What did the Vikings believe? A guide to Viking religion

Odin held the highest position among the Norse gods and presided over wisdom, war, and death.

He travelled the world in disguise, searching for knowledge that he often obtained through sacrifice or deception, and he watched over warriors whom he welcomed into his hall, Valhalla, if they died bravely in battle.

Freyja, who shared the right to receive the slain according to the poem Grímnismál, gathered half of the chosen dead into her own field, Fólkvangr.

Thor, who wielded his hammer Mjölnir and rode in a chariot pulled by goats, protected both the gods and humanity from giants that threatened to destroy order.

Freyja governed fertility, love, and seiðr magic, a form of sorcery most often practised by women, though Odin himself had learned it as well in some versions of their mythology.

Her twin brother Freyr brought peace, prosperity, and agricultural success to those who offered him devotion.

While Loki, though blood-bound to Odin, caused strife and disorder through trickery, yet his role in many myths revealed that the gods sometimes needed his help when they could not act alone. 

Vikings conducted religious ceremonies in sacred places that included natural sites such as groves, rivers, and hills.

Archaeological discoveries at locations like Uppsala in Sweden and Gudme in Denmark have showed elite gathering places that may have been used for religious purposes.

While Uppsala is associated with documented cultic activity, the evidence at Gudme suggests ritual deposition of valuables but no confirmed temple structure.

People gathered to make sacrifices and offer treasures to the gods, often by placing them in bogs or burying them in the earth.

Adam of Bremen, writing in the eleventh century based on second-hand reports, described a great temple at Uppsala adorned with golden idols and attended by human sacrifices, though archaeological excavations have not confirmed the existence of such a structure.

Some of these sites contained temple-like structures with evidence of burnt offerings and communal feasting, which suggests that religion operated as a public and political event overseen by powerful chieftains who held authority over both sacred rites and judicial decisions. 

Religious knowledge passed through generations by way of oral poetry, since the Norse did not produce written religious texts.

People known as Skalds composed and recited long poems that described the deeds of the gods, the origins of the cosmos, and the fate of the world in the final battle known as Ragnarök, in which the gods would perish and the world would fall into ruin before being reborn.

These stories contributed significantly to Viking spiritual life and expressed a fatalistic view of existence.

Since they were transmitted orally, knowledge likely varied between regions and communities, with some groups placing more emphasis on certain myths than others.

Many of these mythic poems survived in what modern scholars call the Poetic Edda, preserved in the Codex Regius, a manuscript written in the 1270s by an unknown scribe, which contains some of the oldest surviving Norse myths. 

Ordinary people engaged in personal acts of worship through amulets, small statues, and domestic rituals.

Many wore pendants shaped like Thor’s hammer for protection, and these Mjölnir amulets have been discovered across Scandinavia and the British Isles.

People also buried their dead with grave goods, including weapons, tools, animals, and food, which they believed the deceased would need in the afterlife.

Some of the wealthiest individuals received ship burials, such as those uncovered at Oseberg and Gokstad in Norway, which involved placing the body in a boat filled with valuable objects and covering it with a mound, indicating a belief that the dead embarked on a spiritual journey beyond the grave. 

Christian contact increased during the Viking Age, which lasted from c. 793 to 1066, as raids, trade, and settlement brought Norse people into regular interaction with Christian communities in the British Isles, Francia, and Eastern Europe.

Rulers such as Harald Klak, who accepted baptism in 826, and Guthrum, who converted after his defeat by Alfred the Great in 878 and likely agreed to baptism as part of their peace settlement, used conversion to secure political alliances, gain access to Christian markets, or satisfy treaty conditions imposed by Christian kings.

In Norway, Olaf Tryggvason and later Olaf Haraldsson enforced Christianisation through law, missionary activity, and violence.

In Iceland, conversion occurred peacefully in AD 1000 through a formal decision at the Althing, the national assembly.

However, many Viking communities retained their traditional beliefs long after their leaders converted, and some combined Christian elements with Norse customs during the transition period. 

Later sources such as the Prose Edda, compiled by the Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson in the early thirteenth century, preserved the old myths and enabled later scholars to reconstruct Viking religious thought.

The Prose Edda complemented the older Poetic Edda by offering narrative explanations and mythological structure.

Place names across Scandinavia still bear traces of the gods, including Odense (from Odin's sanctified enclosure) and Thorsager, which means Thor's field.

Meanwhile, weekday names in modern English, including Thursday (Thor’s day) and Wednesday (Woden’s day), reflect the survival of these beliefs long after Christianity replaced pagan worship in public life.

As such, elements of Norse religion continued in seasonal festivals and rural customs for generations after official conversion.