Arithmetic by the base to the sphere of range makes what is the planet on the tree as life is but a term to understand only the branch, such trunk of expectation is not the sore of what branch may have been cut as in the bladder of a Yak therefrom the constitution is the roll. A pastel of paint to ink the hide is the cow!!
Egypt fashion a cement? Nigh these hours of brick to mortar a store of information that would sound until the Viking became King? Nigh that thinking to snore the 'E' frame of the United States of America as the world killed the theme? People of ground will speak until Odin rounds their drum to allow you to understand the sea, that salt of air will value. Keep sign as the fog is butter to this bread at dinner, the cloth of table to comprehend the silk of threads as Norsemen traveled the lines? There is difference between the Dali lama and the Viking Kings as that journal of reality is in the Sounds. The bay is not a lagoon to lake a sword and prejudice these bigots of National television on National Networks as those anchors have entertained and heard in sound of ear the Dalai lama (https://www.dalailama.com/) at every drop of speak to his tongue of gracious expressions. In that reserve of glass to heard the people worship yoga and band the concert of information to side a venue and bend the score and yet the Viking has been American Folk Lore!!
Grace must embrace my hands of written inks to understand the fathom, I spring to wrest as the music is more than man, it is the clouds of description in pictures painted as the felt of deer and lion. The bear growls in happy report, the ocean waves and the wolf howls for the coyote more. Sheep ba to underneath the singing ka of the bluejay blushing the Crows.
Seat this to your door of threshold and death will not sing to your sound of gate,
great form to see the depth of grave as this chisel is of form,
ground is the dead of life in the clouds of only this earth as planets are the rings,
you will not escape this Earth as you have done in the past ,
this is over.
The Earth will blow into the five pieces to show the Terms,
ground will be bolted back by Men in the Future to show the bridge,
by frost,
the glacier will repair the Viking Man,
People of against them will pay,
in throws death will in compass deliver you to the Gates of Ramajan's Goddess,
at that the Time will court your proper address,
there will be no escape.
My Viking King will stand with his honor of Men in Shipping knews of life and Falls,
the water of space will carry nothing as noted in the Eda Prose,
verse of no perhaps may the World understand it's Woes,
the Woke will not table,
the silver will not fork,
and gold will not sparkle the eye to entice theft or thieves to repeat.
Great beacon is done,
the blue will announce the angels that have satan that only bits this bridle,
you fools have responded to a squat of location,
this tremble is the groin of humanity as heaven is just a mirror,
it is your face that is the abyss.
Valhalla is only a hall that drink is of life to discussion,
the verses of singing and argument have indeed been my glory as shown with the blonde,
it is my brush of eyelid that clears the particle to say borrow,
no over carriage of wheel will spark sparks to brake this honor of more than,
may your hand be on the Crow and your brow on the alligator,
see your shoe and boot that with the belt and Orion will speak only a sew,
threads of Wormholes will ripen in degree and Orion will seat.
NASA may be the terminology but it is the Viking that sharps their pens,
the computer is but a see prompt as the brain is the Viking Men,
Fresno California welcome to your mind,
your seated and you must stand for Odin,
thank you for your cooperation as last life memories may be interpreted however Chief Jerry Dyer may not,
say hello to Chief Jerry Dyer and cry yourself a River and you will forget the glass to drink the heart,
say hello to Chief Jerry Dyer and see your next life,
see not Odin in his eyes for Chief Jerry Dyer is Chief Jerry Dyer,
but,
always the but :)
look to his helix and say that that is the music of the suit.
For each of you I see the names and I smile,
your Officers of the Law,
Cops that make the helix the music I play,
do not Opera,
be the mounds (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_funeral) that said to I the tears of Tyr,
see Snorri and grin as you are the Men,
inside that it is the note.
Wolf!
Norse funeral
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Norse funerals, or the burial customs of Viking Age North Germanic Norsemen (early medieval Scandinavians), are known both from archaeology and from historical accounts such as the Icelandic sagas, Old Norse poetry, and probably from the account of Ahmad ibn Fadlan.
Throughout Scandinavia, there are many remaining tumuli in honour of Viking kings and chieftains, in addition to runestones and other memorials. Some of the most notable of them are at the Borre mound cemetery, in Norway, at Birka in Sweden and Lindholm Høje, and Jelling in Denmark.
A prominent tradition is that of the ship burial, where the deceased was laid in a boat, or a stone ship, and given grave offerings in accordance with his earthly status and profession, sometimes including sacrificed slaves. Afterwards, piles of stone and soil were usually laid on top of the remains in order to create a tumulus.
Throughout Scandinavia, there are many remaining tumuli in honour of Viking kings and chieftains, in addition to runestones and other memorials. Some of the most notable of them are at the Borre mound cemetery, in Norway, at Birka in Sweden and Lindholm Høje, and Jelling in Denmark.
