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This article examines the symbolism of Galadriel's hair in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and its relationship to Victorian culture. The author argues that Galadriel's hair represents the Victorian fascination with memory and preservation, similar to the preservation of relics during that time period. The article also discusses the influence of Norse mythology and the Romantic movement on Tolkien's portrayal of objects and characters. Overall, the analysis suggests that Tolkien's exploration of cultural and historical themes reflects wider concerns and a desire for continuity in the aftermath of World War II. [Extracted from the article]

This study examines the myth of the death of the Norse god Baldr in a comparative framework. Scholars working in the fields of comparative mythology and religion have long argued that a myth concerning the sacrificial killing of the first man is represented in the ancient and medieval literatures of several languages in the Indo-European family. In the reconstruction of this myth, the first priest sacrifices his brother, whose corpse is integrated into the structure of the cosmos, and who rules the realm of the dead. It has long been argued that Ymir's death and dismemberment and the use of his body to construct the world in Old Norse sources is a reflex of this myth; this study argues that the myth of the death of Baldr is also a cognate version of this myth. This article is the second part of a two-part study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on examining the cosmic and mythological influences behind Cormac McCarthy's portrayal of Judge Holden in "Blood Meridian." Topics include the judge's connections to Norse mythology and Finnish creation myths, comparisons to other mythic figures like Odin and Väinämöinen, and the thematic use of cosmic imagery such as the "ultimate atavistic egg" to explore Holden's mythic and infantile aspects.

The world of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings has been a matter of study of numerous comparisons that have contributed to establish a relationship with mythological and cultural aspects that may have influenced its creation. While Norse mythology has been accepted even by Tolkien as one of the main references in the creation of his world, the functionality and symbology of Celtic culture have been disdained. This study aims to analyze those elements in The Lord of the Rings that are closely related to the Celtic Irish and Welsh otherworld and their connection to the elvish lands of Rivendell and Lothlórien. Among these supernatural phenomena are the temporal perception within elven territories, the efficacy and symbolic significance of water as a ward against malevolent forces, and the intricacies associated with navigating narrow passages, rivers, and bridges. The methodology used is the traditional scientific empirical method through the study of The Fellowship of the Ring (1954), The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien (1981) and Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). The work of Thomas Lyman, "Celtic: Celtic Things and Things Celtic," has been utilized as a source to discuss whether Celtic elements appear in Tolkien's writing. Lyman pointed out several aspects of Tolkien's work that seem similar to Celtic themes, with the afterlife being one of the most noticeable. It is evident, therefore, that despite Tolkien's distaste' for Celtic things, and the uncertainty about the concept of "afterlives" in his work there are several aspects that, unconsciously or unintentionally, have been created and modeled as a possible explanation to the beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Old Norse poetic literature, the smiðr was a master of the arts, able to control and shape multiple materials into various kinds of objects. While the mythological smiðr has been regarded as separate from the real-world blacksmiths and metalworkers of gold, silver, and copper alloys, the archaeological evidence recovered in towns and workshops of the Viking Age, as well as medieval written sources, provide a different perspective. In 2015, a hitherto unknown, well-preserved workshop was excavated in the Viking town of Kaupang in Norway, containing evidence of complex metalworking requiring the skills of blacksmiths and workers of soft metals. In this article, the authors venture beyond the Old Norse myths, into the world of the proficient smiths as multi-crafters and their tools of the trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an interpretation is attempted of the Romanian myth, “Legenda despre zidirea lumii”. Parallels are drawn with tales such as Genesis, the Babylonian narrative of Marduk constructing the world from Tiamat, and the Norse sto­ry of Odin shaping the world from Ymir. In the Romanian myth, Satan’s prideful omis­sion to enunciate God’s blessing as he collects sand results in the formation of varied terrains. His attempt to harm God inadvertently spreads divine blessings all over the world. Similarly, in Norse and Yoruba myths, stifling barriers and attempts at desecra­tion lead to the paradoxical spreading of life and blessings, emphasizing the unforeseen outcomes of resistance to divine will.

