When most people think of Norse paganism, they picture images of Thor’s hammer, the runes or perhaps a horn of mead raised in honour of the gods. What often gets overlookedt hough, is that drinking rituals weren’t just social occasions - they were sacred. The sumbel (also spelled symbel in Old English) is one of the oldest ritual practices that survives in the lore of the Germanic and Norse world.

A sumbel is more than simply raising a drink. It is a ritual where people come together to toast, boast and make oaths in the sight of gods, ancestors, and their community. Words spoken in a sumbel are not casual chatter. They are believed to enter into the fabric of wyrd (fate, or the interconnected web of destiny). To speak at a sumbel is to bind yourself, to honour others, and to strengthen the bonds between those present.

In this article, we will explore sumbel in depth. We will look at:

What sumbel actually is and what makes it different from casual drinking.
Its history and importance in Norse and Anglo-Saxon society.
Where sumbel is mentioned in the old texts and sagas.
The symbolic meaning behind the practice.
A detailed, step-by-step guide for how you can perform a modern sumbel.

By the end, you should feel confident in not only understanding the ritual but also in trying it yourself - whether in a large gathering or in the quiet of your own home.

What Is a Sumbel?

The sumbel (sometimes spelled symbel in Old English) is one of the most recognisable rituals from the pre Christian Germanic and Norse world. At first glance, it looks very simple: a group of people gather together, a drinking vessel (often a horn) is filled, and it is passed around the group. Each person takes their turn to speak and then drink.

Yet despite its simplicity, what happens in that circle is profound. Sumbel is not about casual drinking or passing the time. It is about using speech (words that carry weight) in the presence of gods, ancestors, and community. It is about giving honour, binding yourself with promises and strengthening the bonds that connect everyone in the room.

The Three Types of Speech -

Within a sumbel, there are three main types of speech that can be made. These are not just optional choices; they reflect the very heart of the ritual.

1. Toasts (minni)

The most common type of speech in sumbel is the toast. A toast is when someone raises the horn and speaks words of honour. These toasts can be directed to:

The gods – For example, to Odin for wisdom, to Thor for protection, or to Freyja for love and fertility.
Ancestors – Remembering and honouring family members who have passed away, keeping their memory alive.
Heroes of the past – Legendary figures such as Sigurd the dragon slayer or cultural heroes like Beowulf in the Anglo-Saxon world.

This type of toast is often called a minni, from the Old Norse word meaning “memory” or “remembrance.” The act of naming someone in sumbel ensures that they are remembered, honoured, and included in the life of the community.

2. Boasts

In everyday modern speech the word “boast” often carries a negative meaning - arrogance, bragging or showing off. In the context of sumbel, however, a boast is not about arrogance. It is about affirmation.

By boasting in sumbel, a person declares their achievements, their character or even their intentions. It is a way of saying “This is who I am and this is what I have done.” Boasting strengthens reputation and allows the community to recognise and celebrate deeds that might otherwise go unspoken.

Examples of boasts might include:

“I boast that I have worked hard this year to provide for my family.”
“I boast that I have helped my neighbour when they were in need.”
“I boast that I have completed a long journey safely.”

Boasts in sumbel are also aspirational. By naming your deeds, you encourage yourself to continue acting with honour.

3. Oaths

The most serious type of speech in sumbel is the oath. To swear an oath is to bind yourself to a future action, and to do so in the presence of gods, ancestors and community.

Oaths might include pledges of loyalty, promises to complete a task or commitments to personal growth. They are not spoken lightly. In Norse culture, breaking an oath was one of the gravest things a person could do. It damaged your reputation, weakened your honour and could even be seen as inviting misfortune or divine punishment.

Examples might include:

“I swear that I will defend my kin against harm.”
“I swear that I will finish my studies before the year ends.”
“I swear that I will give offerings to the gods each month.”

An oath is not required in every sumbel. Many people today choose to make them rarely, if at all, in order to preserve their weight and seriousness.

To learn more about Oaths click here!

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The Structure of the Ritual -

Sumbel is highly structured. The horn or cup is not simply passed about randomly, nor does anyone interrupt another’s turn. The drinking vessel usually passes around the circle in a set order (often clockwise) so that each person has their turn.

This order helps create a sense of ritual rhythm. Each speech builds upon the previous one, creating a woven web of words, memory and intent.

The seriousness comes from the cultural idea that words are deeds. In modern life we often treat words as cheap, but in Norse society to speak something aloud in front of witnesses was to make it real. A boast declared who you were. An oath tied your future. A toast bound you to the gods or ancestors.

