CHAPTER XXXIII. 



THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 



The old Asa belief and Christianity Clinging to the old faith King Hakon 

 the Christian and the heathen bcendr Mixture of the two creeds H;ikou 

 attempts to Christianize the people Their opposition Performance of 

 ancient rites in secret after the introduction of Christianity Sceptics 

 Adaptation of Christian ideas to the old belief Cruelty of the earlier 

 Christian kings. 



IN the following accounts we see the struggle between 

 Christianity and the old Asa belief. Hakon, the foster-son of 

 Athelstan, so named because he had been fostered by that king 

 in England, came back to Norway a Christian, but his people 

 clung to the old faith, and to strengthen himself in the country 

 he at first found it necessary to observe the tenets of his 

 religion in secret. He ordered the Yule-feast to be celebrated 

 at Christmas, and persuaded some of his best friends to adopt 

 Christianity. 



" Hakon was a good Christian when he came to Norway ; but 

 as all the land was heathen, and there were much sacrificing 

 and many chiefs, and he much needed the help and friendship 

 of the people, he decided to conceal his Christianity, and kept 

 Sundays, and fasting on Fridays, and the greatest festivals. He 

 made it a law that the Yule should begin at the same time as 

 that of the Christians, and that every man should have a certain 

 measure of ale, or pay a fine, and keep the days holy while Yule 

 lasted. It formerly began on hokunott (the midwinter-night), 

 and it was kept for three nights. He wanted to make the 

 people Christians, when he got established in the land and had 

 fully subjected it to himself. He sent to England for a bishop 

 and other priests. When they came to Norway, Hakon made 

 known that he would try to Christianize the land " (Hakon the 

 Good's Saga, c. 15 ; Fornmanna Sogur, 1). 



" Wise men say that some of those who settled in Iceland 



