In the Norse sources, dísablót is said to be both at the start of winter(October in the Norse Calendar) and also in the month of Gói which woud have been in our late-February or March. This article goes over the all the sources I found and tells how we can celebrate today.

Also check out our Norse calendar for sale here with all this information.

When is Disablot?

Dísablót is mentioned in Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs, Landnámabók, Víga-Glúms saga, Egils saga, and the Heimskringla which are all sagas written as early as the 13th century on events that took place hundreds of years before in pre-Christian times. According to Víga-Glúms saga it was held at Vetrnaetr("Winter Nights.") In Hervarar saga, the dísablót is also held in the early winter(October time), and is performed by a woman, the daughter of King Álfr of Álfheim. This links the dísir to various ancestral practices that were observed in early winter, a time when many cultures believe the barrier between our world and the next is at its thinnest. Halloween, the Celtic Samhain, Latin Dia de los Muertos and more from around the world.

The Norse Vetrnaetr is a paralell of this and Dísablót would have also taken place at this date on the full moon of October. Read more about the full history of Vetrnaetr on our blog post here.

Disablot Ritual in the Spring

However, in the Saga of St. Olaf in Heimskringla, the dísablót was celebrated at Gamla Uppsala during Gói, in our late February/March, alongside the Thing of all Swedes and a yearly fair. With the arrival of Christianity, the assembly and market were shifted to a Christian feast in early February.

"In Svithjod it was the old custom, as long as heathenism prevailed, that the chief sacrifice took place in Goe month at Upsala. Then sacrifice was offered for peace, and victory to the king; and thither came people from all parts of Svithjod. All the Things of the Swedes, also, were held there, and markets, and meetings for buying, which continued for a week: and after Christianity was introduced into Svithjod, the Things and fairs were held there as before. After Christianity had taken root in Svithjod, and the kings would no longer dwell in Upsala, the market-time was moved to Candlemas, and it has since continued so, and it lasts only three days. There is then the Swedish Thing also, and people from all quarters come there."

-St. Olav's saga, ch. 76 Heimskringla

Disablot Date

The name Dísaþing (now Disting) is still used, and the Fair is held annually in Uppsala on the first Tuesday in February making it one of Swedens oldest directly continued from pagan times. By linking the festival to spring fertility rituals such as the Anglo-Saxon Ēostre, the connection between the dísir and fertility becomes apparent. One can see how there may have been a connection to Freya and fertility practices as suggested in earlier sources. Dísablót is one of the more challenging festivals to pinpoint the exact date. Top scholar on the pre-Christian calendar Andreas Nordberg places it on the third full moon after the Winter Solstice, which this year falls in mid March. 

Dísablot 2025 how to practice

Disablot this year is on the full moon in March on the 14th. This would be the correct day to celebrate it. Many of the rituals that were practiced in the viking age, we would not be able to practice(legally) today. But there are a few things we can incorporate in our celebration to make it as historical as possible.

First there would be a large gathering with a sacrifice to the disir. There are certain things common of a sarifice that you can learn about in our blog post here. Other than the standard Norse sacrificial practices, in Hervarar saga, the dísablót is performed by a woman, the daughter of King Álfr of Álfheim. Since the disir are female spirits, it only makes sense that a woman should be leading the ceremony.

In addition, one of the only first had accounts of a sacrifice that goes into detail comes from Adam of Bremmen written in the 11th century. He describes a sacrifice in Uppsala that took place around the Spring Equinox, exactly as was told about the Disablot in Olav Tryggvassons saga. 

"It is customary also to solemnize in Uppsala, at nine-year intervals, a general feast of all the provinces of Sweden. From attendance at this festival no one is exempted Kings and people all and singly send their gifts to Uppsala and, what is more distressing than any kind of punishment, those who have already adopted Christianity redeem themselves through these ceremonies. The sacrifice is of this nature: of every living thing that is male, they offer nine heads with the blood of which it is customary to placate gods of this sort. The bodies they hang in the sacred grove that adjoins the temple. Now this grove is so sacred in the eyes of the heathen that each and every tree in it is believed divine because of the death or putrefaction of the victims. Even dogs and horses hang there with men. A Christian told me that he had seen 72 bodies suspended promiscuously. Furthermore, the incantations customarily chanted in the ritual of a sacrifice of this kind are manifold and unseemly; therefore, it is better to keep silent about them."

-Adam of Bremmen, Gesta Hammaburgensis

Obviously, we are not able to engage in human sacrifice today. Even an animal sacrifice would be not possible unless you have a large farm full of livestock to spare. However, we can take a bit of inspiration from this account.

• First, the sacrifice should take place in a sacred grove as was told of in here and many other sources from all over Europe regarding the trees in groves as sacred.
• Visit a grove near you and build a hörgr (Old Norse: "altar/pile of stones"). This will be your sacred space. 
• You may also set up statues or idols there of the disir(Freya or other female deities).
• Leave fresh meat out in place of the full animal sacrifice. In the norse sagas, it was beef, pork, goat, sheep or horse that was sacrificed. Any meat would be a good offering for the disir. 
• Remember that the Disir are female spirits. Leave out any other offerings that you feel they would like. Flowers, treats, butter, cakes, etc.
• You can leave the offerings on the hörgr, and also leave them on trees as was done in Uppsala.
• Finally "incantations customarily chanted in the ritual of a sacrifice of this kind are manifold and unseemly; therefore, it is better to keep silent about them." The Christian Adam would have found these pagan songs offensive so he does not record them. But some sort of chants or invocations to the disir would have taken place and we can try to recreate these songs as well!

Other than that, this is a time for honoring the feminine spirituality. The disir was a broad term for femal spirits including, goddesses, norns, valkyries, fylgja and even ancestral females. This is a time to honor your loved female family members who have passed away. It is a time to connect with the next world and remember the loved ones who are no longer with us.

TO read our full article about the disir, see our blog post here with all the sources.

 

Conclusion & Disir Jewelry

The dísir occupy a uniquely broad and flexible role within Norse and Germanic spirituality, encompassing everything from ancestral guardians to battle spirits and fate-weaving entities. Their presence in both private family rituals and larger communal gatherings, such as the dísablót at Gamla Uppsala, demonstrates that they were honored at every level of society. Their veneration reflects a worldview in which the bonds between the past and the present, the seen and the unseen, were always active and essential to maintaining the balance of life.

 

Check out our collection of jewelry inspired by historical finds of disir here!