Norse Mythology!

Maybe it's just me, but reading about Nordic mythology out of The Prose Edda for the first time got a little confusing from time to time considering how thorough it was about the relationships among EVERYONE... so here's a breakdown of some of the main Norse gods and heroes that we read about in pages 1-30 and/or those that play an important role in the Nordic culture.





Frigga


• Aegir – Norse God of the sea. Married to Ran and lives under the waves near the island of Hlesey.
• Aesir – A group of warrior gods led by Odin who inhabit Asgard.
• Balder – Son of Odin and Frigg. Known as a gentle and wise god. Killed accidentally by his brother Hod. Will return after Ragnarok.
• Bor – Son of Buri and father of Odin, Vili and Ve.
• Buri – Ancestor of the Norse gods. Created by the cow Audmula licking him from ice.
• Day – Son of Night and Delling. Said to ride around the earth on his horse Skinfaxi.
• Earth – Daughter of Night and Annar.
• Fjorgyn – Lover of Odin and mother of Thor. Also referred to as Earth.
• Frigga – Main goddess. Wife of Odin and mother of Balder.
• Fulla – Goddess servant of Frigga.
• Gangnrad – Pseudonym of Odin when he visits Vafthrudnir.




Odin - "All-Father"


• Gefion – Fertility goddess. Associated with the plow. Tricked the king of Sweden out of a tract of his land.
• Hel – ruler of Helheim, the realm of the dead
• Hermod – Son of Odin. Rode to Hel to try and rescue his brother Balder.
• Hod – Son of Odin. A blind god who accidentally killed his brother Balder. he will return after Ragnarok.
• Loki – The sly, trickster of the Norse gods. Son of two giants. Also known as the Sly One, the Trickster, the Shape Changer and the Sky Traveller. Becomes increasingly more evil. He is responsible for the death of Balder. Bound until Ragnarok.
• Moon – Son of Mundilfari. Guides the moon on it’s course.
• Night – Daughter of Narvi and mother of Day. Rides around the earth on her horse Hrimfaxi.
• Njord – A Vanir god associated with wind and sea. Husband of Skadi and father of Freyja and Freyr.



Thor- Thunder god

• Odin – King of the Norse Gods, God of poetry, battle and death. Chief god of the Aesir. Also known as the “all-father”, the “terrible one”, “one-eyed” and “father of battle”.
• Saga – Goddess and drinking companion of Odin.
• Sun – Daughter of Mundilfari and guide of the sun.
• Thor – God of Sky, thunder and fertility. Associated with law and order in Asgard and guardian of the Norse gods. Son of Odin and Earth and husband of Sif. Also known as the “thunder god” and “charioteer”.
• Tyr – War god. Son of Odin who sacrificed his hand in the binding of Fenrir.

Intro to the "Trickster"

Loki

As we transition into learning about aspects contributed to the notorious "trickster" figure in all mythology, I looked into a few common ones as a sneak preview..

• Loki- a shape shifter found in Norse mythology; as discussed in the e-reserve reading, his position is half-way between the gods and the mortals, sometimes aiding them, sometimes causing trouble. He can appear in the shape of a salmon, a mare, a fly, or even an old woman. He played a role in the death of one of the Norse gods, was then bound by his own entrails and when he eventually escaped he died in a fight with another god when he decided to join in the battle against the gods.

• Anansi- a cunning spider that can appear in the shape of a man found in West African and Caribbean folklore; most of the time he uses his cunning-ness to trick people into giving him valuable things but it often backfires on him- in one account he stored all the wisdom in the world in a pot for himself but couldn't climb the tree he wanted to hide it in while holding it so he dropped it.

• Pan- satyr-looking god of shepherds/flocks, mountain wilds, hunting, and music in Greek and Roman mythology; his general form (as a satyr) was to play tricks on people and children for pure amusement.

Pan

 

• John the Conqueror- a folk hero found in African-American folklore; he was an African prince that was sold into slavery in the Americas but was smart enough he was often able to trick his masters to evade them. In one story he is even able to shape shift in order to outrun the devil himself after stealing his horses in an attempt to win over the devil's daughter.

The Rituals of Attis... WHAT .

