Ancient Pagan Tradition: Sacrifices Beneath the Floor

Рет қаралды 20,230

Күн бұрын

Animal sacrifice under the home? The custom of burying an animal under the foundations of a house is not only very widespread; found in Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, Finland and beyond, but is also very old, dating back to the Indo-Europeans of the Bronze Age Europe. It even spread as far away as America and India! In this video I trace the customs origins and dispersal and explain the magical function of the animal and human sacrifices underneath the home.
Grab Atlas VPN for just $1.83/mo+ 3 months extra before the BIG DEAL expires: get.atlasvpn.com/Jive
This channel depends on your support:
Patreon: / survivethejive
All Links: linktr.ee/SurvivetheJive
Sources:
Eliade, Mircea - Zalmoxis - The Vanishing God-The University of Chicago Press (1972)
Hukantaival, Sonja. (2009). Horse Skulls and "Alder-Horse": The Horse as a Depositional "Sacrifice" in Buildings. Archaeologia Baltica. 11. 350-356.
Kuzmina, The Origins of Indo-Iranians, 2007
Manning, M. Chris. “The Material Culture of Ritual Concealments in the United States.” Historical Archaeology, vol. 48, no. 3, 2014, pp. 52-83.
O’Reilly, Barry. “Hearth and Home: The Vernacular House in Ireland from c. 1800.” Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature, vol. 111C, 2011, pp. 193-215.
Ó Súilleabháin, Seán. “Foundation Sacrifices.” The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. 75, no. 1, 1945, pp. 45-52.
Søvsø, M., et al. 'Om hugorme, dyrekranier og tordensten- bygningsofre og andre skikke med rødder i folketroen'
00:00 Introduction
02:19 Iron Age
03:40 Britain and America
06:37 Saint Oran of Iona
07:56 Manole of Romania
09:22 Indo-Iranians
12:31 Ireland
15:02 Scandinavia
20:34 Finland and Alder horse
22:25 Conclusion

Пікірлер: 306

@atkkeqnfr 8 ай бұрын

I found some cow skulls under my great Grandfather's floorboards in Geneva Nebraska; a rural farming town of 2,000 in the middle of the country (USA). I have a feeling there's a lot more in rural America.

@Survivethejive 8 ай бұрын

That is awesome!

@destructionindustries1987 7 ай бұрын

Can you explain in detail? I'm curious how big the structure, where exactly were the skulls, and anything else helpful in constructing a diorama. Thx

@thenewhandlessuck 7 ай бұрын

Hello fellow Nebraskan!! That actually was something I thought about along side the horseshoe tradition I see in rural parts of Nebraska and South Dakota

@derealized797 4 ай бұрын

Seriously, check this out. A friend of mine was doing work on this old, old house last year, remodeling and all this different stuff. One of the things he found inside of the walls (and he took pictures of everything with his cell phone) was around 9 or so cat skeletons. Discussing this, we thought it was a bit strange to find that many, and the thought is disturbing... but moving on with the story. At some point he noticed that the roof seemed to sag in the middle, meaning it needed a support beam put in to help with this. So down in the basement he went to the middle, tore out a bit of wall, and started on the floor. He had to dig down deep enough for this, but there was all these layers of wood and dirt and rock. A lot to get through. Then came a big boulder he had to lift out, and finally after struggling to remove that from the hole, he found what appeared to be human bones along with what looked like really old panty hose or something. As though at some point in this really old house's long history, something happened or someone tried to hide something. Anyway. After a few days had passed, he was there again at the house, up near the road getting some things together. A neighbor walking by decided to stop and talk, and according to this neighbor, the people who used to live there had said something about "strange occurrences" in the home. To the point that they had a priest come in and bless the house. Also, the priest stopped at the basement, because it "gave him a bad feeling" and he wasn't comfortable going down there. He didn't tell anyone else about what he found in there so... it is a creepy situation. If people put bones in walls for a reason, then maybe more of this makes some sense now. The 'odd' bones hidden deep under the floor though. No idea.

@eldrishpuza8512 2 ай бұрын

@@Survivethejivewe also had this traditions in Albania up to late 20th cetury. It mostly were goats sheep or cow that were sacrificed. We also have a legend in north Albania in the city of Shkoder for the castle origin.

@Franny95639 8 ай бұрын

My husband was a builder in Adelaide, South Australia. He would purchase old decrepit houses, restore them & sell them on. In one old coachman's cottage, built c. 1840 - 50, we had to pull up the floor & found single shoes deposited under each external door, along with small items (parts of a tiny child's teaset, coins & glass marbles) under the windows. He said they often found shoes under the door frames of the older houses. Never knew why until years later. No skulls, though, but I seem to recall a cat skeleton once, in the floor space under an old building, which we wondered how it got there, considering the fact that you had to take the floor off to get to the foundations. So, they carried these beliefs to Australia as well.

