CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



live and not perish, even when the body moulders 

 to dust, or is burned to ashes. 



Attempts have been made to explain the 

 northern mythology by giving it a historic basis. 

 Odin was supposed to be a powerful chieftain, 

 who, driven from his dominions between the 

 Euxine and Caspian, took refuge in Scandinavia, 

 and subjected it to his sway. Now that the 

 nature of mythologies in general is coming to be 

 better understood, the historical explanation is 

 given up ; and little doubt remains that the 

 present, like all other pagan systems, originated 

 in the early attempts of men to express their 

 conceptions as to the great operations of nature. 

 The Aesir are the powers that regulate the vicis- 

 situdes of nature, and are themselves subject 

 to those vicissitudes. Odin, 'the one-eyed,' 'the 

 fire-eyed,' who sits on Air-throne, the watch-tower 

 of Asgard, from which he sees to the ends of the 

 world, is the Sun, the source of light, of heat, of 

 all life and movement in the world. Most of the 

 other gods, the sons of Odin, are merely multi- 

 plications or emanations of Odin, representing 

 different aspects and functions of the sun the 

 thunder which his heat generates with the earth ; 

 his contests in spring with the frost-giants ; the 

 brightness and joy caused by his beams ; but, on 

 the other hand, the inevitable fate by which he 

 must be extinguished and die at the close of day, 

 when he is seen sinking into the ocean, as did the 

 blazing ship which was the funeral pile of Baldur. 

 In this division of sun-functions, Odin himself 

 was conceived as more especially representing the 

 sun as moving in the firmament or air, and over- 

 seeing all things. Frigga or Freyja for they are 

 originally one is the fertile, all-bearing earth ; 

 and the other goddesses are merely personifica- 

 tions of her various attributes. But, although the 

 basis of these gods is thus physical and elemen- 

 tary, moral elements become inevitably inter- 

 woven with the conceptions. The elemental 

 powers being thought of as creatures with wills, 

 the impressions they make become associated 

 with moral and intellectual qualities the wide- 

 spreading glance of the sun, with far-seeing 

 knowledge and wisdom ; light, with joy ; warmth 

 and fertility, with goodness, mildness, and benefi- 

 cence ; night and cold, with the terrible and hurt- 

 ful. In the regular progress of growth these 

 mental attributes came to predominate over the 

 physical ; and Odin was no longer the all-seeing 

 sun in the firmament, but the all-knowing and 

 wise ruler ; and his sons, instead of being light and 

 heat struggling with darkness and cold, become 

 divine heroes struggling with difficulties analogous 

 to those of men above all, great in war, then the 

 sublimest business of life. 



As to the influence of the Odin religion on the 

 morals of its believers, it must be confessed that 

 the gentler virtues, if thought of as virtues at all, 

 are left sadly in the background. War, battle, is 

 the sole business of life. Only by losing his life 

 in the conflict, or by taking it with his own 

 hand, can a man enter Elysium at death. Val- 

 halla (hall of the ' waled ' or chosen ones ' wale ' 

 in this sense, is still used in Lowland Scotch), 

 in which the souls of heroes are received by 

 Odin, was an immense edifice roofed with shields, 

 and wainscoted with spear-shafts, with 540 doors, 

 through each of which 800 Einherjar ('unique 

 heroes' einn, 'one,' and hen, 'a hero') could 



436 



enter abreast. Distinguished princes, especially 

 if they had shed much blood, and laid waste 

 many lands, were received with special honour. 

 All kings came to Valhalla, even though they 

 might not have fallen in battle. In short, the 

 joys of Valhalla were only for the rich and great, 

 and the ' cold shade of aristocracy ' was felt even 

 in the other world. As a hero's rank in Valhalla 

 depended partly on his 'following,' and on the 

 riches he brought with him, the companions-in- 

 arms of a fallen leader voluntarily slew themselves 

 on his body ; and not only his horse and weapons,, 

 but his treasures, were buried with him. Only 

 treasure, however, acquired in the way of plunder 

 was available for this purpose. The life of the Val- 

 hallians was not one of repose ; for this is not the 

 Teutonic idea of bliss. Every morning, by cock- 

 crow, they marched out to battle, and fought and 

 cut one another to pieces, by way of exercise, till 

 mid-day ; when, all wounds healing immediately, 

 they returned to the banquet, at which Odin pre- 

 sided, and the drinking-horns were handed round 

 by the Valkyrior as the handmaidens of Freyja. 

 Odin partook only of wine ; his share of the food 

 he gave to the two wolves that sat by him. The 

 heroes feasted on the flesh of the boar Sahrimnir, 

 and drank beer and mead, which flowed abund- 

 antly from the udder of the goat Heidrun. Such 

 a prospect might inspire courage and contempt of 

 death, but was a direct encouragement to blood 

 and rapine. On the other hand, the idea that the 

 life of the gods was not one of mere luxurious idle- 

 ness as in the Greek mythology but requiring un- 

 remitting watchfulness, wisdom, and heroic strug- 

 gling, in order to keep the dark powers of destruc- 

 tion at bay, and that thus a brave man resembled 

 them in this life, and might hope to be associated 

 with them on almost equal terms in the next, no 

 doubt contributed to that feeling of individual 

 worth and dignity which distinguishes the Teutonic 

 races. Truth was sacred to the gods ; to be faith- 

 ful to promises, to friendship, and to love was 

 the highest duty. That the faith of our pagan 

 ancestors was not without good moral fruit, we 

 have the honourable testimony of Adam of 

 Bremen, a zealous churchman of the eleventh 

 century ; rejoicing over the conversion of the 

 Icelanders, he adds : ' Although even before 

 receiving the faith, living after a certain law 

 of nature, they had not differed much from our 

 religion.' 



Among relics of this religion still existing among 

 ourselves, the most obvious are the names of the 

 days of the week. Weeks of seven days were in 

 use from the earliest times in the East and in 

 Egypt. Both the number of the days and their 

 names were taken from the planetary system, as 

 the ancients conceived it, consisting of the sun, 

 moon, and five planets ; the planets, again, being 

 called after certain deities. The Romans bor- 

 rowed the system from Egypt shortly before the 

 Christian era ; and from Rome it seems to have 

 spread among the nations of the north, while yet 

 heathens. The Teutonic nations, in translating 

 the names of the days, substituted deities of their 

 own for the Roman, perhaps with the exception 

 of Saturn. Sunday is Sun's day ; Monday, 

 Moon's day ; Tuesday, Tyr"s day (in Ang.- 

 Sax. Tiv) ; Wednesday, Odin's day (Ang.-Sax. 

 Woden) ; Thursday, Thor*s day ; Friday, Freya's 

 day ; Saturday, Saturn's day. Several of the.- 