Why Sumbel Is Different from a Pub Toast -

It might be tempting to compare sumbel to raising a glass in a pub. After all, both involve drink, company, and words spoken aloud. But the difference lies in the sacredness and intentionality.

In a pub a toast might be casual: “Cheers to the birthday boy!” or “To good health!” In sumbel words are part of ritual space. They are meant to be remembered, to shape fate, and to honour divine and ancestral powers.

When you participate in a sumbel, you are stepping into a sacred circle. In that circle, memory is renewed, honour is affirmed and fate is shaped by the words spoken. It is not entertainment or casual fun - though joy and fellowship certainly flow from it. It is a serious, living ritual that connects us to the traditions of our ancestors.

The History of Sumbel

The sumbel, or sumbl in Old Norse, was one of the most important ritual practices of pre-Christian Scandinavia. To the casual eye it might have seemed like nothing more than a feast with drinking but to those who gathered in the longhouses of Norway, Iceland, and Denmark, the sumbel was far more than that. It was a ceremony where words carried weight, where promises were made before the gods and where the bonds of kinship and loyalty were strengthened through ritualised speech.

The sumbel was usually held in the great hall, the heart of Norse communal life. These halls were not just shelters from the cold but the very centre of political, social, and spiritual existence. It was in the hall that the lord or chieftain presided over feasts, settled disputes, gave out rewards, and hosted the rituals that bound their people together. Within this setting, the sumbel created a sacred space where each person had their turn to speak, to lift the horn and to place their words into the fabric of fate.

References to sumbel appear throughout the sagas and the Eddas, showing us just how deeply woven this practice was into Norse life. Snorri Sturluson, in his Heimskringla, describes King Hákon the Good presiding over ritual drinking at Yule, where horns were dedicated first to Odin for victory and wisdom, then to Njord and Freyr for peace and good harvests. This gives us a glimpse of how the sumbel was directly tied to worship, not merely to social gathering. In the Lokasenna of the Poetic Edda, the gods themselves sit in Ægir’s hall, drinking and speaking in turn as the horn passes around the company. Though the feast is disrupted by Loki’s insults, the structure is recognisable: each participant is granted their moment to speak and the drink gives sacred weight to the words. In the Icelandic sagas, too, ritual drinking occurs again and again at feasts where oaths are sworn, boasts are made and the honour of families and warriors is confirmed before the community.

The drinking horn itself became a powerful symbol of the sumbel. Not all vessels were horns, of course (cups of wood, clay, or silver were also used) but the horn came to embody the ritual. Decorated with carvings or bound in metal, the horn was more than a container; it was a sacred tool. To lift the horn high before speaking was to raise one’s words up to the gods and to let them echo through the hall. The gesture was as important as the drink itself, transforming the act of drinking into a form of offering.

What made the sumbel so significant was the belief that words were deeds. In the worldview of the Norse, speech was not separate from action but part of it. To boast in the sumbel was to publicly affirm your past actions, ensuring they were remembered and respected. To swear an oath was to bind yourself before witnesses, both human and divine and to weave that promise into your destiny. To toast the gods or the ancestors was to maintain their presence and honour within the living community. Each round of the sumbel (whether to Odin, to the dead or to one’s own intentions) became a way of reinforcing the connections that held the world together.

In a society that did not rely heavily on written contracts, the spoken word carried the authority of law. A man’s reputation was built not on parchment but on the memory of those who had heard his promises and judged whether he had kept them. To break an oath spoken at sumbel was to endanger one’s honour, to risk losing the respect of the community and even to invite the displeasure of the gods. This is why the sumbel was treated with such seriousness: it was not a matter of idle chatter, but of speaking into the very weave of fate.

The social and religious functions of sumbel were inseparable. It was both a rite of worship and a means of binding community. By drinking to Odin, Njord or Freyr, people sought divine favour in war, harvest, and peace. By drinking to their ancestors, they ensured that the dead were not forgotten and that the strength of their line continued. By making oaths, men and women tied themselves to their future, and by boasting, they claimed their place in the present. Around the firelit hall, as the horn passed from hand to hand, the people wove together memory, honour and destiny in a way that no written record could capture.

The history of sumbel, then, is not the history of a drinking game or a casual tradition. It is the history of one of the most sacred and serious rituals of the Norse world. It was here, in the glow of the hall and in the weight of words spoken over the horn, that the living affirmed their bonds with gods and ancestors alike, and that men and women declared who they were and who they intended to be.

