HE A THEN SA P TISM. 



antiquity, antedating Christian baptism, and most binding 

 among the ancestors of the English -speaking peoples : to expose 

 a child after this ceremony was considered murder. It was 

 once, no doubt, practised by the Franks who belonged to the 

 Northern tribes ; and certain forms of Christian baptism of 

 the present day may be based upon this earlier form, which was 

 only changed in name by the earlier Christian missionaries. 

 That the heathen or Asa baptism was not recognised by the 

 Christians we have ample proofs in the Sagas. The Asa form 

 was, as we have seen, called Ausa Vatni, and the Christian, 

 Skirn. 1 



" It was then the custom to choose the best men to water- 

 sprinlde or give names to the children of high-born men. 

 When the time came at which Thora expected to bear her 

 child, she wished to go and find King Harald. He was then 

 north at Soeheim, while she was at Mostr ; she went northward 

 on Sigurd Jarl's ship. During the night they lay to near the 

 shore, and Thora bore a son upon the rock at the end of the 

 bridge. Sigurd Jail ivater-sprinkled the boy, and called him 

 Hakon, after his father, Hakon Hlada Jarl " (Harald Harfagr's 

 Saga, c. 40). 



" Harald Fairhair when he began to get old gave to his 

 sons the rule of Norway. He made Eirik king over all his 

 sons, and when he had ruled for seventy winters, gave the 

 kingship into his hands. At that time Gunnhild (Eirik's wife) 

 bore a son, and Harald water-sprinkled him and gave him his 

 own name, therewith declaring that he should be king after 

 his father if he should live " 2 (Egil's Saga, c. 59). 



The child was often named after some renowned kinsmen or 

 friends; and sometimes the person who performed the rite 

 gave his own name, and it was believed that the luck of the 

 namesake would follow the child through life : thus Sigurd. 

 one of the famous sons of Eagnar Lodbrok, was named after 

 his grandfather Sigurd Hring. 3 The one who gave a name 

 to the child always made it a present, which was called 



1 Some form of water rite under one 

 shape or another was practised by 

 Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Hebrews, 

 Romans, Hindus, &c. In the Prankish 

 annals, the Northmen when they were 

 baptized were led into the rivers, a cus- 

 tom which apparently prevailed among 



the earlier Christians with adult poop].-. 



2 Cf. also Halfdau the Black's Sa-a, 

 c. 7; Laxdaela, c. 28; Fornmanua Siigur, 

 i., p, 31 ; Olaf Tryggvason, i , pp. 1:5-14; 

 Fornmanna Sogur. 



3 Cf. Svarfdsela, c. 5. 



