Remember the Vikings!

Most of us think of the Vikings as a pretty scary lot, and the recent BBC TV series 'The Last Kingdom' has done little to disillusion us on that front. One thing brought out by the series is the difference between Alfred, a Christian, and the Vikings, who are called pagans by the Saxon believers. The Vikings didn't become Christians until the mid-11th century, and many of their beliefs and customs remain with us today. For instance Wednesday is from Woden's day, Thursday is from Thor's day. and so on. Once they had converted to Christianity some relics of their old religion remained:

'The pagan "Yuletide" became Christmas, but Scandinavians still use the word "Jul" for Christmas. The fertility rites used in spring to ensure good harvests were substituted by blessings from the Christian priests, but for hundreds of years many farmers also added some of the old rites just to be sure. Each Viking farm had its own "farm-god" or "protector", in modern Danish and Norwegian called a "Nisse" and in Swedish a "Tomte". The Christian St. Nicholas or Santa and the Nisse/Tomte have today become one, and each Christmas Eve the children in Scandinavia are waiting for Father Christmas, or as they call him, the Nisse or Tomte, to arrive with gifts.' www.viking.no

So, does that mean the Scandinavians are guilty of syncretism, mixing their old religion with the new? I would say not, but we should learn a lesson from this and not be so hard on people in Africa and other parts of the world who keep some of their traditions. Mixing in tradition is fine, as long as it is redeemed. Christmas is a good example of that. We, and the Vikings, took a pagan festival and redeemed or Christianised it. I, for one, am very much in favour.

Merry Christmas!

(Here's a link to the BBC series if you want to catch up:

the-last-kingdom-episode-8 (you need to be in the UK))

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