Horgr
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(cf. Old English 'hearg', Old High German 'haruc').
The origin of modern place names such as Harrow in England and Harge in Sweden.
Horgr is a type of altar, constructed of piled stones, used by the Vikings in religious Blóts and civil ceremonies.
A typical use of the horgr during a Blót would be to place upon it a bowl of the blood of an animal sacrificed to a Norse deity (e.g. a goat for Thor, a sow for Freya, a boar for Freyr), then dipping a bundle of fir twigs into it and waving the bundle in the form of the "hammer-sign" to spatter the participants with the blood. This would consecrate the attendees to the ceremony, such as a wedding.
Like Judeo-Christian and other traditions, the Norse religion vested great spiritual significance in blood; one legend speaks of a horgr built to Freya by Ottar, and when it was "reddened" with blood, she burned the stones to glass.
According to a documented local tradition, this blood ceremony was maintained in secret, as late as the 19th century, at the mountain Trollkyrka, in the forest of Tiveden, Sweden.