the “pillars” and “vital forces” that held the cosmos together. All rights reserved. But the giants are more than just forces of destruction. As the frost continued to melt, a cow, Audhumla (“Abundance of Humming”[2]), emerged from it. Ymir is born from the strife between fire and ice – and we can surmise that that particular opposition would have had a special poignancy for people living what was more or less a subsistence lifestyle in the cold lands of Scandinavia and the North Atlantic. The strife will only be alleviated by Ragnarok, when the world will be destroyed altogether, and nothing will remain but the stillness and darkness of a new Ginnungagap. They are the forces of formless chaos, who are always threatening to corrupt and ultimately overturn the gods’ created order (and at Ragnarok, they succeed). Ymir was a hermaphrodite and could reproduce asexually; when he slept, more giants leapt forth from his legs and from the sweat of his armpits. The Norse gods are divided into 2 major groups, the Aesir and Vanir, plus the giants, … This isn’t to say that the Norse valorized killing as such; clearly, they distinguished between lawful and appropriate killing and unlawful and inappropriate killing. Their defining role in the cosmos was thought to continue as long as the cosmos itself continued – that is, until Ragnarok. 1964. They fashioned the oceans from his blood, the soil from his skin and muscles, vegetation from his hair, clouds from his brains, and the sky from his skull. 2003. The Prose Edda. Edited by Rudolf Simek and Judith Meurer. Odin and his brothers slew Ymir and set about constructing the world from his corpse. By taking formless matter – represented by Ymir’s body – and giving it form, the gods were, metaphorically speaking, making words out of a scream. Still, some of the most general characteristics attributed to Aegir and Ran by the pre-Christian Norse can be discerned. In order for the gods to fashion the world, they must first slay Ymir. 2003. Surely this glorification of honorable aggression, and its status as the defining act that makes the world what it is, were central components of the meaning the Vikings found in their particular myth. Four dwarves, corresponding to the four cardinal points, held Ymir’s skull aloft above the earth. Not only does Ymir fit this pattern; mythologically speaking, his death and dismemberment is the paradigmatic model for this pattern. The Origin of the Cosmos Before there … Continue reading The Creation of the Cosmos → I’ve also written a popular list of The 10 Best Norse Mythology Books, which you’ll probably find helpful in your pursuit. It isn’t presented as a crime or a sin, as in the Biblical myth of Cain and Abel. Recall that Ymir’s name means “Screamer” (from the Old Norse verb ymja, “to scream”[13]). p. 311-319. In the Beginning Was the Scream: Conceptual Thought in the Old Norse Myth of Creation. And yet, since the world was formed from the corpse of a giant, it would seem that the world is what it is largely due to the influence of the giants as well. This is why the Vikings described it as a void (as have countless other peoples; consider the “darkness upon the face of the deep” of the first chapter of Genesis, for example). 1993. Njörðr, father of the deities Freyr and Freyja by his unnamed sister, was in an ill-fated marriage with the goddess Skaði, lives in Nóatún and is associated with the sea, seafaring, wind, fishing, wealth, and crop fertility. Types of Gods. [10] Snorri Sturluson. The gods proclaim the world into being as they sculpt it out of the Screamer’s corpse.[15]. This also explains why Ymir is depicted as a hermaphrodite who can reproduce on his own asexually. In Norse mythology, Njörðr is a god among the Vanir. She nourished Ymir with her milk, and she, in turn, was nourished by salt-licks in the ice. This is the first intentional taking of a life in the universe, and it’s performed by the gods themselves. The half-god, half-giant children of Bor and Bestla were Odin, who became the chief of the Aesir gods, and his two brothers, Vili and Ve. Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. Fjorgynn (pronounced roughly “FIOR-gen” with a hard “g”) and Fjorgyn (pronounced roughly the same) are a divine pair in Norse mythology. But the precise set of meanings contained in such an act varies from culture to culture. First, let’s look at this exceptionally colorful story itself, then consider how the Vikings may have interpreted it and found meaning in it. [1] Kure, Henning. The Norse saw their gods as the “pillars” and “vital forces” that held the cosmos together. Here you will find designs relevant to Heathenry, which are based on the history and culture of the Celtic, the Anglo-Saxon, and the Norse. It’s extremely fitting for Ymir to be the progenitor of the giants, for this is the general role the giants occupy in Norse myth. The gods eventually formed the first man and woman, Ask and Embla, from two tree trunks, and built a fence around their dwelling-place, Midgard, to protect them from the giants.