[ENG]

Fenrir (pronounced “FIN-reer;” Old Norse Fenrir, “He Who Dwells in the Marshes”) is the most infamous of the many wolves in Norse mythology. His importance for the pre-Christian Scandinavians is demonstrated by his being depicted on numerous surviving runestones, not to mention his ubiquity in Old Norse literary sources.

He’s the son of the god Loki and the giantess Angrboda, which makes him the brother of the serpent Jormungand and the underworld goddess Hel.

*Loki and his children: Fenrir, Jormungand and Hel.


The most popular legend is the tale The Binding of Fenrir:
The Aesir gods raised Fenrir themselves in order to keep him under their control and prevent him from wreaking havoc throughout the Nine Worlds. He grew at an astonishingly fast pace, however, and eventually the troubled gods decided to chain him up. Their first two attempts were unsuccessful; while the cunning gods convinced Fenrir that it was only a game, a test of his strength, he broke through the fetters easily. For their third attempt, the gods had the dwarves forge the strongest chain ever built, which nevertheless gave the appearance of being very light and even soft to the touch. When the gods presented Fenrir with this third fetter, he became suspicious, and he refused to be bound with it unless one of the gods would stick his or her hand in his mouth as a pledge of good faith. Only Tyr was brave enough to do this, knowing that it would mean the loss of his hand. And, sure enough, when Fenrir found himself unable to break free of his bonds, he ripped Tyr’s hand from its arm.

The chain was then tied to a boulder and a sword was placed in Fenrir’s jaws to hold them open. As he howled wildly and ceaselessly, a foamy river called “Expectation” (Old Norse = Ván) flowed from his drooling mouth.
As the river’s ominous name implies, this was not the end of Fenrir. At Ragnarok, ''the end of the world'', he broke free and ran throughout the world with his lower jaw against the ground and his upper jaw in the sky, devouring everything in his path. He even killed the god Odin before finally being put to death by Odin’s avenging son, Vidar.

[ENG]

Spring Goddess of Fertility and connection with Christian Easter as we know it today...
She has her own "festival" on 21 March, the Spring Equinox, in which bouncing springy behavior is encouraged.

A Germanic goddess Ostara (Eostre) was very popular with the Anglo-Saxon pagan brigade who worshipped her under that name — and kicked off the whole Easter business without a Jesus in sight. Did you ever wondered what eggs and bunnies have to do with crucifixion and resurrection? The answer is: absolutely nothing.

Ostara's sacred animal is a cute "wittle wabbit" — an obvious symbol of fertility. And the egg is her symbol of fertile purity. So Easter Egg hunts are actually packed with symbolic meanings of rebirth and renewal, and Elmer Fudd is obviously just a high priest of the Great Easter Bunny. This well-known monk mentioned her in connection with the pagan festival "Eosturmonath" in a book written in 750 A.D., but extensive research has failed to find a trace of her prior to that...

Rabbits and hares are ubiquitous in mythology. Every culture seems to have a rabbit god — and they're nearly always trickster spirits. This explains a lot. There's also a terrific theory explaining why stage magicians love doing tricks with eggs and rabbits.

Was Ostara pulled out of a hat?



[CRO]

Proljetna božica plodnosti i njezina povezanost s kršćanskim Uskrsom kakvoga danas poznajemo...
Ona ima svoj "festival" 21. ožujka, na proljetni ekvinocij, za čije vrijeme počinje proljetna vrckavost i raskoš.

Germanska božica Ostara (Eostre) bila je vrlo popularna kod anglosaksonske poganske brigade koji su ju obožavali pod tim imenom i započeli cijele Uskršnje poslove bez Isusa na vidiku. Jeste li se ikad upitali što jaja i zeko imaju veze s raspećem i uskrsnućem? Odgovor je: apsolutno ništa.