Sumbel in the Sources

Sumbel is not a modern reconstruction or a romantic invention of later centuries. It is a practice that we can clearly trace in the surviving texts of the Norse and wider Germanic world. The sources do not always give us a neat, step-by-step description of the ritual, but they provide scattered glimpses that when placed together show us how important ritual drinking was to both human and divine society.

In the Old English poem Beowulf, composed somewhere between the eighth and early eleventh century, the word symbel occurs many times. The mead-hall of Hrothgar, Heorot, is at the heart of the story, and it is in this hall that warriors boast of their deeds, make oaths before battle, and receive treasure and gifts from their lord. The drinking here is not presented as mindless indulgence; it is a structured and honourable setting where men bind themselves by their words. Although Beowulf belongs to the Anglo-Saxon tradition rather than the Norse, it reflects a shared Germanic culture in which ritual drinking was central to the rhythm of life.

Turning to the Old Norse texts, the Poetic Edda preserves scenes that show similar practices. In the Lokasenna, the gods gather in the hall of Ægir for a feast. Each god is seated in order, horns are filled and passed and they take their turns to speak. What begins as a harmonious ritual turns into chaos when Loki, having been excluded from the feast, barges in and begins to insult each god in turn. Despite the quarrels, the framework is striking: gods and goddesses sit together in a formal drinking feast, and the act of speaking in turn after drinking is at the heart of the poem. This strongly resembles the sumbel, where the passing of the horn creates both order and structure for speech.

Snorri Sturluson’s Heimskringla, written in the thirteenth century, gives us another clear example of how sumbel was woven into Norse culture. In his account of King Hákon the Good, Snorri describes the rituals of Yule, which included great drinking feasts. The first horn was dedicated to Odin, for victory and wisdom. The second went to Njord and Freyr, for peace and good harvests. Other horns could be drunk in honour of ancestors, ensuring they were remembered in the life of the community. Oaths were also sworn in this context, particularly pledges of loyalty to kings and chieftains. These accounts show that sumbel was not only religious but also political, strengthening bonds of allegiance and weaving together community under divine witness.

The Icelandic sagas also preserve many scenes of ritual drinking. In Eyrbyggja Saga, Laxdæla Saga, and others, we find feasts where men rise to make boasts or to swear oaths before witnesses. These gatherings are often tied to moments of law and reputation: what was said in the hall bound the speaker, and the community would remember and judge whether those words were kept. The hall, the fire, the horn, and the spoken word together created a ritual where social order was maintained and fate itself was shaped.

Taken together, these sources reveal that sumbel was not some speculative idea dreamt up by modern pagans. It was a real and vital practice, woven into the very fabric of Norse life. The words spoken at sumbel bound men and women in loyalty and reputation, called upon the gods for aid and blessing, and kept the memory of ancestors alive. The ritual was central to how the Norse understood community, honour and the shaping of destiny.

The Meaning Behind Sumbel

Why was the sumbel so important? Three key ideas stand out.

1. Words Carry Weight

In Norse and Germanic thought, words were not empty sounds. To speak something aloud was to give it life. A boast or oath spoken in sumbel was binding because it was witnessed by the community and believed to be woven into wyrd itself.

2. Memory Is Sacred

The dead live on in memory. By naming your ancestors in sumbel, you keep them present. By speaking of gods, you strengthen your bond with them. Forgetting someone was a kind of second death. Thus, toasting in their memory (minni) was a sacred duty.

3. Community Is Forged in Ritual

A sumbel creates equality in voice. Each person, regardless of status, takes their turn. In this way, the group is bound together. It is both religious and social, and this blending is what made it so central to life.

How to Do a Sumbel Today:

Step-by-Step Guide

You don’t need a grand ‘Viking hall’ filled with roaring fires and carved wooden beams to practise sumbel. While the image of a longhouse packed with warriors and the sound of horns clashing in the firelight is evocative, the heart of the ritual has never depended on splendour or size. Sumbel is about the words spoken, the respect given and the bonds formed, not the walls that surround you. It can be held in a family home, around the kitchen table, in a back garden beneath the open sky or even in a quiet room set aside for reflection. Some heathens choose to practice sumbel at seasonal festivals with large gatherings of friends and kindreds, while others prefer the intimacy of a small circle of trusted companions. It can even be done alone with the gods and ancestors as your witnesses, if that is what your situation allows.

