Skaga Stave Church - Pagan Rites and Its Destruction

Pagan Rites and Its Destruction

The stave church was demolished by church authorities in 1826. The destruction was the result of the controversies surrounding the use of a nearby well for pagan sacrifices, a custom which likely predated the Christianization of the area. After the stave church had been built the pagan sacrifices were superficially Christianized and people said that they sacrificed to the "holy one in Skagen" who officially was John the Baptist, the patron of the stave church. Those who conducted the sacrifices were people who wanted help against an illness, but they could also want a better harvest or more luck when hunting and fishing. It is said that one man did not succeed in catching any bleaks in the nearby lake and so he had a silver fish crafted and which was hung above the pulpit.

The sacrifices were often given in recognition of having received help, and they were of various kinds: rings, clothes, hides, coins, etc. Throughout the years, the amassed wealth of offerings came to be very high, and people said "we should be able to raise the church on pillars of gold". The main church at nearby Undenäs benefited from the sacrifices and regularly reaped what people had left, but it kept the wealth for itself and allowed the old stave church to deteriorate. The clergymen of the Diocese of Skara appealed to the Parliament of Sweden for a crackdown on the sacrifices, and they wanted an end to the superstition that surrounded the "abomnable pagan shrine".

In spite of protests from the parishioners, the Diocese had the church demolished, but the destruction could not take place before the death of Pehr Tham, who actively protected the church and died in 1820.