Viking mythology and all that goes with it

Bates said:
On Baldr:
Hárr said, "The second son of Odin is Baldr, and good things are to be said of him. He is best, and all praise him; he is so fair of feature, and so bright, that light shines from him. A certain herb is so white that it is likened to Baldr's brow; of all grasses it is whitest, and by it thou mayest judge his fairness, both in hair and in body."
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This is the description of Baldr from the Gylfaginning ("Beguiling of Gylfi") of the Prose Edda. It is very apt. The "herb" is the common Aster. Another name for Aster is "Baldr's Brow." (Hildegard Friend, Flower Lore).

Baldr is the only son of Odin and Frigga. He was filled with all the beauty, strength, intellect and wisdom of the Aesir.

The slain Baldr waits in a great hall in Hel until Ragnarok. When he died Odin told him a secret. This secret seems to be associated with Ragnarok. Once Hel is emptied of the dead at Ragnarok, Baldr will be able to leave as well. He returns to Midgard after Ragnarok to Renew it after the great destruction.

Baldr is the god of the Midsummer, so feasts are held in his honor at Midsummer. Also his death is remembered at the Yule, by the evergreens or boughs of Baldr, and by the mistletoe

Runesinger
 
Thank you Runesinger :D i was about to PM you this morning but youve been faster hehe ^^
so if i resume Baldr's description, he would be pale of face and hair, very handsome. the handsomness of men at viking age is a man strong obvioulsy, much bearded?

When the people die and go to Hel, they cannot be in battle gear since they die out of combat. Would it be the same for Baldr? was he all geared when Hod pierced him? if not he would be wearing a sort of tunic?

Also, about the bridge, gate and giant. what is the order, which comes first? giant, gate, bridge? bridge, giant gate? giant, bridge, gate?
and its the gate Hermod cant pass since hes not dead, so he can cross the bridge. is the gate the treshold of Hel? thats why he cant pass it? because its a pit of stumbling?
and i know sleipnir is a great horse, but can he really pass those towering gates?

As for Hel now, in all depictations i saw of her, shes always wearing a dress.. is it a rule, or is it written somewhere?

a few questions again.. now i must hurry for work ><
good day!
 
One of the kennings for the nordic lights or Aurora Borealis is "Odin's Beard" as it seems to move as a long beard might move as Odin rode past.

Runesinger
 
I remember a description of Hel as a most beautifull woman with infinite sadness in her eyes. (Sounds reasonable)
And I remember, that you must jump the gate (or fence/river ...) in order to be able to return from Hel. (On the other hand: the gate won't open for someone who isn't dead ... or?) It's a bit vague, sorry.
 
No, it's not vague - you need a horse like Sleipner to jump in or out. Only Odin has such a horse, and he doesn't lend him out to just anyone. Therefore, once you're in Hel, you can't just change your mind and go back out again, just like that, or Hermod (or anyone at all for that matter) could have gone down there with just any old horse and retreived whoever they felt like. The story shows that you, as a regular human, cannot just "go to Hel" and fetch back a dead friend. Once you're dead, you're dead - unless you have the help of a God with as much power as Odin... There is a distinction between you and a God.
 
Tyra said:
No, it's not vague - you need a horse like Sleipner to jump in or out. Only Odin has such a horse, and he doesn't lend him out to just anyone. Therefore, once you're in Hel, you can't just change your mind and go back out again, just like that, or Hermod (or anyone at all for that matter) could have gone down there with just any old horse and retreived whoever they felt like. The story shows that you, as a regular human, cannot just "go to Hel" and fetch back a dead friend. Once you're dead, you're dead - unless you have the help of a God with as much power as Odin... There is a distinction between you and a God.
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Thats pretty interesting, never would have thought of it that way
 
Larsson said:
When we are on the subject of beastiality. What about the runes with well-hung viking warriors fucking horses? I have a hard time finding anything on this strangely intriguing subject. I think that in their culture that was viewd as a very manly act, as it takes quite a man indeed to fuck a horse.

How did it even work? I'm 186 and I'm certainly not tall enough to fuck a horse, and people where shorter back then. I need some fresh air.
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Better late than never, right? In Pollington, S, The Mead Hall. Feasting in Anglo-Saxon England :" Like the early Irish rite of kingly ordination, involving copulation with a mare, then slaughtering the animal, bathing in it's blood while drinking the broth and eating its flesh, the asvamedha was associated with the strengthening of royal power."

