Greco-Roman pagan societies feature the belief in many gods and deities, with their immense power create phenomena such as thunderstorms and volcanoes. In these societies, when something positive occurs, you are to give praise and make a sacrifice to the gods. But when something negative occurs like a disaster, these societies believe that you have angered the gods and will suffer their wrath. But when looking at these two occurrences, neither one these events are seen as the right thing or the malicious thing. There is no concept of that idea in these societies. While looking at Judeo-Christian societies they do have the concept of good and evil. When you do something honorable…
Loki was the trickster of Norse mythology. The Norse gods, like Odin the All-Father, Thor the thunderer and the beautiful Iduna, who kept the gods youthful with her apples, were powerful and warlike but frequently foolish. Loki was not a god but he was allowed associate with them because he was clever and amusing. Loki never felt accepted by the gods and so he was always looking for ways to impress them and sometimes to get even with them. It was because of Loki's meddling that the gods came to their doom. This is the story of how it…
There’s a saying which goes as the following “History repeats itself”. We’ve seen that the Vikings were polytheistic and within time they accepted Christianity meaning that they became monotheists. Looking throughout history we see that the Greeks, Egyptians which were polytheistic and had a similar story to those of the Vikings where they accepted Christianity at some point thus becoming monotheists. The new religion known as Christianity in the Viking era had some good out comes as well as bad out comes, which contributed to the shaping up of the these three nations Norway, Sweden, Denmark. Vikings have earned bad reputations for being: Brutal savages, unsympathetic warriors, who burned and raided recklessly. This here in fact is a misconception…
The Vikings came from what is known as Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. During the time from the 8th to the 11th centuries the Vikings traveled in their longboats to the British Isles and the coast of Europe raiding the settlements.…
The two creation myths selected to compare and contrast centers on the Norse culture of Iceland Vikings and the Genesis creation of the Hebrew origin of Christian culture. Both creation myths originate with a hollow abyss where anarchy or war cultivates. The Norse myth relates a struggle in the middle of the blistering realm of Muspell and the murky, icy realm of Niflheim inside the hollowness named ginnungagap and where nothing could cultivate. The Genesis struggle was involving God and nothing, seclusion, and the craving to generate something wonderful.…
Helheim: this was the worst outcome for the norse afterlife, it was cold and dark and was ruled by goddess Hel. This was the place for Norse people who died in a dishonourable way, old age or…
The Vikings followed the Norse religion and mythology. The Norse religion believed that there was an afterworld called Valhalla where the virtuous, and glorious, and the people who died in battle went. Some of the gods that they worshipped in the Norse religion were Odin, who was the king of the gods, Freya, goddess of love, and Thor, the god of thunder and war. In 993, though, the Vikings were converted to Christianity by Leif Erickson.…
Beowulf was written in the time when the society was in the process of converting from Paganism to Christianity. In this epic poem, these two religions come through the actions of its characters. The acceptance of feuds and the courage of war are just a few examples of the Pagan tradition, while the Christian mortalities refrain from the two.…
The Iroquois’s value of nature is not present in the Norse creation story as it is in the Iroquois myth. The Iroquois express their idea that animals are meant to serve them in the creation story in the fact that the muskrat and other animals risked their lives to try to get dirt for the woman. In “Odin and Ymir,” only a cow is mentioned, while in “The World on the Turtle’s Back” many animals are mentioned such as “turtles,” “muskrats],” “birds” and more (1). Another variation between the two creation myths is the explanation of the passage of the sun and moon. The Norse creation story says there is a “chariot that carries the sun across the skies,” but in the Iroquois myth, the sun moves from the woman who fell’s walking around the earth…
Vikings; expert traders, craftsmen, raiders and warriors, came from the area known as Scandinavia. Scandinavia is a region in Europe which the Vikings lives and dominated. It consists of Norway, Sweden and part of northern Finland.…
The Vikings were a seafaring people from the late eighth to early 11th century who established a name for themselves as traders, explorers and warriors. They discovered the Americas long before Columbus and could be found as far east as the distant reaches of Russia. While these people are often attributed as savages raiding the more civilized nations for treasure and women, the motives and culture of the Viking people are much more diverse. These raiders also facilitated many changes throughout the lands from economics to warfare.…
Viking expansion across the continent caused their faith to permeate into today’s society. Although the well-known mythological god Thor has become famed for his hammer-wielding, lightning power prowess, he first came into being through Norse sagas. An English manuscript ‘Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum’ by Adam of Bremen from 1073 states ‘In a temple, the people worship the statues of three gods… the mightiest of them, Thor, occupies a throne in the middle.’ His identifiable figure in modern society shows how Viking culture has impacted on our current society. The fact that we still recognise the figure of Thor today is significant as it reflects how the widespread expansion of Vikings across Europe helped filter their religion and mythology into other traditional cultures. The pervasion of Viking religion into European history is therefore a long-term impact of Viking…
1. The Nordic people believed there were two races of deities, the Aesir and the Vanir and that they were at constant war with one another until a truce was finally agreed.…
The Norse creation myth begins with a void that is called Ginnungagap that means “beginning gap”. To the south of Ginnungagap was a fiery realm of Muspell that had really hot rivers full of poison and lakes of fire. To the north there was a dark and cold realm of Niflheim, with freezing rivers and the mountains were blocks of solid ice. Over numerous years the heat from Muspell began to melt the icy mountains of Niflheim began a giant Ymir and a cow. Ymir was the first being of the Ginnungagap. As the cow licked the salt from the ice mountains, Ymir drank the cow’s milk and grew larger every day. Eventually, she licked away enough ice that two more beings appeared, Buri and his goddess wife. Together they had a son named Bor and his son was named Odin. In time Odin became the king of all gods.…
Inuit religion has been around for as long as there have been Inuit. The Inuit religion is not the same as it was a thousand years ago. A thousand years ago the Inuit religion was basically referred to as animism. Animism is the belief that everything has a soul, including the animals (Watson, Bratton, no date). The Inuit religion of the past was centered on myths, rituals and beliefs. The Inuit religion of today has changed from worshiping and praying to several spiritual Gods to worshiping only God the Father in Heaven. The change in their beliefs started long before they ever laid eyes on the white man (R. Carleton, personal communication, 1-26-07). The Inuit Church service that this author feels that the Inuit have a real sense of the word religion. They care about the land and all that is on the land. They are thankful for each and everything God has given us. They make a person feel like their religion is the way it was meant to be.…