![]() ![]() There were roughly four stages to this the creation of the worlds and all life, the creation of time, the destruction of the worlds during Ragnarok and the rebirth of a new world from the sea. There is a rough timeline of events that we can discern from Norse Mythology in which the creation and destruction of their universe is described. Life in the viking age - anonymous Mythological worldview ![]() It is thought that even after the introduction of christianity into the region in around the 11th century the norsemen still kept most of their existing beliefs and simply included christ as one of their many gods, meaning the two belief systems existed side by side for some time. Numerous stories were relatable to their experiences and hardships, with separate gods and goddesses for war, love, famine, poetry and death. Like many religions, Norse mythology was inextricably linked into the everyday lives of the Vikings. They had a sea faring culture which saw them travel from their home in Scandinavia as far as North America and Baghdad, making settlements in newly discovered and often inhospitable lands. The Vikings were a resourceful, hardy and pioneering people who inhabited Scandinavia during the Viking age which lasted from the 8th century to the 11th century AD. Snorri Sturluson - Christian Krohg, 1890 Norse Mythology and Viking Society It should however be noted that this was after the end of the Viking age and these writings come from a christian context, therefore they may differ slightly from the authentic Viking age beliefs. He was alive much closer to the Viking age than modern day historians, and will have had more authentic oral knowledge that was passed down the generations. His work brings together the complicated and tangled stories of the earlier Norse writings into a more easily understandable and structured variant. ![]() One of the more complete accounts of Norse mythology was written by Snorri, who was an Icelandic poet, politician and historian. The family trees of the Norse Gods were notoriously complicated with many relations being up for debate and often incestuous, which only adds to the confusion. Unfortunately many of these sources assume prior knowledge of the Gods and their backstories, which makes it extremely difficult to fill in the gaps. Two of the main sources of our knowledge come from the eddic (from the Poetic Edda) and skaldic poetry, these are collections of poems and sagas which tell stories of the many Gods and their escapades. Especially since it was predominately an oral tradition and very little of it was written down until hundreds of years later. Understanding the complexities of the Norse belief system as it was understood back then, almost a thousand years after the end of the Viking age, is no easy task. The Vikings also believed that the universe would end with a prophecy called Ragnarok. The religion tied in with Norse Cosmology which described the nine worlds, all connected by the life tree, Yggdrasil. ![]() These Gods had various roles in their societies and represented different aspects of life that many people could relate to in the Viking age. This was a polytheistic religion with many different Norse Gods that were lead by the Allfather, Odin. The terms originate from the latin meaning 'country dweller' or 'heath dweller' since it was mainly the more isolated country folk outside of the cities which stayed true to the old ways. It was only after the majority of the Scandinavian population had been covered to Christianity that the practitioners of the old ways began to become known as Heathens or Pagans. During this time the religion didn't have an official name, simply being known as the 'tradition'. Norse Mythology was the pre-christian pagan belief system of the Northern Germanic peoples who inhabited Scandinavia in the Viking age. ![]()
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