mythologyI imagine when I was a teen I worked my way though various forms of literature. Science fiction, fantasy, greek mythology, not to mention the more realistic if just as wild stuff described by Hunter Thompson and Kurt Vonnegut and George Orwell. I enjoyed a lot of it, stayed with science fiction for a bit longer than the others, and of course participated in the fandom of The Hobbit, by Tolkien. But I put all that behind me by the time I got to college and immersed myself in the realism of books about police, spies, Watergate and Viet Nam.
But during those earlier years I never put any of the stories I had read into any real historical context. I never connected the dots between popular fantasy-fiction and true ancient mythology.
I bring it up today because I just got a Christmas package from my Icelandic penpals. I am slowly learning a little about Iceland, about the language, and about the history. I have not yet tackled the Sagas, writings of early Iceland from the era of the 10th and 11th century.
But this year, I was sent a statue of Odin.
WHO or WHAT is Odin? I hadn't a clue!
Two years ago they (my trucker buddy class) related to me their story of Christmas which included an ugly troll named Gryla who steals naughty children! And she has a cat who EATS bad kids! She and her husband also have 13 children who have become friendly yet mischeivous and each one comes down from the mountain to leave a gift in the shoes which children leave on windowsills. So Icleandic Christmas involves 13 days of gift giving, starting today. Last year I received a deck of cards that held pictures of the little trolls with the great names like "bowl licker, window peeper, door sniffer, sheep worrier (ruh-roh!), and candle beggar.
This morning I had to turn to the great god google and learn, with help from Wikipedia, about Odin.
Odin himself is part of legend/lore/mythology and one of the Norse Gods. What I found fascinating in reading about him : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin , was the interconnection with several things from modern lore that I have heard mentioned, but never was able to put in any perspective.
For instance Vallhalla. I have heard reference to it for years, and sort of lumped it with the other mythological place of El Dorado. It was a reverential place and that was about all I knew. Well, Odin, among his many characteristics, is a god of War, as well as of poetry, victory and the hunt. One of his activities is to recognize the fiercest of warriors who are lost in battle. He is assisted in this task by the princess Valkrie - another character I have heard of but never knew anything about. Once chosen, the warrior spirits are brought to Valhalla to feast and await the final battle. (in the final battle, Odin is victor but the world is destroyed. From the remains of his adversary, he creates the earth (the body), rocks (teeth and bones), rivers and lakes (blood) sky (skull) and clouds (brains). Odin then chose two trees and into them blew breath and life; one of Odins brothers then embued them with brains and feelings; and his third brother gave them sight and hearing. One tree was now man, named Ash, and the other was woman, named Embla and all human kind came from them.
Odin is also the father of Thor.
Odin is accompianied by two ravens called Thought and Memory.
There are just so many incredible interconnnections you can follow from the above linked wikipedia entry it will take me days to follow them all and hopefully, gain a better understanding of the myths. The Irish, like the Norse, have mythical characters that represented qualities and traits. Good battled evil for things such as love, freedom, and eternal peace. Giants in both realms were the forces of evil. Bad men who died in Norse belief (as well as men who simply did not die heroically in battle) went to the 9th world,
a place called . . .
wait for it! . . .
hel.
You have to start reading yourself to learn that hel was a realm lorded over by Hel,
a goddess sent there by . . . Odin!
Welcome to Hel :
I'm going to try to not become a geek all over again, but I'm going to enjoy the next few days!
