Viking Mythology
In my opinion, Vikings are one of the most misrecognized and misunderstood peoples in the world. With their horned helmets, axes, and dragon-headed ships, the Vikings are two-dimensional, comic-book characters created for the cinema. They attack, rape, plunder, kill, burn and leave. They left no trace in history, culture and literature other than death, they disappeared.
Actually the story is not like that. These barbarians present us with a very interesting and complex culture and religion. Their lifestyles are reflected in their beliefs, and their beliefs are reflected in their inscriptions. They show a complex cultural structure. The Northerners left many traces in the places they went amidst all the plunder and chaos, at least in the places they visited, their names are engraved in runic letters and watch us centuries later. In Hagia Sophia, the name of one of the Vikings, Halfdan, who came to Miklagard - Constantinople, that is, Istanbul - on the drakkars - dragon ships - traveling down the Dnieper River and formed the Varangians, the emperor's private guard, will forever exist engraved in marble. .
What is written are not names engraved left and right. Icelandic scald, or bard, Snorri Sturlussonn shows how influential and good a writer he is in his work "Heimskringa". Although western literature and culture were more influenced by Hellenic culture, the first Christian missionaries could not erase the Viking influences in the east of England, Scotland and Ireland. For this reason, the assimilation method was found to be more effective and established beliefs were incorporated into the new religion. These are so integrated into daily life that the majority of those who speak English do not know that Tuesday is the day of Tiu, that is, the god of war Tyr, Wednesday is the day of Wotan, that is, Odin, Thursday is the day of Thor, and Friday is the day of Freya. . All of those mentioned are Viking gods and goddesses.
The artifacts left over from the Vikings and information about their religion come from Iceland, where their language is least corrupted. Semund, a Christian priest, made the greatest effort in this regard. Semund collected pagan poems in a collection known as The Elder Edda. Sagas, another type of literature, are epics that tell about a mission or an adventure.
Northern mythology reflects the cold and barren lands of the north, the darkness of long nights, deep fjords, and the steep-sided mountains that descend into them. It is the story of difficulties and troubles.
These difficulties are seen from the very beginning of existence. First of all, there was a cliff whose bottom could not be seen, Ginnungagap, and to the north of here was Niflheim, the land of darkness and fog, and a spring was boiling from here. Directly opposite this cold waterfall was Muspellsheim, the land of flames and brightness, and this precious region was protected by a giant. The sparks from the giant's sword melted the ice below and revealed Ymir, a giant creature. When a giant cow appeared with Ymir and started licking the rocks with hunger, the creator god Buri emerged from the blood. While Ymir slept, a daughter and a son were born from her armpits. As can be seen, unlike monotheistic religions, in most pagan religions there are creatures that live even in absolute non-existence, but understanding and perceiving them is beyond the human mind. Moreover, even if some events seem very absurd today, the fact that the remnants of these beliefs are densely seen in many parts of Europe is an indication of how settled and effective they are.
From Ymir's feet was born the ancestor of all evil frost giants. The interesting point is that in the Viking universe, cold is considered bad, that is, goodness or evil, or the rewards and punishments given to them, can be determined according to climate.
When these evil giants learn about Buri's existence, they attack him and a conflict begins between them. Buri's son Börr later married the giant Bestla, and three sons were born from this marriage. These are Vili (will), Ve (holy) and Odin (spirit). These three sons joined the war and killed Ymir. The dead Ymir's blood creates a flood. Ymir's importance continues after her death. The gods (Æsir) create Midgard (Middle Garden - Middle Earth) from the giant's flesh. In order for the earth to remain solid and not to tremble, they placed four dwarfs, known as Nordi, Sudri, Austri and Westri (as their names suggest), at its four corners. The gods create Mani (moon) and Sol (sun) to get rid of the darkness, but two wolves, Sköll (repulsion) and Hati (hatred), begin to chase them in the sky. The purpose of the wolves is to swallow the bright ball and take the universe back to its former darkness. Sometimes they manage to capture them and lunar and solar eclipses occur. In order to prevent this disaster, people try to scare the wolves by hitting the cauldrons and shields with their swords and making noise. How familiar isn't it?
Cc: Can ABANAZIR
