Religious Objects

 

Apples:

The apple tree was quite common throughout the northern parts of Europa. The tree and its fruit symbolize fertility, love, and youth. The gods in Asgard, ate apples of youth that the goddess Idun, was in charge of.

 

Ash:

The ash tree was sacred to the norse, Yggdrasil was made of ash and it was throughout all the nine worlds.

 

Balder’s Day:

In the Scandinavian countries, the longest day of the year, is June twenty one. It was Balder’s Day, and celebrated with bonfires.

 

Barley:

Barley is one of the oldest cultivated cereal grasses, is it used throughout the world. Barley was used in the northern lands to make malt brew. It was the symbol of spring growth, Freyr and Gerd was married in the barley patch named Barri.

 

Bride Price:

The norse always gave money or goods, to the family of the bride.

 

Cat:

The cat was often feared as a witch in disguise, or as a witch’s creature. The goddess Freya, who had magic powers, had a chariot pulled by two gray or black cats.

 

Cow:

The cow was a symbol of the great mother of creation.

 

Disir: Ladies

Disir was female guardian spirits who was associated with death. The spirits watched over individuals, families and sometimes entire neighborhoods. Some belive that they were harmful spirits, who sought bad things for the people they watched over. Others think that they brought good to the people and its family.

 

Divination:

The norse belived that though some people, animals, or objects it was possible to predict the future. They had rituals where they sang led by a seeress, where they found out how a battle would turn out.

 

Dragon:

In Norse mythology there was a dragon named Nidhug, it feed on the root of Yggdrasil, and the corpses of the dishonorable dead. There was also a dwarf called Fafnir, that turned into a dragon to protect his gold.

 

Eagle:

The Eagle was a symbol of strength and death. It was also used as an image for the battlefield, because it ate the dead corpses.

 

Earth Mother:

It was a general name for the female spirit, she was identified with Fjorgyn, Frigg, and Freya. People prayed to the Earth mother for good weather and a good harvest, also for food and shelter. It was also believed that the Earth mother helped getting better fertility, to get children.

 

Falcon:

The falcon has extraordinary eyesight and flight, it hunts during the day. The goddess Freya had a cloak of falcon feathers, which she willingly loaned out to the other gods, when they needed quickly to fly to one of the worlds.

 

Fylgje: Follower

The Norse believed that every human had a guardian spirit, called a follower “Fylgje”. The spirit was usually in the form of an animal, and sometimes looked like a twin. It would accompany a person throughout his or her entire life. It was always invisible except in dreams or at the moment of death. When the Fylgje appeared to a person who was awake, it was a sign of that person’s death. When the person died, the Fylgje passed on to another member of the family.

 

Horse:

The horse was widely used by the Norse, workhorse, warhorse, and for transportation.

 

Landvaettnir: Land Wight's

The Landvaerrnir was a creature, which we now call supernatural but for the Norse they were real enough. They guarded homes, farms, villages or even entire countries. You had to be careful not to frighten or offend them, you had to treat them properly in particular by giving them food and water. There was also mountainvaetter "Mountain Wight's". The spirits had no particular appearance, some was large, others small, but all were relevant. If it were necessary, they cooperated with larger creatures like giants. The spirits are akin to the elves, and differ in general from the trolls first of all because they live in close proximity to the humans. It was said that they were invisible to people unless someone looked very closely in the right direction, in the right light, at the right time.

 

Mead:

Mead is an alcoholic drink made with honey and water by letting it ferment. To give the Mead flavors, they added different herbs. It was the favorite drink by the gods, and the people of Midgard. Odin only drank wine.

 

Norns: Fates

There was tree Norns who lived at the well Urd. Their names were Urd “past”, Verdani “present” and Skuld “future” The three Norns was the goddesses of fate. They spent most of their time spinning the threads of like, deciding the fate of every human and every god. Whenever a child was born, the Norns spun the fate of the child in their threads.

 

Oak:

The largest tree of the forests that covered Scandinavia, the Oak tree was sacred to Thor.

 

Ravens:

The Ravens was the symbol of the god Odin, he had two ravens Hugin “Thought” and Munin “Mind”

 

The Boar, the Swine, and the Pig:

The Norse hunted and killed them for its flesh, tough bristles, sturdy hide, and sharp tusks. Any and all parts of them were used in some way. There was a golden boar named Gullinbursti which Freyr used to travel on, some of the Norse warriors used the image of Gullinbursti on their shields for good luck. In the winter months it was tradition to sacrifice a boar to the god Freyr. The date was Dec 24 Christmas also called “Jul” in Old Norse. On this day they would feast on pork.

 

The Valkyries: Chooser of the Slain

The Valkyries was female warlike virgins, who mounted upon horses and armed themselves with helmets and spears. They decided who will die in battle. They would hover over the battlefield, like birds over their prey. There would be six, nine, or thirteen Valkyries at a time. They would select among half of those who died in battle. And then bring them to Valhalla. The other half would go to the goddess Freya’s afterlife field Folkvangr. Freya always had the first pick, of the fallen Vikings. Odin allowed some of the maidens to take the Form of beautiful white swans, but if a Valkyrie was seen by a human without her swanlike disguise, she would become an ordinary mortal and could never again return to Valhalla.

 

Völva: Wise Woman

Völva was a seeress, usually a female that was able in various rituals to see into the future, and give good advice and dire warnings. If she became sufficiently well known among the people, she could live from being a seeress and the Völva then often travel around the villages and farms. People were in generally afraid of them.

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