@ShootingUtah 8 ай бұрын

I'm quite sure my childhood home that was built by my Swedish great great grandfather in the United States had horse 🐴 skulls in the crawl space below the house. I was quite young but remember when my parents inherited the house and were renovating things they had to do some plumbing work below the house. If I remember correctly there were at least 3 skulls down there. Maybe more. None of us had any clue what it was about. The house was built in 1903 or something but had previously had an older mud brick structure in the same place so they could have been from my ancestors that came directly from Sweden in the 1850's who placed them there.

@ScottJB 8 ай бұрын

Based on your username and comment, sounds like you might be a fellow Scandinavian-descended Utahn gone pagan? Fascinating if so, as I wouldn't have thought those old folk ways very welcome in the Scandinavian Mormon immigrant communities here, because they're, well, not very Mormon. Lol.

@varalderfreyr8438 7 ай бұрын

@@ScottJB How anti-pagan do you reckon mormons are? IDK myself.

@ScottJB 7 ай бұрын

@@varalderfreyr8438 Most Mormons would actually think paganism is just weird. Mormonism is cartoonishly literalist, so they'd think you believe in a Thor that has a literal hammer, literal goats, and a literal chariot in the physical universe. If you actually explained it and made them understand it better, they'd probably just think it's a deception of the devil and that you're a good person who's deceived. I haven't told any of my Mormon family I'm pagan. They just know I'm ExMormon. But as for some of these old folk ways, as long as it wasn't labeled as pagan, I'm sure many of the first generations of Mormons would have continued traditions they thought were Christian but we're actually pagan. Many of them settled in isolated communities of Mormon Danes and Swedes that all felt comfortable with these ways.

@tomhickey711 8 ай бұрын

In Ireland a lot of pagan rites were dressed up in Christian or secular customs to make them acceptable. Water spirits or deities became holy wells etc.. I wonder if the acoustic explanation was a cover for the true purpose as a ward which the parish priest would frown on.

@stevenschnepp576 8 ай бұрын

That's my guess. It started as a cover, and people forgot that it was a cover and just kept it up, not really knowing why their ancestors once did it.

@madMARTYNmarsh1981 8 ай бұрын

This doesn't surprise me at all. Christmas and Easter were originally Pagan festivals that had a Christian re-writing. I wonder how many different versions of Paganism and their beliefs have been lost to the Christian conversion of Europe.

@michaelcaffery5038 8 ай бұрын

That is a good explanation and very possible.

@michaelcaffery5038 8 ай бұрын

I once overheard in a shop in Ireland a woman saying to another with amazement that apparently worshipping at holy wells was not in the bible. It's that ingrained and amalgamated.

@ekmad 8 ай бұрын

As an internet oldhead I do love a classic "Problem?" trollface reference.

@forestcuriousity 8 ай бұрын

Funny, last year I was speaking with a "Macedonian" and she said theres a tradition/supersition of burying a sheeps skull under a house when building it

@kirsichadburn8638 8 ай бұрын

Found lower jaw of a horse skull in our old cottage in Suffolk (in the original exterior flint wall). Figured it was for protection for the cottage so put it back. Also found half a cart wheel in the roof and left that too. In my current 1970’s built house I put stones with holes in rooms for protection and have 4 horse shoes in the garden - some open side up and some facing down reflecting my English/Finnish heritage…some of us still do these things!

@chickadee317 8 ай бұрын

The stones with holes, are they commonly known as hag stones?

@Darknscary13 8 ай бұрын

You can never fully take the pagan out of our folk, it's an integral part of who we are deep down. I'm sure we'll be giving our homes equine acoustic boosts for centuries to come. 😁

@Itzpapalotl. 8 ай бұрын

It’s not who we are. Barbaric Canaanites. Who later became the Romans the Egyptians may be even as far as the Aztecs were all from the Same wicked seed.

@Vunderbread 8 ай бұрын

“… and he offered to be buried alive”. Just to get a building up! They don’t make men like they used to.

@thoughtfulcarnivore7657 8 ай бұрын

Actually they can take it out of us by breeding us out of existence.

@kevinlawler3252 8 ай бұрын

@Darknscary13 It really is true. This fire I have for our culture is an inferno.. I intend to let it all out if things continue as I suspect they will in America.. things are really out of hand.. wars on many fronts, we have masses of flooding immigrants who create chaos.. our government is all traitors.. we have radical Marxists who have infiltrated every institution.. I am going full homestead with the family.. Nithing poles are going up and skull will decorate the perimeter

@GuyFromThePast 8 ай бұрын

Yep, even in Finland during the 1600s there were arrests made in Tavastia for making offerings to Ukko who was the God of thunder and harvest.

