Burials Through Time And Funeral Directors From The Past - The Vikings

Burials Through Time And Funeral Directors From The Past - The Vikings

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The Vikings had a fearsome reputation as violent raiders and some would say that their funeral rites were no less horrifying than their reputation.
In Viking culture the 'level' of violence appeared to depend on the deceased's social standing.

Chieftains for example, were often 'buried' on burning ships and one of the leader's thrall girls - a slave in Scandanavian culture - would voluntarily accompany her master in death. Prior to cremation, she would have sexual intercourse with many men, a ritual believed to give her spiritual insight into the next life and report back whether her master was at peace. This was achieved by lifting her into the air so that she could 'view' the afterlife through a doorframe.

That done, the girl would have a rope put around her neck in preparation for sacrifice to her master and, as two men pulled the rope, an old woman, known as the 'Angel of Death', would stab the girl between her ribs with a knife. Men would beat on their shields so that the girl's screams could not be heard.

She would then be placed on a ship next to her master before relatives of the dead chieftain set it aflame. It is said that the fire facilitated the voyage to the realm of the dead.

Not all burials in ships took place out at sea. Sometimes a boat itself would be buried along with the deceased, such as the excavations in the Isle of Man, or the shape of a boat would be picked out in large stones.

Death was greatly feared in Viking culture, with worries that if the deceased was not buried and provided for properly, he might not find peace in the afterlife and would re-visit the bereaved as a revenant, someone returning from the dead. The possibility of such a sight was deemed frightful and ominous and was usually interpreted to mean that additional family members were about to die. Drastic precautions were adopted to stop the deceased from finding its way back to the living by driving either a stake through the corpse or by cutting off its head.

Several extremely rare Viking burials have recently been discovered on farmland in Cumbria. Although the acidic soil left little in the way of human bones beyond a small fragment of skull, archaeologists were able to analyse swords, spears and jewellery all indicating that four men and two women had been buried there.

It is usually the discovery of these individual objects that leads archaeologists to specific burial sites. For example, an excavation at Peel Castle, again on the Isle of man, unearthed a cooking spit, sewing equipment and knives, all belonging to "The Pagan Lady" who had been buried with a wealth of jet, glass and amber. Although she had received a pagan burial, her grave was within a Christian cemetery, suggesting a hopeful glimmer of some form of cultural integration.

About the Author:
With origins dating back to 1853, E.F. Box are one of the oldest funeral directors within the UK. They offer a range of funeral services across a variety of faiths, beliefs and ways of celebrating life.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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