The Religion of the Northmen
Chapter XXVI
First in this connection may be noticed the different kinds of supernatural beings with which their imagination peopled the mountains, the interior of the earth, and the sea; beings which have been alluded to above only in a partial manner, in so far as they appear in the Asa Mythology in a higher mythic significance or as they were objects of popular worship.
The strongest and most terrible of these beings were the Jötuns or Giants, who were also called Rísar, Thursar, Tröll, Bergbúar, and their wives were named Tröllkonar and Gygar. The mythic significance of these beings has been already spoken of. (1) They were represented to be shapeless giants, of a dark and hideous aspect. Their usual dwelling place was thought to be in the wild mountains. They were, it is certain, most usually imagined to be the enemies of mankind, a representation which most nearly coincides with the manner in which they manifest themselves in the Asa Mythology, but it was also believed that people could sometimes make friends of them, and then these mountain genii became the trusty guardians of house and property. They were believed to shun the light of the sun, and if the sun surprised them out of their mountain homes, they were transformed to stone. The Troll-women were represented as most frequently making their appearance in riding upon wolves, with serpents for their bridles.
A peculiar kind of Thurs or Demon is mentioned under the name of Brunnmígi, which was believed to dwell in the springs and streams that gush out of mountains. The name signifies one who makes water in the fountains, and it seems in this connection to indicate that to this kind of genius was ascribed the origin of all mineral or ill-tasted, ill-scented waters. This also agrees with the myth of the saltness of the sea being produced by beings of Jötun nature. (2)
It was supposed that the Thursar and human beings could form marriage connections with each other, and hence arose a blended race, the so-called blendingar (hybrids) who retained, both in character and appearance, something that gave evidence of their twofold origin. By being afterwards united with mankind through many generations, the Thursar nature of these hybrids could by degrees be worn away. Such a descent was no doubt conferred upon the men who received the surname of Hálftröll. A giant-like, hideous appearance and a ferocious disposition may have given cause for such an idea, especially when those qualities were hereditary through several generations of one family.
The belief in Dwarves as inhabitants of the interior of the earth and especially of large isolated rocks, was likewise a direct offshoot of the Asa-Mythology.
These beings were considered to be great artists in preparing metals. Weapons of remarkably good properties were said to be produced from their subterranean workshops. The Dwarves, like the Jötuns, could not endure the sunlight; they became turned to stone if they were approached by its rays while out of their dwellings. (3) It was also believed that if a man met a dwarf away from his rock, and should throw steel between him and his home, he could close up his habitation to him and thereby become able to extort from him whatever he wished. As Echo in the Old-Norse was called "Dwarf language" (dvergmál), it is highly probable that the people imagined it to be produced by the Dwarves living within the mountains, who imitated the sound they heard without.
Although the Dwarves in the Asa doctrine have a very important mythic signification, yet they appear to have been in general quite as little an object of worship among the Northmen as were the Jötuns. It was only when a Jötun or a Dwarf was occasionally looked up to as the guardian spirit of a certain estate or a certain district, that he could be worshiped in the character of "Land Guardian." The same might be the case with beings of the Dwarf race when they were regarded as the Dísir of particular persons or families.
In regard to other supernatural beings who lived in the popular belief, their connection with the Asa doctrine is not so easily seen. Such are the Mermen and Mermaids, the Nykar, Finngalknar and Dragons.
The Merman was called Marmennill. His form and appearance are nowhere described. The most remarkable attribute of this being was his gift of prophecy. It was believed that if a man should be so fortunate as to fish up a merman from the sea, he could compel him to foretell his destiny. The Marmennill could also live awhile upon dry land, but it took no pleasure in that kind of life, and pined for its home in the sea.
The Mermaid (Margygur) is described as having the form of a woman to the belt, but that of a fish below. It was believed to presage good or evil to sea-farers. For instance, if one had risen above the surface of the sea, when it again dived under if foreboded evil if it turned itself towards the ship, but if it turned away from the ship it was then a presage of good. It may, however, be remarked of the superstition concerning this being, that it is possibly of a foreign and southern origin, and that it is the Syren that here presents itself, although in some degree fashioned after the notions of the Northmen.
