Putting the Blood Back into Blót: The Revival of Animal Sacrifice in Modern Nordic Paganism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.v9i2.154Keywords:
Neo-Paganism, Paganism, Asatru, Heathenry, sacrificeAbstract
Animal sacrifice, once among the most universal of religious practices, is now among the most reviled and rejected. This article explores how a small number of Modern Nordic Pagans in the United States are experimenting with recreating the practice of animal sacrifice as part of their project of revitalizing past tradition.References
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Bell, Catherine. Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
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???. Nine Worlds of Seid-Magic: Ecstasy and Neo-Shamanism in Northern European Paganism. London: Routledge, 2002.
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???. Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions. Syracuse: State University of New York Press, 1988.
Denny, Frederick. Islam and the Muslim Community. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1987.
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???. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. Translated by Willard R. Trask. New York: Harcourt and Brace, 1958.
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Gaster, Theodore Herzl. Passover: Its History and Traditions. London and New York: Abelard-Schuman, 1958.
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Hamerton-Kelly, Robert G., ed. Violent Origins: Walter Burkert, René Girard and Jonathan Z. Smith on Ritual Killing and Cultural Formation, with an Introduction by Burton Mack and a Commentary by Renato Rosaldo. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1987.
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???. “Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives.” In Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives, edited by Michael F. Strmiska, 1-54. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2005.
Strmiska, Michael F., and Baldur A. Sigurvinsson. “Asatru: Nordic Paganism in Iceland and America.” In Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives, edited by Michael F. Strmiska, 127-80. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2005.
Sturluson, Snorri. Heimskringla. Translated by A.H. Smith and Erling Monsen. Reprint edn. New York: Dover Publications, 1990 [1932].
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Turner, Victor. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1969.
Turville-Petre, E.O.G. Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia, rev. edn. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975.
Tylor, Edward. Primitive Culture. New York: Harper, 1958 [1871].
Van Gennep, Arnold. The Rites of Passage. Translated by Monika B. Vizedom and Gabrielle L. Caffee. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960 [1908].
Walters, Kerry S., and Lisa Portmess, eds. Religious Vegetarianism: From Hesiod to the Dalai Lama. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001.
Watts, Alan. Myth and Ritual in Christianity. Boston: Beacon Press, 1968.
Albanese, Catherine. Nature Religion in America: From the Algonkian Indians to the New Age. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.
Balsys, Bodo. Buddhism and the Vegetarian Ideal. New Delhi: Mushiram Manoharlal Publishers, 2004.
Bell, Catherine. Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Bhattacharji, Sukumari. The Indian Theogony: A Comparative Study of Indian Mythology from the Vedas to the Puranas. Chambersburg, PA: Anima Publications, 1988 [1971].
Blain, Jenny. “Heathenry, The Past and Sacred Sites in Today’s Britain.” In Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives, edited by Michael F. Strmiska, 181-208. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2005.
???. Nine Worlds of Seid-Magic: Ecstasy and Neo-Shamanism in Northern European Paganism. London: Routledge, 2002.
Burkert, Walter. Homo Necans. Translated by Peter Bing. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982 [1972].
Clark, Mary Ann. “Santería Sacrificial Rituals: A Reconsideration of Religious Violence.” Pomegranate 8.2 (2006): 133-45. doi:10.1558/pome.8.2.133
Davidson, H.R. Ellis. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. New York and London: Penguin Books, 1964.
???. Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions. Syracuse: State University of New York Press, 1988.
Denny, Frederick. Islam and the Muslim Community. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1987.
Dubois, Thomas. Nordic Religions in the Viking Age. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1999.
Durkheim, Émile. The Elementary Structures of the Religious Life. Translated by J.W. Swain. New York: The Free Press, 1965 [1915].
Eliade, Mircea. The Myth of the Eternal Return or, Cosmos and History.Translated by Willard R. Trask. Bollingen Series; Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1971 [1949].
???. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. Translated by Willard R. Trask. New York: Harcourt and Brace, 1958.
Feeley-Harnik, Gillian. The Lord’s Table: Eucharist and Passover in Early Christianity. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981.
Fox, Michael Allan. Deep Vegetarianism. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1999.
Freud, Sigmund. Totem and Taboo. Translated by A.A. Brill. New York: Vintage Books, 1946 [1913].
Gaster, Theodore Herzl. Passover: Its History and Traditions. London and New York: Abelard-Schuman, 1958.