One of the most impressive myths from Norse mythology is the one regarding the death of Baldr, who is struck by a mistletoe. The importance of this myth is such that it antecedes Ragnarök, the end of gods and men. The purpose of this paper is to analyze this myth in connection to certain types of offensive magic practiced by the ritual specialists of the Medieval Scandinavian peoples. Our hypothesis is that the myth of Baldr's death is a mnemonical vestige of the belief in magical projectiles which were believed to cause harm or even death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

American Gods (Starz 2017–2021) and The Sandman (Netflix 2022– ), two highly watchable audiovisual series are adaptations of Neil Gaiman’s popular novel (2001) and of his earlier comic book series (1989–1996). They are both inspired by classical and Norse mythologies and reflect the evolution of culturally and socially important themes that occurred between the publication of their literary models and the airing of the television series. Curiously, the adaptation of the novel includes more Olympic gods but glosses over the influence of Herodotus. The Sand­man, on the other hand, in its television version, and specifically, in its first season finale episode Calliope, under discussion here, is much less graphic in the scenes of sexual abuse leaving the more drastic images to the imagination of the viewers but at the same time achieving an even more expressive empathy toward the suffering victim and a severe condemnation of the committed outrage.

Egill's idiosyncratic evocation of Embla and Askr also looks forward to one of the final chapters of the saga (chap. 85), in which the aged poet, now a weathered ash, sits by the hearth surrounded by I embla i - elm-ware - and is chided by the women for obstructing their work, a last, wry incongruity. The rare mythological reference in Egill's verse to the endowing of Askr and Embla, in the "inverted" order of the genitive phrase "Emblu aski", is a signal that a hidden meaning or relevance may be present, just as the rhetorical term I ofljóst i ("too clear") means just the opposite, something obscured. In response to the question of which situation Egill had found most trying, "Einarr spurdi Egil, hvar hann hefdi thess verit staddr, at hann hafdi mest reynt sik, ok bad hann that segja sér" ([11], 269), Egill, as so often, adopts an Odinic pose (Ódinn was also a spearman) but, typically, with a twist consonant with their amusing and entertaining talk ("thær rædur skemmtiligar"). Among the accounts of cosmic beginnings in the eddic poem I V luspá i and in Snorri Sturluson's I Gylfaginning i is the quickening to life of the first humans, named Askr and Embla, generally understood as "ash tree" and "elm" (or "vine"), from logs encountered by the gods along the seashore. The occasional verse by Egill Skallagrímsson that was examined by [23] comes at a point in the saga when Egill is well-settled in Iceland but has vivid memories of fairly recent viking expeditions to continental Europe. [Extracted from the article]

The contrast between the North and the South was a recurrent topos in Romantic literature, and in Scandinavia it played a crucial role in the Romantic writers' search for a national cultural identity. This article deals with the meaning and function of this imagery in some of Esaias Tegnér's most famous poems. Being present already in his patriotic and partly Classicist poem 'Svea' (1811), Tegnér developed and tried to reconcile the opposition between the North and the South in his more Romantic poems, such as 'Skidbladner' (1 81 2) and 'Flyttfàglarna' (1812), and finally created a powerful synthesis of them in his major literary work, the epic Viking tale Frithiofs saga (1 825). One should note, however, that the words 'north' and 'south' in Tegnér's writings seldom refer to any specific geographic location. They seem rather to be the names of two extreme poles in his poetics. Working always together they form what the structuralists used to call a 'binary opposition'. As such they are closely related to a whole range of other binaries: Nature versus Culture, Masculine versus Feminine, the Spiritual versus the Material, Life versus Death, etc. Consequently, Tegnér makes use of them in order to develop, elaborate and structure other kinds of ideas and images. They are, in other words, not a result of his poetic imagination but a precondition for it. This tendency to think and write in opposites might be explained by the fact that Tegnér lived and worked in a period of turbulent transition in Europe, but it may also have something to do with the swinging moods and tendency to 'bipolar disorder' in his own personality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Clotho is the property of University of Ljubljana, Faculty of the Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai, Philologia is the property of Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The fourth sonnet that Alberti dedicates to Lorca with the title «Summer» lacks any homosexual implication concerning the two poets, as evidenced by the tradition of the Baroque piscatoria, on the one hand, and the literature of mermaids and undines in the nineteenth century, on the other. Lorca, like swordfish, is the executioner of the death of the poetic self and its mermaid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The foliate head is a common motif in the architectural decoration of Norwegian stave churches. It is commonly used in doorways, where beast's heads are disgorging foliage or are spewing stems with vine. The artistic style of wooden church decoration in Norway from the eleventh and twelfth centuries clearly shows inspiration from Viking art. This legacy has led to the belief that Christianity inherited the foliate head from a heathen past. This understanding is mainly due to a need for more convincing explanations for this motif. However, it is also due to the high status of trees in Old Norse society, especially Yggdrasill, the great tree that in Norse mythology constituted the center of the world. The article traces the sources for the motif in Norwegian architectural sculpture and the notion of the Green Man in the scholarly tradition in Norway. The Green Man was absent in Viking art, and the motif first appeared in Scandinavia in Romanesque architectural stone sculpture in the early twelfth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

