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In the United States, we think of elves as Santa’s little helpers. In Iceland, elves are a bigger deal.Icelandic elves don’t work in Santa’s workshop. They are an independent lot, with magical powers. They aren’t even associated with Iceland’s Santas, which ..."
In the United States, we think of elves as Santa’s little helpers. In Iceland, elves are a bigger deal.Icelandic elves don’t work in Santa’s workshop. They are an independent lot, with magical powers. They aren’t even associated with Iceland’s Santas, which number 13. That’s right: Iceland has 13 Santas, brothers each with a weird name and bad habits. They’re like a crude version of Snow White’s footmen, the Seven Dwarfs.Every culture has its mythology. Iceland’s is strong, with roots in age-old Nordic sagas. Mention elves here and the skeptics and cynics will roll their eyes, but just as many Icelanders will relate an elf storypassed on from friends or passed down from uncles, aunts or grandparents.
How deeply
does this belief reside among the human population of Iceland? Well,
highway engineers and construction crews take elves very seriously.
Elves live in rock
outcroppings.
In the United States, road builders have certain
salamanders, spotted owls and other endangered wildlife species to
contend with when plotting a route. In Iceland, it’s the elves.
Mischief befalls Icelandic
road builders who can’t recognize good elf domain, including breakdowns
of heavy equipment and even worker mishaps and injuries. It is said to
have happened on more than one job site, enough to take the mythology
seriously. Consequently, road planners here consult with an elf expert
before routing a road or highway through rock piles that maybe elf
habitat.
According to elf seer Erla
Stefansdottir, “Elf Central” in Iceland is this town, just a few
kilometers southwest of Reykjavik, the Iceland capital. The town, she
said, has “the richest elf and spirit populations” in all of Iceland.
Elves, gnomes, dwarves, angels, light-fairies and “the hidden people”
are all classes of what Stefansdottir calls elvin beings.
To learn more about
Hafnarfjordur’s wee population, visitors can sign up for the town’s
Hidden Worlds tour, a guided walk of about 90 minutes. It includes a
stroll through Hellisgerdi Park, where the paths wind through a
7,000-year-old lava field planted with tall trees and potted bonsai
trees in summer, and said to be peopled with the town’s largest elf
colony.
Tour guide Sibba
Karlsdottir is not an elf,......
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The Viking Age was a period of considerable religious change in Scandinavia. Part of the popular image of the Vikings is that they were all pagans, with a hatred of the Christian Church, but this view is very misleading.It is true that almost the entire population of Scandinavia was pagan at the beginning of the Viking Age, but the Vikings had many gods, and it was no problem for them to accept the Christian god alongside their own. Most scholars today believe that Viking attacks on Christian ch...Yggrasil: The world tree
NORSE MYTHOLOGY, pre-Christian religious beliefs of the Norse
people. The Norse legends and myths about ancient heroes, gods, and the creation
and destruction of the universe developed out of the original common mythology
of the Germanic peoples and constitute the primary source of knowledge about
ancient German mythology. Because Norse mythology was transmitted and altered by
medieval Christian historians, the original pagan religious beliefs, attitudes,
and practices cannot be de...The Valkyries
ALTHOUGH WE KNOW a little from observations
made by Tacitus and Caesar, most of what we know of Norse mythology comes from
Christian times, beginning with the Prose
Edda of Snorri Sturluson (c.1179-1241). Not only does this mean the myths
and legends were written after the period when they were believed, but Snorri,
as is to be expected, occasionally intrudes his non-pagan,Christian worldview.
TYPES OF GODS
The Norse gods are divided into two major
groups, the Aesir and Vanir,...Iceland: The land of elves
In the United States, we think of elves as Santa’s little helpers. In Iceland, elves are a bigger deal.Icelandic elves don’t work in Santa’s workshop. They are an independent lot, with magical powers. They aren’t even associated with Iceland’s Santas, which number 13. That’s right: Iceland has 13 Santas, brothers each with a weird name and bad habits. They’re like a crude version of Snow White’s footmen, the Seven Dwarfs.Every culture h...Ragnarok: The Fate of the Gods
Do elves exist? Like many Icelanders, Hildur Hakonardottir considers the question to be more complicated than it appears."This is a very, very, very delicate question," Ms. Hakonardottir, a retired museum director, said. "If you ask people if they believe in elves, they will say yes and no. If they say yes, maybe they don't, and if they say no, maybe they do."Hypothetically speaking, what does she think elves look like?
"Well, my next-door neighbor is an...Ragnarok
By
Shane Dayton
Virtually every western religion or mythos has an
end of the world story, an episode in which all the evil of the world comes
against all the good, and man and god alike often suffer and even die.
Christianity, Islam, and Judaism all have an end of the world story, and a
story of restoration afterwards. Greek mythology and Roman mythology both
also contained end of the world stories. The world's end does not set Ragnarok,...Loki: Evil or just Misunderstood
A casual reading of the surviving sources paints a rather unflattering picture of Loki. He is presented as a thief, a liar, a father to monsters and murderer of the Sun god Balder. But he's also the source of many of the items most treasured by the Norse gods: Thor's hammer, Odin's horse, Sif's golden hair.All of these things were brought to Asgard through Loki's efforts. Upon closer consideration, a more nuanced picture of Loki emerges. By exploring Loki's role among the gods and am...
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Viking religion
Yggrasil: The world tree
Norse Mythology
The Valkyries
Ragnarok: The Fate of the Gods
Ragnarok
Loki: Evil or just Misunderstood
