20 Facts About Norse paganism

Old Norse religion, known as Norse paganism, is the most common name for a branch of Germanic religion which developed during the Proto-Norse period, when the North Germanic peoples separated into a distinct branch of the Germanic peoples.

Old Norse paganism religion was polytheistic, entailing a belief in various gods and goddesses.

Norse paganism cosmology revolved around a world tree known as Yggdrasil, with various realms existing alongside that of humans, named Midgard.

Norse paganism society contained practitioners of Seiðr, a form of sorcery that some scholars describe as shamanistic.

Archaeologist Anders Andren noted that "Old Norse paganism religion" is "the conventional name" applied to the pre-Christian religions of Scandinavia.

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Old Norse paganism religion has been classed as an ethnic religion, and as a "non-doctrinal community religion".

In Hilda Ellis Davidson's words, present-day knowledge of Old Norse paganism religion contains "vast gaps", and we must be cautious and avoid "bas[ing] wild assumptions on isolated details".

In contrast to the few runic fragments, a considerable body of literary and historical sources survive in Old Norse paganism manuscripts using the Latin script, all of which were created after the Christianisation of Scandinavia, the majority in Iceland.

Since the literary evidence that represents Old Norse paganism sources were recorded by Christians, archaeological evidence, especially of religious sites and burials is of great importance, particularly as a source of information on Norse paganism religion before the conversion.

The Germanic languages likely emerged in the first millennium BCE in present-day northern Germany or Denmark, after which they spread; several of the deities in Old Norse paganism religion have parallels among other Germanic societies.

Norse paganism's successor, Harald Greycloak, was a Christian but similarly had little success in converting the Norwegian population to his religion.

Norse paganism's reign saw the emergence of a "state paganism", an official ideology which bound together Norwegian identity with pagan identity and rallied support behind Haakon's leadership.

Old Norse paganism gods has appeared in Swedish folklore up until the early 20th century.

Old Norse paganism religion was polytheistic, with many anthropomorphic gods and goddesses, who express human emotions and in some cases are married and have children.

In Snorri's Gylfaginning, it is again stated that the Old Norse paganism cosmogony began with a belief in Ginnungagap, the void.

Old Norse paganism sources describe rituals for adoption and blood brotherhood .

Theories about a shamanic component of Old Norse paganism religion have been adopted by forms of Nordic neoshamanism; groups practising what they called seiðr was established in Europe and the United States by the 1990s.

Research into Old Norse paganism religion has been interdisciplinary, involving historians, archaeologists, philologists, place-name scholars, literary scholars, and historians of religion.

Scholars from different disciplines have tended to take different approaches to the material; for instance, many literary scholars have been highly sceptical about how accurately Old Norse paganism text portrays pre-Christian religion, whereas historians of religion have tended to regard these portrayals as highly accurate.

Interest in Norse paganism mythology was revived in the eighteenth century, and scholars turned their attention to it in the early 19th century.