A prominent tradition is that of the ship burial, where the deceased was laid in a boat, or a stone ship, and given grave offerings in accordance with his earthly status and profession, sometimes including sacrificed slaves. Afterwards, piles of stone and soil were usually laid on top of the remains in order to create a tumulus.
Contents
Grave goods
Grave goods from a völva's grave in Köpingsvik, Öland, Sweden. There is an 82 centimetres (32 in) wand of iron with bronze details and a unique model of a house on the top. The finds are on display in the Swedish History Museum, Stockholm.
The usual grave for a thrall was probably not much more than a hole in the ground.[1] He was probably buried in such a way as to ensure both that he did not return to haunt his masters and that he could be of use to his masters after they died. Slaves were sometimes sacrificed to be useful in the next life.[2] A free man was usually given weapons and equipment for riding. An artisan, such as a blacksmith, could receive his entire set of tools. Women were provided with their jewelry and often with tools for female and household activities. The most sumptuous Viking funeral discovered so far is the Oseberg Ship burial, which was for a woman (probably a queen or a priestess) who lived in the 9th century.[1][3]
Funerary monuments
Jelling, in Denmark, is the largest royal memorial from the Viking Age and it was made by Harald Bluetooth in memory of his parents Gorm and Tyra, and in honour of himself. It was only one of the two large tumuli that contained a chamber tomb, but both barrows, the church and the two Jelling stones testify to how important it was to mark death ritually during the pagan era and the earliest Christian times.[3]
On three locations in Scandinavia, there are large grave fields that were used by an entire community: Birka in Mälaren, Hedeby at Schleswig and Lindholm Høje at Ålborg.[3] The graves at Lindholm Høje show a large variation in both shape and size. There are stone ships and there is a mix of graves that are triangular, quadrangular and circular. Such grave fields have been used during many generations and belong to village like settlements.[4]
Rituals
Death has always been a critical moment for those bereaved, and consequently death is surrounded by taboo-like rules.[4] Family life has to be reorganized and in order to master such transitions, people use rites.[4] The ceremonies are transitional rites that are intended to give the deceased peace in his or her new situation at the same time as they provide strength for the bereaved to carry on with their lives.[4]Despite the warlike customs of the Vikings, there was an element of fear surrounding death and what belonged to it. Norse folklore includes spirits of the dead and undead creatures such as revenants and draugr. A supposed sighting the deceased as one of these creatures was frightful and ominous, usually interpreted as a sign that additional family members would die. The sagas tell of drastic precautions being taken after a revenant had appeared. The dead person had to die anew; a stake could be put through the corpse, or its head might be cut off in order to stop the deceased from finding its way back to the living.[5]
Other rituals involved the preparation of the corpse. Snorri Sturluson in the Prose Edda references a funeral rite involving the cutting of fingernails[6] lest unpared nails from the dead be available for the completion of the construction of Naglfar, the ship used to transport the army of jötunn at Ragnarök.[7]
Ibn Fadlan's account
The tenth-century Arab Muslim writer Ahmad ibn Fadlan produced a description of a funeral near the Volga River of a chieftain who he identified as belonging to people he called Rūsiyyah. Scholars have generally interpreted these people as Scandinavian Rus' on the Volga trade route from the Baltic to the Black Seas, though other theories have been suggested:[8] Anders Winroth has commented that 'the exact identity of the Rus is much debated, and we should be careful not simply to take ibn Fadlan's account of the Rus as in any way representative of Viking Age Scandinavian customs'.[9]- There is a consensus that some elements of the funeral correspond to features of funerals distinctive to the Norse diaspora, particularly that it is a ship burial.
- Some features are not paralleled in Scandinavia at all, such as the use of basil, which is unlikely to have been available in Scandinavia.