Ostarina sveta životinja je slatki mali zeko - očito simbol plodnosti. Jaje također je njezin simbol plodne čistoće. Dakle, "lov" na uskršnja jaja zapravo je prepun simboličkih značenja ponovnog rađanja i obnove, a Elmer Fudd je očito samo veliki svećenik Velikog Uskrsnog Zeca. Ovaj poznati svećenik ju spominje u vezi s poganskim festivalom "Eosturmonath" u knjizi napisanoj 750.-e godine poslije Krista, ali opsežna istraživanja nisu joj uspjela pronaći traga prije toga...

Kunići i zečevi su sveprisutni u mitologiji. Čini se da svaka kultura već ima boga zeca - i oni su gotovo uvijek duhovi prevaranti. To je, smatra se, objašnjenje puno toga. Također, postoji sjajna teorija koja objašnjava zašto madžioničari vole raditi trikove s jajima i zečevima...

Je li Ostara izvučena iz šešira?

[CRO] 9 Svjetova Nordijske mitologije:

Napomena: Pogledajte slike u članku ispod, na engleskome jeziku. :)

...

Devet svjetova u Nordijskoj mitologiji su podijeljeni u 3 dijela: gornja razina, srednja razina i niža razina. Podjelu je lako zamisliti kao nebo-zemlja-podzemlje, što je u osnovi isto.
Gornja razina se sastoji od Asgarda (zemlja Aesir bogova), Alfheima (zemlje vilenjaka) i Vanaheima (zemlja Vanir bogova, koji su postali podskupina Aesir bogova nakon rata s Aesir bogovima).
Srednja razina se sastoji od Midgarda (svijeta ljudi), Jotunheima (svijeta divova), Svartalfheima (svijeta Tamnih vilenjaka ) i Nidavellira (svijeta patuljaka).
Niža razina (mi to zovemo Pakao) u nordijskoj mitologiji je podijeljena na dva dijela. Muspelheim (zemlja najsjajnije svjetlosti i najvruće vatre ) i Niflheim (zemlja mrtvih, što je i najniža razina).

Svi svjetovi povezani su kroz Yggdrasil, Drvo Života, koje je u sredini Asgarda. To je vječno zeleni jasen, a njegove grane šire se kroz svih Devet svjetova. Korijeni Yggdrasila idu u 3 smjera. Prvi koji vodi do "Urdova bunara" (mjesto u Asgardu gdje bogovi drže svoje svakodnevne sastanke), a druga do "Mimirova bunara" (mjesto u Jotunheimu, domu divova). Treći korijen vodi do Niflhema, blizu bunara "Hvargelmir". Kod tog vrela je zmaj Nidhug koji je žvakao Yggdrasilov korijen, a poznat je i po tome da siše krv iz mrtvih tijela.
Na vrhu Yggdrasila je orao, vječiti neprijatelj zmaja. Svaki put kad Nidhug proklinje ili vrijeđa orla, vjeverica Ratatosk bi trčala do vrha stabla da obavijestiti orla što je Nidhug upravo rekao. Orao je jednako primitivan u svojim komentarima o Nidhugu. Ratatosk voli tračati i zbog toga će zmaj Nidhug i orao ostati konstantni neprijatelji.

Na Urdovu bunaru žive tri Norne, boginje sudbine. Imena su im Urd ("Prošlost" ), Verdani ("Sadašnjost") i Skuld ("budućnost"). One većinu svog vremena provode vrteći teme života, odlučujući o sudbini svakog čovjeka, životinje i svakoga boga. Kad god se neko dijete rodi, Norne okreću sudbinu djeteta u svojim nitima. Tri Norne će svako jutro započeti dan stavljajući pijetla na vrh Yggdrasila. Kukurijekanje pijetla je poziv na buđenje za ljude i bogove. Također, tri Norne nose vodu iz Urdova bunara i zalijevaju Yggdrasil da i dalje ostane zelen i zdrav.

Yggdrasil dijeli još jednu priču ... Onu s Odinom, vrhovnim bogom Asgarda, koji se objesio na Yggdrasil na devet dana kako bi dobio dar mudrosti. Odin je žrtvovao svoje oko u zamjenu za piće iz svetoga zdenca znanja. Vješanjem na Yggdrasil i izgubivši oko, naučio je pjesme i rune (dobio je znanje za pisanje).