@lamebubblesflysohigh 8 ай бұрын

This was also done in Slovakia and Czech Republic but I suspect everywhere where Indo-Europeans went

@Survivethejive 8 ай бұрын

Not so much in southern Europe

@lamebubblesflysohigh 8 ай бұрын

@@Survivethejive Not even in prehistory?

@varjovirta3085 8 ай бұрын

@@Survivethejive then how on earth it could be IE practise if for example Romans and Greeks didn't do it?

@varalderfreyr8438 7 ай бұрын

@@varjovirta3085 Maybe the romans and greeks are less indo-european?

@groundzero5708 7 ай бұрын

@@varalderfreyr8438 they were indo european

@JoshuaPerkins-by2rj 8 ай бұрын

P.S. I wonder how my band mates would feel about me bringing horse head skulls and penny rolls to our next rehearsal;)

@HPLoveshaft6969 8 ай бұрын

I'm reminded of Poe's story The Black Cat. Perhaps he found a petrified cat in the wall of his house, and wondering why it was there, wrote that story.

@thebeltingbalaclava4798 8 ай бұрын

This is one of the most insightful channels I've come across. I've been watching a lot of your older videos too recently. Great work.

@soundwave631 8 ай бұрын

Its worth mentioning that the aspect of human sacrifice also exists in Europe to this day in a bit of a different form. In Greece and some other balkan states, there is a little-known custom of measuring a stranger's shadow and then burying said measurement beneath the cornerstone or door of a building. This is believed to trap the soul of the unwitting stranger in the stone of the building to protect it, and there are tales of these people soon meeting their untimely end shortly after the building is constructed. This stems from earlier practices of sacrificing a slave and burying them, sometimes while still alive, under a temple's cornerstone.

@cecilyerker 4 ай бұрын

That’s low down. Highly unethical.

@5amH45lam 8 ай бұрын

We all need to "strengthen our spiritual defence" for what's to come.

@JoshuaPerkins-by2rj 8 ай бұрын

Tom, once again you hit it out of the park. As usual the detail, cross references, and tying everything together was on spot, I learned a lot. We keep a horse shoe up in our house. Also thank you for mentioning the Corded Ware, it is completely relevant, it’s catching on👍

@Vingul 8 ай бұрын

Having a horseshoe nailed over a doorway means good luck in Norway, I've always sort of taken it for granted so I've never thought of it in terms of Indo-European traditional roots until now.

@joshuaperkins9916 8 ай бұрын

Same here, I always new it represented good luck, but kind of took it for granted as well. Incidentally I have a good dose of Norwegian in my heritage, enjoyed visiting family there back in 88 just out of high school. I live in California.

@svijetlanradov8235 8 ай бұрын

Brilliant video as always! One interesting fact: in the book "Bridge on the river Drina" by the Bosnian winner of Nobel prize for literature Ivo Andrić mentions that in order to build the bridge on the river Drina, children had to be walled in to placate local vilas (nymphs).

@iaindcosta 4 ай бұрын

When they moved London Bridge to Arizona they found multiple bodies

@therealshannonpeoples 8 ай бұрын

I’m pleased to see that he has upgraded to a true KZbinr-styled studio with the audio and backlighting and all that. I’ve watched Thom for years and have never seen him treat himself to a studio! Looks great 🫡

@mariongranbruheim4090 8 ай бұрын

2:47 The house I grew up in, in a Scandinavian village, had a horse shoe over the main door. I never investigated what might have been buried under it, though. 🙂

@OlavEngelbrektson 8 ай бұрын

Even though I count myself an ardent roman catholic this is somewhat interesting to me. My maternal great-great-grandfather discovered all kinds of things in the walls of house on the family estate, when they were renovating it around the turn of the century. According to my mother they found: half a horse skull (it was missing its jaw), a small cart wheel, iron nails bound together in a circle, broken horseshoes, two damaged axeheads, and a wooden crucifix with a corpus made of some type of silver (I am guessing it is the typical 830). Most of it was either immediately burnt or disposed of in another way along with trash from the renovation effort. The cart wheel was hung up on the side of the old barn though, until they tore it down in the 1920s, while the crucifix disappeared at some point during ww2. As a side note painting crosses on the doors/walls and carving/painting the Rose of Holy Olaf on buildings was really common in the region I come from (Telemark). And of course we still paint plauge crosses. There was also a case in the national news here in Norway some time ago where someone found human remains embedded in the concrete foundations of the staircase leading into the finders house.