Cybele and Attis

So I know that it was the assigned reading for class and this is probably now common knowledge for those of you who did the assignment, but for those of you who didn't or even those of you who did and are just as confused/uncomfortable/slightly REALLY grossed out as I am, I'd like to explore (okay so maybe touch on slightly more than what we read on account of how unorthodox it was..) the significance of, motivations for, and the  influence of rituals devoted to Attis.

Okay so just to recap the (slightly disturbing) content of The Myth and Ritual of Attis by James Frazer, a variety of celebratory acts directed toward the Western god Attis (said to be the almost direct equivalence to the Assyrian god Adonis) were described in great detail, but a few stood out among others... oh ya like the mass voluntary castration and cross-dressing party worshippers of Attis would throw down on the third day of their festival, the 24th of March. But I'll start out by pointing out a few connections that I made (though nothing special), like the quite noticeable similarity between the Phrygian tradition of cutting down a pine tree, decorating and basically worshiping it on the first day of the festival in the hopes of enabling the resurrection of their god later in the spring (the pine tree was associated with their god Attis because it was under such that he castrated himself and bled to death) and our very own contemporary (Christian) tradition of obtaining a pine tree, decorating it, and making it the center of our household for about a month, generally connected with the worship of a religious figure that resurrects in the spring as well. Another fairly obvious connection that can be made (partly because we touched on the concept earlier in class this semester) is between the Phrygian tradition of "washing away past sins" or being "reborn" through the bathing of various forms of sacred liquids (bull's blood, and dieting on milk like a newborn) and the Christian tradition of baptisms. It's clear that we still carry on this tradition today (this is what we talked about in class some time ago), it's just that throughout the centuries the sacred liquid that we bath ourselves in has changed for whatever reasons (slight shift in worship/beliefs, political correct-ness.. PETA..).

Phrygian apparel

Alright so onto the weird stuff, by today's standards I should say. On the third day of this festival, the Day of Blood as they called it, the high priest would draw blood from his arms beneath the tree altar as a offering of worship obviously to Attis. But as this was a festival, emotions ran high because of all the festivities like "barbaric music", as Frazer described it, from all sorts of instruments including flutes, cymbals, drums and horns, and it would appear that quite a few people got out of hand, encouraged of course by the music.. Gradually more men would join in to add to the offering for their great god, normal I suppose, but as tensions ran higher the longer it went on many men would all of sudden undress, grab a sword that was available to promote more involvement, and castrate himself right then and there. You'd think after something like that a guy would immediately regret this decision made spur of the moment encouraged by screaming spectators and thumpin beats, but no. They would then run naked through the streets, with their man-parts in hand, and throw it into someone's house... whosever's house one of these pieces may land in (and yes, they were considered honored if this happened to them) had to dress the men who so graciously gifted them their manhood in women's clothing, which they then had to wear for the rest of their lives. Yeeeeah... As you can imagine, a day or so later the men greatly regret this irreversible sacrifice and spend their lives in sorrow and regret, which was said to mirror that Attis castrated himself under the pine tree.

Alright so that seems pretty messed up right? I mean I understand devotion and worshipping of a higher power to some degree, but come on. If you think about it though, the contemporary trend, that isn't limited by religion, of circumcision seems pretty similar to the above acts though like every religious act these days, just seems like it's digressed over time.

Medea, a bit of an exaggerated homocidal maniac...

During some review for the quiz tomorrow (yeehee!) I decided to finally look into the intriguing assistant to Jason and his conquests, Medea, a bit more. Within my research I found that there a multiple versions to the account of Jason and the Argonauts (big surprise) and that the most widely acknowledged version we read today became the template for the story shortly after the 5th century B.C. because of its sensationality. The painting to the right is titled Medea by Anthony Frederick Augustus in 1866 and it was actually rejected to be exhibited in the Royal Academy in London, England, that's how controversial her character still was tens over 20,000 years later.

