CHAPTER XXV. 



RELIGION. THE VOLVAS. 



Prophetic sibyls Great reputation of some Volvas Ceremonies attendant on 

 their prophecies Payment to the sibyls Their descent Incantations- 

 Cats favourites of the sibyls. 



THE utterances of the Vohas or sibyls, 1 who could tell the 

 past and the future, were given to the people as coming from 

 the gods ; and by special preparations and conjurations they 

 made men believe that they were placed in such a state that 

 they could see into the decrees of fate, or, as they them- 

 selves expressed it, had been informed of things which were 

 previously secret. 



Some Volvas had a greater reputation than others, and in time 

 of great calamity people sent for them, in order to know the 

 decrees of impending fate. When the Volva came a seat 

 of honour was assigned to her, a separate feast 2 prepared, 

 and among the dishes one made of the various hearts of 

 animals. 



When the principal question was to be answered, special 

 preparations were required. Seid 3 was to be performed. A 

 Seid-hjall, or platform consisting of a flat stone, was laid upon 

 three or four posts, and women were to be found who knew 

 how to recite or sing the so-called Vardlokur. 4 When all this 

 was ready, and the Volva on the platform, the women formed 

 in a circle round it, and the effective song was chanted while 



1 In Orvar Odd we see that the Volvas 

 performed the foretelling ceremony with 

 fifteen boys and fifteen girls. It seems 

 that night was the chosen time. The 

 boys and girls doubtless stood in a rinsj 

 round the platform, and saner incanta- 

 tions. They had a stick, with which 

 they struck the cheek of a man, and 



brought oblivion on him, and then, by 

 striking him on the other cheek, gave 

 him back his memory. 



2 Kirik the red, 5. 



3 Boiling " seid," or the witches' broth, 

 was the chief art in witchcraft. 



4 Only found in Thorfin Karlsefni. 



