Abstract
AbstractThis chapter explores Viking belief systems and the transition from paganism to Christianity by examining Scandinavian beliefs about death and the afterlife. The Viking Age was a dynamic period spanning pre-Christian paganism, the transition to Christianity, and the beginning of the institutionalization of the new faith in Scandinavia. The chapter considers Viking death beliefs and practices through the lens of anthropological work conducted on rites of passage. The written accounts and archaeology of Viking burials show how the rites of passage accompany individuals as they pass from this life to the next. Written sources, archaeological evidence, and new scientific techniques are combined to reveal the cultural logic that structured the diversity of pagan mortuary practices. This cultural logic shifted during the process of Christianization. Immediately after the arrival of Christianity, Viking Age graves reflect a creative intermixing of the faiths. After this brief period of syncretism and before the twilight of the Viking Age, Christianity brought a simplification and standardization to the burial traditions as Scandinavians were increasingly tied into the cultural network of medieval Christian Europe.
Publisher
Oxford University PressNew York
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