- Some features are paralleled in Scandinavia, but are also paralleled more widely among the Turkic-speaking peoples among whom the events described by Ibn Fadlān took place, so do not necessarily reflect Scandinavian culture. Thus Ibn Fadlān's account is reminiscent of a detail in the Icelandic short story Völsa þáttr, where two pagan Norwegian men lift the lady of the household over a door frame to help her try to recover a sacred horse penis that has been thrown to her dog,[10] but other parallels exist among Turkic peoples.[11]
Summary
Ibn Fadlān says that if a poor man dies, his fellows build a small boat into which they put the body, before setting it on fire. He then gives a detailed account of the burial he witnessed of a great man. In such a case, Ibn Fadlān says that a third of his wealth is inherited by his family, a third pays for the funeral clothes, and a third pays for nabīdh (an alcoholic drink) to be drunk at the cremation.[17][13]The dead chieftain was put in a temporary grave with nābidh, fruit, and a drum, which was covered for ten days until they had sewn new clothes for him. Ibn Fadlān says that the dead man's family ask his slave girls and young slave boys for a volunteer to die with him; "usually, it is the slave girls who offer to die".[18] A woman volunteered and was continually accompanied by two slave girls, daughters of the Angel of Death, being given a great amount of intoxicating drinks while she sang happily. When the time had arrived for cremation, they pulled his boat ashore from the river and put it on a platform of wood.[19][13]
They made a richly furnished bed for the dead chieftain on the ship. Thereafter, an old woman referred to as the "Angel of Death" put cushions on the bed. Then they disinterred the chieftain and dressed him in the new clothes. The chieftain was sat on his bed with nābidh, fruit, basil, bread, meat, and onions about him.[20][13]
Then they cut a dog in two and threw the halves into the boat, and placed the man's weapons beside him. They had two horses run themselves sweaty, cut them to pieces, and threw the meat into the ship. Finally, they killed two cows, a hen and a cock, and did the same with them.[21][13]
Meanwhile, the slave girl went from one tent to the other and had sexual intercourse with the master of each. Every man told her: "Tell your master that I have done this purely out of love for you."[22] In the afternoon, they moved the slave girl to something that looked like a door frame, where she was lifted on the palms of the men three times. Every time, the girl told them what she saw. The first time, she saw her father and mother, the second time, she saw all her deceased relatives, and the third time she saw her master in Paradise. There, it was green and beautiful and together with him, she saw men and young people. She saw that her master beckoned for her. Then she was brought a chicken which she decapitated, and which was then thrown on the boat.[23][13]
Thereafter, the slave girl was taken away to the ship. She removed her bracelets and gave them to the old woman. Thereafter she removed her anklets and gave them to the old woman's two daughters. Then they took her aboard the ship, but they did not allow her to enter the tent where the dead chieftain lay. The girl received several vessels of intoxicating drinks and she sang, before the old woman urged her to enter the tent. "I saw that the girl did not know what she was doing", notes Ibn Fadlān.[24][13]
Then the girl was pulled into the tent by the old woman and the men started to beat on their shields with sticks so her screams could not be heard. Six men entered the tent to have intercourse with the girl, after which they laid her onto her master's bed beside him. Two men grabbed her hands, and two men her wrists. The angel of death looped a rope around her neck and while two men pulled the rope, the old woman stabbed the girl between her ribs with a knife.[25][13]
Thereafter, the closest male relative of the dead chieftain walked backwards, naked, covering his anus with one hand and a piece of burning wood with the other, and set the ship aflame, after which other people added wood to the fire. An informant explained to Ibn Fadlān that the fire expedites the dead man's arrival in Paradise, by contrast with Islamic practices of inhumation.[26][13]
Afterwards, a round barrow was built over the ashes, and in the centre of the mound they erected a post of birch wood, where they carved the names of the dead chieftain and his king. Then they departed.[27][28]
Interpretation
The sexual rites with the slave girl have been imagined to symbolize her role as a vessel for the transmission of life force to the deceased chieftain.[29] While the scholarly consensus assumes that the slave girl would have felt happy and privileged about having sex with lots of people before being killed, recent work has suggested that we should instead see this as an account of rape and "brutal strangulation".[30]It has been suggested that, by using intoxicating drinks, the mourners thought to put the slave girl in an ecstatic trance that made her psychic, and that through the symbolic action with the door frame, she would then see into the realm of the dead.[31]
Human sacrifice
Sketch of the executioner during a pagan Norse sacrifice by Carl Larsson, for Midvinterblot.
Því at hánum fylgja
fimm ambáttir, átta þjónar, eðlum góðir, fóstrman mitt ok faðerni, þat er Buðli gaf barni sínu.[32] |
Cremation
It was common to burn the corpse and the grave offerings on a pyre. Only some incinerated fragments of metal and of animal and human bones would remain. The pyre was constructed to make the pillar of smoke as massive as possible, in order to elevate the deceased to the afterlife.[34] The symbolism is described in the Ynglinga saga:[35]"Thus he (Odin) established by law that all dead men should be burned, and their belongings laid with them upon the pile, and the ashes be cast into the sea or buried in the earth. Thus, said he, every one will come to Valhalla with the riches he had with him upon the pile; and he would also enjoy whatever he himself had buried in the earth. For men of consequence a mound should be raised to their memory, and for all other warriors who had been distinguished for manhood a standing stone; which custom remained long after Odin's time."
A drinking scene on an image stone from Gotland, Sweden, in the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities in Stockholm.