[7][8][9][10]. The gods had to create that as part of their task of giving differentiated forms to what had previously been formless and undifferentiated. But it nevertheless contains the basic stuff out of which the gods can make true things – in this case, the primal matter is Ymir’s body, which the gods tear apart to craft the elements. Who Were the Indo-Europeans and Why Do They Matter? Rather, it’s a good and even sacred task. There, the verb used for the action by which the gods create the world is yppa, which has a range of meanings: “lift, raise, bring up, come into being, proclaim, reveal.”[14] The primary sense in which yppa should be understood here is “to come into being,” but note the additional shade of “to proclaim.” Given the poetic symmetry with Ymir’s name, this is surely not coincidental. Various other creation myths from other peoples have used a hermaphroditic being to illustrate this same concept,[12] so we can be confident that this is also what the Norse meant here – despite the superficial counterexample of Audhumla and her udder. In the Beginning Was the Scream: Conceptual Thought in the Old Norse Myth of Creation. Aspects of Ymir – his might, his uncouthness, his tendency toward entropy, the ambivalence of his character – remained present in the world, even after the gods had shaped it in accordance with a different set of traits and aims. And since the Norse gods are frequently portrayed intervening in the world’s affairs, their gifts to the world weren’t thought to end with creation. In the Beginning Was the Scream: Conceptual Thought in the Old Norse Myth of Creation. p. 277-278. The Vikings, like the other ancient Germanic peoples, were and are notorious for their eagerness for battle. Kure, Henning. p. 311-319. The Old Norse Language and How to Learn It, The Swastika – Its Ancient Origins and Modern (Mis)use. Njord (pronounced “NYORD;” Old Norse Njörðr, whose meaning/etymology is unknown) is one of the principal gods of the Vanir tribe of deities. [12] Turville-Petre, E.O.G. When the gods created the world, they imparted both order and sanctity to it. © Daniel McCoy 2012-2019. The giants, too, were thought to intervene in the world; the slaying of their ancestor by no means vanquished them. Translated by Angela Hall. Looking for more great information on Norse mythology and religion? This chaos of perfect silence and darkness lay between the homeland of elemental fire, Muspelheim, and the homeland of elemental ice, Niflheim. Amid the hissing and sputtering, the fire melted the ice, and the drops formed themselves into Ymir (“Screamer”[1]), the first of the godlike but destructive giants. Ymir’s name provides an additional – and rather poetic – instantiation of this role as the personification of primordial chaos. Mankind is in the middle, torn between the opposing claims of holiness, order, and goodness on the one hand, and profaneness, chaos, and wickedness on the other. Differentiation, including sexual differentiation, didn’t exist yet. 2003. It is no-thing-ness. [13] Kure, Henning. While this site provides the ultimate online introduction to the topic, my book The Viking Spirit provides the ultimate introduction to Norse mythology and religion period. But they embraced what they saw as the necessity of having a warlike approach to life, for the sake of accomplishing great deeds that brought honor and renown to one’s name. Fjorgynn (Old Norse Fjörgynn) is male and Fjorgyn (Old Norse Fjörgyn) is female. Thematically, Ymir is the personification of the chaos before creation, which is also depicted as the impersonal void of Ginnungagap. In Scandinavia and Christian Europe in the Middle Ages: Papers of the 12th International Saga Conference. The scream, the wordless voice, is the raw material from which words are made. The Norse creation myth or cosmogony (an account of the origins of the cosmos) is perhaps one of the richest in all of world literature. In Scandinavia and Christian Europe in the Middle Ages: Papers of the 12th International Saga Conference. First, let’s look at this exceptionally colorful story itself, then consider how the Vikings may have interpreted it and found meaning in it. [3] Simek, Rudolf. Edited by Rudolf Simek and Judith Meurer. In the Norse view, the world is a battleground between the gods and the giants, whose power is more or less evenly matched. In Scandinavia and Christian Europe in the Middle Ages: Papers of the 12th International Saga Conference.