Funerale vichingo: differenze tra le versioni

Versione delle 16:05, 5 ott 2008

Versione delle 16:57, 11 ott 2008

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{{T|inglese|storia}}

[[ImageImmagine:Funeral of russian noble by Siemiradzki.jpg|thumb|350px|right|La nave funeraria del capo vichingo ([[Variago]]) [[Igor il Vecchio]] nel [[Rus' di kiev]], secondo [[Heinrich Semiradzki]] (1845-1902).]]

I [[vichinghi]] cremavano solitamente i loro morti in [[barche funerarie]], come provato da reperti archeologici, [[saga|saghe]], la letteratura norrena, e dal racconto di [[Ahmad ibn Fadlan]]. I funerali vichinghi che vennero effettuati a terra hanno premesso agli archeologi di studiare le varie tradizione scandinave dell'età vichinga.

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==Grave goods==

[[ImageImmagine:Finds from a priestess' grave.jpg|thumb|right|Grave goods from a [[Völva]]'s grave in [[Köpingsvik]], [[Öland]]. There is an 82 cm long [[wand]] of iron with bronze details and a unique model of a house on the top. The finds are on display in the [[Swedish Museum of National Antiquities]] in [[Stockholm]].]]

It was common to leave gifts with the deceased. Both men and women received [[grave goods]], even if the corpse was to be burnt on a pyre. The amount and the value of the goods depended on which social group the dead person came from.<ref name="steins84">Steinsland & Meulengracht Sørensen 1998:84</ref> It was important to bury the dead in the right way so that he could join the afterlife with the same social standing that he had had in life, and to avoid becoming a homeless soul that wandered eternally.<ref name="Gräslund11"/>

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==Funerary monuments==

[[ImageImmagine:Stone ship.JPG|thumb|The deceased could be incinerated inside a stone ship. The picture shows two of the stone ships at Badelunda, near [[Västerås]], [[Sweden]].]]

A Viking funeral could be a considerable expense, but the barrow and the grave goods were not considered to have been wasted. In addition to being a homage to the deceased, the barrow remained as a monument to the social position of the descendants. Especially powerful [[Norse clans]] could demonstrate their position through monumental [[grave field]]s. The [[Borre mound cemetery]] in [[Vestfold]] is for instance connected to the [[Yngling]] dynasty, and it had large [[Tumulus|tumuli]] that contained [[stone ship]]s.<ref name="steins85">Steinsland & Meulengracht Sørensen 1998:85</ref>

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===Human sacrifice===

[[ImageImmagine:Bödeln (1914), nr 241.jpg|right|thumb|100px|Sketch of the executioner during a pagan Norse sacrifice by [[Carl Larsson]], for ''[[Midvinterblot]]''.]]

Thralls could be sacrificed during a funeral so that they could serve their master in the next world.<ref name="Gräslund11">Gräslund 2000:11</ref> In Ibn Fadlan's account above, there is a description of a slave girl who was to be sacrificed and who had to undergo several sexual rites.<ref name="Harrison79">Harrison & Svensson 2007:79</ref> When the chieftain had been put in the ship, she went from tent to tent where she visited warriors and traders.<ref name="Harrison79"/> Every man told her that they did what they did for their love to the dead chieftain.<ref name="Harrison79"/> Lastly, she entered a tent that had been raised on the ship, and in it six men had intercourse with her before she was strangled and stabbed.<ref name="Harrison79"/> The sexual rites with the slave girl show that she was considered to be a vessel for the transmission of life force to the deceased chieftain.<ref name="steins89">Steinsland & Meulengracht Sørensen 1998:89</ref>

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===The funeral ale and the passing of inheritance===

[[ImageImmagine:Drinking scene on an image stone.jpg|thumb|right|A drinking scene on an [[image stone]] from [[Gotland]], in the [[Swedish Museum of National Antiquities]] in [[Stockholm]].]]

On the seventh day after the person had died, people celebrated the ''sjaund'', or the funeral ale that the feast also was called since it involved a [[Symbel|ritual drinking]]. The funeral ale was a way of socially demarcating the case of death. It was only after the funeral ale that the heirs could rightfully claim their inheritance.<ref name="steins86"/> If the deceased was a widow or the master of the homestead, the rightful heir could assume the high seat and thereby mark the shift in authority.<ref name="steins87">Steinsland & Meulengracht Sørensen 1998:87</ref>