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216 EEUGION OF THE NOETHMEN.
OHAPTEK XXI.
THE DIVINE SEEVICE OF THE HEATHENS.
Saceifices, or, in the old Norse language, blot,
were considered by the heathen Northmen to be the
most efficacious means of gaining favor with the
Gods and averting their wrath. These offerings
were usually bloody, and consisted in the killing or
butchering of living creatures under the observance
of certain solemn ceremonies ; but the character of
them is not more fully described in the ancient
accounts. The animals most generally offered at the
larger public sacrificial festivals were oxen, horses,
sheep and swine. The victims were fattened before-
hand, in order that they might attain a very large
size and make a good appearance. They were
slaughtered by the go6i or Chief Director of the temple,
and generally, as it appears, before the images
of the Gods. The blood, which was called laut, was
collected in a bowl called laut-boUi ; the latter was
usually of copper and had its place in the temple
upon the High-Altar. By the aid of sprinkling-
rods—the so-called laut-teinar—the altars and walls
of the temple were besmeared (rj68a) with this laut