skírn (ON) noun

With some minor variations, all of the Norwegian Christian laws divide the year into several different baptismal terms, with Christmas day, Easter Eve, St John’s Eve, and St Michael’s Mass as the termins of each period (see Landro 2010, 77−81). This arrangement is quite unusual in a European context. In the year 385, Pope Siricius prescribed Easter and Pentecost as the only legitimate dates for baptism, with exceptions for emergency situations. Due to the spreading of the Augustinian notion of sin, it was later demanded (e.g. in Anglo-Saxon sources) that infants should be baptized as soon as possible. This was emphasized in the provincial laws, except in Norway. The Norwegian baptismal terms do not correspond to any of these traditions, perhaps because the baptismal terms follow the gagnfasta (see fasta).

In baptism, a spiritual relationship (cognatio spiritualis) was established through godfathers and godmothers. Baptism was regarded as the child’s second and spiritual birth, and created a spiritual kinship between the actors involved in the ceremony, with significant consequences: They were forbidden to marry one another in order to prevent sexual relations among spiritual kin, which were regarded as a kind of incest (see Lynch 1998, 17). The concept of spiritual kinship originated in the Eastern Church and was introduced to the western parts of Europe in the early Middle Ages.

baptism OIce Grg Klþ 1 Feþ 144 Tíg 261
OIce Jó HT 1
OIce KRA 11
ONorw BorgL 2.3
ONorw FrL KrbA 3
ONorw GuL Krb Refs:

Helle 2001, 184, 190–91; KLNM s.v.v. dåp, fadder, katekes och katekisation, olja och oljeinvigning, primsigning, profetia, påsken; Landro 2010, 77−81; Lynch 1998, 17; Robberstad 1981, 332, 338