Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 1.djvu/105

 gilded; for the Northmen appear to have been profuse in gilding, from the descriptions of their war vessels with gilded sides and prows; and the scalds, in their symbolical inflated language, may have called this the serpent or dragon of Thor: but wood-work leaves no trace to posterity, and of stone-work no mark remains of any exterior circumvallation; and it must be confessed that no trace remains in this locality of magnificence belonging to the paganism of the North. The gold chains, bracelets, armlets, anklets—too small for men, and of exquisite workmanship—which have been found in the North, and are preserved in the museums of Copenhagen, Christiania, and Stockholm, if they really belonged to northern idols, and were not rather the hoarded plunder of vikings gathered in more civilised or refined lands, or of Væringer returned from Constantinople, give a much higher idea of the splendour of the pagan religion of Odin than any architectural remains in Scandinavia. The sites of Sigtuna and of Birca—now Old Sigtuna, mentioned by Adam of Bremen in the above extract—are at the head of the Mælare lake, and would well deserve the careful examination of the antiquarian traveller. Walls are still standing there which have at least the interest of being among the oldest architectural fragments of the North.

The most permanent remains of the Odin religion are to be found in the usages and language of the descendants of the Odin worshippers. All the descendants of the great Saxon race retain the names of three days of the week—Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday—from the Odin religion. Tuesday, perhaps, or Diss-day, on which the offerings to Fate were made, and the courts of justice held, may belong also to the number. Yule is a pagan festival kept in the pagan way, with merriment and good cheer, all over the Saxon world. Beltan is kept on Midsummer-day, all