What do we know about the Vikings religon?

Their has been evidence of Vikings believing in the Norse gods who date back before the Egyptian Gods. Their religion involved giants, mythical beasts and Gods which represent the elements. Their main god is Odin, the god of wisdom. he was the father of most powerful gods and the grandfather of the lesser gods. He traded his left eye with a great eagle for unlimited wisdom. Another god which is featured in movies like the avengers is thor, the god of thunder and strength.

besides fighting, the Vikings love to hear stories about fighting. The have world famous poems and songs about brave warriors fighting dragons and mythical beasts such as Beowulf. In the poem, a brave warrior travels to the king of the Danes Hroogar whose castle has been haunted by a monster called a Grendel. After Beowulf slays him Grendel's mother attacks the castle and she is also killed. Then Beowulf returns to his homeland  the Geatlands in Sweden where he becomes king but a dragon then attacks his land and both the dragon and Beowulf are killed in the fighting and his corpse was buried in tumulus, a Viking burial ground in Sweden.

This is one of the many stories the Vikings created. Evidence suggested that the reason for these stories are that the Vikings want to be just like one of their legend heroes because they believed that when you die you go to a place called Valhalla and the only way to get into Valhalla is to die in battle or do heroic thinks in your life such as slay dragons. These poems were like helpful advice to them for achieving the reward of a lifetime, go to a place when you die full of the greatest things imaginable, which is Valhalla. Where they can fight, drink, and sing songs all day long and not get tired, sick, drunk or injured.


In conclusion, from what we know about Viking stories and legends is that they were a very superstitious race of people who believed in Gods and dragons and that the meaning of life is about fighting. which is why they were so good at it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valhalla
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/vikings/beliefs_and_stories/