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Table of Contents1 Table of Contents - page 22 “Trickster Gods of Europe” by Signe Enga - page 33 “Trickster Gods of Europe: Sculptures, Paintings, and Carvings” by Signe Enga - page 84 “Thor’s Hammer” by Wren Chester - page 155 “On Living With Death” by Diana Doublet - page 186 “Beyond Death: Ancient Perceptions of the Afterlife” by Diana Doublet - page 227 “Personifying Nature: Medieval Europe” by Wren Chester - page 248 Pictures Referenced - page 27

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Trickster Gods of Europe

Nearly every culture in the world has a Trickster figure, be it man or mortal. Each of these has common traits or will have accomplished similar feats, and many serve as a figure of social change in their respective mythologies and cultures. For the purpose of this magazine, we will limit our examination of the infamous Trickster figure to a few select areas in Europe.

Firstly, let us discuss the nature of a Trickster god. The Trickster is at once a force of change, ingenuity and creativity, and also that of chaos and often destructive curiosity – a hero and a menace to (divine and mortal) society. One of the key things about any Trickster figure is that they break the other gods’ rules and typically go about shaking things up either for their own amusement or to accomplish some goal of theirs… usually with an unnecessarily elaborate ploy. Gwyddion, a Trickster magician of Welsh origin, had a rather unnecessarily elaborate ploy to help his brother seduce a virgin serving maid - which including dressing up as a minstrel, bartering for swine, and ultimately starting a war1.

Tricksters are creators, jesters, fools, benefactors, inventors, malefactors, destroyers, and saboteurs, both impatient and impulsive even at the best of times… and yet, despite this, they are often honoured as inventors and creators rather than miscreants2.

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1 Mountain, Harry. Volume 3 of the Celtic Encyclopedia: The Celtic Encyclopedia. (Universal-Publishers, 1998) pp 733-4.

2 Hyde, Lewis. Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art. (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998) pp 1-10.

One of the most popular surviving myths about Hermes tells the tale of how, a single day after being born, the young Trickster went off on quite an adventure. Aside from causing the untimely death of an unlucky turtle, young Hermes stole his half-brother Apollo’s sacred cattle, invented the first sacrifice to the gods (himself included, naturally) and then very nearly got away with it through sheer cleverness and lies. Despite being caught and brought before Zeus, Hermes ultimately achieved his real goal – being recognized as a legitimate son of Zeus. In a single story, Hermes demonstrates the ingenuity and cleverness of a Trickster and also the infamous skills of deception and the habit of having a plan within a plan… particularly when, as a day old baby, Hermes mounts a spectacularly complex and wordy defence as to his utter innocence in the theft of his half-brother’s cattle3. Clearly, some children are more precocious than others!

But how does the Greek Trickster Hermes, also known as Mercury amongst the Romans, compare with other Tricksters such as Odin, Loki, and Gwyddion? What do they have in common? To help illustrate their common traits and differences, I have included a chart:

Name Domain Unique AttributesHermes, son of Maia and Zeus

Prince of thieves and liars, travellers and boundaries and of crossing boundaries, luck and chance, money, merchants, arithmetic, cunning, ingenuity, oration, writing and poetry, languages, guide to the dead, divine messenger, god of shepherds, bringer of dreams, astronomy, augury, rustic music, and so on. Essentially, The Odd-Job God.

Travellers, boundaries, luck, chance, money, merchants, messenger.

Loki Laufeisen God of ingenuity and impulsiveness, unbridled curiosity and mischief, cunning without wisdom, and strongly associated with chaos, illusion, shapeshifting, and fire.

Curiosity, mischief, chaos, fire.

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3 Homeric Hymn to Hermes, translated by Evelyn White, lines 260-277.

Odin Allfather God of knowledge, wisdom and cunning, associated with war and battle, victory and death, (seidr) magic, shapeshifting, poetry, the runes, and also with prophecy.

Wisdom, war, battle, victory.

Gwyddion mab Dôn God of magic, music, learning and knowledge, writing, astronomy, poetry, cunning, associated with druids.

Druids.

As you can see, there are some very interesting common traits. All of the above are cunning, associated with some form of magic, and all have ties to some form of ingenuity. Gwyddion, Odin, and Hermes all invented some form of writing and are tied to poetry and varying forms of knowledge, for example. Hermes and Gwyddion are tied to knowledge, music, and astronomy. Loki has no ties to written language, but shares his skills in oration and in clever wording with Hermes, Odin, and Gwyddion – all four of which utilized careful phrasing and persuasion to get their way, or simply to get out of trouble. Odin and Hermes are also associated with prophecy, though Hermes’ version is linked solely to the augury of birds.

