Also called Alfar, Elves, Ljósálfar, the hidden folk (in later folklore).
Their story
The poet Sigvatr Þórðarson wrote of travelling through Sweden around 1020 and being turned away from farmhouses because an álfablót, a private sacrifice to the elves, was under way. The Eddic poems often pair the Æsir and álfar together, and Snorri says Freyr was given Álfheimr, the home of the light elves. Later Scandinavian folklore remembers them as the hidden folk of hills and rocks.
Best times to give to them
- Winter Nights (álfablót)
- Midsummer eve
- Yule eve
- twilight
What they like being given
- milk or cream
- butter and porridge
- honey
- a little ale, or fresh water
- bright small gifts left outside
How to honour them
- Leave a small dish of milk or porridge outside on special nights.
- Keep a wild corner of your garden undisturbed.
- Be courteous in wild places, and ask permission before cutting or building.
- Hold a quiet, private álfablót at the start of winter.
How they can help you
- harmony with the land
- healing
- luck in the home
- inspiration and beauty
Symbols
- burial mounds
- hills and rocks
- light
- Álfheimr, ruled by Freyr
Elves in the old sources are not the small winged fairies of Victorian art, nor quite the elves of modern fantasy.
Festivals
- Winter Nights (Vetrnætr) The start of winter in the old Icelandic calendar, the days before the first day of winter on the Saturday between 21 and 27 October; many modern heathens keep it in mid to late October
- Álfablót Late autumn, around Winter Nights; the date here is a typical modern choice
More Norse spirits
- The Dísir Ancestral mothers and guardian women
- The Landvættir The spirits of the land
- Jötnar The giants, elder powers of the wild
- The Daughters of Ægir and Rán The nine waves of the sea
- Dvergar The master smiths under stone
- The Sons of Ivaldi The dwarf smiths of Sif's hair and Skíðblaðnir
- Einherjar The chosen dead of Valhalla
- Fylgja The follower spirit at your side