The Nyk is described as a horse of a dapple-grey color, whose place of resort was in fresh water streams, where it sometimes made its appearance on the banks. It appears to have been exceedingly strong, and it sometimes allowed itself to be taken by men and set to work during the day; but when the sun went down it tore itself out of the harness and ran off into the water again. Thus it is related of a certain Auđun Valisson, a settler of Iceland, that during harvest time he saw a dapple-grey stallion run out from Hjarđarvatn to some of his horses. Auđun caught the gray horse, harnessed it to a sled, which was usually drawn by two oxen, and hauled all his hay together with it. The horse was very easily managed in the middle of the day, but as evening came on it became restive and stamped in the ground up to its fetlocks, and after sunset it broke out of the harness, ran to the water and was never seen afterwards. (4) It appears, however, that the Nyk, especially in the Christian Middle Ages, was regarded as a being that could assume various forms. In Norway and Iceland the people still believe in the existence of this being, and they usually describe it just as it is described by the ancients. In Iceland at the present day it is called Nykr, and also Vatnhest, or Nennir. (5)
The Finngálkn is a monster that is often mentioned, but not further described except in the later fictitious Sagas. According to these, it had the head of a man, with large teeth, the body of an animal, with a huge tail, terrible claws and a sword in every claw. But these descriptions seem rather to be creations of the Saga-writer's imagination, guided by the pictures of similar monsters in the myths of more southern nations, than to rest upon any ancient legend preserved from heathen times, although it is true the heathens had imagined the existence of a supernatural being of that name.
Dragons, according to the most ancient heathen representations, were nothing more than monstrous serpents, by which name---ormar, sing. ormr---they are also mostly named in the older manuscripts. The superstition was prevalent that the Orm, especially the so-called lyngormr (doubtless the Dragon---Danish, Lindorm, German, Lindwurm---of the Danish and German legends and songs of the Middle Ages), if laid upon gold, would grow as large as the gold. It was thus with the serpent which, according to the legend, surrounded Thoras Borg, the Gothic King's daughter, and which Ragnar Lóđbrók slew. (6) These imaginary monsters were often supposed to be the transformations of avaricious men who had voluntarily clothed themselves in this enchanted form in order to brood in safety over their gold. It was also said of them that they bore the Helmet of Terror (Ćgishjálmar), with which they frightened away all living things. Thus Fafnir is described in the ancient legend which one of the Eddaic poems treats of. (7) Thus also, a somewhat later legend speaks of the Jómsvíking Búi the Thick, who in the battle at Hjörúngavág jumped overboard with his two heavy chests of gold, "that he transformed himself into a serpent upon the bottom of the sea, and there brooded over his treasures." (8) In later times these serpents were imagined to be winged dragons (flugrdrekar), probably after the legends of southern lands had been heard of, concerning such monsters.
Deeply rooted in the minds of the heathen Northmen was the belief in ghosts and their apparitions (aptrganga, plur. aptrgöngur, reimleikar), and this belief appears to have been intimately connected with their ideas of a future state. The peculiar doctrines of the Asa-faith on this subject have been before unfolded. The soul was imagined to return to its original source---to Heaven and the Gods abiding there---while the body and the grosser life connected with it wandered to the abodes of Hel or Death. Herewith was very naturally connected the belief that the spirit of the departed could leave its home with the Gods and again visit the earth at night, in order to unite itself at the funeral mound with the bodily shadow, which was set free from Helheim. The departed were thus enabled sometimes to appear in the opening mounds in the same forms which they had worn in life. The old Eddaic poem of Helgi Hundingsbani makes the hero return by night from Valhalla, called back by the grief of his deserted wife Sigrún. Sigrún sees him with all his death-wounds, in the open mound; she goes in to him and they remain there together during the night. But with the dawning day he rides again upon his pale horse back to Valhalla; he must be there before the crowing of the cock shall awaken the Einherjar. When the dead thus made themselves visible by night in the open burial mounds, sometimes surrounded by flames of fire or by a clear light which cast no shadow, then the portals of Hel were said to be opened; then had Hel set free the bodily part to be united for a season with the soul, which came to the mound from Valhalla. Such apparitions were usually believed to be harmless, and to make their appearance only to comfort beloved survivors or to give them good counsel. When drowned persons came as apparitions to the funeral ceremonies which the survivors held to their memory; it was looked upon as a good omen; a token that the departed had met with a friendly reception from Rán.
