Religion of Vikings
The following pages is about the myth and believes - a religion - that dominated Norhern Europe until about a thousand years ago, before Christianity was inforced in the region.
Short version of the Ásathrù or Norse Religion
In the beginning it was a big gap or abyss
This was before the earth, heaven and sea where created. Before the Gods where born it was a cold icy world in the north and burning in the south. When the heat meet the ice and drops where made.
The first drop was shaped into a giant; Ymer. When he slept a man and a woman grow out of his left armpit and his left foot got a son with his right.
Only one God has existed forever, he was Called Allfather and also had eleven other names. Also long before the earth was created, the World Tree -Yddrasil existed. That tree link all of the nine worlds.
Under the Tree of Life, there where three Goddess of Fates
The Norns - who spanned, measured and cut the thread of life. They decided every mans destiny and gave him happiness and sorrows.The Vikings believed in two types of Gods in the Aesir cult. The Aesir and the Vanerna. The most important God of Aesir wasOden - the God of war and death. He had a 8-legged horse and two raven: Hugin and Munin which was his spy-eyes. They flied around in the world observing and came back to Oden and reported.Oden was quite a fighter. Hi killed Ymer the Giant and mad the earth from him. His blood became rivers and seas. His teeth and jaws became mountains and from the scalp they made the vault of heaven.With material from the heated, burning South, Oden and his sons made the stars. The stars are moved for ever by a female giant and her sun riding a horse and carriage doing the work.
Tor was the God of thunder and lightning
Tor had a hammer ”Mjölner” to fight and work with. The lightning from the sky came when Tor hits with his hammer. He had bucks (he-goat) instead of horses in front of his wagon. He was very strong, hot-tempered but more “human” than Oden. Not as clever as the other Gods but brave and maybe foolish.
One time he almost had the whole world to tip over. In a fight with the Midgårdsormen he grabbed the snake by the tail. The snake took a bite in the disc of the world and Tor pulled. He pulled so hard that the world almost tipped over. A little bit foolish but he was the most popular God. The most important of Vanerna was Frej: the Fertility God. The Swedish word “frö”; seed comes from Frej.Viking sacrificed to the Gods at special places outdoors; in groves and at stones. The most used burial method was cremation sometimes along with cows, horses, pigs and pets, usually dogs.
Next page The Gods and Goddesses