James George Frazer and Sigmund Freud confirmed the sustained but divided critical interest in myth characterizing modernity and ranging from eschewal to espousal. The Enlightenment thinker Bernard de Fontenelle treated myth as a superstitious obstacle to understanding. For the Romantics, mythopoeic sensibility provided a “vital way of knowing the world” and a welcome alternative to abstracting reason. W. H. Auden was a novice poet forming his poetic voice in the 1920s when anthropology and psychology were inspiring the early generation of modernists to the use of the “mythical method” as a means of grasping the present. In this context, Auden also pondered deeply over myth and its relevance to contemporary poetry and society. This paper aims to examine Auden’s ruminations on the category of myth for its capacity to deliver knowledge and enlightenment, but also blind and manipulate man and his consciousness. First, the present paper focuses on Auden’s understanding of myth as a discourse for establishing useful and fruitful connections between the past and the present with the hope of broadening our awareness of the underlying attributes of the condition humaine. Then, it also proposes a counter-movement, drawing attention to Auden’s suspicion of condemnable collective narratives with the potential to shade truth.

According to Zarvani's belief, Ahriman and Ahuramazda have two inconsistent and twin bases .They have to present a series of activities, superior power and knowledge to manage their own world affairs in order to obtain Zarvan God's position. Mythical traditions introduced Ahuramazda as the superior all-knowing and having wisdom, luminous and powerful. Ahuramazd is a follower of the Front of Goodness, the source and source of power and knowledge, and Ahriman seeks to steal knowledge and power due to his jealousy of inherent greed. The essence of the existence of the planets shows the same elements. With a little reflection on the mythical text, one can find reasons to reject Jupiter's superiority and unrivaledness. Not only does the devil not seem knowledgeable and ignorant, but even vice versa; To some extent, he showed the obvious superiority of the devil in the field of competition with Jupiter, both in creativity and in secrecy.on the contrary, it introduced Ahriman as an unwise ,smelly ,slow-witted and beater .This paper is performed in descriptive- analytical methodology based on library method in form of taking notes, it aims to write extensive research in this field . Studies and researches resulting from this article suggested that Ahriman had more power and dare than Ahurmazda in many cases and the evidence for this claim also has been extracted from the verses of Shahnameh.

