When one thinks of religion in Scandinavia, two large images can come to mind, the pagan ways of the Norse and the current ways of Christianity and Protestantism. What is most surprising though is the rate at which the culture changed from one to the other when thinking on a wider scale. Christianity has been in Scandinavia for a little less than a thousand years, and while that may seem long, it is actually short given the amount of change that took place during that time. From heathendom, to Christianity, and to the Reformation, Scandinavia has been on a constant path of change to best fit their needs whether for practical or spiritual reasons. The majority of what we know about the Norse faith comes from the sagas. Specifically, those transcribed by Snorri …show more content…
The desire for this kind of death fueled the need for the Vikings to fight others and also serves as an excuse to pillage weaker areas for their treasure and goods. Along with these stories were the actual practices of the people. Feasts and animal sacrifices were among the more common ones .There is also evidence of human sacrifices for when the people were desperate such as during famines. This, along with the constant raiding in Europe, gave the Norse an understandably negative image. When the Norse tried to move from raiding to trading this of course impeded relations with western Europe. So, a change was needed. While Christianity had been introduced by missionaries such as St. Ansgar, it was not until King Håkon the Good came into power from 934-961 A.D. that Christianity was accepted and practiced by Norse nobility. However, he seemed to be Christian in only name, since he still practiced the pagan rituals . The truer Christian rulers who would actually oversee the conversion were Harald Bluetooth of Denmark and Olaf Tryggvason of Norway. For them, Christianity brought political alliances, power, and salvation. In his sagas, when Harald converts he