In class there was mention of multiple cultures still worshipping Medea and it left me wondering how collective groups of civilized people could acknowledge a being with such a background and tendencies as a ideal role model, but insight into these earlier and original myths makes it more believable considering the fact that she wasn't actually a homicidal maniac as more contemporary versions depict. In just the conclusion of Rosenberg's account, we read that Medea poisoned the princess that Jason left her for, murdered her two children out of revenge toward Jason, and she tries to poison Thesseus. But in the original versions, the only people she poisons is the princess of Corinth (and by accident the king when he tried to hug her with the poisoned dress on), but I mean come on, if your man left you for the likes of her I bet you'd be pretty bitter too, it's only natural. The most notable difference in the two versions however is the fact that she accidentally kills her children and is a victim to circumstance, not blind, relentless, homicidal rage. And when Aegeus's son from a previous relationship, Thesseus, returns to claim his father and all his ownings, Medea suggests to him that Thesseus was dangerous and should be disposed of, but only to protect her own son's (whom she had with Aegeus, so it was his too) well-being and future, again, not homicidal, just natural.

This drastic divergence from the original myth to the one we see today serves as a reminder that even mythology, and by extension the culture's they are representing, can be altered and/or censored by anyone to serve any agenda at'all..

Origins of the Lady of the Lake

Arthur receiving Excalibur

The Lady of the Lake is a generally recognized role in the tale of King Arthur's reign, granting him the most supernatural sword in any myth, Excalibur, in relatively unconventional and intriguing way. After reading Rosenberg's account of King Arthur, we know that Arthur first spied Excalibur being held above the dark waters in the center of a lake by an unclaimed hand and that the Lady of the Lake rowed to the shore where Arthur stood to take him to it. To me, this bizarre encounter seemed rather brief and unexplained for all its randomness so I just chalked it up to Rosenberg's summary-style writing for her book since she has to fit quite a few myths into it, but then I remembered having read the 700 page version of the same storyline (The Once and Future King by T. H. White) that it didn't go into much detail in describing that aspect of the myth either, so I decided to do some research of my own:

The Lady and Merlin

According to a website I stumbled upon detailing less known facts of Britain's history, the Lady of the Lake did play a bigger role in King Arthur's life than what is most commonly known today. We know through out studies of "the goddess" that they once played a monumental role in most all myths throughout the world, but there came a period where they were overthrown and put on the back burner once the god gained more power and prominence, the Lady of the Lake was no different. In Celtic culture water deities were extremely popular as they were thought to control the essential essence of life itself, a wide variety of names she is known by (including Nimue or Vivienne to the Celtics and Mneme or Mnemosyne to the Romans) indicate that she is recognized as the Water-Goddess of the Celtics or one of the nine water-nymph muses of the Romans and Greeks, who also gave weapons to the hero Perseus. She was worshipped throughout the Western Roman Empire, in Britain, the Narbonne area of Gaul, and North-Western Iberia.
In earlier versions of King Arthur (before the reign of the goddess came to an end), the Lady of the Lake not only granted Arthur power to Excalibur but apparently was the foster-mother of Sir Lancelot after the death of his father and having raised him beneath the murky waters of her lake, hence his name Lancelot of the Lake. Another early role of hers was essentially replacing Merlin, or Myrddin, as the King's druidic advisor. Merlin and the Lady first met quickly fell in love at the Fountain of Brittany, Merlin agreed to teach her all of his magical powers while the Lady became his scribe, recording all his prophesies, in addition to being his lover. But over the years the Lady became even more powerful than Merlin thanks to his teachings and imprisoned him in Glass Tower (basically a dungeon), and took over to some extent Merlin's role at Arthur's side; in these versions, Merlin's removal as King Arthur's advisor was considered the biggest contribution to his downfall. The fact that Merlin is scarcely or not at all mentioned for the latter two-thirds of the story makes sense considering that was the period that the Lady took over as Arthur's adviser and those parts were cut out.

Rosenberg's account of Arthur disappointingly abbreviated...

Arthur's Knights of the Round Table

It actually really depressed me to read the accounts of King Arthur as presented by Rosenberg because it had to be so abbreviated to fit the purpose of her entire book. As you could probably tell, A LOT of backstories, adventures, and concepts important to understanding, appreciating, and interpreting the adventures and reign of King Arthur were GREATLY cut down or bypassed altogether. If this brief version sparked interest an interest in the knights in shining armor, dragons, and a self-less but nonetheless doomed leader then I highly recommend reading The Once and Future King by T.H. White. I read this 700 page account of King Arthur's life and rule the summer of my sophomore year as a reading assignment for honors english and it is a superb text detailing King Arthur's childhood, love triangle among his wife, best friend and himself, and all of the awesome knightly adventures that fell in between.

