Vilia the priest counted them to make sure the number was correct.
She then ordered her deputy Bona: "Take all the women behind the curtain. Remember, the unclean ones must be screened out, and we cannot deceive them."
Poona, who wears a small antlered helmet, will inherit Vilia's work. When Vilia dies, Poona will be the abbot of all major sacrifices.
She was an excellent successor trained by Vilia and was very loyal to her beliefs.
Thanks to those simple linen clothes, Bona completed the inspection quickly.
So far, the girls from Novgorod are still pure and the ceremony can go on.
Bona led all the girls out of the curtain and sent them to their husbands.
She approached Vilia and reported solemnly: "They all passed the inspection. They are all pure."
"Very good. What you said must be the truth, because..." Vilia pointed to Tianyu: "The Valkyrie is looking at us."
The great priest who was revered by the people pointed his finger at the sky, and the people kneeling on one knee subconsciously raised their heads.
Rurik also raised his little head and saw the sky filled with stars and the bright Milky Way.
In another time and space, due to severe light pollution and smog interference, urban residents can no longer see the Milky Way, and even the light of Polaris is drowned by the city's glow.
And people in this era have a lot of free time at night to think about what the stars in the sky represent.
The people of Roseburg romantically and seriously believe that a shining point among the stars is Asgard, and there is a Valhalla in it.
The heroic spirits of all warriors are in the sky. Every night, the heroic spirits can watch their tribes and their descendants in the sky.
Based on this ideal, Ali took his newlywed wife's hand, looked up at the sky, and couldn't help crying.
Seven years have passed, and he has always believed that his father's heroic spirit has been watching him until his wedding tonight.
Everyone looked up at the sky, and the night dotted with stars gradually began to change.
In this era, people in Northern Europe ate a lot of fish, so they generally had excellent eyesight. They could see details at a distance, and they could also see the entire process of Aurora gradually emerging.
Suddenly someone shouted wildly: "Look! There is light."
"It's Aurora! Brünnhilde is here!"
"Ah! They are just like us, watching this ceremony as bystanders..."
There are crowds of people around the Stone Ship Altar, and the crowd has gathered more than 2,000 people. Nearly half of the population of the Ross tribe has gathered here.
In the past few decades, the tribe has never had thousands of people gather at the altar like today.
Even during the few days of Hanukkah when it was completely dark, it was never as lively as it is today.
On clear nights in winter, the Northern Lights appear almost every day, but the aurora can be strong or weak.
Vilia is the most experienced person. Based on her life's experience, she believes that Aurora is more and more dazzling compared to when she was young, just like the development of the Ross tribe, it is becoming more and more powerful.
In fact, the aurora is indeed getting stronger.
The climate across Europe is still at the peak of the cold period, and it has begun to change. This change process will continue for hundreds of years, and the climate will slowly warm up.
As solar activity intensifies, northern European residents can feel the aurora becoming more dazzling.
Vilia was excited, and she subconsciously felt that her actions really touched Odin.
She stretched out her arms and ordered everyone except her to kneel down on one knee as a pious person, while she herself held up a crutch inlaid with amber and gems and raised it above her head.
Her old face faced the emerald green aurora and she recited ancient and obscure mantras loudly.
While they were collectively doing the ritual of worshiping Odin, Otto, the leader in charge of the sacrifices, and his party had already dealt with the five deer.
As with all Norse Vikings, their harsh living conditions forced them to exploit the beasts of prey for all they had.
The deer blood will be collected, sprinkled with sea salt, and will be made into special food. The fishy smell is very challenging, but it is better than filling your stomach, so don't worry about it.
Otto and his men carried the deer carcass into the Stone Ship Altar. Here, the Stone Ship Altar seemed like a sacred place, and ordinary people had no right to enter it. There were also priests to guard it on weekdays to prevent random tribal children from straying into the altar.
.
Otto and his men were recognized warriors, and they were responsible for carrying the largest sacrifice in.
The steaming deer carcass was placed, as if God was moved, and the flames of the oil lamps on each stone of the stone boat altar trembled.
No one thought that this was due to a small breeze, they all believed that this was evidence that it moved Odin.
What kind of sacrifice are five deer?!
Rurik, who had been kneeling on one knee for a long time, felt uncomfortable all over, but his biological mother Niya forbade him to stand up, so Rurik had to continue to endure.
He heard people whispering, and everyone was in a very happy mood. The so-called Nordic god Odin recognized the five deer "enshrined" by the Ross tribe.
"Ah! How ridiculous! Even if they worship a king, the gift of five deer is too shabby!"
But then I thought about it, the gift of five deer should be a great courtesy to them.
All the sacrifices were in place, and Otto, who was carrying the deer, and his party retreated behind the altar very skillfully, pulled out his swords and stuck them in the snow, then knelt down on one knee.
It was Priest Vilia again. She ordered everyone to remain serious, and finally relied on memory to chant a blessing spell facing the Northern Lights in the sky.
She spoke all in Norse, and because she was too old and had spoken too much just now, her voice became a little hoarse.
Even so, Rurik basically understood its content.
This is a hymn to Odin and Valhalla. To be fair, it rhymes a lot, but the content is quite cramped.
After all, Rurik has Liu Li's spirit. He now knows a lot about the Vikings, and he also knows that it is unfair to judge them as purely violent and barbaric.
Just like the Rus tribe, they have documents that must be written on wooden boards to record past events. Did they never think that they could also write poetry?
They are also people with literary and artistic ideas!
Ancient Nordic books such as "Faust" and "The Nibelungenlied" have survived to later generations. I'm afraid the real situation is that a large number of ancient books have disappeared because they were lost.
According to Rurik's understanding, it is the tribal priests who control these classics. If they no longer believe in Odin in the future, the ancient books will also be lost in history.
"I have to ask her to write the hymns sung by Priest Vilia this winter. And the so-called library in her priest's cabin needs to be preserved. It's best for all the illiterate people in the tribe to learn it.
As long as it becomes something popular, it can be better passed down to future generations."
In the entire wedding ceremony, the solemn prayer of the priests is actually the most critical.
Even the priests are very nervous about whether the in-laws of the tribe and another group of strangers in the distance will receive a legal oracle.
Now it seems that Odin has basically confirmed the tribe's decision by entrusting the parade of Valkyries.
The long chanting was over, and Villa, who had been standing for a long time wearing a huge helmet, almost collapsed on the ground from exhaustion.
Villa insisted on continuing to preside, and she opened her arms again and ordered the people who were kneeling on one knee with almost stiff muscles to stand up, especially the newcomers.
The pure wedding ceremony officially begins.
Like Arik and Peravina, they immediately forgot their fatigue.
Because what had just happened was very clear, the simple Peravina believed that her identity had been recognized by the Varyag gods.
In fact, this is indeed the case. The Varangians created the Odin-Walhalla faith, which they themselves identify with and is also identified with Odin.
The people of the Rus tribe have already approved the marriage to Novgorod, and there is one more task for the future Sorgon voyage, which is enough.