McWhorter (2002) argued that contact with Norse caused simplifications in English grammar that set English apart from other Germanic languages. This paper focuses on one of the losses McWhorter attributed to the linguistic impact of the Scandinavian invasions, External Possessors. An investigation of electronic Old and Early Middle English corpora reveals that the construction was already on the decline in the Old English period, and that Norse contact cannot explain the Early Middle English data. There is no support for the view that the loss of the construction spread from the Scandinavianized areas southwards. The facts are consistent with the view that while Celtic influence did not cause the loss of the construction in Old English, Celtic speakers shifting to English may have played a role in triggering the initial decline of the construction. Study of non-standard variants of other Germanic languages is needed to increase our understanding of the history of External Possessor constructions in those languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scandinavians visiting and trying to get profits from trade in Eastern Europe's regions during early middleages had very specific knowledge about the lands and cultures that developed there. They had a lot of information about geography and political powers, but almost non about people living outside of known towns and ports-of-trade. This disproportion are due to their intrest focused in getting profits from those lands and were not interested in get to know people from the outside of their ecumena. This phenomenon is also present in the testimonies from Portuguese sailors' travels to the western coasts of Africa and starting colonisation of that regions. In sagas description of scandinavan expeditions written centuries after scandinavian activity in Eastern Europe there is a trace of the same motivations and methods of action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medieval Nordic and Latin textual sources attest numerous similarities in the depiction of Slavs. One outstanding topos is the juxtaposition of pagan Baltic Vinðr ("Wends") and in general Sclavi with dogs or wolves, indicating an evident authorial defamation of groups as well as individuals. Within a comparative framework, the paper shows that the marginalisation of the pagan "other" was based on the actors' threatening behaviour that stood in opposition to the medieval Christian authorities of Central and Northern Europe. Eventually, the analysed textual defamation of Slavs as wolves or dogs in texts such as Thietmar of Merseburg's Chronicon or Snorri's Heimskringla seems to be an expression of a "pan-Germanic" ideology that mirrors the dichotomy of pagans vs. Christians but also of Slavs vs. Germans/Scandinavians in early medieval Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In hisGespräch über die Poesie(«Athenäum», III, 1800), Fr. Schlegel reworked some of the ideas put forward years earlier by J. G. Herder – in his controversy with J. Winckelmann – on the need to recover the mythopoietic dimension in national artistic creation and to get rid of the influence of the Greek model, which has been active in German thought for a long time. Schlegel’s work became the manifesto of an upcoming pre-Romantic aesthetic, which for at least two centuries had been rediscovering the memorial heritage of old Germanic mythology, best embodied in the XIIth and XIIIth cent. Old Norse literacy. Among the controversial sources conveying that tradition, works like the early Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum by Adam of Bremen (ca. 1070) and some historical annals of late medieval Sweden generated unprecedented and long-lasting representations of divine simulacra, which were able to influence, both politically and ideologically, the Gothicist movement during the Renaissance. This essay focuses on the representation of Old Norse divine triads during the XVIth-and XVIIth centuries, and specifically on the reception of fertility myths connected with the god Freyr. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I loved a darling puppy once,He’d always tag along.

In his Gespräch über die Poesie («Athenäum», III, 1800), Fr. Schlegel reworked some of the ideas put forward years earlier by J. G. Herder – in his controversy with J. Winckelmann – on the need to recover the mythopoietic dimension in national artistic creation and to get rid of the influence of the Greek model, which has been active in German thought for a long time. Schlegel’s work became the manifesto of an upcoming pre-Romantic aesthetic, which for at least two centuries had been rediscovering the memorial heritage of old Germanic mythology, best embodied in the XIIth and XIIIth cent. Old Norse literacy. Among the controversial sources conveying that tradition, works like the early Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum by Adam of Bremen (ca. 1070) and some historical annals of late medieval Sweden generated unprecedented and long-lasting representations of divine simulacra, which were able to influence, both politically and ideologically, the Gothicist movement during the Renaissance. This essay focuses on the representation of Old Norse divine triads during the XVIth-and XVIIth centuries, and specifically on the reception of fertility myths connected with the god Freyr.

