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Chapter 5. The Underworld 118
When Christianity came into Northern Europe, the idea that the Afterlife as
a state of perpetual stasis seems to have come with it. The image of Paradise (or
Hell) as a resting place for all eternity replaced the many of the older beliefs of life
after death, and this concept of “Rest in Peace” continues into the 20 th Century.
The Christian assumption is that once something enters into the Underworld, its
evolution stops, but, for the Scandinavian of a thousand years ago, the after-death
progression in status of a local hero to that of a family protector, then continuing to
increase in status up to demi-god for the northern peoples was not that uncommon.
Bard of Snæfell, Þorolf (mentioned above), and the “Elf” of Geirstad are examples of
this elevation in status after death from local leader to guardian, and to these local
demi-gods sacrifices were offered on a regular basis. This very same mechanism for
elevating status after death continued even after the introduction of Christianity to
the Scandinavian countries, so that Scandinavia itself possessed more local saints
per capita (unrecognized by the Vatican) than any other area of the world. Davidson
goes on to say
“Evidently the conception of land-spirits linked with the dead within the
earth was a persistent one, although it remains vague and unspecified in the
literary sources. Belief in the potency of such spirits to help or hinder men
and women in their daily lives on the farms, and to unite with the king to
bring blessing to the community was something difficult to eradicate. The
evidence of folklore makes it clear that it lived on in local legends long after
the coming of Christianity, and it survives in vigorous folktales and rhymes
which can still stir our imagination . . . . Cultivation of the soil, weaving and
spinning, and the raising of animals all fell into the province of the nature
spirits, and so apparently did the destiny and upbringing of children.” 8
Although nothing is solved as far as the nature of the Underworld is concerned, at
least the idea that it is as dynamic as Midgard offers some rationale for there being
so many variations in traditions revolving around death, burial, and beliefs in an
Afterlife.
For all the northern cultures concerned here, there appears to be a common
theme regarding the Underworld. Umo Holmberg says that “in its nature this Underworld
resembles the world we live in everything.” 9 Later, he goes on to describe
that it is a belief of the eastern Europeans that the dead live in villages below the
earth and that these villages are comprised of the same people who lived together
during life. Granted he is talking about the Finno-Ugric people, but in The Se-
8 op. cit., pp. 132-133.
9 Holmberg, Umo Finno-Ugric Mythology, in Mythology of all Races ed. by John MacCulloch
(Boston, Mass)1928, p. 72-82.