Funeral ale and the passing of inheritance
On the seventh day after the person had died, people celebrated the sjaund (the word both for the funeral ale and the feast, since it involved a ritual drinking). The funeral ale was a way of socially demarcating the case of death. It was only after drinking the funeral ale that the heirs could rightfully claim their inheritance.[4] If the deceased were a widow or the master of the homestead, the rightful heir could assume the high seat and thereby mark the shift in authority.[5]Several of the large runestones in Scandinavia notify of an inheritance,[5] such as the Hillersjö stone, which explains how a lady came to inherit the property of not only her children but also her grandchildren[36] and the Högby Runestone, which tells that a girl was the sole heir after the death of all her uncles.[37] They are important proprietary documents from a time when legal decisions were not yet put to paper. One interpretation of the Tune Runestone from Østfold suggests that the long runic inscription deals with the funeral ale in honor of the master of a household and that it declares three daughters to be the rightful heirs. It is dated to the 5th century and is, consequently, the oldest legal document from Scandinavia that addresses a female's right to inheritance.[5]
Prose Edda - Wikipedia
The Prose Edda, also known as the Younger Edda, Snorri's Edda (Icelandic: Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as Edda, is an Old Norse work of literature ...
The Prose Edda
is a text on Old Norse Poetics, written about 1200 by the Icelandic
poet and politican Snorri Sturlson, who also wrote the Heimskringla.
Edda
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
"Edda" (/ˈɛdə/; Old Norse Edda, plural Eddur) is an Old Norse term that has been attributed by modern scholars to the collective of two Medieval Icelandic literary works: what is now known as the Prose Edda and an older collection of poems without an original title now known as the Poetic Edda. The term historically referred only to the Prose Edda, but this since has fallen out of use because of the confusion with the other work. Both works were written down in Iceland during the 13th century in Icelandic, although they contain material from earlier traditional sources, reaching into the Viking Age. The books are the main sources of medieval skaldic tradition in Iceland and Norse mythology.
There are several hypotheses concerning the origins of the word edda. One hypothesis holds that it is identical to a word that means "great-grandmother" appearing in the Eddic poem Rígsþula.[1] Another hypothesis holds that edda derives from Old Norse óðr, "poetry". A third, proposed in 1895 by Eiríkr Magnússon, is that it derives from the Icelandic place name Oddi, site of the church and school where students, including Snorri Sturluson, were educated.[2] A fourth hypothesis—the derivation of the word Edda as the name of Snorri Sturluson’s treatise on poetry from the Latin edo, "I compose (poetry)", by analogy with kredda, "superstition", from Latin credo,
"creed"—is now widely accepted, though this acceptance may stem from
its agreement with modern usage rather than historical accuracy.[3]
| Part of a series on |
| Old Norse |
|---|
 |
Etymology
The Poetic Edda
The Poetic Edda, also known as Sæmundar Edda or the Elder Edda, is a collection of Old Norse poems from the Icelandic medieval manuscript Codex Regius ("Royal Book"). Along with the Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is the most expansive source on Norse mythology. The first part of the Codex Regius preserves poems that narrate the creation and foretold destruction and rebirth of the Old Norse mythological world as well as individual myths about gods concerning Norse deities. The poems in the second part narrate legends about Norse heroes and heroines, such as Sigurd, Brynhildr and Gunnar.The Codex Regius was written in the 13th century, but nothing is known of its whereabouts until 1643, when it came into the possession of Brynjólfur Sveinsson, then the Church of Iceland's Bishop of Skálholt. At that time, versions of the Prose Edda were well known in Iceland, but scholars speculated that there once was another Edda—an Elder Edda—which contained the pagan poems Snorri quotes in his book. When the Codex Regius was discovered, it seemed that this speculation had proven correct. Brynjólfur attributed the manuscript to Sæmundr the Learned, a larger-than-life 12th century Icelandic priest. While this attribution is rejected by modern scholars, the name Sæmundar Edda is still sometimes encountered.
Bishop Brynjólfur sent the Codex Regius as a present to King Christian IV of Denmark, hence the name Codex Regius. For centuries it was stored in the Royal Library in Copenhagen but in 1971 it was returned to Iceland.
The Prose Edda
The Prose Edda, sometimes referred to as the Younger Edda or Snorri's Edda, is an Icelandic manual of poetics which also contains many mythological stories. Its purpose was to enable Icelandic poets and readers to understand the subtleties of alliterative verse, and to grasp the mythological allusions behind the many kennings that were used in skaldic poetry.It was written by the Icelandic scholar and historian Snorri Sturluson around 1220. It survives in four known manuscripts and three fragments, written down from about 1300 to about 1600.[4]
The Prose Edda consists of a Prologue and three separate books: Gylfaginning, concerning the creation and foretold destruction and rebirth of the Norse mythical world; Skáldskaparmál, a dialogue between Ægir, a Norse god connected with the sea, and Bragi, the skaldic god of poetry; and Háttatal, a demonstration of verse forms used in Norse mythology.
