Sacrifice and Dance
The Anglo-Saxons worshipped their gods and goddesses in a variety of ways, the ways in which they worshipped and celebrated certain festivals probably depended on many things, like who or what is being celebrated, the season in which the festivities are taking place and for what particular reason. This can be seen with the winter and summer solstices, whereas the summer solstice was celebrated in the open air with fires on hills, the winter solstice was sometimes confined to indoors because of the harsher weather, an example being the Yule-log. We've been left a lot of evidence, as to how our ancestors worshipped their gods, in both literature and archaeology. One of the most popular ways the gods were honoured seems to have been with the use of animal sacrifice, primarily that of bull and ox sacrifice. A letter from Pope Gregory to Bishop Mellitus mentions the Heathen Anglo-Saxon custom of ox sacrifice, part of the letter reads:
'And since the sacrifice of many oxen to devils
is their custom, some other rite ought to be
solemnised in it's place, such as a day of
dedication or festivals for the holy martyrs whose relics are there enshrined....They must no longer sacrifice animals to the devil.'
The letter was written pretty much at the start of the Anglo-Saxon conversion to Christianity, so it's plain to see that the Christian missionaries lost no time in condemning and destroying the ancient Heathen custom of animal sacrifice.
Other evidence which shows the custom of animal sacrifice amongst the Anglo-Saxons, and evidence that shows it must have been very widespread, is contained in the Anglo-Saxon Heathen calendar. The eleventh month, November, was known then as Blotmonath, which means literally month of sacrifice. And because the custom gave it's name to the very month it was performed in shows us the importance of it. About the month Bede tells us:
'Because when our ancestors were Heathen, in this month they always sacrificed, that is, they assigned and dedicated to their idols the cattle that they purposed to offer up.'
Most tend to agree that the reason for this 'month of sacrifice' is that the folk of the day were unable to 'over winter' their entire cattle livestock's. So rather than allow their cattle to die without a single god or goddess being honoured, they took part in a festival of cattle sacrifice, where all the cattle to be sacrificed would have been hallowed and dedicated to the gods. This way the people would be blessed with plenty of winter food, aswell as having the blessings of the gods to watch over them throughout the coming winter season. Alon with these references to sacrifice, there are many more instances where festivals were held to honour a certain god or goddess, that more than likely, also included the use of animal sacrifice.There is also evidence that the use of human sacrifice was at one time performed, and people have suggested that some of the bodies excavated at the Sutton Hoo ship burial may have been the victims of human sacrifice. But we do know that at one time the Germanic people did practice human sacrifice, as we have the testimony of the Roman historian Tacitus who describes the custom of drowning people at the end of the Nerthus procession. There was also the practice of sacrifice before and after battle that was recorded amongst Germanic tribes on the continent, so it seems likely that at one time a form of human sacrifice may have taken place amongst the Anglo-Saxons.Another custom that was probably included in rituals was dance. But there is very little evidence to show us how the Germanic peoples danced, religiously or socially. There are mentions of Germanic youths who took part in a kind of dance that involved the use of weapons, but whether this was religious or not isn't known. Evidence to support the use of dance in religious rites amongst the Anglo-Saxons is from the discovery of archaeological artefacts that seem to show individuals performing such 'dances'. Firstly is the Finglesham belt buckle, which clearly shows a naked man armed with two spears and wearing a horned helmet. Some have even said that this could be a representation of Woden. The other artefact is from the plates of the Sutton Hoo ship burial helmet, which shows the image of two elaborately dressed men partaking in a kind of religious dance whilst holding swords and spears. The design also seems to show the figures actualy dancing around spears on the ground, and as the figures are elaborately dressed, and also wear similar horned helmets to the figure on the Finglesham buckle, it could indicate that these are high priests rather than just common worshippers.
Aswell as the above mentioned forms of celebration and worship, another way in which worship or veneration may have taken place is by curiously simply laying down. For in the Land Fertiliy Charm we read the following:
"Then turn three times sunwise and stretch yourself along the ground full length and say the litany there..."
And as Brian Branston points out, "Here is obvious sun worship, no matter how obscured by Christian influence". Why at times people worshipped in such a way is not known, but what it does show is the diverse and interesting ways in which our ancestors did worship, whether a god or goddess, or simply the sun to aid farmers in blessing them with a fruitful harvest.