@noreply-7069 8 ай бұрын

A Roman Catholic Norwegian? That's odd, shouldn't you be Protestant?

@OlavEngelbrektson 8 ай бұрын

@@noreply-7069 We do exist and have done so since the late 1800s. We are slowly but steadily growing in numbers and influence too, especially considering the significant number of so-called "intellectual converts" among Norwegian Catholics, meaning we have considerable cultural capital. In reality this is really just a reification of the natural Norwegian religious expression, because the Norwegian Reformation was both top-down and imposed by a monarch no longer concerned with the rights of his subjects.

@noreply-7069 8 ай бұрын

@@OlavEngelbrektson That's interesting, thanks for the information. I'm not that familiar with Norwegian religiousness, as a Finn I just assumed that basically Nordic Christians are mostly protestant.

@stevenschnepp576 8 ай бұрын

@@noreply-7069 That's like saying "An American atheist? That's odd, shouldn't you be Protestant?" Not everyone is a carbon copy of their national stereotypes.

@chadplow824 8 ай бұрын

@@noreply-7069 The Christians in Norway would have all been Catholic by default before the Protestant reformation.

@misterrsur8409 8 ай бұрын

It's worthy of note that in New England (USA) there was a rash of discoveries of old shoes and clothing like dresses or vests found in the walls or under the threshold of homes. Locals believe it was a form of protecting a generational home. A homeowner and builder adding his blood to the mortar of the cornerstone or flagstone was another custom that got attention for a brief amount of time. I can only assume it has similar roots.

@derealized797 4 ай бұрын

@lairdkilbarchan 8 ай бұрын

Besides mummified cats, I've also found ancient hobnailed boots under the hearth or at the foot of the stairs; apparently this was another way to ward off witchcraft. And since keeping one in my toolshed, I've never had a break-in. Highly recommended. 🥾 😉👍

@auntiecarol 8 ай бұрын

My grandpa's unit was in Bengal (and then Burma) during WWII. He came back with a host of goodies, one of which, he was told, was a charm to keep him safe from tigers. Amazingly, he was never attacked by a tiger, neither overseas nor back in Blighty.

@lairdkilbarchan 8 ай бұрын

It didn't happen to be a monkey's paw, did it?@@auntiecarol

@auntiecarol 8 ай бұрын

@@lairdkilbarchan 😅

@Vingul 8 ай бұрын

Probably your most Lovecraftian title yet!

@candylandi5351 8 ай бұрын

I explored a lot of old and rural abandones houses in my place in Central Italy in my life, I never noticed animals bones under the floor (because I never searched them) except mummified recent animals or, one time, a dog in a plastic bag into the fireplace but I think it was just a pet's burial of someone too lazy to dig a grave. But very commonly I found the horse shoes on the door or on the fireplace, I also kept the one I found in the very small house I have now.

@WhiteWolfeHU 8 ай бұрын

We don’t have many interactions with horses in the modern era. Its a bit amazing to think they were everywhere like cars, all filling the cities and pretty much everyone having one… horse sales were like car sales with different qualities and prices…

@jennaforesti 8 ай бұрын

As an odd side note: how did decomposing large animal remains (say a horse) buried under a foundation or corner stone or the threshold, etc. not cause the building to shift as the animals decomposed?

@thomaslambert2901 8 ай бұрын

Here in the Appalachian area , they put rattlesnake rattles in 🎻 fiddles 🎻 . There's a good folk tale on the different reasons

@jennaforesti 8 ай бұрын

In the US finding a cat skeleton with shoes and iron nails and sometimes bottles is not uncommon in older houses. They tend to be collected in the walls, though, rather than the floors or foundation.

@VOLKN 8 ай бұрын

Great video, Tom. Appreciated. As a musician, pagan, and someome who will be building a house next year on a rather large island in the pacific ocean, i will be sure to pick several choice skulls to lay under the floorboards overwhich i plan to die in 50 - 60 years. Your videos are essential. Thank you.

@jemmajames6719 8 ай бұрын

I’m in a house from the 1930s and our builder found a horse when renovating our house, I’m in my late fifties and remember people of my Grandparents age had horse shoes on garage doors, I remember being told it had to be the right way up to catch the luck in the horse’s shoe. I remember a lot of people of that generation had rabbit paws as well.

@ritasjourney 8 ай бұрын

I’m around your age and had a rabbit’s foot. Horseshoes on homes were very common too in the 70s

@diregnome4898 8 ай бұрын

From now on when a video has poor audio quality, instead of suggesting a new mic or EQ, I will suggest skulls!

@harrietharlow9929 2 ай бұрын

I hadn't heard of this until now. Thanks for uploading this, Tom! I learn something new every time I watch (or rewatch) one of your videos.

