How were the Norse gods and goddesses worshiped?

Answer 1

The Norse mythology always had a sort of relaxed attitude, especially compared to other religions. Except for that there's always someone who gets fanatic so there were a few "shamans" or w/e they'd be called, the Norse gods wasn't worshiped. The Gods had no demands on how humans should live, with exception to 1 rule (I think), something about never turning down someone who wants shelter for the night. Anway, some occastions was considered as necessary to please the Gods, like before embarking on a sea trip, going to battle, and ofc varied due to wealth. The actuall religios act was offerings, different things depending on what they were going to do. Before and after battles it was common to burn flesh (before) and if victorious some would take enemy weapons and dispose of them (could be in a river or by fire) as a gift to the Gods. But other then that, burning flesh was considered to please the Gods most. It's hard to know how they felt about the gods now for us, but from whats been written down, the reltion towards the gods was all but friendly, only Thor was considered friendly. The reason one would sacrifice before sailing was probably much more to make sure they wont be pissed and whip up a storm, etc, and so it seems to have become a wierd "avoiding" thing between the Norse people and their gods. However, there's always those who go nuts and a annuall gathering at Uppsala which purpose was trade, strenghten friendships, find crews for raids and settling disputes with Envigs (duel to death) or let 3 judges decide who wins. This turned into a religios event not so long before the christian misionaries started coming in hordes. a first, enslaving them, realizing they're worthless they were hung ina tree like Odin and shot at with nine arrows.

its a resemblance to when Odin had to hang in a tree for 9 days.