See also
Notes
- Kevin J. Wanner (2008). Snorri Sturluson and the Edda: The Conversion of Cultural Capital in Medieval Scandinavia. University of Toronto Press. pp. 97–. ISBN 978-0-8020-9801-6. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
External links
 |
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Edda. |
"Edda". The American Cyclopædia. 1879.
Languages
Norse mythology
A völva, a Scandinavian seeress, tells the spear-wielding god Odin of what has been and what will be in Odin and the Völva by Lorenz Frølich (1895)
Numerous gods are mentioned in the source texts such as the hammer-wielding, humanity-protecting thunder-god Thor, who relentlessly fights his foes; the one-eyed, raven-flanked god Odin, who craftily pursues knowledge throughout the worlds and bestowed among humanity the runic alphabet; the beautiful, seiðr-working, feathered cloak-clad goddess Freya who rides to battle to choose among the slain; the vengeful, skiing goddess Skaði, who prefers the wolf howls of the winter mountains to the seashore; the powerful god Njörð, who may calm both sea and fire and grant wealth and land; the god Frey, whose weather and farming associations bring peace and pleasure to humanity; the goddess Iðunn, who keeps apples that grant eternal youthfulness; the mysterious god Heimdall, who is born of nine mothers, can hear grass grow, has gold teeth, and possesses a resounding horn; the jötunn Loki, who brings tragedy to the gods by engineering the death of the goddess Frigg's beautiful son Baldr; and numerous other deities.
Most of the surviving mythology centres on the plights of the gods and their interaction with various other beings, such as humanity and the jötnar, beings who may be friends, lovers, foes or family members of the gods. The cosmos in Norse mythology consists of Nine Worlds that flank a central cosmological tree, Yggdrasil. Units of time and elements of the cosmology are personified as deities or beings. Various forms of a creation myth are recounted, where the world is created from the flesh of the primordial being Ymir, and the first two humans are Ask and Embla. These worlds are foretold to be reborn after the events of Ragnarök when an immense battle occurs between the gods and their enemies, and the world is enveloped in flames, only to be reborn anew. There the surviving gods will meet, and the land will be fertile and green, and two humans will repopulate the world.
Norse mythology has been the subject of scholarly discourse since the 17th century when key texts were brought to the attention of the intellectual circles of Europe. By way of comparative mythology and historical linguistics, scholars have identified elements of Germanic mythology reaching as far back as Proto-Indo-European mythology. In the modern period, the Romanticist Viking revival re-awoke an interest in the subject matter, and references to Norse mythology may now be found throughout modern popular culture. The myths have further been revived in a religious context among adherents of Germanic Neopaganism.
Contents
Terminology
The historical religion of the Norse people is commonly referred to as Norse mythology. In certain literature the terms Scandinavian mythology[1][2][3] or Nordic mythology have been used.[4]Sources
The Rök Runestone (Ög 136), located in Rök, Sweden, features a Younger Futhark runic inscription that makes various references to Norse mythology
The Prose Edda was composed as a prose manual for producing skaldic poetry—traditional Old Norse poetry composed by skalds. Originally composed and transmitted orally, skaldic poetry utilizes alliterative verse, kennings, and various metrical forms. The Prose Edda presents numerous examples of works by various skalds from before and after the Christianization process and also frequently refers back to the poems found in the Poetic Edda. The Poetic Edda consists almost entirely of poems, with some prose narrative added, and this poetry—Eddic poetry—utilizes fewer kennings. In comparison to skaldic poetry, Eddic poetry is relatively unadorned.[5]
The Prose Edda features layers of euhemerization, a process in which deities and supernatural beings are presented as having been either actual, magic-wielding human beings who have been deified in time or beings demonized by way of Christian mythology.[6] Texts such as Heimskringla, composed in the 13th century by Snorri and Gesta Danorum, composed in Latin by Saxo Grammaticus in Denmark in the 12th century, are the results of heavy amounts of euhemerization.[7]
Numerous further texts, such as the sagas, provide further information. The saga corpus consists of thousands of tales recorded in Old Norse ranging from Icelandic family histories (Sagas of Icelanders) to Migration period tales mentioning historic figures such as Attila the Hun (legendary sagas). Objects and monuments such as the Rök Runestone and the Kvinneby amulet feature runic inscriptions—texts written in the runic alphabet, the indigenous alphabet of the Germanic peoples—that mention figures and events from Norse mythology.[8]
