Submitted by: Luca Panaro
Description:
The Vanir are a group of deities in Norse mythology. As a whole, they play a less pronounced role in the myths than the Æsir, but Freyr and Freyja individually are major figures. The Vanir were once the enemies of the Æsir, and the two fought a devastating war (described in Skáldskaparmál, a section of the Prose Edda, in Völuspá, and in Heimskringla). In the three versions of the story, different things ignite the war and bring it to a close, but it is clear that the two tribes make peace and are reconciled with oaths of peace and the exchange of hostages. This also seems to result in the two groups melding into one, with Freyr, Freyja, and their father Njörðr, all of the Vanir, being counted and given residences among the Æsir.
The Vanir are associated with nature, fertility, fecundity, weather, war, death, and a particular kind of magic known as seiðr (LINK), among other things. Some scholars have argued that the Vanir represent an older, nature-centric form of Nordic paganism, which predates the ascendancy of the Æsir deities to a central position worship. The Æsir, in particular Óðinn, are associated with the more iconic features of the Viking Age, namely the mead hall ruled by the warrior-king and his loyal warband of retainers, the exchange of rings and oaths of loyalty and blood-brotherhood, the propagandistic myth of the glorious death rewarded by eternal feasting and battling in Valhöll to await Ragnarök alongside Óðinn, the god of kings. See Valhöll entry for a description of the change of religious focus and activity in Scandinavia during the Migration period.
No linked sources yet.
No linked sources yet.