Viking processions & wheel jewelry

Viking wheel jewelry is developed from the sun crosses that in the Neolithic and the Bronze Age symbolize the sun. The sun represents fertility and our ancestors were aware of this. For Neolithic farmers, the transition of seasons was of great importance. Their survival depended on the success of the harvest and the fertility of the land.

Among the Proto-Indo-European herders of the Pontic steppes, the sun cross frequently appears. They used it in rock carvings and bronze artworks, spread across Europe and Asia. The sun also played a central role in their religion.

In the mythology of Indo-European peoples, the sun is often depicted as a radiant wheel, drawn by a horse in a chariot. The wheels of this chariot were depicted as the four-spoked sun wheel. Like the sun chariot of Trundholm.

Not only the sun but also the horse that drew the sun was associated with the land and the fertility of the land.

In Scandinavia during the Viking Age, processions were held that were associated with fertility. The Vikings knew linear and circular processions. Linear processions are often funeral rituals, where the deceased were transported by wagon to the grave. Circular processions were related to fertility. They began and ended at a sacred place, such as a temple or forest, and were led by ritual specialists. Sometimes rituals took place along the way.

The cult of Nerthus, as described in Tacitus' Germania, the saga Gunnars þáttr helmings, and Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus, conducted such processions.

In 98 AD, the Roman historian Tacitus wrote about the Germanic peoples.

He describes the goddess Nerthus, who was worshipped by Germanic tribes in the region around the western Baltic Sea (probably Denmark or Northern Germany). According to him, these peoples believed that Nerthus moved among them and brought peace and prosperity. Her image was transported on a wagon drawn by oxen, accompanied by a ritual specialist, and stopped at various places where celebrations were held. During this period, there was no fighting, and weapons were stored away. Eventually, Nerthus was returned to her temple, after which normal activities resumed.

Her procession seems not only to have been a form of worship but primarily intended to bring fertility. This fits within broader ancient Norse fertility rituals.

Nerthus is sometimes associated with the Norse god Njörðr, who is part of the Vanir, a group of gods associated with fertility and abundance. The ancient Norse gods Freyr and Freya are also linked to fertility and prosperity. This suggests that the Nerthus cult was an early form of later Norse fertility worship.

Another source describing a ritual procession is Gunnars þáttr helmings, a short saga from the 14th century. This story takes place in Sweden, where the pagan belief in fertility cults was still strong.

The saga revolves around the Norse hero Gunnar, who comes into conflict with a ritual specialist of the god Freyr. In the story, Freyr is worshipped in the form of a wooden idol, and the female ritual specialist has a sexual relationship with this idol as part of the cult.

The highlight of the saga is an annual procession in which the image of Freyr is carried around the landscape. 

In various Norse rituals, a sacred marriage between a god and a ritual specialist played an important role. This was often seen as a form of fertility magic. At the end of such a procession, a ritual feast usually took place, probably in the form of a ceremonial sacrificial meal.

Food held a central place in fertility rituals, as seen in texts like Hákonar saga góða, Heimskringla, and Kjalnesinga saga from medieval Norway and Iceland. In Gunnars þáttr helmings, the procession was mainly focused on fertility. At the end, participants took part in a feast, likely involving animal sacrifices.

Another example of such a procession can be found in Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus (ca. 1200). He describes a procession around the idol of Freyr. Ynglinga saga by Snorri Sturluson also mentions a similar post-mortem procession. 

These kinds of processions were possibly part of a broader royal tradition, like the Eriksgatan route in Viking Age Sweden and similar rituals in medieval Europe. Besides a ceremonial and political function, the procession likely also had a religious significance.

Another form of circular procession is found in the so-called "ritual drama" during the Viking Age. Eddic poetry, an ancient Northern European genre about gods and heroes, was often performed as a type of 'play'. According to researcher Lars Lönnroth, a performance emerged in which actors temporarily took on the roles of gods.

Some of these performances, such as Lokasenna, took place in a banquet hall and required no movement or procession. Other poems were probably performed in various locations, requiring both the players and the audience to relocate. This tradition reflects the reconstructionist acts that occur in pagan rituals, similar to rituals performed by the völva in an ecstatic state.

The tradition of processions and cult wagons is much older than the Viking Age. Wagons played a prominent role as a means of transport in the culture of the Indo-European steppe herders. Cult wagons may have already been used in the bronze Age. The oldest miniature examples of these can be seen from the Urnfield culture around 1300 - 950-920 BC.

Some examples of cult wagons and miniature cult wagons are:

Strettweg cult wagon: 600 BC

Skallerup cult wagon: 1300 - 1100 BC

Wagon of Dejbjerg: 1st century BC

Wagon from the Oseberg grave: Ca. 834 AD

Notably, the fertility goddess Freyja fulfilled the role of goddess who was drawn on a chariot. The goddess Freya was of the Vanir, which may emphasize a hypothetical connection between the Vanir and the Neolithic farmers.

Women represent fertility and the spring equinox can be associated with both human and land fertility. Thus, rituals that took place around this time of year can be linked to the sexuality of both. A similar pattern can be seen in the Greek cult of Demeter and Persephone, which also possibly dated from the Neolithic.

In graves from the Viking Age, dozens of jewelry pieces of spoked wheels have been found. Often these have four, nine, or twelve spokes. Some pieces of jewelry have been found in the graves of religious specialists or völvas. 

In Viking culture, wheel jewelry represents Freya: the goddess of fertility and death. Whether the wheel jewelry symbolizes the wheels of the chariot or the sun itself is unclear. The meaning is the same. Within this dharmic religion, death and fertility are interconnected and this is symbolized in the goddess Freya. 

The beauty of fertile young women represented both the fertility of the land and humanity.  These processions possibly had a sexual charge, they were performed in the spring around the Ostara and Beltane festivals. During these, young men and women would go into the woods to make love. Across Indo-European Europe, this tradition has its variants, often followed by women washing themselves with the dew, which stands for ritual cleansing. 

There could be only one woman as the May Queen. She was the most beautiful and came from the highest class of society. Ultimately, beauty stands for both cosmic order and authority. She was beautifully dressed, likely adorned with flowers, and paraded in a procession on a chariot. 

Without blinding ourselves with modern views on possible objectification of the female gender, we must understand how important fertility was for the survival of our culture. With a child mortality rate of 50% and an average life expectancy of 40 to 50 years, replenishing the population was a great necessity to avoid extinction.