Objects from the archaeological record may also be interpreted as depictions of subjects from Norse mythology, such as amulets of the god Thor's hammer Mjölnir found among pagan burials and small silver female figures interpreted as valkyries or dísir, beings associated with war, fate or ancestor cults.[9] By way of historical linguistics and comparative mythology, comparisons to other attested branches of Germanic mythology (such as the Old High German Merseburg Incantations) may also lend insight.[10] Wider comparisons to the mythology of other Indo-European peoples by scholars has resulted in the potential reconstruction of far earlier myths.[11]
Of the mythical tales and poems that are presumed to have existed during the Middle Ages, Viking Age, Migration Period, and prior, only a tiny amount of poems and tales survive.[12] Later sources reaching into the modern period, such as a medieval charm recorded as used by the Norwegian woman Ragnhild Tregagås—convicted of witchcraft in Norway in the 14th century—and spells found in the 17th century Icelandic Galdrabók grimoire also sometimes make references to Norse mythology.[13] Other traces, such as place names bearing the names of gods may provide further information about deities, such as a potential association between deities based on the placement of locations bearing their names, their local popularity, and associations with geological features.[14]
Mythology
Gods and other beings
The god Thor wades through a river while the Æsir ride across the bridge Bifröst in an illustration by Lorenz Frølich (1895)
The god Odin is also frequently mentioned in surviving texts. One-eyed, wolf and raven-flanked, and spear in hand, Odin pursues knowledge throughout the worlds. In an act of self-sacrifice, Odin is described as having hanged himself on the cosmological tree Yggdrasil to gain knowledge of the runic alphabet, which he passed on to humanity, and is associated closely with death, wisdom, and poetry. Odin has a strong association with death; Odin is portrayed as the ruler of Valhalla, where valkyries carry half of those slain in battle. Odin's wife is the powerful goddess Frigg who can see the future but tells no one, and together they have a beloved son, Baldr. After a series of dreams had by Baldr of his impending death, his death is engineered by Loki, and Baldr thereafter resides in Hel, a realm ruled over by a goddess of the same name.[16]
Odin must share half of his share of the dead with a powerful goddess; Freyja. She is beautiful, sensual, wears a feathered cloak, and practices seiðr. She rides to battle to choose among the slain and brings her chosen to her afterlife field Fólkvangr. Freyja weeps for her missing husband Óðr, and seeks after him in faraway lands.[17] Freyja's brother, the god Freyr, is also frequently mentioned in surviving texts, and in his association with the weather, royalty, human sexuality, and agriculture brings peace and pleasure to humanity. Deeply lovesick after catching sight of the beautiful jötunn Gerðr, Freyr seeks and wins her love, yet at the price of his future doom.[18] Their father is the powerful god Njörðr. Njörðr is strongly associated with ships and seafaring, and so also wealth and prosperity. Freyja and Freyr's mother is Njörðr's sister (her name is unprovided in the source material). However, there is more information about his pairing with the skiing and hunting goddess Skaði. Their relationship is ill-fated, as Skaði cannot stand to be away from her beloved mountains, nor Njörðr from the seashore.[19] Together, Freyja, Freyr, and Njörðr form a portion of gods known as the Vanir. While the Aesir and the Vanir retain distinct identification, they came together as the result of the Aesir–Vanir War.[20]
While they receive less mention, numerous other gods and goddesses appear in the source material. (For a list of these deities, see List of Germanic deities.) Some of the gods heard less of include the apple-bearing goddess Iðunn and her husband, the skaldic god Bragi; the gold-toothed god Heimdallr, born of nine mothers; the ancient god Týr, who lost a hand while binding the great wolf Fenrir; and the goddess Gefjon, who formed modern day Zealand, Denmark.[21]
Various beings outside of the gods are mentioned. Elves and dwarfs are commonly mentioned and appear to be connected, but their attributes are vague and the relation between the two is ambiguous. Elves are described as radiant and beautiful, whereas dwarfs often act as earthen smiths.[22] A group of beings variously described as jötnar, thursar, and trolls (in English these are all often glossed as "giants") frequently appear. These beings may either aid, deter, or take their place among the gods.[23] The norns, dísir, and aforementioned valkyries also receive frequent mention. While their functions and roles may overlap and differ, all are collective female beings associated with fate.[24]
Cosmology
The cosmological, central tree Yggdrasil is depicted in "The Ash Yggdrasil" by Friedrich Wilhelm Heine (1886)
Sól, the Sun, and Máni, the Moon, are chased by the wolves Sköll and Háti in "The Wolves Pursuing Sol and Mani" by J. C. Dollman (1909)
