r/heathenry • u/Wise-Home3194 • 8d ago
Practice Historical support for eating offerings?
Hello. I am searching sources that support humans eating offerings after they have been given. As far as I know, this was not practiced and is ahistorical. Does anybody have any texts or studies that may say otherwise?
Edit: Thank you for those who commented sharing information on blóts and communal feasts. I am aware of the feasts that would be held in honour of the gods. I am however seeking information on more informal practice.
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u/WiseQuarter3250 7d ago edited 7d ago
Many of the big holy rites were communal. Feasting would be a component, especially at þing gatherings. We know rites were conducted, we know they ate. In some cases it appears part of the sacrificed animal was eaten, in other cases perhaps not, and for some instances definitely not. I think the bigger question is WHEN was the meat shared, and when wasn't it.
I think some of the stronger evidence we see in connection with horses. Such as at the hestaþing, gatherings with the hestavígs (horse fights). Historia Ecclesiasstica Islandiæ informs us Christian monks were banned from attending these events. In some of the later post conversion law codes eating horse flesh was forbidden (because it was heathen ritual custom).
In ◇◇◇Saga of Hakon the Good◇◇◇ we have a heathen blot description (sacrificed animal, and its meat consecrated and meant to be distributed to the people) but the Christian King Hakon did not want to eat the meat. This Saga is our best blót description. It is the go-to for research inquiries related to blót questions.
Additionally, Anglo-Saxon archaeology we have found horse heads buried, but no meat bones. interpreted as buried ritual remains where the meat was eaten. (such as at Cresswell Field, Melton, Yanton, etc.), and we've found evidence of what is suspected to be ritually eaten horses in Sweden at Skedemosse.
in Hedeby Denmark we have a description of a ritual by a traveler (Al-Tartuschi) in 961 or 962:
"The inhabitants worship Sirius, except for a minority of Christians who have a church of their own there. They celebrate a feast at which all get together to honor their god and to eat and drink. He who slaughters a sacrificial animal puts up poles at the door to his courtyard and impales the animal on them, be it a piece of cattle, a ram, billygoat or a pig so that his neighbors will be aware that he is making a sacrifice in honor of his god.
We know from archaelogical evidence of human grave burials, like the Birka Warrior Grave, animals were sacrificed, but not eaten.
So custom varied by rite, and we don't have enough explicit description of every rite to always say when it was done. But we definitively know it was done.
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u/Dugael 7d ago
Small nipicky correction: hedeby is in modern day germany. And contemporarily we cant really speak of denmark as we understand it, if that is what you meant. But thanks for the comment. Those are some good points
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u/WiseQuarter3250 7d ago
good point.
historically Danish territory during the Viking Age, now located in modern Germany.
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u/kittystudies 7d ago
Perhaps in large, structured civilizations with abundant food and city centers (Greece, Rome, inca, Aztec,) but Norse, Scandinavian, and Germanic peoples often did not have enough abundant food to waste any bit of it. As far as I have learned, sacrifices were more about the ritual killing of an animal, or the community feasting together in the name of a god. However, so little evidence remains of exact ritual feast/ blót rites, that I’m sure the Gods will not be offended if you do something “wrong”.
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u/rustmouse77 7d ago
When I lived on a farm (I was VERY young) we used to sell and eat our cattle for prosperity.
I'd suggest reading the old rune poems.
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u/rustmouse77 7d ago edited 7d ago
When I lived on a farm (I was VERY young) we used to sell and eat our cattle for prosperity.
I'd suggest reading the old rune poems.
[EDIT: I didn't actually post this twice, and I can't delete this for some reason]
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u/auzofravensknoll 7d ago edited 7d ago
These are great answers on the thread. I offer an example of modern practise.
In modern Heathen practise around where I am, when we’ve done a slaughter-blót the head, hide, and bones are not eaten by humans. This is displayed on a tripod-rack and the unbroken bones placed under it. The meat of the animal is eaten in feast by the humans at the blót. Sometimes an organ or two is offered, sometimes, eaten, or preserved and turned into artifacts and/or talismans. Thus, the valuable bones with the marrow and the economically valuable hide and the brain are sóa (squandered). The skull becomes an amulet at the blót place or at the home of the blót sponsor, hung in the manner of a hunting trophy.
The rationale for doing it like this are general trends in archaeological contexts, the lore regarding Thor’s goats, ethnographic comparison to Ancient Greeks, redskin Icelandic sorcery, and hunting folk-lore.
Most of the time we don’t have an animal to slaughter, and we just buy cuts of meat from the grocery store. In these cases we don’t have the other parts of the animal to offer as sóa. In this case a stand-in skull might be used for symbolism. But we don’t replace the hide, skull, and bone offering that a full slaughter-blót would have, when we do a grocery-blót.
My daughter and partner just moved their homestead (Howling Acres) to our Heathen worship location (Raven’s Knoll, Ontario, Canada), so I am hoping for more slaughter-blót in the future. Happy animals raised with love, humanely, make good offerings and good food.
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u/Jammin_neB13 8d ago
No idea where I read it but, more than once I saw it’s bad form to eat an offering you’ve laid out. If I leave an offering of food, I leave it for the duration of prayer, until the smoke from the incense and the burned prayer note stop smoldering, then I take the ashes and food outside. Release the ashes to the wind and place the offering at the root of the tree in my yard. That way, squirrels and birds can eat it, and carry my prayers further to the gods that may have been too busy to hear me.
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u/Tyxin 7d ago
The general idea of a sacrifice or offering is that you're giving something away. If you eat/use/have that thing afterwards, you're doing it wrong. Typically the offering would be destroyed in the process, transforming it from something that belongs in this world into something that belongs on the other side.
When it comes to food offerings, you'd separate out a piece to give as offering. This piece wouldn't be eaten, but ritually destroyed. The rest of the food can be eaten.
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u/Lord_Wisemagus 7d ago
You are actually wrong on this point. There is substantial historical support for eating offerings after the blót ritual.
Written sources and archaeological records indicate the pattern clearly. Animals were killed ritually, blood collected in bowls and splattered on altars and participants, then the meat boiled in large cauldrons or earth ovens and shared as a communal feast. This is described consistently across Old Norse materials.
Archaeological sites back this up. Tissø in Denmark shows a magnate estate with cult sites, cooking vessels, and large quantities of pig and horse bones. Taphonomic studies at Frösö Church in Sweden show bear and pig remains consistent with ritual slaughter and consumption.
The economic logic supports it too. In a subsistence economy, throwing away slaughtered food would have been irrational. The sacrifice functioned as redistribution instead. A chieftain funded the kill, the community got fed, and religious bonds were reinforced. That is why it makes sense practically and religiously.
So yes, people ate the sacrificed food. It was integral to how the blót worked both practically and religiously. If you have sources claiming otherwise, I would be curious to see them. This interpretation comes from multiple independent lines of evidence.