Happy Memorial Day

This Memorial Day I present to you Odin, King of the Norse Gods and Host of our fallen, valiant soldiers
Subtle, aristocratic, and at times inexplicable, Odin (Woden or Wotan) was the Father of all the Gods and men. He is also the Chief god of Germanic mythology. Son of Bor and Bestla, Odin was raised to favor mostly by the Vikings, and became known as the supreme god in the eighth and ninth centuries. Odin is pictured either wearing a winged helm or a floppy hat, and a blue-grey cloak in Viking era but in the modern era who knows? He can travel to any realm within the 9  worlds. His two ravens, Huginn and Munin (Thought and Memory) fly over the world daily and return to tell him everything that has happened in Midgard (Earth). He cherished them both, but particularly Munin, which seems to underscore the importance he placed on rune writing, record keeping, and honoring the heroic deeds of the past.
Odin is the literal father of important gods, such as Thor, and All-Father to the whole of creation, divine and human.  Amongst his gifts to us, his children, was the greatest of all: the gift of writing.  To accomplish this Odin hung himself upside down upon the World Tree, the gigantic ash Yggdrasil.  After nine days of fasting and agony, in which "he made of himself a sacrifice to himself", he "fell screaming" from the tree, having had revealed to him in a flash of insight the secret of the runes.  Their initial manifestation took the form of eighteen powerful charms for protection, increase, success in battle and love-making, healing, and mastery over natural causes.
It is he who sacrifices an eye at the well of Mimir to gain inner wisdom, and later hangs himself upon the World Tree Yggdrasil to gain the knowledge and power of the Runes. All of his actions are related to knowledge, wisdom, and the dissemination of ideas and concepts to help Mankind.
Odin is a god of war and death, but also the god of poetry and wisdom. He hung for nine days, pierced by his own spear, on the world tree. Here he learned nine powerful songs, and eighteen runes. Odin can make the dead speak to question the wisest amongst them. His hall in Asgard is Valaskjalf ("shelf of the slain") where his throne Hlidskjalf is located. From this throne he observes all that happens in the nine worlds.
When the Romans arrived in Germanic territory, they assumed that Odin was like their messenger god, Mercury. How they get a daddy god like Odin mix up with a hunky god Mercury? That what I want to know.
The Vikings admired Odin's love for the battle, as he was known as the "father of the slain". Odin's prominence demonstrates the importance of warfare to Germanic traditions. Odin loved to cause conflicts and shifts of power. He once aided Harald, a Danish King, instructing him in tactics and granting him victories for years. In the king's final battle, however, Odin took the place of Harald's charioteer and drove the king to his demise.
Although Odin embodied deceit, violence and war, he also embodied many admirable qualities. He was the most knowledgeable god, with a great love for wisdom. He would willingly sacrifice himself for it.
With the threat of Ragnarok, the death of all gods, Odin built the Valhalla, a great hall of the "heroic dead". Odin, with the help Freyja and Valkyries,  gather heroes and warriors who were slain in battle, and bring them to Valhalla so they would fight alongside the gods on the Vigrid plain, in an attempt to strengthen and save the gods in the final battle against the frost giants at the time of Ragnarok. Odin will kill by a demonic wolf named Fenrir, son of the Trickster god Loki and the giantess witch Angrboda. After Ragnarok the world will be reborn and Odin will return.


Happy Memorial Day and Honor our fallen soldiers today

Comments

  1. Ray's CowboyMay 28, 2012 at 5:59 PM

    love the story about Odin. I did nto know he was German as well. and he hung himslef from a tree. How do you come up with all of these interesting people.

    I now love the marines who are in the pool. and 1 and 5. Really love all of them.

    WOOF
    Ray

    ReplyDelete

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