The afterlife is a complex matter in Norse mythology. The dead may go to the murky realm of Hel—a realm ruled over by a female being of the same name, may be ferried away by valkyries to Odin's martial hall Valhalla, or may be chosen by the goddess Freyja to dwell in her field Fólkvangr.[27] The goddess Rán may claim those that die at sea, and the goddess Gefjon is said to be attended by virgins upon their death.[28] Texts also make reference to reincarnation.[29] Time itself is presented between cyclic and linear, and some scholars have argued that cyclic time was the original format for the mythology.[30] Various forms of a cosmological creation story are provided in Icelandic sources, and references to a future destruction and rebirth of the world—Ragnarok—are frequently mentioned in some texts.[31]
Humanity
According to the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá and the Prose Edda, the first human couple consisted of Ask and Embla; driftwood found by a trio of gods and imbued with life in the form of three gifts. After the cataclysm of Ragnarok, this process is mirrored in the survival of two humans from a wood; Líf and Lífþrasir. From this two humankind are foretold to repopulate the new, green earth.[32]Numerous heroes appear in Norse mythology and are celebrated in a variety of poems, songs, and narratives. Within the Prose and Poetic Edda, notable humans include Gylfi, the first King of Sweden, in the Gylfaginning, King Geirröth in the [Grímnismál], and two peasant children Þjálfi and Röskva, who are tricked into bond service to Thor by Loki and appear in Skáldskaparmál and the Gylfaginning. The Prose Edda also describes the afterlife for humans, with honorable warriors feasting and battling endlessly in Valhalla, while those who died dishonorably or out of battle were sent to Niffelheim.
Influence on the popular culture
With the widespread publication of Norse myths and legends at this time, references to the Norse gods and heroes spread into European literary culture, especially in Scandinavia, Germany, and Britain. In the later 20th century, references to Norse mythology became common in science fiction and fantasy literature, role-playing games, and eventually other cultural products such as comic books and Japanese animation. Traces of the religion can also be found in music and has its own genre, viking metal. Bands such as Amon Amarth, Bathory and Månegarm generally sing about Norse mythology.Further reading
General secondary works
- Abram, Christopher (2011). Myths of the Pagan North: the Gods of the Norsemen. London: Continuum. ISBN 978-1-84725-247-0.
- Aðalsteinsson, Jón Hnefill (1998). A Piece of Horse Liver: Myth, Ritual and Folklore in Old Icelandic Sources (translated by Terry Gunnell & Joan Turville-Petre). Reykjavík: Félagsvísindastofnun. ISBN 9979-54-264-0.
- Andrén, Anders. Jennbert, Kristina. Raudvere, Catharina. (editors) (2006). Old Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives: Origins, Changes, and Interactions. Lund: Nordic Academic Press. ISBN 91-89116-81-X.
- Branston, Brian (1980). Gods of the North. London: Thames and Hudson. (Revised from an earlier hardback edition of 1955). ISBN 0-500-27177-1.
- Christiansen, Eric (2002). The Norsemen in the Viking Age. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell. ISBN 1-4051-4964-7.
- Clunies Ross, Margaret (1994). Prolonged Echoes: Old Norse Myths in Medieval Northern Society, vol. 1: The Myths. Odense: Odense Univ. Press. ISBN 87-7838-008-1.
- Davidson, H. R. Ellis (1964). Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. Baltimore: Penguin. New edition 1990 by Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-013627-4. (Several runestones)
- Davidson, H. R. Ellis (1969). Scandinavian Mythology. London and New York: Hamlyn. ISBN 0-87226-041-0. Reissued 1996 as Viking and Norse Mythology. New York: Barnes and Noble.
- Davidson, H. R. Ellis (1988). Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse Univ. Press. ISBN 0-8156-2438-7.
- Davidson, H. R. Ellis (1993). The Lost Beliefs of Northern Europe. London & New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-04937-7.
- de Vries, Jan. Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, 2 vols., 2nd. ed., Grundriss der germanischen Philologie, 12–13. Berlin: W. de Gruyter.
- DuBois, Thomas A. (1999). Nordic Religions in the Viking Age. Philadelphia: Univ. Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-1714-4.
- Dumézil, Georges (1973). Gods of the Ancient Northmen. Ed. & trans. Einar Haugen. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03507-0.
- Grimm, Jacob (1888). Teutonic Mythology, 4 vols. Trans. S. Stallybras. London. Reprinted 2003 by Kessinger. ISBN 0-7661-7742-4, ISBN 0-7661-7743-2, ISBN 0-7661-7744-0, ISBN 0-7661-7745-9. Reprinted 2004 Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-43615-2 (4 vols.), ISBN 0-486-43546-6, ISBN 0-486-43547-4, ISBN 0-486-43548-2, ISBN 0-486-43549-0.
- Lindow, John (1988). Scandinavian Mythology: An Annotated Bibliography, Garland Folklore Bibliographies, 13. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-9173-6.
