This photograph is from the local forest in my hometown. I took it quite recently (in late August). The Younger Futhark runes portray the name: “HELVEGEN” - “The way / road to Hel”.
The Old Norse Halloween or Day of the Dead: Alfablót (Sacrifice to the Elves)
It is closing in to the time of the Sacrifice to the Elves, the “elves” in Norse not meaning Faerie but referring to spirits that are both of nature and of the souls of departed men who still live on in mounds, where they can still be sought and communicated with. The Dökkalfar (Dark Elves) live underground, akin to the Huldrefolk and other creatures from beneath the Earth.
These were Powers of the dark and hidden things, death, the mysterious. These spirits were the most powerful during the dark winter-months and their power was of a kind that made people decide that it was best to keep them on our side. They entry to the first month of darkness is an offering of friendship to the powers of the dark time so that they be benevolent rather than malevolent towards us, so that they will assist us in surviving through the dark cold to come, so that they will be strengthened in their efforts to impregnate the Earth with life once more – and we call especially upon the powers of our male ancestors who still live among the elves, call on them to protect us and be our ambassadors among the dark powers.
The female ancestors have their own time of celebration at winter solstice (Yule), if you wondered why the ancestral elves are all male ancestors.The dark powers are not evil, but they will not offer any assistance unless we ask them to and honor them for it. Today, Mexicans offer assorted favorite foods to their dead anestors. The Norse Heathens offered what they thought anyone would want most on a dark and cold night: Beer and meat.
The Sacrifice to the Elves
In the autumn of 1018, the Norwegian and Christian skald Sigvatr Þórðarson traveled to Sweden and reported that he was continuously refused entry to the farms he tried to visit because the alfablót – the Sacrifice to the Elves – was being held.
After a long and tiresome journey, Sigvatr and his companions arrived at a homestead called Hof (“Temple”). They expected to be received well, according to the laws of hospitality, but the door remained shut. Sigvatr had to stick his nose down into a narrow opening in order to present himself, but the people of the household refused him by saying that the place was hallowed. Sigvatr retorted that the trolls should take them, and continued to the next homestead.
At the following farm, he met a lady who told him to go away and said “Don’t go further inside unlucky man! We are afraid of Óðin´s wrath; we are pagans!” Then, she chased him away as if he were a wolf and said that they were having the Sacrifice to the Elves at the homestead.
They tried three more times to find a place to rest, but all the times they were dispatched by men who called themselves Ölvir. The title means “Beer-Man” and the “Beer-Man” was probably a guardian of the ritual. Sigvatr and his men, in desperation, decided to seek out the man who was reputedly the most hospitable man in the district. The last man only scowled at them, and calling the man the “guardian of the pickaxe”, Sigvatr stated that if that man was the “best man”, the worst man must have been truly evil.
As far as we can see from Sigvats account, the harvest rite of the Alfablót was a time when ordinary rules of hospitality were put aside in favor of a very private and sacred family celebration where outsiders could not expect entry. It took place after the harvests, towards the end of October and the beginning of November.
Quote from Hávamál in “The Poetic Edda”
Døyr fe, døyr frender
Døyr sjølv det sama
men ordet om deg aldreg døyr
vinn du et gjetord gjevt
Døyr fe, døyr frender
Døyr sjølv det sama
Eg veit et som aldreg døyr
dom om daudan kvar
Wardruna
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