ABSTRACT
Throughout Europe, the seasons of the year have been marked with elaborate fire rituals, and, in particular, the seasonal rituals focusing on the winter. There were four main seasonal and calendric fire rituals closely structured by the agricultural year: 1) the harvest rituals at the end of the summer and the beginning of the winter, 2) the midwinter sacrifice or the prehistoric jól at the darkest and coldest time of the year, 3) the ploughing and sowing rituals marking the end of the winter and the beginning of the summer and 4) the midsummer rituals with bonfires and fertility rituals structured around the life-giving waters in holy springs. This ethnography builds largely on the 19th-century German folkloristic studies, like the works of Wilhelm Mannhardt and the Grimm brothers. In The Golden Bough, Frazer documented, synthesised and presented these major Indo-European traditions. We will contextualise the relevant rituals as an introduction and background to the archaeological material and funerary practices in Scandinavia.
