Hidebound? LOL I'm a crappy Heathen. I dunno what hid bound is.
I have read that most "holy" people were usually elders in the village and such. They weren't nearly as religiously organized as say, the Druids. Until about the Iron Age, they worshiped and honored the ancestors more then the Gods and no one God over another. There was a strict structure of society and who prayed to the next level up on the society and you prayed to the dead who could talk to the Gods.
That changed as the Roman culture introduced itself and nobles were buried in ship burials with all of their belongings and sometimes their wives and servants. These could be cremated, a practice that held firm in most Norse countries for a LONG time, or simply buried.
The idea of the afterlife changed as well. Early on in the cultures they believed life ended in the mound or the grave. It evolved into sending ships off into the horizon to an actual place.
I'll shut up now.
edit: Ok I get it. Now I feel slow. LOL 4 hours sleep and not enough coffee. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
To my Asatru Friends: Weren't your ancient religious leaders hidebound?
