Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A method of
Viking ritual execution , in which theribs areopened , and thelungs pulled out andarranged toresemble wings .
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word blood eagle.
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
vendingmachine commented on the word blood eagle
Particularly famous is the so-called “blood eagle”, a gory and brutal ritual these warriors are said to have performed on their most hated enemies. The ritual allegedly involved carving the victim’s back open and cutting their ribs away from their spine, before the lungs were pulled out through the resulting wounds. The final fluttering of the lungs splayed out on the outspread ribs would supposedly resemble the movement of a bird’s wings – hence the eagle in the name.
For decades, researchers have dismissed the blood eagle as a legend. No archaeological evidence of the ritual has ever been found, and the Vikings themselves kept no records, listing their achievements only in spoken poetry and sagas that were first written down centuries later. So the bloody rite has been rejected as improbable, resulting from repeated misunderstandings of complex poetry and a desire by Christian writers to paint their Nordic attackers as barbaric heathens.
.
December 29, 2024