As a cat owner, I read with interest that kittens were given to Viking brides by their husbands as a Viking wedding tradition. This tradition is thought to be rooted in Norse mythology and the goddess Freyja who, in the Norse mythos, rides in a chariot pulled by two cats. As a goddess she is associated with love, sex, beauty, and fertility as well as other things like war, death, and gold. I set out to find out if this kittens for Viking brides as a wedding gift is a fact, fiction, or somewhere in-between.

Giving of kittens Viking wedding tradition

I have found two variations of the giving of kittens as an ancient Viking wedding tradition. The thing both of these variations have in common is that the kittens were given to a new bride to help set up her new household. On the practical side, they helped take care of rats, and on the mythos side, cats were associated with the goddess of love, Freyja, who received two cats as a gift from Thor. These cats were blue or gray and pulled her chariot.

Members of the community gave the bride a kitten or kittens.
The groom gave the bride a kitten

Learning from Freyja’s cats

We are introduced to Freyja’s Cats in a description of Freyja found in Of Freyr and Freyja, “When she goes forth, she drives her cats and sits in a chariot.” While cats are found in prose like this, it turns out that cats were uncommon in Iceland even in medieval times. In the Norse world, the use of the cat, for the most part, has ritualistic connotations, so I looked into Freyja’s Cats to see if I could find a direct link to this goddess and any wedding tradition related to kittens or cats.

As I searched through archaeological evidence, I didn’t find a picture stone, rune stone, or tapestry showing evidence of a Viking wedding related to a kitten or cat. In sagas, cats tended to be portrayed as harmful forces which wouldn’t make for a good wedding gift. On the other hand, in Brenda Prehal’s Freyja's Cats: Perspectives on Recent Viking Age Finds in Þegjandadalur North Iceland she points out that “Cats were rare, especially in Iceland, expensive, and connected with the most powerful Norse goddess, Freyja, as well as her magic.” That could make them a coveted wedding gift.

If you know of a source showing cats given as gifts to brides in the Viking culture, please let me know. I'd love to hear from you.

Cat Bobble Head Ring Holder

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Photo credits: Wikimedia, wikimedia, pixabay

When you think of Vikings, the first thing to come to mind often is the brutality associated with their raping, pillaging, and conquering lifestyle. Yet, unlike the Spartans, Vikings honored several wedding traditions and marriage was the center of the family structure in the Viking culture and quite involved. For instance, planning the wedding required the families of the bride and groom to discuss and settle on inheritances, property transfers and dowries before the wedding could take place. These customs were considered critical for the marriage to be blessed by their deities and weren’t the only thing that took time. While most weddings took place within a year, at times planning could take as much as three years.

Viking wedding customs

Once all these customs were settled, a public wedding ceremony and feast took place. This included many elements common in celebrating marriage today and included vows, a banquet, and of course much partying. However, these nuptials usually went on for at least three days and could easily last a week.

As for the religious aspect of the ceremony, their Old Norse polytheistic religion included many gods and goddesses. Weddings were always held on Friday (Friggas-day) to honor the goddess of marriage. A Norse goddess linked to oaths and pledges was believed to witness the bride and groom reciting their vows, and petitions for blessings may have also been requested from Thor, who was one of their most popular gods. Petitions to the fertility deity Freyr and his goddess sister Freyja, a deity of love, beauty, war and death were also made. These gods were believed to express human emotions and in some cases were married with a family.

When the wedding could be held was dictated by other things like the weather. For instance, guests would have a hard time traveling in the wither months, and just like today, plans included making arrangements for appropriate accommodations for guests, and making sure there was enough food and drink for everyone for the duration of the festivities. This also included the bridal ale. It was a legal restriction that the bride and groom drink bridal ale, which meant honey had to be available to make enough of mead for the month following the wedding.

Gifts and rings

The Viking groom presented his bride with the sword of his ancestors which she was to hold in trust for her son. In turn, the bride gave her husband her father's sword. This exchange of gifts of the ancestral swords formed a sacred bond of union which was consecrated by mystic rites under the favor of the presiding deities of wedlock. The bride's gift of her father’s sword, signified the transfer of the father’s guardianship and protection of his daughter as the responsibility was handed over to her new husband. This rite signified the traditions of the family and the continuation of the bloodline. The exchange of rings followed the exchange of swords. The groom offered the bride a ring on the hilt of his new sword, and the bride offered the groom’s wedding ring in the same way on the sword she had received.

Viking marriage heart of family structure

Each tradition and wedding ritual was believed essential to earn the blessings of the gods, as an important steppingstone to becoming a parent, and continuing the Viking bloodline. Marriage was the heart of family structure in Viking culture, but divorce was freely available.

The ideal bride was expected to be chaste before marriage and a faithful wife, but a clear double standard existed when it came to the man. Viking reasons for chastity weren’t religious but financial. While Vikings could marry for love and not for familial advantage, an unwed maid was a marketable commodity and could bring wealth to her family with a higher bride-price. On the other hand, illegitimate children could actually bring about financial hardship for the woman’s family. The woman’s “value” could also help shape a favorable alliance with other families when she married. However, the only restriction placed on a man's sexual activity was to penalize him with a small fine if he slept with a woman not his wife. However, he could purchase a slave woman to have as a “bed-slave” with no penalty.

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About Wedding Traditions & Meanings

Monday, May 27, 2019

Kittens for brides a Viking wedding tradition?