Symbel

Symbel was an important Anglo-Saxon and Norse ritual drinking feast in which mystical revelation was achieved through drinking alcohol to excess. This mystical revelation is typically associated with divination, and the quest for good fortune by alignment with the forces of destiny, the wyrd.

In Anglo-Saxon terms, the participants at symbel other than the drinkers themselves were the symbelgifa[?], the giver of the symbel or host, the scop[?] or poet (the entertainment),the alekeeper (the server of the ale), and the þyle[?] who was charged with keeping order (to a greater or lesser extent).

Other spellings:

• Alt. Old English: sumble, symle
• Icelandic language: sumbl

Sources of reference:

Beowulf

Jeff Opland, Anglo-Saxon Oral Poetry: a Study of the Traditions, New York: Yale University Press, 1980.

Stephen Glosecki, Shamanism and Old English Poetry, New York: Garland Publishing, 1990