Although they never met and exchanged only one letter during their lifetime, Danish-German poet and literary critic Heinrich Wilhelm Gerstenberg and German theologian, philosopher and literary critic Johann Gottfried Herder took great interest in each other's work. Indeed, during the late 1760s Gerstenberg's writings on literature, history and translation arguably had an immense impact on Herder, providing him with some of the major themes and insights for the Sturm und Drang movement, that took place in Germany around 1770 with Herder in a leading role. On the basis of Herder's writings and letters from the 1760s throughout his life, this article examines for the first time to what extent Gerstenberg informed Herder's views on ancient Nordic literature, Shakespeare, Ossian and the concept of genius. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Old Norse origin myth known as Frá Fornjóti ok hans ættmönnum, which claims that Norway was founded by a pair of brothers named Nórr and Górr, is preserved in two distinct variants in the late fourteenth-century Icelandic manuscript known as Flateyjarbók. One variant, Fundinn Noregr, forms the preface to Orkneyinga saga and had therefore come into existence by c. 1230, whereas the other, Hversu Noregr byggðist, is not attested before c. 1290. Most scholars have argued that Hversu Noregr byggðist is a derivative of Fundinn Noregr, which was created to preface Orkneyinga saga by the Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson. This article draws attention to hitherto-undocumented parallels between both variants of Frá Fornjóti and a twelfth-century Latin text known as the Chronicon Lethrense or Lejre Chronicle. To explain these parallels, a new hypothesis for the pre-history of Frá Fornjóti is formulated: that both variants are independent witnesses to an earlier version of the myth which drew upon the Chronicon Lethrense or a shared model. This hypothesis is tested against arguments supporting the consensus that regards Fundinn Noregr as the original, taking the myth's ideological underpinnings and analogues in Old Norse literature into account. It is suggested that the hypothesis best explains patterns of shared wording revealed by close comparative readings of passages in both variants, Orkneyinga saga, and other contemporary Old Norse texts. The article concludes with speculation about the context in which a previous version of the myth might have been composed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is through their embodiment of cute anime consumption underscored by national discourses of military technology and myth that Masotan and Hisone bridge the cute and the national, as well as the prewar and the postwar. Dragon Pilot Dragon Pilot (Hisone to masotan, 2018), is a one-season anime series produced by the anime studio Bone and distributed over Netflix both in Japan and abroad. In the following two case studies, we further examine the textual and intertextual construction of the new militarized shojo's cute national body in the anime series Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan (2018) and Warlords of Sigrdrifa (2020). In declaring her commitment to Masotan, Hisone also pledges herself to a creature who represents Japan's national origin through his symbolic connection to spiritual essence, historical continuity, and military power. [Extracted from the article]

The article suggests an alternative etymology of the place-name Cockley Cley in Norfolk, England from ME cocklayk, which is found in the Cumberland place-names. It prefers the Cumberland interpretation of the verb play and the word Cockplay to refer to the lecking of birds during mating season. It argues that ME cocklayk is of Norse origin since Norfolk was an area of Scandinavian settlement during the medieval period, with Norse influence on the local dialect and toponymy.

During the past decade, the ability to have one's personal DNA tested has become readily available. The results usually come back with surprises. My own experience and evaluation has revealed that I am, indeed, descended from German ethnicity and ancestry but, strictly speaking, not from the perceived 'modem' German roots. On my father's side, my DNA has revealed strongly Anglo-Saxon roots and, on my mother's side, just as strongly Scandinavian, Norse or Viking roots. Intrigued by these revelations, together with having a life-long interest in Norse mythology and observational astronomy, I felt compelled to research another interest, the individual Anglo-Saxon and Viking stars and names that are known or recorded. Unfortuntely, only a relative handful of Anglo-Saxon and Viking star names are known. In fact, despite the advantage of written languages, few Anglo-Saxon and Viking star names survived over the past millennia. The greatest threat to the survival of proper star names from Anglo-Saxon and Norse/Viking tradition was Christianity, the missionaries doing all in their power to purge any and all of the ancient beliefs deemed 'pagan'. However, despite the effects of the purges and paucity of information from original sources, it is a fascinating study providing a view through a window into the past of what is oft times a dimly lit world. The goal of this article, therefore, is an attempt to shed some light on the darkness from the medieval times. This endeavour will begin with a brief review of the Anglo-Saxon and Norse/Viking language core, their cultures, beliefs and similar mythological base from which the individual stars took their name. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his book "Of Gods, Heroes, and Scholars. Selected Scandinavica minora," Klaus Düwel publishes various essays, encyclopedia articles, and reviews on Scandinavian research. The volume covers topics such as Germanic heroic sagas, Old Norse mythology/religious history, translation techniques, and the research history of Old Scandinavian studies. Düwel's investigations into the sacred vocabulary of Germanic are particularly interesting. The book is a treasure trove for Old Germanic scholars, runologists, and historians of religion. It also includes critical reviews, for example, of Emil Ploss' dissertation on the legend of the dragon slayer Sigurd. The present summary focuses on various contributions by the author Klaus Düwel on Old Norse kennings and runes. The author criticizes translation errors in the Eyrbyggja saga and points out mistakes in the transmission of the Laxdœla and Grettis saga. Additionally, biographical sketches of Wilhelm Ranisch's correspondence with Andreas Heusler and a homage to Gerd Høst Heyerdahl are presented. Other contributions deal with Old Norse kennings, the conversion in Iceland, and the connection between kennings and runes. The author emphasizes the importance of kennings for contemporary metaphor discussions and presents objections to Klaus von See's thesis on the art of kennings and the ornamentation of 11th-century Old Swedish runestones. The summary concludes with an acknowledgment of Klaus Düwel's philological and iconographic expertise. [Extracted from the article]

