Scandinavian Religion
Scandinavian Religion involves the pre-Christian beliefs of the Scandinavian people. Becuase Scandinavian religion was transmitted and altered by medieval Christian historians, the original pagan beliefs, attitudes, and practices can not be determined with certainty. Clearly, however, Scandinavian religion developed slowly, and the relative importance of different gods and heroes varied at different times and places. Thus, the cult of Odin, chief of the gods, may have spread from Western Germany to Scandinavia not long before the myths were recorded; minor gods- including Ull, the fertility god Njord, and Heimdall- may represent older deities who lost strength and popularity as Odin became more important. Odin, a god of war. was also associated with learning, wisdom, poetry, and magic. Most information about Scandinavian religion is preserved in the Old Norse literature, in the Eddas and lkater sagas; other mnaterial appears in com=mentaries by Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus and the German writer Adam of Bremen(flourished about 1075 CE). fragments of legends are sometimes preserved in old inscriptions and in later folklore. Besides Odin, the major deities of Scandinavian religion were his wife Frigg, goddess of the home; Thor, god of thunder, who protected humans and the other gods from the giants and who was especially popular among the Scandinavian peasantry; Frey, a god of prosperity; and Freya, sister of Frey, a fertility goddess. Other, lesser gods were Balder, Hermod, Tyr, Bragi, and Forseti; Idun, Nanna, and Sif were among the goddesses. The principle of evil among the gods was represented by the trickster Loki. Many of these deities do not seem to have had special functions; they merely appear as characters in legendary tales. Many ancient mythological heroes, some of whom may have been derived from real persons, were believed to be the descendants of the gods; among them were Sigurd the Dragon-slayer; Helgi Thrice-Born, Harold Wartooth, Hadding, Starkad, and the Valkyries(a band of warrior-maidens that included Svava and Brunhild and served as Odin as chooseres of slain warriors who were taken to reside in Valhalla). In Valhalla, the warriors would spend their days fighting and their nights feasting until Ragnarok, the day of the final world battle, in which the old gods would perish and a new reign of peace and love would be instituted. Ordinary individuals were received after death by the goddess Hel in a cheerless underground world. Scandinavian mythology included dwarves,; eleves; and the Norns, who distributed fates to mortals. The ancient Scandinavians also believed in personal spirits, such as the fylgia and the hamingja. The gods were originally conceived as a confederation of two formerly warring divine tribes, the Aesir and the Vanir. Odin was originally the leader of the Aesir, which consisted of at least twelve gods. Together all the gods lived in Asgard. The Eddic poem Voluspa (prophecy of the Seeress) portrays a period of primeval chaos, followed by the creation of giants and gods and finally of humankind. Ginnungagap was the yawning void, Jotunheim the home of the giants, Niflheim the region of cold, and Muspellsheim the realm of heat. The great world-tree, Yggdrasil, reached through all time and space, but it was perpetually under attack from Nidhogg, the evil serpent. The fountain of Mimir, source of hidden wisdom, lay under one of the roots of the tree. The sacndinavian gods were served by a class of priest-chieftains called godar. Worship was originally conducted outdoors, under guardian trees, near sacred wells, or within arrangements of stones. Later, wooden temples were used, with altars and with carved representations of the gods. The most important temple was at Old Uppsala, Sweden, where animals and even human beings were sacrificed.
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