How did our ancestors in Pre-Christian Germanic cultures practice healing? Unfortunately, we may never be able to answer that question with any amount of certainty. Records on healing techniques from that time are sparse. Even with all the Edda’s and Saga’s not much is written about healing. This was the age of teacher and apprentice education mixed with personal experience. Most sources suggest that nothing was written down and all the information was passed through an oral tradition. Others suggest that written documents were destroyed in the Christen take over. Either way we do not have much to work with in modern times. I will list the one and only saga that mentions a technique used in diagnosing battlefield wounds to the abdomen. (I feel I need to mention that pre-Christian Northern Europeans were very regular bathers. Some of the baths that they constructed, not the Romans, are still in working order in Iceland.)
One of the points that I found interesting is that in Pre-Christian times women were almost exclusively the main healers. Men would provide any needed battlefield first aid and then transport the injured to the women for healing. This is pointed out in the Olaf’s saga Helga/Saga of St. Olaf. A warrior is brought to the healer so she can examine his abdominal wound. She then gives him some broth made from leeks, onion, and other herbs. When she returns to the warrior, she smells the wound to see if she can smell the broth. The reason for this was if the strong-smelling broth could be smelled in the wound it meant that the bowels had been ruptured and the patient could not be saved. Our ancestors had a basic understanding of blood as it related to injuries/wounds. In the Eyrbyggja saga it mentions that the blood found in the snow from a wounded person was examined to determine the extent of the injuries. It was determined from the feel and taste of the blood that the injured person would die soon.
In chapter 6 of Thordar saga hredu, Indridi suffered several open wounds during a battle. He was asked if he might pull through and he said, "I think there is some hope of it, if a healer sees me." This tells me that they not only valued the skills of a healer, but that their healers were capable of suturing or stitching wounds which goes a long way in recovering from a bad wound.
Eiríks saga rauda points out that they were helpless to heal bacteria or viral illness. The saga states, the sick lay in bed in the hall, while the healthy helped them prepare for death.
Other sources will only refer to some woman who is a healer. They will also mention that wounds are cleaned and dressed but that is it. The biggest portions of the written records are from the 12th and 13th century after the violent conversion. At this point most healers are now men.
In the Icelandic law book Grágás it mentions that people should not blame healers who bleed or cauterizes someone for the good of their health. To me this suggesting that someone was aware of and doing these techniques. There are also other references to medical treatments such as, lancing; cleaning wounds; bandaging; setting broken bones; the preparation of herbal remedies; and midwifery. Midwifery was still the domain of women even well into the Christian takeover.
Crow Spirit has several herbal plants listed in her blog along with a basic idea of how to use them. We may not be able to recover the ancient healing techniques of our Northern European ancestors, but this does not mean that we can’t learn more modern first aid skills. It is easy to take classes at Red Cross or even your local ambulance houses that offer first aid and CPR certification. If you feel you can handle more knowledge you can apply at almost any community college and get your Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) license. Our ancestor set an example of continued education and that is something we all should strive to continue.
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