Page:The Finding of Wineland the Good.djvu/240

 Thorhall who went to Wineland was a young man and unmarried, as is not improbable, it is manifest that he could not have had a married son living in Iceland in 1014, and chronologically it would then appear to be impossible to identify the Thorhall, Gamli's son of Grettis Saga, with the man of the same name in Eric's Saga; this is, of course, purely conjectural, but from the other data previously cited, it would appear to be pretty clearly established, that the Thorhall, Gamli's son of Grettis Saga, was called after his father Vindlendingr [Wendlander], and that he was an altogether different man from the Thorhall, Gamli's son, of the Saga of Eric the Red.

(43) The celebration of Yule was one of the most important festivals of the year, in the North, both in heathen and in Christian times. Before the introduction of Christianity, it was the central feast of three, which were annually held. Of the significance of these three heathen ceremonials, we read: 'Odin established in his realm those laws, which had obtained with the Ases...At the beginning of winter a sacrificial banquet was to be held for a good year [til árs], in mid-winter they should offer sacrifice for increase [til gróðrar], and the third [ceremonial], the sacrifice for victory, was to be held at the beginning of summer [at sumri].' [Ynglinga Saga, 'Lagasetning Óðins,' in Heimskringla, ed. Unger, Chr'a., 1868, p. 9.] As to the exact time of the holding of the Yule-feast, it is stated in the Saga of Hacon the Good: 'He established the law, that the keeping of Yule should be made to conform to the time fixed by Christians, and every one should then stand possessed of a measure of ale, or should pay the equivalent, and should hold the whole Yule-tide sacred. Before this Yule began with [lit. had been kept on] "hǫku" night, which was the mid-winter night, and Yule was kept for three nights.' [Saga Hákonar góða, in Heimskringla, ed. Unger, p. 92.] The heathen Yule seems not to have coincided exactly with the Christian Christmas festival, and hence the change adopted by Hacon, who was a Christian, and who hoped, no doubt, to aid the propagation of his faith by thus blending the two festivals. Of the manner in which the three heathen festivals were transformed into Christian holidays by those who had experienced a change of faith, we read: 'There was a man named Sigurd....He was accustomed, while heathendom survived, to hold three sacrifices every winter; one at the beginning of winter [at vetrnóttum], a second at mid-winter, a third at the beginning of summer [at sumri]. But when he accepted Christianity, he still retained his old custom regarding the feats. He gave a great banquet to his friends in the autumn; a Yule-feast in the winter, to which he also invited many persons; the third banquet he held at Easter, and to this also he invited many guests.' [Saga Óláfs hins helga, in Heimskringla, ed. Unger, p. 351–52.] We learn from the Saga of the Foster-brothers, that the celebration of the Yule-tide in this fashion, was of rare occurrence in Greenland, ['því at sjaldan var Jóladrykkja á Grœnlandi.' Fóstbrœðra Saga, Copenh. 1822, p. 138. Konrad Gislason's edition of the same saga has: 'því at hann vil jóladrykkju hafa, ok gera sér þat til ágætis—því at sjaldan voro drykkjur á Grenlandi,' 'for he desired to give a Yule-wassail, and get himself fame thereby,—for they seldom had drinking-bouts in Greenland.' Fóstbræðra Saga, Copenh. 1852, p. 84.]

(44) Freydis also accompanied the expedition, as appears further on in the saga.

(45) This passage is one of the most obscure in the saga. If the conjecture as to the probable site of the Western Settlement, in the vicinity of Godthaab is correct, it is not apparent why Karlsefni should have first directed his course to the north-west, when his