Shape-shifting appears to be utilized only by the Norse gods shown here, but disguises are utilized by all four at varying points in their respective myths. Gwyddion, for example, disguises himself as a minstrel in one myth, and Hermes disguised himself as a shepherd when he fathered his son Pan. Odin was quite prone to disguising himself, and in one story hilariously duped his own son Thor by playing an obstinate ferryman. Loki was even more prone to shape-shifting to disguise himself than Odin, and is infamous for being caught in the form of a fish by the Aesir shortly before being imprisoned.

That two of the four are also considered guides to the dead is also quite interesting, though easily explained. In Greek mythology, Hermes is the only god who may enter and exit the Underworld of Hades at will. In Norse mythology, Odin is considered a father to the slain, and presides over Valhalla, the hall of the glorious dead. Meanwhile, Loki’s only tie to the dead is through his daughter Hel, who presides over Niflheim, and Gwyddion has no association with death at all.

But what of their differences? Hermes is the only one associated with money, merchants, travel, boundaries, dreams, messengers, or shepherds. Luck and chance are also firmly in Hermes’ domain. Likely, much of this is because the Greeks associated merchants and money

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with trickery and deception, and travel was prone to the whims of fortune at the best of times in the ancient world. Odin is the only one associated with battle, victory, or war, though he is not specifically a war god, and he is also the only god of the above for to lay claim to wisdom as part of his domain. Meanwhile, Loki has a strong hold on curiosity, mischief, fire, and chaos, while Gwyddion is left with druids.

What fascinates me most here is the strong tie between a Trickster figure and intelligence, as seen by their multiple ties to learning, knowledge, and various and sundry skills which require cleverness – including lying. There seems to be a pervasive theme in many world myths that one’s ability to wreak havoc is directly proportional to one’s intelligence and cleverness, and yet few if Tricksters are ever truly vilified, with perhaps the exception of Loki towards Ragnarok. Rather, many of these figures are praised for being so deviously clever and, yes, while they certainly get into trouble for their actions and are inevitably punished, they are almost never truly outcast.

Again, with the exception of Loki. To be fair, Loki did murder Frigga’s favourite son accidentally-on-purpose. That tends not to go over well in any pantheon.

Overall, Tricksters are deep and complex characters; to fully explore just one of the Tricksters mentioned here, an entire book – if not a series- would have to be written. The purpose of this article was only to give an overview of some of the common and key traits of Tricksters, such as their wit, intelligence, and ability to stir things up quite a bit when they have too much time on their hands. While each has his own unique cultural signature, all four draw from the same pool of traits which make them so easily identifiable as Tricksters.

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References:

Hyde, Lewis. Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.

Charney, Maurice. Comedy: A Geographic and Historical Guide: Volume 2. Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 2005.

Brown, Norman. Hermes the Thief: Evolution of a Myth. Massachusetts: Linisfarne Press, 1990.

Hinds, Kathryn, McColman, Carl. Magic of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses: A Guide to Their Spiritual Power, Healing Energies, and Mystical Joy. Career Press, 2005.

McCoy, Edain. Celtic Myth & Magick: Harness the Power of the Gods & Goddesses. Llewllyn Worldwide, 1995.

McNeely, Deldon Anne. Mercury Rising: Women, Evil, and the Trickster Gods: Revised Edition. California: Fisher King Press, 1996, 2011.

Mountain, Harry. Volume 3 of the Celtic Encyclopedia: The Celtic Encyclopedia. Universal-Publishers, 1998.

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Tricksters of Europe: Sculptures, Paintings, and Carvings

The depictions of Tricksters and the mediums in which such depictions are done vary quite a bit, but there are still some commonalities which can be examined and discussed. Regrettably, much of the artwork from the Celtic myths does not survive, and so there is very little of it which can be discussed in such a fashion. Fortunately, what the Celts lack, the Norse and the Greeks make up for spectacularly, and they shall therefore be the primary focus of this article.

Firstly, let’s look at the obvious. He looks like Gandalf. Or, rather, Gandalf looks like Odin. Secondly, you see how one of his eyes is closed? Odin is a one-eyed god, and it is from

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him that the gesture of winking comes; when you’re being clever or crafty, not unlike Odin, you wink. The reason Odin only has one eye is because he gave one up in exchange for knowledge. The staff he’s holding is actually Odin’s infamous spear, Gungnir, the spear the never misses, and his mount below is Sleipnir, the great eight-legged horse born of Loki and Svaldifari. Note the rather mischievous smile on both the god and the horse.

