Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/101

 Rh of Olaf and the other saints were carved in wood, just as those of the old gods had been.

The fact that the worship of Saint Olaf was not, like that of the Swedish Saint Erik, limited principally to his own country, shows that there must have been some special reason for the prominent position he occupied within the northern Church. Countless images and legends prove that Olaf was commonly worshipped, not only in Norway, but in the other northern countries,—in Finland as well as in Sweden. If the Christian Scandinavians looked upon him in the same way as their heathen ancestors had looked upon Thor, we can easily understand why it was so.

Just as people in old days believed that Thor could grant good harvests, so even in the nineteenth century they have supposed Olaf to be in possession of the same power. Stories from the south of Sweden and from Denmark tell how the peasants were wont to drag the image of Saint Olaf round the fields after the sowing. The image of Saint Olaf in Vånga church in Vestergötland was carried round in that way, in spite of vigorous protests from the clergy. The peasants had given it the name of the "corn god."

Olaf's axe has, just like Thor's hammer, been used to consecrate with, the word consecrate being here taken in its original meaning of hallowing. We have the most notable example of this use of Olaf's axe in the church close to Simrishamn in Skåne, which is called after him. The saint carries in his hand a silver axe. On Saint Olaf's day, the 29th of July, there is a great muster of people in the church. There they take the axe from the saint's hand, and rub themselves with it nine times. After every third time they replace the axe in the hand of the saint, in order to renew its strength. It is needless to point out that the numbers three and nine are sacred.

A particularly interesting proof that Olaf is the Christian heir of Thor is given by the following fact. There is a little Swedish town still named after Thor,—Torshälla, in