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Kenzie Stewart

Professor Stone

ENGL 2710

8 December 2020

A Folklore Collection: Norse Mythology

I’m sure we have all heard of Greek Mythology, but have you heard about Norse

Mythology? We know that Greek Mythology has to do with the God’s and Goddess’s like Zues,

Hades, Ares, Athena, etc. Norse Mythology is similar but quite the contrary, so what is Norse

Mythology? In the article, “Norse Mythology for Smart People” by Daniel McCoy, he says,

“Before the Norse (a.k.a. the Vikings) converted to Christianity during the Middle Ages, they

had their own vibrant native pagan religion that was as harshly beautiful as the Nordic landscape

to which it is connected to.” He continues, “The centerpiece of that religion was what we today

call ‘Norse Mythology:’ the set of religious stories that gave meaning to the Vikings’ lives.

These myths revolved around gods and goddesses

with fascinating and highly complex characters,

such as Odin, Thor, Freya, and Loki.” (McCoy).

There are many gods, goddesses, and creatures

within Norse mythology and those are just a small

list of them.

In the same article by Daniel McCoy, he “Guests from Overseas” by

Nicholas Roerick (1899)
talks about how the Vikings world was like an

enchanted realm, the Vikings were raiders, warriors,

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explorers and conquerors in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland, they spoke the Old Norse

language and wrote in runes (McCoy). The Viking age goes from about 793-1066 CE and they

traveled across the world, as far east as Baghdad and as far west as North America (McCoy).

According to Daniel McCoy in the section called, “Who Were the Historical Vikings?” he

mentioned that many hundreds of years ago, warlords and warriors from agrarian, pagan

Scandinavia set out from their rugged homeland as raiders, conquerors, explorers, settlers, and

traders and their efforts made such a decisive mark on the surrounding lands and societies that

that period in history has been named after them: The Viking Age (McCoy). McCoy also talks

about the Old Norse language and the history behind it, Vikings spoke Old Norse language and it

was the language in which Eddas, sagas, and most of the sources of our current knowledge of

Norse mythology were written, the language is a member of the Germanic family and it includes,

German, English and several other languages compiled into it.

In the article, “A Guide to Norse Gods and Goddesses” by the Centre of Excellence, it

introduced the Gods and Goddesses and said that “Before the beginning of time, there was

Ginnungagap – a bottomless abyss, which separated the icy land of Niflheim and the fiery land

of Muspelheim. These two realms rose in power and clashed; the burning frost turned into water

drops and the water drops turned into life.” They continued that the first living was Ymir, a

hermaphroditic giant who was created from those life-giving drops of water and whose death

was brought by Odin and his brothers. Odin, Vili, and Vé, Ymir’s descendants, fashioned the

Nordic mythological universe from his blood, bones, flesh, teeth, hair, eyelashes, brains, and

skull (Centre of Excellence, 2020). The Norse gods come from two major clans: Æsir and Vanir.

Odin, Frigg, Thor, Loki, Balder, Hod, Heimdall, and Tyr are the most popular representatives of

Æsir and are known to be the main gods. In Vanir, there are fertility gods that include Njord,
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Freyr, and Freyja which are the most popular in that clan and although there is some rivalry

between the two clans, when they come together, they can be very strong.

To start off, in the article, “A Guide to Norse Gods and Goddesses” by Centre of

Excellence, Odin the god of war and the god of poetry and magic. He was the supreme deity of

Norse mythology, he is the Allfather of Aesir, he was the ruler of Asgard and the most revered

Immortal, who was on an

unrelenting quest for knowledge

with his two ravens, two wolves

and the Valkyries. He is most

famous for sacrificing one of his

eyes to be able to see the cosmos

clearly and his thirst for wisdom

saw him hung from the World Tree,

Yggdrasil, for nine days until he

was blessed with the knowledge of the runic alphabet (Centre of Excellence, 2020). Frigg is

Odin’s wife, she was a paragon of beauty, love, fertility, and fate. She was the queen of Asgard

and a venerable Norse goddess who was gifted with the power of divination and was surrounded

by an air of secrecy. She was also the only goddess allowed to sit next to her husband, she was a

very protective mother, and she took an oath from the elements, beasts, weapons, and poisons,

that they would not injure her son Balder (Centre of Excellence, 2020). Balder is the next god, he

is Frigg and Odin’s son and he lived in between heaven and earth. He was the epitome of

radiance, beauty, kindness, and fairness. He was also believed to be immortal, yet he was killed
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by mistletoe – the golden bough that contained both his life and death (Centre of Excellence,

2020).

Loki was a mischievous god who could shape-shift and can take on animalistic forms. He

conceived a scheme to cause the death of Balder. Upon learning that mistletoe was the only thing

that could hurt Balder, so he placed a branch into the hands of the blind god, Hod and tricked

him into throwing it at Balder which led to Balder’s death, (Centre of Excellence, 2020). Onto

Thor (Yes, Thor) was Odin’s most known son, he was the protector of humanity and the

powerful god of thunder who wielded a hammer named Mjöllnir. Among the other Norse gods,

he was known for his bravery, strength, healing powers and his righteousness (Centre of

Excellence, 2020). Now onto Freya, who was one of the most sensual and passionate goddesses

in Norse mythology, she was associated with a lot of the same qualities as Frigg, which was love,

fertility, and beauty, she was also Freyr’s sister (Centre of Excellence, 2020). Freyr, who was the

god of fertility and one of the most respected of the gods for the Vanir clan, he was the symbol

of prosperity and pleasant weather conditions and was also portrayed with large phallus.

