(cf. Old English 'hearg', Old High German 'haruc')
A type of
altar, constructed of piled stones, used by the
Vikings in religious and civil ceremonies.
A typical use of the horgr would be to place upon it a bowl of the blood of an animal sacrificed to a
Norse diety (e.g. a goat for
Thor, a sow for
Freya, a boar for
Freyr), then dipping a bundle of
fir twigs into it and waving the bundle in the form of the "
hammer-sign" to spatter the participants with the blood. This would
consecrate the attendees to the
ceremony, such as a
wedding.
Like
Judeo-Christian and other
traditions, the
Norse religion vested great
spiritual significance in
blood; one
legend speaks of a horgr built to
Freya by
Ottar, and when it was "
reddened" with blood, she burned the stones to
glass.