House Spirits and Worship in the Old Norse Religion

Sources
Austrfararvísur

Trolldom(best book about these practices)

Scandinavian folk belief and legend

My Online shop

According to all the old sources and traditions, sacrifices in the Norse/Germanic religion was made out in nature at places such as burial mounds, groves, horgr and other sacred places. However, there are a few instances, where according to the later on Scandinavian folk tradition, you could give offerings inside the home. There are certain spirits that live in or around the home, and there are certain ways you should deal with them for the most beneficial cohabitation. Some of these include the tomte, vette, nisse, spiritus, and bjära.

[shawncarter]

my Great Grandmother (came over from Denmark as a child in the mid 1800's). She would build a house in the barn for the "nissa" and would often talk to them while she was milking the cows. She would leave them butter and porridge as well. If she threw waste water out the door, she always yelled out a warning to her tiny protectors so that they wouldn't get wet. She was dead serious too. If you laughed at her, or questioned the existence of the nissa, you could get hurt.

[LoKing]

As a Swede we mostly call them Tomte-nisse, if you just call them tomte people will just think you’re referring to Santa

[sarahgilbert]

There was an equivalent of the Norwegian nisse living in my house in Brittany (France), a Korrigan. He never bothered us.

[MrEnaric]

We do have shrines at home, also for our ancestors/Dísirs. Other sacrifes we can make to two consecrated trees on different locations where the landwights are present. Thing is: people will mess things up if we make the trees too obvious centers of activity. One of them is known now as 'the witch tree'. Practising our rituals draws attention, not only from other pagans, but vandals as well. So, just like Iron Age Lararia, it's okay to have shrines at home, but ofcourse, we do prefer doing blóts outside. There is little respect for 'other' religions here.

[Greye]

I think house spirits are special. After all, if you invite one in to your home, they are essentially looking after all of your property and possessions - like a caretaker. It's only right that we treat them with honor and respect, and possibly even as one of the family. As I understand it, they will even move with you from home to home, if they take a liking to you and you treat them well.

[iforbach]

These household gods and the importance of the snakes reminds me of the Lares and snakes of ancient Roman religion.

[janelarson]

Hey, thanks for this video! Since so much knowledge has been lost and I have the Sight I just ask the spirits what they would like in the way of offerings, etc. Seems to work ok this way--there are as many different kinds of spirits as there are plants, animals, elements, etc, and they all have different preferences. And since I live in the US, I also run into spirits unknown to Europeans but who are native here. Connecting with these beings seems to be all about developing a friendly working relationship with them, respecting their boundaries and needs, rather than going the narcissistic modern way of ignoring the beings with whom we share the planet--which is why we are currently facing ecological disaster.

[SupremePumper]

Nice video. The subject you talked about was a nice reminder of when i read about the white snake you mentioned. Good to see videos from you again.

[The_Cosmic_Yog-Sothoth]

Nissar and Tomtar are correctly translated as "Hobs" or "Goblins" in English. Also the terms "Robin Goodfellow" or "Puck" were used for household spirits. Elves are more about wild natural locations, Just as the dwarfs were underground entities.

[runeguidanceofthenorse]

I love you so much Lil bro. Great job!

[Kirsten_Jensen]

I have been brought up in Denmark with indoor offerings to Nissen in the addict.

[sirianndugvudys]

I always sing this when doing indoor offering to my house god

Ein junkari reið á jólum,
Tjing-tjang-tjing-lutilej,
Rundan um hann fall hvíti kavin,
Tjing-tjang-tjing-lutilej,
Hann stríddi seg fram í regni og vindi,
Við eitt signaði hansara ross,
Tjing-tjang-lu,
Tjing-tjang-lu,
Tjing-tjang-tjing-lutilej,

Ein jomfrú sat á einum høgum torni,
Bíddi honum at koma,
Men náttin gekk so dapurt og langt,
Í einsemi til sólarris,

Tíðliga á morgni dagin eftir,
Tey funnu tann neyðars junkaran deyðan,
Hann var avtakin við kava og ísi,
Men toyggjar nú upp í paradís,

Tað var jú nakað ræðuligt,
Tí hann toygdi,
Bleiv hann vátur,
Men soleiðis kann tað altso fara,
Tá man gongur uttan hatt,

Tá jomfrúin fekk boðið,
Hon kastaði seg niður frá torninum,
Nú deila tey eitt lítið skýggj,
Sum regnar yvir land og bý,

[kariannecrysler]

Are there any references to the rocks used in spiritual practices? I have noticed many mound burials have rock jewelry, rick tool settings/functional tools, pebble deposit’s, pouches of rocks. Also the earliest Christian sites in Northern Europe all seem to have pebbles as deposits, which is why I am curious about any specific associated stone knowledge. The implications for a spiritual use of rocks seems evident & most certainly predates Christianity by thousands of year’s. I would love to hear your thoughts and any research you may have on the subject.

[lookis]

Ancestors are honored in the home also

[michaelwoodsmccausland]

We use the Natural Cathedral’s I. e Yosemite Death Valley-north to the Shasta Lassen St Hellen’s Volcanoes MWM

[skjaldmaer]

So we usually hold our Blots and Sumbles mostly indoor. We do hold fires and such outside and do some there as well. When we make offerings, we place it unto the Altar and once done we take them outside into the back yard. Unfortunately not everyone has a grove, tree's or other sacred spaces outdoors. Living in a bible belt makes it hard to do much outside...

[Veronica-hpul]

I was about to be embarrassed when you said it was embarrassing for people who do offerings on an alter…and then you said outside and I was like FEW because I am planning on putting all my alters for each god that I follow outside. I’m lucky enough to have beautiful lush woods in my backyard!!!!

[contentstarved]

I can’t remember her name but there’s a woman who wrote lamenting about the destruction of “household gods” at the hands of Christian invaders sometime between the 6th and 8th centuries. Granted, this was in Germany, not Scandinavia, but it would be the same pantheon, for what that’s worth.

[Kangsteri]

Here in Finland it's tonttu. But it could also refer to trolls and giants. These were called as "Jatuli" or "Jätti" and later it was "para", "piru" or "perkele" (devil or Satan). It means Yeti, bigfoot, yowie or Sabe, etc. You are not allowed to call it's real name without calling it or as joke. Just like you were not allowed to call bear by its real name. There is a few books in Finnish about calling para. Beware, this stuff is real. The spirits are like humans, most of us are mean, some don't.

[American_Heathen]

Very good info. I feel I was having bad luck at my new home had built. Things just seemed to go not at planned. I thought I was on cursed land