Odin is often depicted as a wandering old man with a hat and a staff and a cloak, who would roam around the lands setting hapless heroes up on quests, testing the hospitality of whichever household he stumbled across, or going on adventures with his son Thor and blood-brother Loki.

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And speak of the devil! This is a depiction of Loki from an Old Icelandic text, same as the image of Odin above. Note that Loki is depicted as a much more sinister figure, with a devious expression and just general mischievous manner. Note how Loki, in this depiction, is on the watch for anyone behind him as he moves; in this scene, Loki is fleeing from the gods of Asgard, whom he has mortally offended with numerous insults and the slaying of Baldur. He decides to hide in a river as a salmon, but in a fit of clever, and ultimately unwise, ingenuity,

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decides to figure out how he might be caught, so he can avoid capture. Thus, Loki invents the fishing net… and unfortunately, he doesn’t have time to stash it somewhere before Thor stumbled across him. Needless to say, it doesn’t end well for Loki.

The image above is another depiction of Loki from a hearth stone. Note the lips, which have perpendicular lines upon them – Loki once had with mouth sewn shut by dwarves he had cheated in a bet, earning him the nickname of Scar-Lip. Overall, carving like this of Loki are not overly common, likely because doing so might be construed as inviting trouble into one’s home.

This next picture is one of the many depictions of Hermes.

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This depiction is completely different from that of Odin or Loki, not only because it is in a different medium, but because it does not display the Trickster nature of Hermes outright. However, he remains recognizable due to his winged sandals, and what survives of his kerykeion (staff.) Here, Hermes is depicted as a young man, the responsible and reliable messenger of Olympus, whereas on pottery he is often depicted as older and wearing a beard, and sometimes, as seen below, capable of quite a bit of mischief in his spare time.

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Here we get to see a little more of Hermes’ trouble-making side, with the Messenger pursuing an apparently unimpressed woman named Herse, according to the description at the Louvre. This is precisely the sort of trouble all Greek deities get up to, in varying degrees, but Hermes takes after his father in being quite prolific as well. Note the similarity between Hermes’ pointed beard, and that of Loki in the above depictions.

vs.

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Rather amusingly, Loki and Hermes have another artistic similarity. A particular pottery painting on an Attic lekythos from around 480-470 BC and the image from the Icelandic text both depict these two Tricksters very similarly. Unlike Loki, Hermes is not fleeing in this depiction, but rather rushing off to deliver a message of some sort, but the similarity is quite striking. Sadly, many of the depictions of Hermes do not display his Trickster aspects as clearly as those of Loki or even Odin, but are more dedicated to his “responsible” roles as a messenger and guide to the dead (both of which were vastly more significant to the Ancient Greeks) so it is difficult to do a full and proper analysis.

Overall, these three do have some common elements to their depictions, but not as much as one might hope, given the number of traits they have in common. A more detailed examination might reveal something interesting, but sadly that might turn into a book-length analysis, and this is but a wee article!

References:

Hyde, Lewis. Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.

Charney, Maurice. Comedy: A Geographic and Historical Guide: Volume 2. Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 2005.

Fee, Christopher R, Leeming, David A.. Gods, Heroes, & Kings: The Battle for Mythic Britain. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

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Thor’s Hammer: The Mjollnir Pendant

The myths and legends surrounding the Norse god Thor

are diverse and complicated. He was the god of thunder; a great, muscular male with golden hair and the ability to control the stormy skies. He was a traveller, and loved to drink, and his fights with his brother Loki were renowned. While each story was altered slightly with each telling, one thing remained fairly consistent. Thor’s Hammer, Mjollnir, was a fantastic weapon, and was both a sign and a source of Thor’s physical might. But recently historians have found commonalities between the hammer pendants and Christian cross pendants.

The hammer was an item of mythology, but was adopted as a shape for a pendant worn amongst Norse men. Pendants have been found in graves of many men throughout Scandinavia, with a basic shape but both elaborate and plain decorations. Some include the face of Thor or another man as well as knot

work and other designs (ravens or eagles?). They have become the “most thoroughly studied group of Scandinavian pagan amulets.”4

First interpreted by archaeologists as part of a widespread reaction against Christianity, who were able to determine that the hammers predated the Christian cross, more recent research established two types of hammers.5 One form of hammer had a ring attached, and was significantly older, while another, newer form was a single hammer used as a pendant. It is speculated by Sabjorg Nordeide (a member of Religion team

at the Nordic Centre of Medieval Studies)6 that the newer pendants may have parallels with the

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4 Novikova, Galina L. "Iron Neck Rings with Thor's Hammers Found in Eastern Europe." Formvannen 87 (1992): 73. http://fornvannen.se/pdf/1990talet/1992_073.pdf.