When creating his literary universe, Tolkien drew from the medieval sources of Norse mythology, so much so that, in the early versions of his work, Asgard features as an equivalent of Valinor. That could be seen as a simple sign of the author's process and goals, but there may be more to the equivalence than a mere generic correspondence. Indeed, a detailed analysis of the two divine worlds, comparing them side by side, suggests a deeper connection and, in the process, reveals a particular Eddic poem that, like Völuspá, may merit being singled out as one of Tolkien's sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: The article carries out a comparative exercise focusing on the Norse myth about Þórr slaughtering and then reviving his goats. It has sometimes been argued that the myth is a borrowing from a Christian legend about Saint Germanus. This is, however, problematic since similar traditions are found in Alpine, Caucasian, Sámi and even Native American contexts, in all cases with a non-Christian flavour. The article concentrates on those analogues that are closest to the Norse myth in terms of the central details and considers what might lie behind this seemingly odd distribution. The suggestion is that the central motif constitutes a shared tradition across the northern hemisphere that has its roots in the very deep layers of human history. RESUME: Artiklen præsenterer en komparativ øvelse med fokus på den norrøne myte om Thor, der slagter sine geder og derpå vækker dem til live igen. Den teori er flere gange blevet fremsat, at myten er lånt fra en kristen helgenlegende om Sankt Germanus. Dette er imidlertid problematisk, idet lignende traditioner findes i Alperne, Kaukasus, Sápmi og endda indfødte canadiske kulturer, i alle tilfælde uden kristen forklædning. Artiklen fokuserer på de parallelle fortællinger, som følger den norrøne myte tættest med hensyn til de centrale detaljer, og overvejer, hvad der kan ligge til grund for denne løjerlige spredning. Forslaget er, at det centrale motiv udgør en fælles tradition på tværs af den nordlige halvkugle med rødder i den meget dybe historie.

ABSTRACT: Within Old Norse mythological narratives, the presence or absence of ritual establishes hierarchy. As exemplified in death ritual, ritual orders the two major classes of mythological beings, placing the Æsir (gods) above the jǫtnar (“giants”). In addition, the practice of ritual or ritual-like activity, resembling sacrifice, orders the class of the Æsir themselves, placing Óðinn above Þórr. RESUME: I de norrøne mytologiske narrativer etableres et hierarki igennem tilstedeværelsen og fraværet af ritualer. Dødsritualer er et eksempel på, at ritualer ordner de to store klasser af mytologiske væsner hierarkisk ved at placere aserne (guderne) over jætterne. Desuden rangeres aserne også hierarkisk indbyrdes igennem ritualer eller ritual-lignende aktiviteter, som minder om ofringer, idet Óðinn placeres over Þórr.