The vikings had a lot of different Gods they related to for help to get true their daily life and to understand the mysteries of life. There were gods for war, healing arts, wisdom, cunning skills, fertility and many more.
In this article we are going to look at the three Gods that probably had the most to do with the life of a viking.
Odin
Odin was the most powerful of the Gods. He was also called "Allfader" in Norwegian which means something like father of all. He was the chieftain of all the Gods and lived in Valaskjalv, a house in the great hall of Valhall.As the chieftain of the Gods he was considered to be the God of wisdom and he got his wisdom when he sacrificed one of his eyes to have the opportunity to drink from the fountain of wisdom.He had also a horse called Sleipner. This horse had 8 legs and Odin used it to ride all over the world in a blink of an eye.On his shoulders sat two ravens with the names Hugin and Munin which can be translated to Thought(Hugin) and Mind(Munin). By his side you could find his two wolves Gere and Freke witch both can be translated into greed.All larger viking settlements had a kind of totem that represented Odin and here the vikings scarified all kinds of things form food to a seldom time a volunteer viking. But, human sacrifices were early and happen once every 7th year. And the scientist are still not completely sure if it really happened or are scary tales used to scare the children.
Thor
Thor is the son of Odin and second in power of the Gods. His most important task as a God is to keep the world order. He was also the God of thunder and controlled the weather. Beside that he also was the God of war and most of the vikings had a holy hammer around their neck so Thor could watch over them, both in battle and in their many sea voyages. Thor´s mood was know to vary a lot, he could be joyful and happy in one moment and could turn it into a rage if someone said something wrong to him. He was also know to be abrupt, stubborn and short-minded. He was in a constant fight with Jotnene, a kind of giants or trolls that lived around in the outer plains. He often used his magical hammer to crush their skulls and when he threw the hammer it always came back to his hand. There were no one else that could lift this magical hammer. He also had a sled or a wagon that was pulled by two capricorns and when he road his sled across the sky it made the thunder. So, when it was bad weather outside, the vikings knew Thor was riding up in the sky looking for giants to slay.
Freya
Freya was a fertility, love and war Godes and she was said to be the fairest of the female Gods.
She was often called upon when it came to problems with love affairs or when women either had problems with getting pregnant or when it was time to go into birth. She had control over the growth in nature and before every spring the vikings called upon here to come and bless the season harvest. She was married to a God called Od, but he disappeared when he was walking the earth and it is said that Freya cries often when she thinks of him. Here tears is said to be of pure gold and therefor the vikings appreciated gold highly and often referred to it as "Freyas tears"
Hope you liked this update on the Norse gods and keep following the history of the vikings!
If you want to read part 5 click here
Until next time, stay safe, warm and dry.
Kindest regards
@Gyldenhorn
She was often called upon when it came to problems with love affairs or when women either had problems with getting pregnant or when it was time to go into birth. She had control over the growth in nature and before every spring the vikings called upon here to come and bless the season harvest. She was married to a God called Od, but he disappeared when he was walking the earth and it is said that Freya cries often when she thinks of him. Here tears is said to be of pure gold and therefor the vikings appreciated gold highly and often referred to it as "Freyas tears"
Hope you liked this update on the Norse gods and keep following the history of the vikings!
If you want to read part 5 click here
Until next time, stay safe, warm and dry.
Kindest regards
@Gyldenhorn
Mange takk for dei mange interessanne historiane frå vikingetida @Gyldenhorn
Denne gongen skriv du om dei viktigaste guane deira. Framleis interessant lesestoff. Kjem du til å halda fram med denne soga om vikingane eller avsluttar du dette med mytologien deira?
Takk for mykje interessant lesestoff.
Med vennleg helsing
@Siggjo
Hei @Siggjo
Veldig hyggelig at du liker dette.
Jeg kommer nok til å fortsette med historie i laaaang tid, men kan jo hende jeg etter hvert ikke skriver om vikinger, men i stede noen andre spennende sivilisasjoner også.
