The Norse noun firar has an English cognate, firas. Both occur only in the plural and generally in the genitive case. So far as I can tell both only occur in poetic passages, not prose. That might explain why the English noun does not survive into Middle English.
The existence of a fira spǫll implies the existence of a gods spǫll. The latter phrase is the origin of the English term gospel, which etymologically means the story of God. There is a contrast between the story of men and the story of God, between history and gospel, but there is also an overlap between the two.
Implicit in these notes are the difference between the actions of men and God, and ancient history and the gospel. One needs to be able to see how history interacts, or fails to interact, with the gospel. The ability to do so lets one see how the gospel interacts, or fails to do so, with one's own life.
