Religious Toleration and Peace · Retopea

Por um escritor misterioso

Last updated 07 fevereiro 2025

Religious Toleration and Peace · Retopea

Throughout the TV series Vikings the audience witnesses numerous marriages, funerals and other ceremonies where religious representation is in gros plan. During the marriage ceremony, it is common that the high village priest refers to Odin, the Vikings’ superior God, to unite the couple and gift them with love and harmony, as well as many children. These ceremonies are usually preceded and followed by several protocols such as painting pictures on the bodies of the couple using animal blood, a game which entails chasing in the woods, exchange of wedding rings, etc. The most notable marriages are the one of Ragnar Lothbrok and his wife Lagartha, Ragar Lothbrok and his second wife Princess Aslaug, as well as those of Ragnar’s children. Another rather notable rite de passage is the one preceding raiding and wars. Before launching a raid or going to war, the entire village gathers at the port. The ceremony is conducted by the king/queen, and it entails the killing of a domestic animal, usually a goat, a symbolic sacrifice to Odin. After the animal is slaughtered, the Commander-In-Chief, goes through the crowd and paints the faces of those gathered with the blood of the sacrificed animal.