It was believed to be otherwise with men whose souls, by a contempt for the Gods, joined to wickedness and a base disposition, had rendered themselves unworthy of the joys of Heaven. Their whole being became at their death the prey of Hel, and whenever they left their funeral mounds they became frightful spectres, whose delight it was to torment the living. It was said that when they thus made their appearance, they were stronger and far more hideous than they had been when living. They only showed themselves at night---when the sun was not shining. By day the undecayed body lay blue and bloated, but dead and quiet in the grave. The only power which it was thought to be possessed of then, was that of making itself so heavy that if any one tried to remove it, levers were necessary to raise it up and strong oxen strained themselves in attempting to drag it away. In mid-winter, at Yule-tide, the ravages of all spectres were the worst, but in the height of summer-time people saw no traces of them. It was believed that they would kill the people whom they could lay hold of in their ghostly wanderings, or at least frighten them out of their senses, and but few of the Living were bold enough to dare, or strong enough to bear, an encounter with them. Even if the living should come off victorious, the bare remembrance of the horrid vision would make him ever afterwards afraid in the dark, however great a hero and warrior he might otherwise be. The best way to get rid of such hard customers was, to dig up the body, burn it to ashes, and scatter the ashes in the sea, or else to cut the head off the corpse and lay it between its legs. (9) Doubtless it was believed that the body was necessary to this class of the Dead, in order to make their appearance among the living; when their souls were deprived of this means of carrying on operations, they could no longer do any harm to men, but had to stay in their dwelling in Helheim.
We find mention of another way to get rid of troublesome apparitions, namely, to prosecute them with all legal formalities for the disturbance they occasioned, and to banish them by a regular sentence of law. The decree was posted upon the principal door of the house where the spectres made their appearance. In the Eyrbyggja Saga, which is very rich in traces of the heathen superstitions, we find the description of a judicial process of this kind, which it seems was held on the estate of Frođá in Iceland, where a whole troop of ghosts had appeared every evening for a long time and scared the people of the house away from the fire, in order to get a seat by it themselves. The sentence of banishment, it is stated, was passed on each spectre in particular, by expressly calling him by name, whereupon the ghost had to take his departure through the opposite door, however reluctant he might be to go.
It was a consequence of their ideas of a future state, to bury with the dead in the grave, not only useful implements with which they could busy themselves when the spirit at night visited the home of the body and clothed itself for a season in the cast-off earthly form, but also gold and ornaments with which they could shine in the halls of Hel, or else splendid armor with which the spirit, which was never conceived of as being quite deprived of all bodily form, could make an honorable entrance into Valhalla. These treasures, which, when very rich, were thought to betray themselves to nocturnal fires which burned above the mounds (haugeldar), often allured bold men to break open and rob the graves. But these mound-breakers had to go prepared for a hard struggle with the inhabitant of the mound (haugbúi) or the ghost of the buried man, which was believed rarely to grant its treasures to any living being. They could never gain undisturbed possession of the treasure until they had succeeded in hewing off the head of the spectre and laying it between its legs. But the great advantages promised by such a mound-breaking, induced them to close their eyes against the dangers of the undertaking, as well as the wrong which they doubtless believed there was in thus disturbing the repose of the dead. Many descriptions of terrible battles with these mound-spirits are found in the Sagas, (10) which contain a multitude of remarkable features of the ancient Northmen's belief in spectres.
Another very ancient superstition may here be cited in conclusion, namely, the belief that men could be born again (vera endrbornir), that the spirit could pass from one body when it was dead, and enter another in order to be born anew with it. Thus it was believed that the hero Helgi Hjörvarđsson was born again in Helgi Hundingsbani, and Svafa, the favorite of the former, in the Valkyrja Sigrún, who was beloved by the latter. In like manner it was believed that Olaf the Saint was the re-born Olaf Geirstađa-Álf. Connected with this and likewise of heathen origin appears to have been the belief that two persons could have, in common, one man's life; and that both should therefore die at the same time.
Endnotes
1. Chap. XII and XVIII. [Back]
2. The L. Edda: Skálda 43. [Back]
3. The O. Edda: Alvísmál, 36. [Back]
4. Landnmb. II. 10. [Back]
5. Olafsen and Povelsen's Travels, p. 55. [Back]
6. Ragn. Lóðbr. S. 1-2. [Back]
7. The O. Edda: Fafnismál. [Back]
8. Jómsv. S. 49 in Fornm. S. XI. [Back]
9. Laxd. S.: Eybr. S. : Grettis S. et al. [Back]
10. Hörðs S. 14; Grettis S. 20. [Back]
<< Previous Page Next Page >>
© 2004-2007 Northvegr.
Most of the material on this site is in the public domain. However, many people have worked very hard to bring these texts to you so if you do use the work, we would appreciate it if you could give credit to both the Northvegr site and to the individuals who worked to bring you these texts. A small number of texts are copyrighted and cannot be used without the author's permission. Any text that is copyrighted will have a clear notation of such on the main index page for that text. Inquiries can be sent to info@northvegr.org. Northvegr™ and the Northvegr symbol are trademarks and service marks of the Northvegr Foundation.
|