How Did The Vikings Honor Their Dead?

How did they honor their dead? Nailing down the exact rituals of Viking funerals is difficult, as they kept few written accounts of their lives and deaths, but thanks to a few remaining accounts, and archaeological remains that have been found throughout much of Europe, it’s possible to resurrect some of their funeral traditions.

View of Viking burial site Anundshog, in Vasteras, Sweden. (Credit: Rose-Marie Murray/Alamy Stock Photo)

Most Vikings were sent to the afterlife in one of two ways—cremation or burial.

Cremation (often upon a funeral pyre) was particularly common among the earliest Vikings, who were fiercely pagan and believed the fire’s smoke would help carry the deceased to their afterlife. Once cremated, the remains also might be buried, usually in an urn.

For both cremated remains and bodies, burial locations ranged widely, from shallowly-dug graves (often used for women and children) to burial mounds that could hold multiple bodies and groupings of mounds or “grave fields” that served much the same role as cemeteries.

Largest burial site in Scandinavia has over 600 graves dating back to the Germanic Iron Age and the Viking period. Each circle of stones designates a burial site for man who had merit in the community. North of Alborg, Denmark. (Credit: Ted Spiegel/Getty Images)

In Norse mythology, boats symbolized safe passage into the afterlife on the same vessel that aided their travels in life, so they played a key role in funeral rites. Some grave mounds were built to resemble ships, with stones used to outline the vessel’s shape. For other high-ranked Norsemen, the honors went a step further, and they were buried with their actual boats.

But these types of elaborate boat funerals weren’t reserved for just men. One of the most extravagant boat burials honored two women, who likely died around 834 A.D. Known as the “Oseberg ship,” it’s one of the most well persevered Viking artifacts. While the Vikings were known for the craftsmanship that went into their vessels in general, the size and detail of the Oseberg was exceptional. Seventy feet long and nearly 17 feet wide, the ship had 15 oars on each side, a pine mast more than 30 feet high, and was spacious enough to fit 30 people.

The excavation of the Oseberg ship, a Viking vessel used as the burial chamber of an important woman in 834 AD. It was discovered on a farm in Vestfold, Norway in 1904. (Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

But contrary to popular belief, funeral boats were rarely sent out to sea, likely because the cost of building these legendary longboats was prohibitive. So it’s unlikely that there were many ships that were set sail and then set ablaze by fiery arrows shot from the shores.

Regardless of how the body was disposed of, a few rituals remained almost constant. The body was draped in new clothes prepared specifically for the funeral, and a ceremony was held featuring songs, chants, food and alcohol. Tributes and gifts, known as “grave goods” and usually of equal value to the deceased’s status, were buried or burned along with the recipient. ...

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Further reading and sources

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