Winterfylleth was the Old English name for the winter equinox. According to Bede, the Anglo Saxons called the beginning of winter Ƿinterfylleþ, a term comprised of winter and full moon. The Germanic peoples only recognized summer (ON: Sumar) and winter (ON: Vetr), and the full moon of what would now be October marked the beginning of winter; the six months where the days were longer than the nights were counted as summer, and the other six as winter. 

From the Sagas, Haustblót was observed at this time. In the Gísla saga Súrssonar, a feast and a sacrifice to Freyr on the Winter-Nights (Vetrnætr) is mentioned twice. 
“Summer drew to a close and the Winter Nights began. In those days it was the custom to celebrate the coming of winter by holding feasts and a Winter Nights’ sacrifice. Gisli no longer sacrificed after he left Viborg, but he still held feasts and showed the same magnanimity as before.”
“Thorgrim decided to hold a feast at the end of autumn to celebrate the coming of the Winter Nights. There was to be a sacrifice to Frey, and he invited his brother, Bork, Eyjolf Thordarson and many other men of distinction.”

The Saga of Saint Olaf attested this practice enduring in Norway, 
“As long as heathenism prevailed, Sigurd usually had three sacrifices every year: one on winter-night's eve, one on mid-winter's eve, and the third in summer.”
 
In the Ynglingasaga, Odin prescribed a sacrifice at the beginning of winter for a good year. 
“On winter day there should be blood-sacrifice for a good year, and in the middle of winter for a good crop; and the third sacrifice should be on summer day, for victory in battle.”

Álfablót followed, being held at home with one’s family. The full moon is coming up this year on October 17th. Bledsian Ƿinterfylleþ!
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One of the lesser-known finds from the Jelling north mound; a small bronze strap slide shaped like a raven. ᚬ

Another reference to Odin in the Gísla saga Súrssonar is that Gísli dreams of Vestein being attacked by a snake and then a wolf shortly before his death; two animals closely associated with Odin, as he takes the form of a serpent in the Skáldskaparmál.

“I dreamed the first night that a viper wriggled out from a certain farm and stung Vestein to death, and, on the second night, I dreamed that a wolf ran out from the same farm and bit Vestein to death. I have not told either dream until now because I did not want them to come true.”

Painting by Johannes Gehrts, 1885.

In 406AD, the Gothic pagan king Radagaisus led an invasion of Italy, and according to Orosius, vowed to sacrifice the entire Roman race to the gods. Many Romans reverted to paganism during his war. He was defeated by Stilicho before he could reach Rome, and thousands of his men were sold into slavery…only to aid Alaric in the sack of Rome four years later.

“Radagaisus, by far the most savage of all our enemies, past or present, inundated all Italy by a sudden invasion with an army reported to number more than two hundred thousand Goths. Aside from the fact of his own dauntless courage and the support of the vast multitude, he was a pagan and a Scythian, who, according to the custom of the barbarous tribes, had vowed the blood of the entire Roman race as an offering to his gods. Consequently, when he threatened the defences of Rome, all the pagans in the City flocked together, saying that the enemy was powerful, not merely because of the size of his forces, but especially because of the aid of his gods. They also said that the City was forsaken and would soon perish because it had completely abandoned its gods and its sacred rites. Great complaints were raised everywhere. The restoration and celebration of sacrifices were at once discussed. Blasphemies were rife throughout the City, and the name of Christ was publicly loaded with reproaches as if it were a curse upon the times.”
~Orosius

An Anglo-Scandinavian disc brooch with a fylfot design, found in Thetford, Norfolk, 9-10th Century. This was a locally produced variation of a popular Viking Age design in Scandinavia. With this variation of the fylfot, one can easily see where the head and handle of the Big Dipper would be.