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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (254882)	7/3/2014 11:48:33 AM
From: Steve Lokness	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541743

Then fields unsowed \| bear ripened fruit, All ills grow better, \| and Baldr comes back; Baldr and Hoth dwell \| in Hropt's battle-hall, And the mighty gods: \| would you know yet more?

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (254882)	7/3/2014 12:31:50 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541743

FYI- For those who are interested: en.wikipedia.org I took a class a long time ago in pagan religions, reading from original texts. I'm not going to argue with the uninformed and dogmatic (steve)- but for the rest of you: en.wikipedia.org Don't believe this crap about the Viking gods being "friends" with the people. This was a shamanistic society- which struck me very much like American Indian societies. There were wise women, and men, who were feared for their powers- and who communicated with the spirit worlds. There was black magic. There were curses. The Gods would be angry- and sometimes would be placated with blood- human and otherwise. Remember, these religions serve to pave over fear of the unknown- and a lot was unknown when these religions began, so there is a lot of fear and violence, among the Gods, and on Earth. Like the American Indians they have a trickster (coyote for the Indians Loki for the vikings). The trickster can be evil. They have a jesoid character (Baldur). They have a flood, a serpent, giants, witches, etc. After you died (in battle- or with exceptional courage) you might get to feast with the Gods. But you'd be dead. So there's that. There is some good work out there on the ancient religions of the North, and how they might have morphed in to what we finally see in the sagas (what's left of them)- and the Roman accounts are fairly good, but limited. And here's something I just remembered (but can't find anywhere on the net- so where my professor got it, I don't know)- he suggested that the frost giants might have been remnants or an earlier naturalistic religion (the giants are very in tune with nature)- and were incorporated in the more warlike myths that resulted when the culture turned from agrarian (remember the cow in the creation myth) or hunter gatherer emphasis, to a more warlike purpose- which engendered new, more warlike, Gods.