5 Nordeide, Sabjorg W. "Thor's Hammer in Norway: A symbol of reaction against the Christian cross?" In Old-Norse Religion in Long-term Perspectives, edited by Anders Andren, Kristina Jennbert, and Catharina Raudvere, 218. Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 2006.

6 "Nordeide, Sæbjørg Walaker." University of Bergen. University of Bergen, 3 Oct. 2011. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. <http://www.uib.no/cms/en/contact-us/staff/nordeide-saebjorg-walaker>.

Christian cross pendants. Moulds and pendants have been found in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Germany, only 10% of which have been in graves.7 John Lindow (a professor at Harvard University) the symbol of the hammer separated “the bearers of culture from all those outside culture who threaten it” and it “gathered around it those who sought shelter.”8 This is definitely a major similarity to the Christian cross, which had enough power within it to shelter and protect its wearer from harm. It is a “sort of amulet” that even today some believe can cure the ill and ward off demons.9

If one were to examine the shape of a Mjollnir pendant and a Christian cross pendant from around the same area, there would definitely be similarities drawn between the two. Nordeide’s work on the hammers discovered in Norway includes two illustrations side-by-side; the first is a Thor’s hammer pendant from Verdal, the other a possible hammer or cross pendant Traen, Rollag.10 On first glance, the second image appears to be a cross, with the arms crossed in the relative center, but she notes that it is typically described as a hammer. With the first image placed along side, one can make out the basic cross shape in the pendant from Verdal as well. Placed parallel they are great examples of the lack of clarity when examining these historical objects, and the cultural clashes and crossovers occurring the period.

Two pendants from Norway were found in the Kaupang boat burials. Along with the bodies of a man and woman, animals, and various artefacts, these undecorated hammers would probably have been decoration on clothing, a belt, or jewellery. The hammer may have been used in representing fertility, “marking boundaries, or tracking th11ieves.” There are also etymological connections between the words “hamarr” and “himinn” (meaning heaven), according to Lindow. Does this mean that these pendants, similar to the Christian cross, a symbol of the holy world or a key to heaven?

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7 Nordeide, 219.

8 Lindow, John. "Thor's Hamarr." The Journal of English and Germanic Philology 93, no. 4 (1994): 503. JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/stable/27711059.

9 Phipps, William. Supernaturalism in Christianity: Its Growth and Cure. Macon: Mercer University Press, 2008. 84. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. <http://books.google.ca/books?id=hk1dZI5JYzEC&pg=PA84&dq=wearing+cross+necklace+orthodox&hl=en#v=onepage&q=wearing%20cross%20necklace%20orthodox&f=false>.

10 Nordeide, 219.

11 Lindow, 491.

My questions to readers is this: Do you believe that these pendants are a cross over? And if so, how and why?

References:

Lindow, John. "Thor's Hamarr." The Journal of English and Germanic Philology 93, no. 4 (1994): 485-503. JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/stable/27711059.

Nordeide, Sabjorg W. "Thor's Hammer in Norway: A symbol of reaction against the Christian cross?" In Old-Norse Religion in Long-term Perspectives, edited by Anders Andren, Kristina Jennbert, and Catharina Raudvere, 218-23. Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 2006.

Novikova, Galina L. "Iron Neck Rings with Thor's Hammers Found in Eastern Europe." Formvannen 87 (1992): 73. http://fornvannen.se/pdf/1990talet/1992_073.pdf.

Phipps, William. Supernaturalism in Christianity: Its Growth and Cure. Macon: Mercer University Press, 2008. 84. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. <http://books.google.ca/books?id=hk1dZI5JYzEC&pg=PA84&dq=wearing+cross+necklace+orthodox&hl=en#v=onepage&q=wearing%20cross%20necklace%20orthodox&f=false>.

"Nordeide, Sæbjørg Walaker." University of Bergen. University of Bergen, 3 Oct. 2011. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. <http://www.uib.no/cms/en/contact-us/staff/nordeide-saebjorg-walaker>.

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On Living With Death

Ancient religions had gods for everything. From hunting to housework, earth to cosmos. if you needed something there was almost certainly a relevant god to ask for aid from. However, there is one category of deities that were very rarely called on. These were the death gods, and the only time ancient people really chose to acknowledge them was - perhaps rightly so - when someone died. Death is a significant event in every culture, so the way in which these acknowledgments happened say much about the people who performed them.

