_age early_medieval scandinavia ancestor worship often_assume contemporary european audience outdated distant primitive tradition little relevance society past_present study question_assumption seek_determine whether ancestor ideology integral_part religion viking_age early_medieval scandinavia concept examine broad socio anthropological perspective use generate overarch lens set case_study analyse cult specific_individual old norse literary_tradition argues view social anthropologist ignore old norse scholarship long great_potential contribute religious diversity present typical folk religious society worldwide include pre christian scandinavia particular_importance context concept god traditional culture intimately_related idea family ancestor situation god old norse religion almost_exclusively addressed isolation socio anthropological perspective public cult decease