Huginn and Muninn are the famous pair of ravens from Norse mythology. They are the familiars of Odin, and their names mean “thought” and “memory”. But what do we know about what the Vikings thought about this pair of birds? And what does this tell us about Odin and the Viking concept of the soul?…
Curses have a long and colorful history. Some of the oldest examples of writing from ancient Egypt and Greece are curses written on papyri or clay tablets for someone who wanted revenge on an enemy. I say “for someone” since literacy was not widespread in the ancient world. This is probably part of the reason…
The Grimnismal in the Poetic Edda is an important text for understanding Norse Mythology. In the text, Odin, in the guise of a man called Grimnir, describes the realms of the gods and the cosmology of the Norse universe. These descriptions are revealed in 54 stanzas that are written in ljodahattr meter, which was typically…
Several different types of magic are known from the Norse world. There is Seidr magic used by powerful seeresses and Volva (witches). Then there is rune magic practiced by warriors and the Galdrastafir runic magical staves from medieval Iceland. Galdr is another magical art known from the Viking world. This is a type of magical…
If you scan the surviving Scandinavian texts, you will find the names of many Norse gods and goddesses. But many are only mentioned in passing, and little is known about them beyond their name and the fact that they were considered among the Aesir. Forseti is one such god. His name only appears twice in…
Freyr was a popular Norse god in the Viking age associated with fertility and virility. Snorri Sturluson says that he was the most renowned Norse divinities in 12th-century Iceland. Freyr lives in Asgard among the Aesir but is one of the Vanir gods who went to live there following the end of the Aesir-Vanir war,…
The event that rings loudest in Norse mythology is Ragnarok, which means “twilight of the gods”. This event has not yet happened, but there is a widely known prophecy that records what will happen. Loki will lead an army of jotun (giants), the dishonest dead, and other enemies of the Aesir gods against Asgard. Loki…
It is well established that one of the ways that Christianity was able to convert Pagans and bring them into the Christian fold was to incorporate important Pagan practices into Christian rituals. As a result, many of the holidays that exist in the Christian calendar have clear Pagan roots both in terms of the date…
Poor Sigurd gets treated poorly in the History Channel’s Vikings series. The least memorable of Ragnar’s many sons, he is killed off pretty early in the storyline of Ragnar’s sons. Ivar throws a knife at him, which hits him in the chest and kills him. This is a plot point to exacerbate the conflict between…
Did the Vikings celebrate Halloween? The Norse warriors (and their children) certainly did not go trick or treating on the 31st of October, but this was still an important day in the Norse calendar. The end of October marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, which means long, dark days,…