Men, så langt føler jeg at det er en god del ting til å skrive om ang vikingetiden.
Det jeg er litt usikker på er hvor ofte jeg kommer til å komme ut med en post. Skal prøve på minst en i uka, men lover ikke noe, klok av skade fra tidligere av
It goes without saying Mr @gyldenhorn that every individual since the beginning of time needed a spiritual LORD that could help him meet his physical or basic needs.
And it is according to the need of each one that he chooses his god.
Below are pictures illustrating two other Viking gods that I found in a French book.
This is my contribution in your post mr @gyldenhorn.
Best regards.
@aminekad
Thx a lot for the contribution @Aminekad
That were some really nice relics from the period of the vikings. A lot of houses had relics like this in a shrine in the house where they were having different rituales and did small offering to them
"Freyas tears" My kind of lady,I never heard of that!
Hehe I guess she is just up your ally @Tbnfl4sun, since you are so into gold and silver :)
I was wondering why those gods look pretty much "nordic", now I have the answer!
I've heard Norwegians are not very religious, and they don't like churches (I've seen some of them be burned out).
I'm not religious either, even though I live in a very religious country, bit as far as I know Norway is one of the most non-religious countries in the world. I guess, just like Japanese they had a lot of gods a beliefs but it turned out the other way around with time. Correct me if I'm wrong with this statement, I'm actually very ignorant about some foreign cultures
Hi @Ralk98
I guess you can say that we are not so religious since we dont go to church every Sunday, but I think that many Norwegians have a personal mind on how they look at religion.
And that you have seen some church burnings on TV was a crazy guy that worshiped the devil and probably was a bit nutcase that ran around and satt fire to churches all over Norway before the police got their hands on him. So luckily we dont have had any burning of churches after that :)
Media is very powerful, got fooled more than once! :)
Hi @gyldenhorn
The incredible viking history, besides having great ability, viking also has some gods, who are very and have good role models. especially the freya god who gives a lot of hope, and peace to all.
Thx a lot for reading and liking my story @Amuchtar. As you say there are a lot of people that like Freya because of here care taking role
Nordic mythology consists of texts mainly from Scandinavia (and Iceland) and which was the religion in these countries until the advent of Christianity.
Thx a lot for adding good content to the post @Redouanemez
You're welcome sir @gyldenhorn ;)
The story of the Viking is so interesting,
their gods were in harmony with nature.
these stories and legends rocked my childhood.
I will read your previous posts with pleasure.
Resteem deserved
Hi @Archeothot
I am glad you found my post of some interest. I have grown up with stories of them and that has lead me on to study their culture on a privat basis.
Hope you found my other post from the Viking era joyful also :)
I live in a town built on gold, so that bit about tears was neat to read!
Maybe Freya has weeped a lot in your town :)
wow..!! amazing, I liked
Wow! The drier and warmer the story is 😊!
Freya:
She is married to a god named Od, but she disappears as she walks on earth and it is said that Freya often cries when she thinks about it.
So sweet! 😊
The value of life that can be picked from Freya is a very loving god and so concerned about human values such as: Love, compassion, loyalty and likes to help people in need of help.
Thor:
Thor is the only god who can defeat the giant. Besides defeating the giant also known as the god of lightning.
That is cool!
The value of life that can be picked from Thor is a god responsible, firm, courageous, strong, and unyielding in life.
Odin:
Odin is nicknamed the God of War, but Odin is not a true fighter like Thor, I think. But Odin is the most respected and respected god.
Awesome!
The value of life that can be picked from Odin is a wise god.
Brother, sure of the story? 😊
Wow, simply amazing writing. I knew their name & known little about Thor but i didn't know anything about Odin & Freya.After finishing your post i can say i learned a lot about them.Thank you so much for post this amazing historical article.
legend photo thanks.
Quite interesting, Freya is the least known of these three gods that you mentioned, because Odin and Thor are incredibly famous, the cinema has made it so. But I noticed that you did not talk about Loki, according to their tradition, do not you consider him a god, or yes?