We shall start with the Greeks, since it seems largely agreed upon that the ancient world started with the Greeks. While they viewed death as undesirable in most circumstances, it was also accepted as an inevitable eventuality. Their death god, Hades, seems to have been viewed in much the same way.12

People feared him more than the other gods, and would only sacrifice black animals to him, and only with their faces averted. It makes a certain amount of sense - showing the lord of the underworld your face does not seem like the wisest of plans when trying to avoid interaction with death. The only time it would be appropriate to honour death openly would be when death is already there.

Consequently, the Greeks had elaborate funeral rites that had to be followed in order to properly honour their dead that extended far beyond the burial.13

Graves were expected to be visited regularly, and gifts were left frequently. One of the most common gifts to leave were lekythos vases, filled with oil to anoint the grave with.

The Greeks believed that one achieved a brief glimpse of omnipotence at the moment of their death, and so many prophecies in myth stem from someone’s last words. In this way, the Greeks honoured death when it happened, but otherwise avoided interaction.

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12 "Haides." Theoi Greek Mythology. http://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Haides.html

13 Alirangues, Loretta M. "Funerary Practices: Greek Burial and Lamentation Rituals." Morbid Outlook. http://www.morbidoutlook.com/nonfiction/articles/2002_11_greekfuneral.html13

The ancient Norse also found death distasteful, but they chose to deal with it but combining it with something they found far more pleasant: sex. Their main death god, Hel, was female, which allowed literature such as the Skaldic poem Ynglingatal to use the phrase “in Hel’s embrace” to describe the dead kings.14 The Stora Hammars stones in Gotland, Sweden, are slightly less subtle in their connection between eroticism and death - they are distinctly phallic-shaped.

Another clear example of this connection can be seen in Ibn Fadlan’s description of a chieftain's burial. One of the chieftain's slave girls volunteers to join her master in the afterlife, so they promptly get her drunk and encourage her to sleep with all the men in the camp. Then, before she is sacrificed, six men have intercourse with her again, this time in the tent of the dead chieftain, before killing her on his bed.15 While the combination of these two activities may seem strange, it can be seen as the joining of two polar opposites: conception and death. By the sex immediately leading to sacrifice, the Norse could connect a frightening ending to a more pleasant (or perhaps, much more pleasant!) beginning.

To continue this cyclic idea, we must then move on to the Celtic. It is difficult to talk about death gods with them, since they didn’t believe that one ever truly died. Death was seen as

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14 Lindow, J. et al. (Eds.) “Dómaldi's Death and the Myth of Sacral Kingship.” Structure and Meaning in Old Norse Literature. Odense, 1986.

15 Flowers, Stephen E. Ibn Fadlan's Travel-Report: As It Concerns the Scandinavian Rüs. Smithville, Texas: Rûna-Raven, 1998.15

passage into eternal life, one distinctly better than the one being left behind.16 Rather than the one-way ferry ride from the Greek Charon, for example, the ferryman Barinthus took Arthur to Avalon to be healed, live eternally, and perhaps one day return.17

The Celts were very focused on the idea of the dead returning, and asked them for advice even more frequently than the Greeks did. Graves were specifically constructed to aid (or impede) the dead’s rising, since it was believed that they would re-inhabit their bodies rather than coming back as simply spirits. On All Souls Night the dead were said to rise en masse and move among the living, indistinguishable from the people around them. Death was simply a shift into a different, better state of existence, and so it was viewed with anticipation rather than fear.18

Through these three ancient cultures, three markedly different approaches to the inevitability of death can be seen. The Greeks viewed it as distasteful but necessary, and a bringer of wisdom when it had to happen. The Norse gave it a healthy respect born of unease, and combined it with its opposite to make it more a part of normal life. And the Celts viewed it as a rite of passage rather than an ending, and lived with no fear of the end. These cultures may be long gone, but there may be wisdom that can be gleaned in their deaths.

Often the dead have a lot to say!

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16 MacCulloch, J. A. “The State of the Dead.” The Religion of the Ancient Celts. Dover Publications, 1911.

17 Nemeton. “Barinthus: a Cymric Deity: the Wrathful One.” http://www.celtnet.org.uk/gods_b/barinthus.html

18 MacColloch, Chapter XXII.

References:

Alirangues, Loretta M. "Funerary Practices: Greek Burial and Lamentation Rituals." Morbid Outlook. http://www.morbidoutlook.com/nonfiction/articles/2002_11_greekfuneral.html

Encyclopedia Mythica. “Celtic and Norse mythology,” by Micha F. Lindemans. <http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/europe.html> (accessed 28 November 2012)

Flowers, Stephen E. Ibn Fadlan's Travel-Report: As It Concerns the Scandinavian Rüs. Smithville, Texas: Rûna-Raven, 1998.

Lindow, J. et al. (Eds.) “Dómaldi's Death and the Myth of Sacral Kingship.” Structure and Meaning in Old Norse Literature. Odense, 1986.