@penapenkki 8 ай бұрын

One of the castles I've visited here in Finland, Olavinlinna, also had a myth of a maiden being burried inside the walls. Brilliant video as always! 👏

@jordanaz 8 ай бұрын

Plenty of examples in Tasmania even.

@clodoveo-guillermei.destep8522 7 ай бұрын

In my region, in the Highlands of the Banat (nowaday's Romania, former Hungary) our custom is to sacrifice a rooster and bury it's head in the foundation of a new building. Then with it's blood we wash the tools to be used in the building. My population has a quite a lot of Celtic inheritage, usually mixed with Roman. Also Germanic, Turanic, Magyar and some Serbian.

@Survivethejive 7 ай бұрын

Fascinating

@GarrettTruesdale 8 ай бұрын

these customs died out recently. But we can be glad that in video games and other fiction these old customs still are being enjoyed. In various games on Steam there are portals made of stone similar to the holy holes video. We can keep the old ways alive in our fiction, video games, and film.

@jjm19955 8 ай бұрын

In the region of the USA where I grew up, there is a long tradition of interring cat skeletons in the walls of houses near the foundation for good luck. I have a childhood memory of helping my dad tear out a portion of plaster wall in a 19th century farmhouse and finding a cat skeleton trapped inside the plaster. At the time, I flummoxed as to how it could have gotten there. Later, I found out that such finds are typical.

@jovanmaksimovic6544 8 ай бұрын

This belief is found in the Serbian epic poem “The Building of Skadar”

@davek89666 8 ай бұрын

@Survivethejive I have a few witch stones! (Stones with holes through which you can see the true form of a Sídhe. Your channel is a gem

@Survivethejive 8 ай бұрын

See my video on holy holes

@87stevan 8 ай бұрын

Thanks for the well thought out and interesting videos Tom. Hope you and the family had a good time in Greece. Was really great to see you on The Lotus Eaters podcast and the New Culture Forum a few weeks back.. I think this type of networking between like minded appreciators of England and English culture and history is really helpful.

@stalker3348 8 ай бұрын

Excellent video as always. Cheers!

@kcarter0265 7 ай бұрын

Here in the southern US, horseshoes are still considered lucky and many will hang them over or beside doorways of houses and barns. You see it more in those of English/scots/Irish descent than others.

@magicsharkwizard4577 8 ай бұрын

My home has very good acoustics. Many horses must be buried below it. Many thanks for the explanation.

@justjosie1163 8 ай бұрын

Thank you for this presentation. I have looked for information on traditional location sighting, building position, blessings, and such as related to our people's houses. I hope you will address more videos on our folk beliefs regarding homes.

@barkershill 8 ай бұрын

Many years ago I was doing some building work on an old farmhouse in north Dorset and dug up a great pile of cow horns buried about two feet down right next to the outside of the house . There were scores of them . I heard from the people who lived there that they subsequently found even more . There were no other remains .just loads of horns . I am puzzled not by what the purpose was but where they got that many horns and what they did with the rest of the animal.

@stevenschnepp576 8 ай бұрын

Well, cows _do_ have a great deal of tasty meat and useful products on them.

@michaelcaffery5038 8 ай бұрын

They may have been intended to make things like gunpowder flasks, drinking vessels or snuff containers (mulls) and then not bothered with. Cattle are regularly de-horned on farms.

@davideddy2672 6 ай бұрын

How were the horns sat within the ground (were they upright), did they contain anything? Cow horns are used in biodynamic agriculture - filled with an organic mix, left to ferment over Winter until Spring - and the contents then mixed in barrels of water to make an organic fertiliser feed.

@leonpage2777 8 ай бұрын

Great video Tom, keep up the good work. Where I come from in Essex it’s quite common to find dead Cats buried in the walls of old timber framed houses.

@michaelgratton1767 8 ай бұрын

Interesting topic, I know people used to leave shoes in walls to ward off evil spirits.

@billbarton9046 8 ай бұрын

A few years ago, I was working with four other people on renovating a old Shropshire farm house.Two of us where working on the front porch and on the floor of the porch.They lifted the large stone slab on the porch floor and found two skulls, which looked like either a cow or horse.The owner took some photos and said "It'd be better to leave them there" . The work was completed with the skulls left in situ.

@colinshaw9923 8 ай бұрын

Great stuff, as always.

@spottydogscocks 8 ай бұрын

I appreciate the work you do, thanks.

@hArtyTruffle 8 ай бұрын

Keep meaning to do a catch up on your channel. Thanks for all the meticulous research you do. ✨👍🏼

@Survivethejive 8 ай бұрын

Please do!