Heimdall, who was known as the shiniest of the gods due to have very pale skin, was

Odin’s son who sat on top of Bifrost which is the rainbow bridge that connects Asgard which is

the Aesir tribe of gods, to Midgard which was the world of humanity. Hel was the goddess and

ruler of the Norse underworld, she had very pale skin and appeared to look death-like, she

nurtured all houses in her realm as well. Vidar was another son of the supreme god and giantess

(Grid), his powers were matched only by that of Thor, Vale who was also the son of Odin, was

the one who avenged Balder’s death by killing Hod who was the god who killed Balder with the

mistletoe (Centre of Excellence, 2020). Just like Greek mythology, there are many gods,

goddesses and famous beings that are in countless stories and tales.
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Another big thing that is a part of the Norse culture is their food. In the article, “Viking

Food: Scandinavian Cuisine” by The Viking Rune, it says “Climate, lifestyle and isolation: these

three factors largely shaped Viking food. Lengthy, dark and cold winter has always been and still

is one of the basic facts of life in the Nordic countries that have to be dealt with seriously.” (The

Viking Rune, 2009). During the cold winter months, the Vikings had to depend on food supplies

that would last into the spring season. In the same article, “Lack of plants due to specific climate

is the reason why traditional Scandinavian cuisine still includes only small amounts of

vegetables. Viking lifestyle was another reason that made Norsemen to learn how to preserve

their meats and fish.” Not only that but, “Ships were the Viking’s home, and smoked, dried and

salted foods were usually what Norse warriors had supplied during their prolonged raids.” (The

Viking Rune, 2009). The main Viking good was from sea and fresh-water places, the Nordic

people often marinated meats because it would make them last very long and they were very

sustainable. Some foods that the article

mentioned that were very common for the

Vikings were, “Skyr which is a cultured

dairy product, which is very similar to

yoghurt. Traditionally it is served cold

with sugar and cream. The whey that

would be left after making the Skyr they

would use towards storing meat.” (The Viking Rune, 2009). Another common food was “Hákarl,

fermented shark, which was a hardcore Norse food that was prepared by gutting and beheading a

Greenland or basking shark. The shark itself is poisonous when fresh, but it can be consumed

after complex processing.” The process consists of putting the shark in a hole, covering it was
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sand and gravel and then placing stones on top of that and then leave it there for 6-12 weeks so

that all the fluids from the shark are pulled out, after it is done, they cut it into strips and hang it

to dry out for a few months. Unfortunately, it has a very strong ammonia smell so people that

hadn’t eaten it before would most likely vomit it up the first time they tasted it, (The Viking

Rune, 2009).

On List Verse, Jessica B. Esser wrote, “10 Interesting Viking Rituals” she said,

“The blot was a sacrifice practiced gaining goodwill of the gods, these rituals were carried out in

large groups on the estate of the local chief who functioned as a priest during the ceremony.

They were both a way for people to honor the gods and for the chiefs to show off their wealth.”

(Esser, 2019). Another ritual was, “Yule Celebrations” which is spelled as “Jol” in Old Norse,

was the name for the period between winter solstice and the blot associated with it, which is

speculated to have happened on January 12. It was unclear as to why they celebrated Yule, but

they assume it was to honor the dead, receive good fortune and luck in the new year and to

celebrate the Sun and light as the days were getting longer. Another idea was to honor Thor since

he was the god who protected the world from darkness, (Esser, 2019). Tooth modifications were

another ritual that the Vikings participated in along with bleaching their hair and ironing their

clothes. Skeletons have show signs of intentional changes in the form of horizontal lines carved

into the upper front teeth. The researchers believe that the grooves were filled in with dye, most

likely a ride color. They believe it may have been a ritual conducted by the warriors to install

fear in those who they were to attack although they have no evidence of that, (Esser, 2019).

There are a ton of different rituals and traditions that the Vikings participated in that all had a

significant role in their culture.

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Norse mythology is quite an in-depth topic, there are so many things to explore of the

Viking, gods, and goddesses and plenty of stories that they all play a part in. The main part of

mythology that I think captures all of us is the hope, and belief in something that is so far off

from a lot of people’s reality, it’s almost like a fairytale realm that can conjure up the most

imaginative things in our minds that make us wish we were apart of more cultures and traditions.

It seems to be that what most people desire is what we don’t have already, we are always

wanting more epic, awesome, fun, and exciting things in our lives so we tend to grasp onto

anything that is different from our norm. I think that’s why humans long for adventure, new

ideas, new places, new things to do, because it’s so easy to get wrapped up in personal lives and

forget that there is so many more cultures, traditions, foods, and places to go in the world to

experience than just where we were born and raised.

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Work Cited

1. McCoy, Daniel. “The Ultimate Online Guide to Norse Mythology and Religion.”

Norse Mythology for Smart People, norse-mythology.org/.

2. “Guests from Overseas” by Nicholas Roerick (1899) (image).

3. “A Guide to Norse Gods and Goddesses.” Centre of Excellence, 3 Feb. 2020,

www.centreofexcellence.com/norse-gods-goddesses/.

4. “Norse Mythology.” Norse Mythology - Naming Schemes,

namingschemes.com/Norse_Mythology. (image).

5. “Viking Food: Scandinavian Cuisine.” The Viking Rune Header Image,

www.vikingrune.com/2009/09/viking-food/.

6. Esser, Jessica B. “10 Interesting Viking Rituals.” Listverse, 14 Feb. 2019,

listverse.com/2018/08/06/10-interesting-viking-rituals/.

7. Wahl, Nathan, and Nathan Wahl watched a lot of Roseanne growing up and wonders

how much bearing that has on who he is as a person now. “This Is What Fermented

Shark Tastes Like.” UrbanDaddy, 14 June 2016,

www.urbandaddy.com/articles/37834/this-is-what-fermented-shark-tastes-like-one-

mans-brush-with-icelands-most-unusual-food. (image).