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Chapter 5. The Underworld 128
“The intimate relationship between the family and its dead may be envisioned
as a circle, one half of which is under the ground, the other half above
. . . . The family organizes the funeral as well as periodic commemorative
ceremonies, and provides for the dead by granting them part of the annual
harvest. The dead direct threats against the family in the form of warnings
against neglecting and against improper behavior.” 24
To offend the ancestors was to invite disaster to livestock, odal grounds, and kin,
especially those yet to be born. To offend those under the ground, especially those
whose status had moved up to local demi-god of the land, was to create something
similar to a toxic waste dump. In New Age circles this is often described as “having
the power of an area drained away,” but according to the Germanic worldview the
natural flow of the Waters of Life to an area was blocked.
One is reminded of modern stories about businesses which will not prosper because
they are built over ancient Native American burial grounds. The stores or
businesses are, in essence, the focus of revenge because the dead have been neglected
or dishonored and as revenge the flow of luck and prosperity which would normally
rise from the depths of the Underworld are being held back. In the 20 th century, the
dead are ignored for the most part unless they interfere with an individual’s ability
to make money.
Niðstrond (“the strand of the corpses”; niðing was the greatest insult a person
could receive, ”the lowest of people”), a place of suffering for evil or sociopathic people,
is often interpreted as Christian in origin since the description of the inhabitants
suffering resembles that of a Christian Hell. But the concept of Niðstrond does not
necessarily have to have had a foreign source. In fact, the pre-Christian inhabitants
of the North seem very well to have understood the concept of a place of suffering
after death (but not necessarily in a separate place as in the concept of a Christian
Hell), which for them was any place outside the community as demonstrated by the
practice of outlawry as a form of punishment, prior to the invasion of the monks.
The practices of outlawry and wergild as forms of retribution were practiced in
Northern Europe long before written history. If a man conducted himself in such
a way that he can no longer be safely supported by the community without harm
coming to that community, then he was sent away to dwell outside the realm of
human habitation. The concept of wergild was that not only is each man, woman,
and child worth a certain price to a community, but that each body part was of value
as well. Wergild had to be paid by the wrong-doer when anyone was physically hurt
or killed. The payment of wergild was an atonement for wrongs committed within
the community and, in essence, was a way for an individual to buy his way back
24 op. cit., p. 130.