MacCulloch, J. A. The Religion of the Ancient Celts. Dover Publications, 1911.

Nemeton. “Barinthus: A Cymric Deity: The Wrathful One.” <http://www.celtnet.org.uk/gods_b/barinthus.html> (accessed 24 November 2012)

Theoi Greek Mythology. “Haides.” <http://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Haides.html> (accessed 25 November 2012)

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Beyond Death: Ancient Perceptions of the Afterlife

The question of where one goes after death is one long contemplated in every culture. Since there can be no one right answer, the conclusions reached can say much about the people that decide on them, and the values held most highly by their society. While the modern age tends to divide along the Christian concept of good and evil - those who are good go to Heaven, while sinners suffer eternally in the pits of Hell - ancient non-Christian societies often had quite different ideas on what was necessary to gain entry into paradise.

To the Vikings, nothing was more desirable than to die in battle. Those who died fighting were allowed into Odin and Freya’s halls, Valhalla and Folkvang respectively, while those who died of old age, disease, or weren’t killed in battle were doomed to spend eternity in the gloomy mists of Helheim.19 What arises out of these two spectrums is rather interesting - exactly how eternal is the afterlife? Helheim is located in Niflheim, the lowest world in the Norse map of the universe, and the river that encircles it makes it impossible for anyone to leave once they enter - gods included. However, the warriors invited into Valhalla were supposed to constantly await the onset of Ragnarok, upon which they would march gloriously into battle once more. From this, an ancient Norse values can be obtained: those who fought deserve to move forward, while those who died passively must remain passive.

The Greek idea of the afterlife was significantly less divided than the Norse, as well as more fluid in its entry. Their underworld consisted of a subterranean world that was also accessed by a river, but one that was significantly easier to transverse. All that was needed was payment for the ferryman from the dead, in the form of a coin placed either on the eyes or in the mouth of the deceased at burial. Everyone ended up in the same place as well, apart from one exception: those who were chosen by the gods were allowed to dwell in the paradise of the Elysium Fields. So in the Greek world, your placement after death was less about who you were, and far more about who you knew.

Celtic ideas on existence after death were less defined than the other two cultures, since the entire object seemed to be not to die at all. Ancient Celts believed that souls were eternal,

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19 Lindemans, Micha F. “Helheim.” Encyclopedia Mythica. <http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/europe/norse/articles.html>

and so did not have an underworld so much as an Otherworld. The mythical isle Avalon is described as being such a place, and is where King Arthur retreats after his final battle.20 In the original myths it is said that he was healed and made immortal there - it was not until the monks of Glastonbury claimed to find his tomb that the isle became known as his burial site.21

A culture’s idea of what awaits after death says much about what people valued in life. From the Norse glory in battle, to the Greek graces of the gods, to Celtic reincarnation and eternal souls, each conception of the afterlife helps to define the cultures that created them.

References:

Encyclopedia Mythica. “Helheim,” by Micha F. Lindemans. <http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/europe/norse/articles.html> (accessed 29 November 2012)

MacCulloch, J. A. The Religion of the Ancient Celts. Dover Publications, 1911.

Nemeton. “Barinthus: A Cymric Deity: The Wrathful One.” <http://www.celtnet.org.uk/gods_b/barinthus.html> (accessed 24 November 2012)

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20 Nemeton. “Barinthus: a Cymric Deity: the Wrathful One.” http://www.celtnet.org.uk/gods_b/barinthus.html

21 MacCulloch, J. A. “The Cult of the Dead.” The Religion of the Ancient Celts. Dover Publications, 1911.

Personifying Nature: Medieval Europe

Medieval folklore and beliefs in Europe incorporated objects of nature, giving them human qualities or spiritual representations. From the ocean to the mountain, the rock to the tree, and even the sun and moon, associated figures came to represent the qualities they were believed to hold. People, animals, spirits and fantastic creatures, and even gods and goddesses explained everyday natural occurrences and sights. Today we will focus on three specific personifications: the mermaids of the Atlantic Ocean, Arduina of the Ardennes, and Dag, Norse god of the day.

The waters of the Atlantic ocean were a tumultuous, dangerous road traveled by only the bravest. Many men were lost at sea every year when caught in storms of the coasts of various Scandinavian and British coasts. For the people of the British Isles, these waters were important enough to deserve their own anthropomorphised representation. Two very similar and very temperamental creatures, the mermaid and the siren, were imagined by the people. Originally separate creatures, according to Patricia Radford, they were both beautiful and deadly, peaceful and easily angered.22 They protected their territory and killed men, but could also fall in love and become wives to humans. This made them as fickle as the ocean the dwelled in, and equally as alluring to sailors. Also like the Atlantic, the people feared them as well as respected them, and their remained a certain air of mystery about them.