Girard, René. Violence and the Sacred. Translated by Patrick Gregory. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977 [1972].
Hamerton-Kelly, Robert G., ed. Violent Origins: Walter Burkert, René Girard and Jonathan Z. Smith on Ritual Killing and Cultural Formation, with an Introduction by Burton Mack and a Commentary by Renato Rosaldo. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1987.
Harrison, Jane Ellen. Prologemena to the Study of Greek Religion. Cleveland: Meridian Press, 1966. [1903].
???. Themis. Cleveland: Meridian Press, 1962 [1913].
Harvey, Graham. “Heathenism: A North European Pagan Tradition.” In Pagan Pathways: A Guide to the Ancient Earth Traditions, 2nd edn, edited by Graham Harvey and Charlotte Hardman, 49-64. London: Thorsons, 2000.
Hill, John L. The Case for Vegetarianism: Philosophy for a Small Planet. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1996.
Hollander, Lee, trans. The Poetic Edda, 2nd rev. edn. Austin: University of Texas, 1986 [1962].
Hubert, Henri, and Marcel Mauss. Sacrifice: Its Nature and Functions. Translated by W.D. Halls, with an introduction by E.E. Evans-Pritchard. Chicago: Midway Reprint, University of Chicago Press, 1981 [1898].
Jha, D.N. The Myth of the Holy Cow. London and New York: Verso, 2002.
Jones, Gwyn, trans. The Saga of Eirik the Red and Other Icelandic Sagas. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980.
Kapleau, Philip. To Cherish All Life: A Buddhist Case for Becoming Vegetarian. Rochester, NY: Zen Center, 1986.
Krasskova, Galina. “Animal Sacrifice and the Ritual of Blót in Modern Heathenry : An Ethnographic Exploration.” Unpublished paper presented at the Forging Folklore: Witches, Pagans and Neo-Tribal Cultures conference at Harvard University, 4-5 May 2007.
???. Exploring the Northern Tradition: A Guide to the Gods, Lore, Rites and Celebrations from the Norse, German, and Anglo-Saxon Traditions. Franklin Lakes, NJ: Career Press/New Page Books, 2005.
Lorenz, Konrad. On Aggression. Translated by Marjorie Kerr Wilson. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1966 [1963].
O’Brien, David M.. Animal Sacrifice and Religious Freedom: Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2004.
Paxson, Diana L. “The Return of the Völva: Recovering the Practice of Seiðr.” http://www.seidh.org/articles/seidh.html. [1993]. Accessed 26 June 2007.
Reagan, Tom. All that Dwell therein: Animal-Rights and Environmental Ethics. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.
Singer, Peter. Animal Liberation. New York: Ecco, 2002.
Smith, Jonathan Z. “The Bare Facts of Ritual.” In Jonathan Z. Smith, Imagining Religion: From Babylon to Jonestown, 53-65. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982.
Strmiska, Michael. “Ásatrú in Iceland: The Revival of Nordic Paganism?” Nova Religio 4.1 (2000): 106-32. doi:10.1525/nr.2000.4.1.106
???. “Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives.” In Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives, edited by Michael F. Strmiska, 1-54. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2005.
Strmiska, Michael F., and Baldur A. Sigurvinsson. “Asatru: Nordic Paganism in Iceland and America.” In Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives, edited by Michael F. Strmiska, 127-80. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2005.
Sturluson, Snorri. Heimskringla. Translated by A.H. Smith and Erling Monsen. Reprint edn. New York: Dover Publications, 1990 [1932].
Sunstein, Cass R., and Martha C. Nussbaum, eds. Animal-Rights: Current Debates and New Directions. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Turner, Victor. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1969.
Turville-Petre, E.O.G. Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia, rev. edn. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975.
Tylor, Edward. Primitive Culture. New York: Harper, 1958 [1871].
Van Gennep, Arnold. The Rites of Passage. Translated by Monika B. Vizedom and Gabrielle L. Caffee. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960 [1908].
Walters, Kerry S., and Lisa Portmess, eds. Religious Vegetarianism: From Hesiod to the Dalai Lama. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001.
Watts, Alan. Myth and Ritual in Christianity. Boston: Beacon Press, 1968.
Published
2007-12-17
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Strmiska, M. (2007). Putting the Blood Back into Blót: The Revival of Animal Sacrifice in Modern Nordic Paganism. Pomegranate, 9(2), 154-189. https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.v9i2.154