Something I did learn from the Rosenberg account however was the famously royal lineage of King Arthur. I found it really interesting that he was a pretty recent descendant of the same Aeneas we just read that began the great Roman race, and that it actually came full circle with Brutus's creation of the British people and King Arthur's conquering of Rome. I always had a sense that the legend of a King Arthur was a myth to some extent, but I hadn't the slightest clue that it was so closely associated with the equally as well-known Greek/Roman mythologies.

The Legend of Zelda: Broken Down

Although I'm not particularly proud to say that I spend a fair amount of my downtime experiencing the heroing and entertaining adventures of the fictional video game character Link, of the original Nintendo 64 game "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time", I am confident however in recognizing the fact that Campbell's Stages of a Hero can be nicely applied to the entirety of the game's plot and objectives...

• Stage 1 - Departure
• Call to adventure- Link's discovers that at the beginning of the game that he was adopted, explaining why he doesn't fit in where he lives at all, and that his parents were killed, so he decides to return to the place of his birth/people
• Refusal- it takes Link a bit to accept that he's not the same as all of his friends, lacking the aid of a fairy but..
• Super natural aid- he receives the encouragement, advice, and resources (i.e. a fairy) needed to cross the first threshold and ultimately save the town of Hyrule from the evil Ganondorf
• Crossing the 1st threshold- Link's very first threshold is leaving the home in which he grew up and had never left previously, the Deku Forrest, to reach the town of Hailaya where his parents originated and where the evil sorcerer is threatening. Another threshold that could be considered as such is once Link reaches Hyrule, he pulls the sword of time from the pedestal in the church (reaffirming his call to action) and now can travel through time, becoming either an adult or a child, at his digression. 
• Metaphorical Death- Link 'metaphorically dies' quite a bit since there are 3 tasks he must complete before he can even move onto the the actual trials of the stages of the hero themselves, including going inside of the deity of the Deku Forrest, The Great Deku tree, and being inside the actual belly of a gigantic fish..
• Stage II - Initiation
• Road of Trials- as always, this is the easiest among the stages to identify as it is about 80% of the game and the interactive part of it; however, Link faces many trials including 3 pre-stage type levels before crossing the first threshold (leaving the Forest) as a child and 5 temples to conquer as an adult.
• Meeting with the Goddess- the main goddess figure of this storyline seems to me to be the Great Fairy; she aides Link 3 times throughout the game in areas such as health, magic, and skill.
• Woman as temptress- There are actually several "temptresses" throughout this adventure that just can't seem to get enough of Link... a few include the princess of the Zoras who intended on inhibiting Link's process if he didn't wed her (even though they were children at the time.. and don't worry he got out of it), and Link's childhood best friend from the Deku Forrest, Saria, who tried to stop him from initially leaving the forest (though she was only concerned for his safety).
• Atonement with father- Although Link's father never makes an appearance in the game since he killed prior to all of this, I feel that Link makes atonement something close enough. After clearing Dodongo's cavern from fire-breathing, rock-crop-eating dragon things and saving the Fire Temple, Link creates a lasting bond with the leader and saint of the Gorons, Darunia, considering themselves brothers after such.
• Apotheosis- After defeating, and receiving credit for defeating, the evil Ganondorf who turned into a gigantically ferocious monster thing at the final battle of the game and saving all of Hyrule at close to the game's end, Link is of course affirmed as "The Hero of Time" as he was prophesied to be at the beginning.
• Booooooon- Despite returning peace and safety to the land of Hyrule, I would say the secondary boon would really be the ocarina of time, only the "Hero of Time" could possess or work it's magic that enables you to go back in time, control the weather, warp to temples, etc.

Although this game fits quite nicely within the stage of a hero, which is probably why it's such an awesome game.., it lacks most of Stage III- the return. This is not surprising considering they made a sequel.. how could he return when there was more conquesting to do? However a few stages of the return are visible at the end of the game right before you lose control to the rolling end credits and movies- after saving Hyrule from sure turmoil, Princess Zelda (the one who initially sent for his aid through the Great Deku Tree) plays the ocarina of time once more and Link is returned to his original self as a child, everyone's memory is wiped clean of all the game's occurrences, and life returns to normal.

Yes I'm a nerd for Zelda. DEAL!! :)