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22 Radford, Patricia. "Lusty Ladies: Mermaids in the Medieval Irish Church." Irquas Insight: New Perspectives in Irish Studies 1, no. 3. http://homepage.eircom.net/~archaeology/three/mermaid.htm.

Higher beings also came to represent or protect aspects of nature. The Gaulish (Celtic) goddess Arduina was the protector of the Ardennes forest, deity of the moon and the hunt similar to the Greek Artemis.23 The forest even receives its name from her. She was associated with a wild boar, and when the Gauls came into contact with the Romans she was equated with the goddess Diana, yet another huntress. In connection to Diana, a barbarian people known as the Sicambrians worshipped her in the form of a bear, who was known by others as24 Kallisto. All of these goddesses were connected through the contacts and evolution of their people. It is possible that Arduinna and Arduina were two separate deities, each responsible for her aspect of nature, although it seems that now she is believed to be a single goddess responsible for multiple fields.25

Finally, the god Dag was the literally the Day for the Nordic people. Found in the Vafthrudnismal, he was born of a giant mother (Nott or Night) and revered as one of the aesir.26 Snorri described the horse and chariot of Dag, and his placement in the sky by Alfodr so “that [he] should ride every two of days around the earth.”27 This is similar to the Greek god Apollo, who rides his chariot around the earth to bring about the sun. The personification of such a phenomenon was a way of explaining why things occurred in the natural world; why the sun came up and down during the day, and how it got in the sky. It was unimaginable that such an impressive object was moving of its own accord and was millions of miles away from the land the Norse were standing upon. But it was definitely not of the same

realm of humans, so was set apart as a part of the realm of the gods.

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23 Lindemans, Micha F. "Arduinna." Encyclopedia Mythica. http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/arduinna.html.

24 An odd source, but fairly useful.24King, John, and John Beveridge. Princess Diana: The Hidden Evidence. New York: SPI Books, 2001. Online.

25 Vawr, Taliesin E., Rhuddlwm ap Gawr, and Merridden Gawr. The Word: Welsh Witchcraft, the Grail of Immortality and the Sacred Keys. Marietta, Georgia: Camelot Press Ltd, 1987. Online.

26 Lindow, John. Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.

27 Sturluson, Snorri. Edda : prologue and Gylfaginning. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982.27

Like Dag, these and other personifications were explanations for the unexplainable. Without science and modern technology, the baffling movements of the earth and the changes of nature had unknowable causes. Naturally, human curiosity led to theories that explained the mechanics of everyday life. They also remained legends and myths to explain deaths (mermaids drowning sailors) and to protect the realms of living creatures (Arduina). What are other possible reasons for such tales? Want this to be a topic for next week? Vote for next weeks topic on our main website.

References:

King, John, and John Beveridge. Princess Diana: The Hidden Evidence. New York: SPI Books, 2001. http://books.google.ca/books?id=AI0ui3cazTcC&pg=PA282&lpg=PA282&dq=arduina+goddess+welsh&source=bl&ots=J4x-Lv8e9j&sig=p3g_FVf4fsy9Em-hmH0zEBKHpzs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uZu6UJT-JazXiAK6xIGIBQ&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAzgK.

Lindemans, Micha F. "Arduinna." Encyclopedia Mythica. http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/arduinna.html.

Lindow, John. Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Radford, Patricia. "Lusty Ladies: Mermaids in the Medieval Irish Church." Irquas Insight: New Perspectives in Irish Studies 1, no. 3. http://homepage.eircom.net/~archaeology/three/mermaid.htm.

Sturluson, Snorri. Edda : prologue and Gylfaginning. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982.

Vawr, Taliesin E., Rhuddlwm ap Gawr, and Merridden Gawr. The Word: Welsh Witchcraft, the Grail of Immortality and the Sacred Keys. Marietta, Georgia: Camelot Press Ltd, 1987. http://books.google.ca/books?id=u7vH5Z5d9gYC&pg=PA316&lpg=PA316&dq=arduina+goddess+welsh&source=bl&ots=T60la6Vt07&sig=YgOCpFuAMnSr5HaUKVmJchEUDHg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uZu6UJT-JazXiAK6xIGIBQ&ved=0CC0Q6AEwADgK.

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Pictures Referenced:

Image Source Section Purpose Copyright Pgh"p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Georg_von_Rosen_-­‐_Oden_som_vandringsman,_1886_(Odin,_the_Wanderer).jpg

Source: Painting by Georg von Rosen.