@kneztm 8 ай бұрын

If I remember right...Serbian/South Slavic folk would have animal bones and/or ancestor bones that were later replaced with red rope the same length as the person. -Stefan Cvetković, The World Tree youtube channel

@FelixGWilliams 8 ай бұрын

Fascinating video!

@Jauffre-innit 8 ай бұрын

My immediate thought was to ward off evil or guard the house. Reminds me of the Ghost Adventures Demon House episode. I never really trusted any paranormal show since I think it's the producers fucking with the crew. Our dogs were cremated but I figured we should use their ashes and grow some bushes with them. They grew fantastic and it's a nice way to honour them.

@Szymanskill 8 ай бұрын

My Golden Orfe is buried under a shed in a prior home, the shed had a horse shoe on it but I believed this was for luck. My Jack Russel is buried deeper but this was to keep him out of fox range. I haven't noticed any acoustic improvement :)

@doomdrake123 8 ай бұрын

Bulgarian folklore is full of stories and songs where the husband builder had to "entomb" his wife (newlyweds with one child) in the house.

@AdrianArgu 4 ай бұрын

My country in South east Asia does some sacrificial rituals prior to construction. Usually scattering the blood of a chicken. Helps to have an accident free construction.

@dylan__dog 8 ай бұрын

There's an old Serbian epic poem called "The building of Skadar" Zidanje Skadra, where in order to have the castle stand, they're commanded by a fairy to sacrifice a brother and sister (who need to have specific similar names) , but having been unable to find them the three brothers that are building the castle are asked to sacrifice one of their wives, the one that brings lunch to the workers first tomorrow. Two of the brothers break the pact and tell their wives not to come, but the third one keeps quiet and his wife gets built into the foundations, requesting that her breasts remain exposed, so she could feed her kids.

@gabork5055 7 ай бұрын

The myth also exists in Hungary, Kőmíves Kelemen-Mason Kelemen and the building of the fortress in Déva. (nowadays part of Romania) It's a bit different but essentially the same story. Also in Greece, apparently.

@Swakinnn 8 ай бұрын

Beautiful video as always, Tom! I notice many British, Irish and German customs that used to be very popular in the United States but in recent time, not so much. I wonder why? Looking forward to your next video

@djprincegrandmasteryrjdalo2905 6 ай бұрын

The reason why is because for one, people are Christian, and they consider that stuff to be pagan, and number two multiculturalism in the hell there’s a lot of people coming from other parts of the world that fortunately, unfortunately, however, you see I don’t really care for or want to practice that tradition so there you go…

@lekal6247 7 ай бұрын

A custom from Setesdal, which is described in old village books, links the horse to the wedding. The iron hook that was used to hang pots over the heat was attached to a beam with horse heads carved into the end. When the groom returned from the wedding in the church, he was supposed to make three cuts in the horse's head with the ax or the sword. Gjessing believes this has its origins in old sacrificial rites (Gjessing 1943:131). This ritual may have arisen when it was no longer allowed to eat horse meat. Then they carved into a carved horse's head instead of slaughtering a live horse.

@inspector2363 8 ай бұрын

As kid I used to keep Gerbils at my grandparents house & any that died I buried in the flower bed, in plastic coffin shaped candy packaging. I often wonder if the later house owners found them while gardening & had a nasty surprise.

@LisaFan135 8 ай бұрын

Great video, very informative. There was an interesting fairly modern case, not a sacrifice though: the crocodile found under the floor at a primary school in Rhondda. Apparently for years it was a local legend, then it was found recently during renovations!

@Survivethejive 8 ай бұрын

Interesting!

@ceohadenough894 6 ай бұрын

The story of a human sacrifice to ward an evil spirit from the foundations of a building is also common in Greece. Especially the legend of "The Bridge of Arta", where the wife of the masterbuilder was sacrificed so the bridge could stand.

@thomasspicer4130 8 ай бұрын

It’s really interesting you say copper coins we relaid our path in 2011 and we scattered 1 and 2 penny coins into the foundations for good luck I’m not sure how many other people in wales still do this?

@thomasbjorkqvist5901 7 ай бұрын

Interesting. I found a horse skull 3-4 meters away from the front door of the house. I didn't think much of it. I thought perhaps they buried it there. But it was indeed only a skull I found. I left it there, and now the childrens playhouse sits right on top of it. I live in Osthrobothnia, Finland

@michaelmarch8997 8 ай бұрын

You can see a horse skull burial for yourself at a pub just west of Hereford. The Portway Inn put a glass cover over it and set it into the flooring. The pub is between owners at the moment so check before you travel. Some interesting sites such as Arthur's Stone, Dore Abbey, St Peter's Well, Kilpeck church and Wern Derys standing stone are nearby so it's worth the trip.

