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Chapter 3. Midgard 73
he perished with many of his followers. He had reached his fortieth year then.
There had been excellent seasons during his rule; and people were so affected
by his death that when they learned of his demise and that his body was
being returned to Hringariki in order to be interred there, men of influence
from Raumariki, Westfold, and Heithmork came and prayed, all of them, to
take the body with them to be buried in their lands; for it was thought that
he who got possession of it could expect good seasons.
They reached an agreement in this wise, that the body was assigned to
four places: the head was laid in a mound at Stein in Hringariki, but each
of the others carried away their share and interred them in burial mounds in
their homelands, and all are called the Mounds of Hálfdan.” 19
The king’s power/ luck which had been increased over the forty years of his reign still
poured out over the surface of Midgard even after his death, and, for a community
to access that power, gifts or sacrifices had to be given “for aye doth a gift look for
gain.” 20
Since the eddaic and sagaic literature is primarily heroic in nature, ancestors
of either a family or of a community are rarely mentioned. Communities such as
villages belonged to the peasantry. Holmberg, speaking of the Finno-Ugric people
says that
“the duties of the living with regard to the dead do not cease when the
latter have been carried to the grave with all honors. The dead continue to
need the help and care of the living. If a dead man is not given his rights, he
may resent it and, coming back, disturb the peace of his survivors.” 21
Although Holmberg is speaking of a culture east of the Germanic realm, there was a
large overlap in folk customs so that customs of the Swedes differ from those of the
Finns for the most part in language only. The western Finns, for example, celebrated
their general memorial feast for their ancestors at Yule or Halloween with the same
customs as the Swedes; however, Christianity, as it existed in Sweden, covered up
many of the ceremonial aspects of these holidays which were to placate the dead for
the upcoming year.
“In Germany and Scandinavia it was said that they came back at either
Halloween or at Christmas, and there are records of food left out for them on
Christmas Eve and the fire made up, while folk went to Mass. Next morning
19 Hollander translation, pp. 57-58, 1964.
20 Hávamál, St.. 145, Terry translation.
21 Holmberg, Umo, Finno-Ugric Mythology, p. 37, 1928.