Tricksters of Europe: Sculptures, Paintings, and Carvings

To add some visuals to the page.

Public access (copyright has expired)

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h"p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Odin_riding_Sleipnir.jpg

Source: Icelandic manuscript

Tricksters of Europe: Sculptures, Paintings, and Carvings

To add some visuals and colour to the page, and as part of the comparison.

Public access (copyright has expired)

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h"p://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Processed_SAM_loki.jpgSource: Icelandic manuscript

Trickster Gods of Europe;

Tricksters of Europe: Sculptures, Paintings, and Carvings

To add some visuals and colour to the page, and as part of the comparison.

Public access (copyright has expired)

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h"p://www.briMshmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_image.aspx?image=ps357294.jpg&retpage=18205Source: British Museum

Tricksters of Europe: Sculptures, Paintings, and Carvings

To add some visuals and colour to the page, and as part of the comparison.

Public access (As stated in copyright policy: http://www.britishmuseum.org/about_this_site/terms_of_use.aspx)

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h"p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grand_Central_Terminal_NY_Mercury_Statue.jpgSource: Grand Central Station, NY

Trickster Gods of Europe

To add some visuals and colour to the page

Public access (Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic)

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h"p://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lekythos_of_Hermes.jpg

Tricksters of Europe: Sculptures, Paintings, and Carvings

To add some visuals and colour to the page., and as part of the comparison.

Public access 13

h"p://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hermes_Herse_Louvre_G494.jpgHermes pursuing Herse. Source: Louvre

Tricksters of Europe: Sculptures, Paintings, and Carvings

To add some visuals and colour to the page

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/Hades-et-Cerberus-III.jpg/200px-Hades-et-Cerberus-III.jpgSource: Heraklion Archaeological Museum

Beyond Death: Ancient Perceptions of the Afterlife

To show one of the few surviving statues of the Greek Death God

Public access (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)

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http://www.theoi.com/image/K14.1CHaides.jpgSource: Antikensammlungen, Munich, Germany

On Living With Death

A depiction of Hades to show his appearance in myth

Public access(Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/Hel_%281889%29_by_Johannes_Gehrts.jpg/391px-Hel_%281889%29_by_Johannes_Gehrts.jpgSource: Xylograph after a painting/drawing by Johannes Gehrts

On Living With Death

19th century depiction of Hel, showing contemporary interpretations of her

Public domain (copyright has expired)

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http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hammars_(I).JPGSource: Gotland, Sweden (unspecified photogapher)

On Living With Death

Famous monument depicting combination of death and eroticism

Public access (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)

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http://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/gr/web-large/DT280.jpgSource: Metropolitan Museum of Art

On Living With Death

Artifact used in ancient Greek funerary rites

Useable for non-commercial educational purposes (As stated in copyright policy: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/copyright.html)

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mjollnir.pngA sketch of silver pendant with gold plate. Found in Oland, Sweden. Originally located at the Swedish Museum of National AntiquitiesSource: The Nordisk Familjebok, 1923

Thor's Hammer: The Mjolnir Pendant

To illustrate the dimensions and appearance of a pendant.

Public Access (Public Domain due to expired copyright)

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http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Thor%27s_hammer,_Sk%C3%A5ne.svg&page=1Gilt silver amulet representation of Thor’s Hammer.Source:Stephens, George. 1878. ''Thunor the Thunderer, carved on a Scandinavian font about the year 1000.

Thor's Hammer: The Mjolnir Pendant

To illustrate the dimensions and appearance of a pendant.

Public Access (Public Domain due to expired copyright)

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zennor_Mermaid_Chair.JPGThe “Zennor Mermaid Chair”Source: St Senara’s, Cornwall

Personifying Nature: Medieval Europe

An example of the folklore and pervasiveness of the personifications of nature.

Public Access (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Dagr_by_Arbo.jpgThe God DaySource: Peter Nicolai Argo

Personifying Nature: Medieval Europe

An image incorporating the personification as well as the natural phenomenon.

Public Access (copyright expiration)

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ardre_Odin_Sleipnir.jpgOdin on SleipnirSource: Tjangvide image stone

Title Page An ancient representation of Odin

Public Access(copyright expired)

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Manuscript_Odinn.jpgOdin and the RavensSource: 18th Century Icelandic Manuscript

Trickster Gods of Europe

manuscript representation of Odin and the ravens Hugin and Munin

Public Access (copyright expired)

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lokistone.jpgLoki Source: Snaptun Stone

Tricksters of Europe: Sculptures, Paintings, and Carvings

carving representation of Loki

Copyright released by owner

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