@Survivethejive 8 ай бұрын

Would like a pint there

@uenmm4745 8 ай бұрын

I live in a flat so it's a bit hard for me to check! 😂 Iv got a big scull of a dog or wolf that I found in the pyrenees mountains fully displayed on my shelf. I'm not sure why, but something told me to keep it there!😊

@Kampfwageneer 7 ай бұрын

I would intuit the acoustic concern with the word, that the word the resonance can represent the will in religious rites, interpretation being the skull amplifies the power of the Will and the home as a temple and that it’s prayers be amplified, as sanskrit words and under assumption the local tongues would possibly be understood to be sacred , words are vibrations of the inner willpower. Just intuiting on that as a possibility. Cheers an 77. Added note found a Pigs skull and thigh bones digging up my kitchen floor in Scituate Massachusetts, and even more interesting was the foundation made of circled stones , We also found what I believe were human spinal bones but I never investigated further before we had to move.

@grayfiresoul 8 ай бұрын

Edifying, indeed. Excellent once again and thank you! I now have a mind to seek out a horse skull for my future home's foundation.

@patrickvernon4766 29 күн бұрын

I’m 38 from Michigan USA and I have heard people like thier grandfathers generation doing it here as well although unheard of now

@bobhonkhonk9843 7 ай бұрын

Dad left a pair of shoes and some vodka inside the walls of our house for the domovoi

@g1ss 6 ай бұрын

Very interesting. I'm struggling with the acoustic idea tbh. I seem to recall a programme I saw once, where they found human bodies buried under round houses in Scotland. I can't remember much about it now. I think they were relatives, ancestors etc. On another note, something you might find interesting is corn dollies. You probably know about them. My dad's uncle used to have some, I think my dad has them somewhere. Apparently that goes back a long way, from when they used to save the last sheaf of corn, which is where they believed the corn spirit had been chased into by the scythe. Originally I think they used to sacrifice to the corn dolly, but they persisted with making them (without sacrifice) until recent times (maybe some still do).

@thomasspicer4130 8 ай бұрын

Black cats specifically we found a black cat under our floorboards too also in a sack. And shoes in a nook in the interior of the chimney breast too! The shoes were dated the the early 1700s when our house was built the say it’s to prevent Witches entering through the Chimney. I live in Llantwit Major in Glamorgan Wales.

@felixdm7724 8 ай бұрын

I live near a place called Silchester where they buried horse skulls, Raven bones, and human infant bones in the corners and under the doorways of their houses

@letterfake8319 6 ай бұрын

5:00 Horseshoe is of great importance in my culture. I have a ring made up of horseshoe. It is believed that rings made from horseshoe iron provides better protection to the wearer than regular iron.

@antoniescargo1529 8 ай бұрын

In the village where I come from BRKLN (Breukelen/Attingahem) in the Netherlands, their is a house with a ceramic horsehead on the wall. Dannestraat, in the center of the village.

@ringtail6670 8 ай бұрын

Loving the vaporwave Time Team outro.

@edwardhamm5535 8 ай бұрын

King James required special markings on the walls of any room he slept in to protect him from witches, so prevelant in the late 15th century.

@michaelcaffery5038 8 ай бұрын

I'm surprised you didn't mention the practice in Britain and Ireland of putting shoes under house foundations. I don't know what connection they have to protection and I haven't heard of a case from before medieval times. I don't know if there is any truth to the acoustics theory regarding horse heads but if true it doesn't mean the building was a public space as such. In Ireland domestic kitchens were frequently places of music and dancing with neighbours gathering to play instruments, sing, dance and generally have the 'craic'. Even today.

@craigmcclanahan8693 8 ай бұрын

This reminds me of a video you made, in which you spoke of those who believe you can see the supernatural between the ears of a horse. It may have been the "Holy Holes" video, referenced at the end.

@bardmadsen6956 8 ай бұрын

I will have to check out your other videos. A fantastic book to read about this subject is : The Threshold Covenant or The Beginning of Religious Rites by H. Clay Trumbull 1896. I built my house and never did bury anything under a cornerstone or such. I grew up with horses, they do have power and see the world unlike us. As far as I know there is only one grave under Enclosure D in Gobekli Tepe. The Tas Tepeler Culture venerated the radiant of The Taurid Meteor Stream, the causation of The Younger Dryas Impacts Theory / Fact, the bovine skull represents The Constellation of Taurus and the two scapula placed over a grave in a sister site, the exact radiant of the Pleiades, which is the seven birds in a row under Pillar 18. Same thing as Isis and Nefertiti each holding bull's shoulder blade at the Pleiades and Tauroctony blade placement. J. G. Frazer goes over this type of thing, I've read 6-8 vols., the Thunder Stones were pertinent in my work, because it was the superbolide not lightning that people were mostly afraid of.

