Blood brother

For other uses, see Blood brother (disambiguation).
"Sworn brother" redirects here. For other uses, see Sworn brother (disambiguation).
"Blood Covenant" redirects here. For the band, see Blood Covenant (band).
The Norwegian warrior Örvar-Oddr bids a last farewell to his blood brother, the Swedish warrior Hjalmar, by Mårten Eskil Winge (1866).

Blood brother can refer to two or more people not related by birth who have sworn loyalty to each other. This is in modern times usually done in a ceremony, known as a blood oath, where each person makes a small cut, usually on a finger, hand or the forearm, and then the two cuts are pressed together and bound, the idea being that each person's blood now flows in the other participant's veins.[a]

The act carries a risk due to blood-borne diseases. The process usually provides a participant with a heightened symbolic sense of attachment with the other participant.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).