Northern mythology

208 NORTHERN MYTHOLOGY.
more when the ship sank. There was afteiT\^ards a whirlpool
in the ocean^ where the water falls into the eye of the
millstone, and thence the sea became salt.
Professor Petersen^ considers the myth to signify the
cultivation of the land during peace, and the prosperity
consequent thereupon, that prosperity begets desire, and
desire war. The grinding of salt is a later adoption, as in
the latter part of the song it is said that one of the stones
had been split asunder in grinding for Prodi.
THE THREE SOLEMN PAGAN FESTIVALS 2.
Three great festivals were celebrated every year in the
time of heathenism, when sacrifices were made to the
gods. The first was held at the new year, which was
reckoned from the ' mother-night,^ so called because the
new year sprang, as it were, out of her lap. The month,
which began then with the first new moon, was called
Yule-month (Jule-tungel), and, from the sacrifice, Thorablot^,
which was then chiefly celebrated.
to the present day, is called Thorsmanad.
This season, even
Kings and jarls,
not only in Sweden, but also in Denmark and Norway,
held at this time their great sacrificial meetings or guilds.
Rich land-holders then made ready then- Yule-beer for
friends and kindred ;
but the poorer, who had no wealthy
relatives, assembled in feastings, to which they all contributed,
and drank hop-ol (social beer). On these occasions
offerings were made to the gods for a prosperous
year, both to Odin for success in war, and to Prey for a
good harvest. Animals of various kinds were slaughtered,
but the principal victim was a hog, which was especially
1 Nordisk Mythologie, p. 221. 2 Afzelius, i. 15.
3 So called, it is supposed, from Thorri, an ancient king or deity of the
Fins and Lapps, of the race of Forniot, and blot, sacrifice. See Snorra-
Edda, ed. Rask, p. 358.