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218 KEUGION OF THE NORTHMEN.
sided over them in Ms behalf. Sometimes the management
of the sacrificial feasts of a Fylki or a larger
district passed aromid by turns among a certain
number (twelve) of the chosen men of the district
but this was perhaps an exception to the general
custom, and was first adopted when the kings and
their men had fallen off from the Asa-faith and em-
braced Christianity. The ancient custom in the
time of the Fylki governments was, doubtless, thus-:
that the hersir, in the character of go8i, conducted
the public sacrificial feasts in his heraS or district,
or where several heraS or even fylki joined together
in a sacrifice, then all the hersar present acted, but
in such a manner that the one in whose temple the
feast was held presided. If a King or Jarl was
present, the post of honor was, of course, always con^
ceded to him ;
but they could hardly be called the
actual conductors of sacrifices ; at least, their King-
ship or Jarlship originated in a higher than priestly
dignity. Such was certainly the case in many places
in Norway, as it is known to have been with the Upsala
Kings in Sweden.
The sacrificial feast followed after the sacrifice.
The flesh of the sacrificed animals, including that of
. the horses, was now boiled in large pots which hung
over the fires along the temple-floor, and was after-
wards devoured by the assembled guests, who, as at
other banquets, sat along the side-walls of the house
on both sides of the fire. The full drinking-horns
{full) were now borne around or between the fires
(of elda), probably as a kind of purification, and the
conductor of the sacrifice consecrated (vigja) them,
;