- Lindow, John (2001). Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515382-0. (A dictionary of Norse mythology.)
- Mirachandra (2006). Treasure of Norse Mythology Volume I ISBN 978-3-922800-99-6.
- Motz, Lotte (1996). The King, the Champion and the Sorcerer: A Study in Germanic Myth. Wien: Fassbaender. ISBN 3-900538-57-3.
- O'Donoghue, Heather (2007). From Asgard to Valhalla: the remarkable history of the Norse myths. London: I. B. Tauris. ISBN 1-84511-357-8.
- Orchard, Andy (1997). Cassell's Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. London: Cassell. ISBN 0-304-36385-5.
- Page, R. I. (1990). Norse Myths (The Legendary Past). London: British Museum; and Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-75546-5.
- Price, Neil S (2002). The Viking Way: Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia. Uppsala: Dissertation, Dept. Archaeology & Ancient History. ISBN 91-506-1626-9.
- Simek, Rudolf (1993). Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Trans. Angela Hall. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer. ISBN 0-85991-369-4. New edition 2000, ISBN 0-85991-513-1.
- Simrock, Karl Joseph (1853–1855) Handbuch der deutschen Mythologie.
- Svanberg, Fredrik (2003). Decolonizing the Viking Age. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell. ISBN 91-22-02006-3(v. 1); 9122020071(v. 2).
- Turville-Petre, E O Gabriel (1964). Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Reprinted 1975, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-8371-7420-1.
Romanticism
- Anderson, Rasmus (1875). Norse Mythology, or, The Religion of Our Forefathers. Chicago: S.C. Griggs.
- Guerber, H. A. (1909). Myths of the Norsemen: From the Eddas and Sagas. London: George G. Harrap. Reprinted 1992, Mineola, N.Y.: Dover. ISBN 0-486-27348-2.
- Keary, A & E (1909), The Heroes of Asgard. New York: Macmillan Company. Reprinted 1982 by Smithmark Pub. ISBN 0-8317-4475-8. Reprinted 1979 by Pan Macmillan ISBN 0-333-07802-0.
- Mable, Hamilton Wright (1901). Norse Stories Retold from the Eddas. Mead and Company. Reprinted 1999, New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-7818-0770-0.
- Mackenzie, Donald A (1912). Teutonic Myth and Legend. New York: W H Wise & Co. 1934. Reprinted 2003 by University Press of the Pacific. ISBN 1-4102-0740-4.
- Rydberg, Viktor (1889). Teutonic Mythology, trans. Rasmus B. Anderson. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co. Reprinted 2001, Elibron Classics. ISBN 1-4021-9391-2. Reprinted 2004, Kessinger Publishing Company. ISBN 0-7661-8891-4.
Modern retellings
- Bradish, Sarah Powers (1900). Old Norse stories. New York: American Book Company / Internet Archive.
- Colum, Padraic (1920). The Children of Odin: The Book of Northern Myths, illustrated by Willy Pogány. New York, Macmillan. Reprinted 2004 by Aladdin, ISBN 0-689-86885-5.
- Crossley-Holland, Kevin (1981). The Norse Myths. New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-394-74846-8. Also released as The Penguin Book of Norse Myths: Gods of the Vikings. Harmondsworth: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-025869-8.
- d'Aulaire, Ingri and Edgar (1967). "d'Aulaire's Book of Norse Myths". New York, New York Review of Books.
- Munch, Peter Andreas (1927). Norse Mythology: Legends of Gods and Heroes, Scandinavian Classics. Trans. Sigurd Bernhard Hustvedt (1963). New York: American-Scandinavian Foundation. ISBN 0-404-04538-3.
- Gaiman, Neil (2017). Norse Mythology. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-60909-X.
Notes
- Simek (2007), p. 189.
References
- Edda. Translated by Faulkes, Anthony. Everyman. 1995. ISBN 0-460-87616-3.
- Flowers, Stephen (1989). The Galdrabók: An Icelandic Grimoire. ISBN 0-87728-685-X.
- Lindow, John (2001). Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515382-0.
- MacLeod, Mindy; Mees, Bernard (2006). Runic Amulets and Magic Objects. Boydell Press. ISBN 1-84383-205-4.
- Mallory, J. P. (2005). In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-27616-1.
- Orchard, Andy (1997). Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. Cassell. ISBN 0-304-34520-2.
- Puhvel, Jaan (1989). Comparative Mythology. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-3938-6.
- Turville-Petre, E. O. G. (1964). Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
- Simek, Rudolf (2007). Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Translated by Hall, Angela. D.S. Brewer. ISBN 0-85991-513-1.
External links
Media related to Norse mythology at Wikimedia Commons
No comments:
Post a Comment