@1220b 8 ай бұрын

To make the sound of household sweeping sound sweet. Thats the reason.

@Isithaunted666 8 ай бұрын

I knew an elderly lady who lived in a very old house. She told me perplexed that she see's what she thinks is the ghost of a horse. So I looked it up and even back to Victorian times a horse was led through a house for good luck before a married couple moved in

@mcusa77 8 ай бұрын

Thanks!

@richawdon3856 8 ай бұрын

Very, very good.

@cockcrower 8 ай бұрын

Damn interesting. Subbed

@GriffsGrotto 4 ай бұрын

In Meso-American cultures, it was common to bury a freshly killed chicken underneath the roof’s central support beam. It’s believed to act as a way to ‘animate’ the house by entrapping the animals soul within the structure. There’s a lot of analog references between housing and the human body, with windows and eyes sharing the same name, door and mouth, roof and head etc. Placing a fresh kill within the structure was therefore a way entrap the soul essence within the home akin to how the binding of the head ensures a child’s soul essence doesn’t escape - does this hold any water in pagen tradition?

@user-ko3wb4wx8v 8 ай бұрын

Cheers I didn't know about this but it makes sense in the middle east they use to bury human bodies or skulls in the floor ancestors thanks to you more knowledge more wisdom more to honor and me worship my our ancestors we I are eternally grateful to you for your work it brings the ancestors alive and still with us again Cheers and thanks

@noreply-7069 8 ай бұрын

20:38 Thank you for this! Everyone always says Finland is part of Scandinavia, which isn't true at all! Finland is a Nordic country, not Scandinavian. I appreciate you acknowledging this. Also, thanks for the video, this was very interesting to me.

@carisballing 8 ай бұрын

Technically (strictly geographically) the far northwestern part of Lapland belongs to Scandinavia. Culturally, mentally, spiritually, Finland on the whole isn't really Scandinavian, except coastal regions and archipelago. Genetically there is a lot of admixture - especially west and south. Also linguistically. The capital region these days feels very Finnish though. In Turku I've heard some call it western Siberia even.

@ravenodinson7483 8 ай бұрын

Please, discuss how and why one should honor and pray to the old Gods. How they are relevant to us today and how doing so would help us as a whole.

@Survivethejive 8 ай бұрын

see the pagan 101 playlist

@haroldbarr8511 7 ай бұрын

While watching, I kept thinking about the Neolithic’s plastered human skulls of the Levant.

@ProfessorShnacktime 8 ай бұрын

Great thumbnail on this one!

@Survivethejive 8 ай бұрын

@ProfessorShnacktime 8 ай бұрын

@@Survivethejive Fascinating. I’d like to commend the text and font as well though, very eye catching.

@3rdeye671 8 ай бұрын

The rhyme "London bridge is falling down, my fair lady" is apparently about the need to put a live child sealed in the foundations to prevent the bridge collapsing.

@stevenschnepp576 8 ай бұрын

Not if you actually read the lyrics. Much more likely is that it was about the dilapidated state of the bridge at the time the rhyme came into its current form.

@3rdeye671 8 ай бұрын

@@stevenschnepp576 the lyrics are about explaining to the Lady that all other methods will fail. The Lady doesn't like it and wants to try other methods but the other methods we are repeatedly told won't work.

@ruubenkaalep9499 8 ай бұрын

There is evidence that the practice of human burials under dwellings was already widespread in the Neolithic Comb Ceramic culture. For example, in the CCC sites of Tamula and Akali in South Estonia, the layer with burials includes wooden poles that were likely parts of houses. Could this be related to the customs of the later Corded Ware culture?

@varjovirta3085 8 ай бұрын

well are those comb ceramic?

@ionfyr1781 8 ай бұрын

Thank you, Tom. I, too, would have skulls put under the foundations of my house. While I don't generally sanction blood sacrifices...well, there are far too many farm animals and they suffer tremendously anyway. ? do you think proxy skulls would have the same metaphysical effect (assuming that is a thing and actually works)? I knew of "the skulls under houses " thing after I read Jaan Puhvel's Comparative ...Mythology...I'm sorry, it's not in front of me at the moment. Anyway, good show.

@DouglasHinz 7 ай бұрын

'Holes', openings in the Earth, stones etc, represent the Volva of Great Mother (Nerthus , among other names) source of Universe. Entrance to Otherworld. Also goes back to Paleolithic.

@patriciahayes2664 8 ай бұрын

I enjoyed this video. It makes me wonder if the people who still had those animal remains under their house reported hearing any sounds like disembodied mooing or neighing or clomping hoofs. 🤔