[ENG] Nine Worlds of Norse Mythology:

Nine realms in Nord Mythology are divided in 3 sections, Upper Level, Middle Level and Lower Level. It's easy to imagine them as sky-earth-underground, which is basicaly the same.

Upper Level consists of Asgard (the land of Aesir gods), Alfheim (the land of elves) and Vanaheim (land of Vanir gods, who became subgroup of Aesir after the War with Aesir).
Middle Level is made of Midgard (home of men), Jotunheim (home of frost giants), Svartalfheim (home of dark-elves) and Nidavellir (home of dwarves).
Lower Level (we call it Hell) in Norse Mythology is divided on two parts. Muspelheim (the land of brightest light and hottest fires) and Niflheim (the land of the dead, the lowest level).


All realms are connected through Yggdrasil, The Tree of Life, which stands in the middle of Asgard. It is an eternal green Ash tree, and its branches stretch all over the Nine Worlds.

Roots of Yggdrasil go in 3 directions. The first one to "Urd's Well" (place in Asgard where the gods hold their daily meetings) and the Second one to "Mimir's Well" (place at Jotunheim, home of giants). Third root leads down to Niflhem, close to Well "Hvargelmir". By that well stands Nidhug, the dragon, which gnawed Yggdrasils root and is know to suck the blood out of the dead bodies. On top of Yggdrasil lives an Eagle, who's bitter enemy of the Dragon. Every time Nidhug says a curse or an insult about the Eagle, Ratatosk(the squirrel) will run up to the top of the tree, and inform the Eagle what Nidhug just said. The Eagle is equally rude in his comments about Nidhug. Ratatosk just loves to gossip which is the reason why the Eagle and the Dragon remain constant foes.


At the Urd's Well live 3 Norns, godesses of fate. Urd("Past"), Verdani("Present") and Skuld("Future"). They spend most of their time spinning the threads of life, deciding the fate of every human, animal and every god. Whenever a child is born, the Norns spin the fate of the child in their threads. The three Norns will every morning start the day by placing a rooster at the top of Yggdrasil. The bragging of the rooster is a wakeup call for humans and gods. Also, the three Norns carry water from Urd's well and pour it over the Yggdrasil to keep it green and healthy.

Yggdrasil shares another story... The one with Odin who hung himself on it for nine days to gain wisdom.

Odin sacrificed his eye in exchange for a drink from a sacred well full of knowledge. By hanging on Yggdrasil and losing his eye, he learned songs and runes (knowledge to write).


[CRO]
Croatian version currently under development.

(prijevod u tijeku)

[ENG]
So to introduce myself...

I'm a metalhead from Croatia and therefore I'll write both on english and croatian.
My blog will be about music (mostly metal genres), movies, PC games but I will probably post some videos of me playing covers, as I'm a guitarist too. Also, interesting things happening to me, or some funny memories will also be shared on here. You will even learn few things about Nord mythology. You all heard of Odin, Thor, Loki but I'll post some interesting stories such as about Fenrir, the giant wolf and Ragnarok, aka 'The End of the World'.

I'll try to make you laugh a bit in dark times like these and maybe even inspire you to do some things you wouldn't manage to do on your own. Keep up to date and find out more!

BRACE YOURSELVES! More posts are coming


VIKING MUSIC: Amon Amarth


[CRO]
Kako ovaj blog ne čitaju samo balkanci, odlučio sam pisati i na engleskom i molim da mi ne zamjerate..

No, da se predstavim. Metalac, gitarist i ljubitelj PC-gaminga i filmova, glazbe i vikinške (nordijske) mitologije. Osim Odina, Thora i Lokija za koje ste već vjerojatno i čuli objavljivati ću postove i Fenriru, divovskome vuku, Ragnaroku (smaku svijeta) i sl.

Objavljivati ću svoje covere koje snimim, recenzije novih albuma, igara, filmova ili sl., a saznat ćete i neke smiješne i zanimljive trenutke moga života.


Nastavite me pratiti, uskoro krećem s novim objavama