What matters most is not the place, but the intention with which the ritual is carried out. A sumbel performed in a modest living room, with a simple cup of cider and a candle for light, carries just as much weight as one held in a reconstructed longhouse. The respect shown to the gods, the ancestors, and to the words spoken is what gives the ceremony its sacred character. The space, however simple, becomes set apart for the time of the rite. By treating it with reverence, you transform even the humblest setting into a hall worthy of honour.

What You’ll Need -

A horn or cup – traditional if possible, but any vessel will do.
A drink – mead, ale, cider, wine, or non-alcoholic alternatives like apple juice.
A group of people – ideally three or more, though you can do it solo.
A space – somewhere quiet where you won’t be disturbed.

1. The Setting

Gather people in a circle or around a table. If you like place a candle, a hammer or an image of the gods or ancestors in the centre. This marks the space as sacred.

2. Blessing the Horn

The host, sometimes called the thyle or simply the leader of the ritual, fills the horn and blesses it. You might say something like:

“This horn is hallowed. May the words spoken here be true, may our toasts be heard and may our oaths be honoured.”

3. The Rounds

Traditionally, sumbel is structured in rounds. The most common form is three rounds:

First Round: Gods’ Toasts
Each person raises the horn, toasts a god or goddess, and drinks. Example:
“I drink to Odin, the wise one, who gives us inspiration.”
Second Round: Ancestors’ Toasts
Each person honours their ancestors, heroes, or the dead. Example:
“I raise this horn to my grandmother, who taught me strength.”
Third Round: Boasts and Oaths
Each person may boast of something they’ve achieved, or swear an oath. Example boast:
“I boast that I have worked hard to provide for my family this year.”
Example oath:
“I swear to complete my studies with diligence and honour.”

Each person speaks, drinks, and passes the horn. No one is forced to speak - silence and simply raising the horn is acceptable.

4. Closing the Sumbel

After the rounds, the host makes a final toast, thanking gods, ancestors, and the gathered folk. The horn is set aside, marking the ritual’s end.

Practical Tips -

Keep Oaths Realistic – In the old world, oaths could decide life and death. In our world, don’t swear to do something impossible. Your honour depends on keeping your word.
Respect Silence – Not everyone will want to speak. That’s fine. Raising the horn in silence is still meaningful.
Use What You Have – Don’t worry if you don’t have mead or a horn. The power lies in the words and intention.
Set the Tone – Make sure everyone understands this isn’t casual drinking. Once the horn is lifted, the words spoken carry weight.

Why Practise Sumbel Today?

Although sumbel is an ancient practice, rooted in the mead halls of Scandinavia and the ritual feasts of Iceland, it still carries a striking relevance for the modern world. In a society where words are often thrown away carelessly, where promises are made lightly and broken just as easily, sumbel reminds us that words can and should matter. To raise a cup or a horn and to speak deliberately, in the presence of gods, ancestors and your community, is to reclaim the power of language as something sacred.

The act of practising sumbel teaches us several important lessons. It draws us back to the duty of honouring those who came before us - our ancestors, whose lives gave rise to our own. It reminds us to value memory and tradition, to keep alive the stories, names, and deeds of both gods and kin so that they are never lost to the silence of forgetting. It also demands that we speak truthfully and with courage, for the words we utter in sumbel are not idle chatter but declarations woven into fate itself. And finally, it binds us to our communities, whether that community is a hall full of fellow heathens, a small circle of family and friends or the quiet company of the ancestors when we practise alone. In each case, it forges trust and respect, the very fabric of human connection.

To take part in a sumbel is to step into a living stream of tradition that flows back over a thousand years. From Anglo Saxon halls to Icelandic longhouses, countless men and women have lifted the horn and spoken their toasts, boasts, and oaths, giving their words to the gods and to each other. When you perform the same act today, you are not simply copying the past; you are adding your own voice to that long chain of memory. You take your place in the web of wyrd, where past, present, and future are bound together by words of power.

The sumbel stands as one of the most powerful rituals we can still practise from Norse tradition. It is not about drinking for its own sake, but about words, honour and memory. It is about remembering that what we say matters, that the ancestors deserve to be named, that the gods are worthy of toasts and that our communities are strengthened by honesty and trust.

By learning its history, approaching it with seriousness, and participating with sincerity, you create a bridge between yourself, your ancestors, your gods and those who share the ritual with you. Even the simplest sumbel (a cup raised in a modest home with a single candle burning) can connect you to something vast, ancient, and enduring.

So when the chance arises, gather with friends or kindred, light a candle, fill a vessel and hold a sumbel. Raise your voice, speak your truth and let your words take their place in the great weave of fate.

How to: Sumbel (Ritual Toasting and Oathing)