It does not say when exactly "earlier" is, so I don't know, but from the context I am assuming that it is a lot earlier than the vikings, probably Swedish neolithic. During the neolithic we seem to have shared the religious rites with the Irish (and yes, Bloodland, the Maltese), so that statement would seem to imply that maybe the petroglyphs might represent an actual event.
 
Horses were shorter, as well, I believe. That'd be a topic for my mother, but I'm not dragging her here. :p
I'm not sure what breeds were around in neolithic Europe, but I know that the main European breed has, due to both natural and artificial selection, diversified into breeds as different as the Shetland pony and the Belgian draft horse. They were naturally shorter, but stronger, then most of the other naturally occuring breeds. According to my wee bit of research, most of the larger European breeds are a result of crossbreeding with North Africian horses to gain the agility needed for a horse of that strength to be able to grow larger and function as a warhorse.
 
... I'm stuck in the middle of an icestorm, nothing better to do :p

Re: Icelandic Horses. Hmm... 13 hands? I was right, they're short horses. I think my last horse was 17hh... I was the only one who could ride him comfortably, since he didn't like my brother :p Riding him was like holding back a thunderstorm though, that horse frigging loved to run full blast. Surprised my mother hasn't tried to import one, seeing as they're a gaited horse.
 
Yeah... we're getting the same thing out here, only it's just cold enough to turn into ice rain. Plus people here are fucking winter retarded, can't drive in anything more then a fucking rainstorm without crashing all over the place.
 
Vive la Beyond Canada (BC) - we have S-N-O-W. Buttloads of it. Took my kids tobbagganing in the sun. It was steep, it was fast and they loved every second of it. So did I. I have bruises everywhere. The only thing missing was Uncle Johan, who is as bad of a speed demon as his sister, and who is also the apple of his youngest niece's eye. You ain't seen nuttin until you've seen the two of them on a rollercoaster (Leia screaming from the thrill and Johan holding on to her so tight his knuckles are turning white so she won't fall out).

Wanna talk about retarded drivers? We even had a helicopter land ON THE FREEWAY cuz he couldn't handle the snow last week. They close the school when there's like 5 inches of white for fear that someone's gunna kill their kids on the way to school. Seriously! These people would last 1/2 an hour in Sweden before they'd be flat and frozen to death. They don't even know how to dress for f***s sake!
Runesinger can tell you how well this weather has gone over in Washington...apparently not very well.
 
Tyra said:
Vive la Beyond Canada (BC) - we have S-N-O-W. Buttloads of it. Took my kids tobbagganing in the sun. It was steep, it was fast and they loved every second of it. So did I. I have bruises everywhere. The only thing missing was Uncle Johan, who is as bad of a speed demon as his sister, and who is also the apple of his youngest niece's eye. You ain't seen nuttin until you've seen the two of them on a rollercoaster (Leia screaming from the thrill and Johan holding on to her so tight his knuckles are turning white so she won't fall out).

Wanna talk about retarded drivers? We even had a helicopter land ON THE FREEWAY cuz he couldn't handle the snow last week. They close the school when there's like 5 inches of white for fear that someone's gunna kill their kids on the way to school. Seriously! These people would last 1/2 an hour in Sweden before they'd be flat and frozen to death. They don't even know how to dress for f***s sake!
Runesinger can tell you how well this weather has gone over in Washington...apparently not very well.
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Oh yeah, we caught a bit of that storm in the Seattle area too. The schools were closed for the rest of the week, so at least the school children are happy (hurrah! Snow Days!), and the State Board of Education said they didn't even have to make it up (double hurrah!). To add to their joy, there was enough snow for sledding and making snowmen.

The adults weren't so happy. Tyra, you talk about retards - you should have seen it south of the border here in Seattle. A few snowflakes hit the road, and they think it's the end of the world (Armageddon, Ragnarok, whatever). My normal commute home is about 10 minutes. On Wednesday it took 1-1/2 hours. There were people just leaving their cars in the road and walking to the bus stop. You know, if they know it's going to snow, and they can't drive in snow, why can't they just take the bus? After all, they're going to take the bus anyway after they abandon their car in the road. I gave a ride home to one of my co-workers. She's from Iran, and doesn't know how to drive on snow. At least she was smart enough to not try to drive in it.

OK, Rant over...

Knarfi, Thanks for the compliment, but I think Tyra has more knowledge, education, and experience in the subject. My knowledge is mostly limited to Scandinavian sagas, skaldic poetics and runology (if that's even a real field of study)

Runesinger
 
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