Community of Forn Sed Sweden
The Community of Forn Sed Sweden, formerly the Swedish Asatro Community is a heathen organization founded in 1994.
Council gyðja and goði of the Community of Forn Sed Sweden hallowing the blót at the annual Thing in June 2011. The god-images represent Forseti, Freyja, Freyr, Frigg, and Thor.
Blót or geblōt are religious ceremonies in Germanic paganism that centred on the killing and offering of an animal to a particular being, typically followed by the communal cooking and eating of its meat. Old Norse sources present it as a central ritual in Old Nordic religion that was intimately connected with many wider aspects of life.
Large blót are often described as taking place in halls, organised by the rulers of the region who were expected to carry out the practice on behalf of the people. Blót were central to the legitimacy of rulers and Christian rulers refusing to hold them were at times replaced by more willing alternatives and driven out of the land. Smaller, household blót were sometimes recorded as being led by women. Beyond strengthening legitimacy for the ruling elites, the performance of blót was often in order to ensure the fertility of the land, a good harvest and peace, although they are also recorded as being performed for divination or to achieve desired results in legal matters.
The Stentoften Stone, bearing a runic inscription that likely describes a blót of nine he-goats and nine male horses bringing fertility to the land.
A reconstructed Viking Age hall at the Lofotr Viking Museum in Lofoten, Norway
A drinking scene on an image stone from Gotland, Swedish Museum of National Antiquities, Stockholm.
A painting of a goði leading the people in sacrificing to an idol of Thor by J. L. Lund.