File:Viking Funerals, Pagan Ship Burials - Vendel and Freyr

Following on from my last video about ship burials, I’d like to expand on the symbolic importance of the boat in the pagan rituals of Sweden.

This video looks specifically at Vendel in Uppland. Some people think that since the Uppland was in the kingdom of the Svea where Freyr was the primary ancestral god, that the boat burial rite might be related to him. His cult was prominent at nearby Gamla Uppsala Frey had the magic boat Skíðblaðnir and was son of the sea god Njörðr.

The Ynglingar origin myth begins with the sea borne arrival of a divine descendent of Freyr and his father – both ship owning fertility gods.

The people buried here must have been important clan ancestors. At least 9 out of the 14 graves were reopened in antiquity – it is possible they were transferred to the church when it was built so as to fortify the Christian communal centre with the ancestral association.

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Music: Faunus Amadeus Loki - Winter Solstice Images: by Paul Mortimer used with permission.