Viking Women

Many would argue that there can be no such thing, “Viking women,” that there must only be  Vikings, meaning men exclusively.

Language is ceaselessly malleable over the ages and is adaptable to the constant search of humans for meaning and purpose. Mythology, telling stories, is part of this process. My father rewove Norse mythology to free the thunder god Thor from his contrived Aeisir connections, Aesir being the upstart carpetbagging nobility deities who arrived on horseback in Europe from the Far East some thousand or so years ago.

Some sort of thunder god has been native to the European continent for centuries before the arrival of the Aesir from points in the Orient. The word “Aesir” is closely related to “Asia,” the East.

The Vanir, “friends”, “friends of freedom”, Freya, Frey, et al, were established in Scandinavia well before the Aesir arrived. The thunder god Thor may or may not have been allied with the Vanir, but he was concurrently existent with the Vanir before the carpetbagging Aesir and their “Fadergott” Odin claimed Thor as his son. The war between the Vanir and the Aesir is established lore in Nordic myth.

My father disliked horses and horsemanship enormously because of the relationship of the horse to the privileged, the nobility, warriors, the military, and was strictly in the camp of the Vanir, friends of the common people, and Thor, every working man’s best pal who traveled in a humble goat cart and carried a workingman’s tool, a hammer.

With the arrival of the Aesir arose class distinctions and the myth of Heimdall, the whitest of the giant, blond, white ones from the east who were even taller on their horses. According to the Heimdall myth, Heimdall, the exceedingly pale guardian of the Rainbow bridge over which Thor could not tread, was also the creator of humanity, its father.

First, Heimdall, also called Rig, slept with the wife of the lowest of the low to father the “serfs”, slaves, the thralls, the antithesis of the Vanir, Frey, Freya, friend, freedom:

Rígr was walking along the shore and came to a farm-hut owned by Ái (great-grandfather) and Edda (great-grandmother). They offered him shelter and poor, rough food for a meal. That night Rígr slept between the pair in their bed and then departed. Nine months later, Edda gave birth to a son who was svartan (dark). They named him Þræll (thrall, serf, or slave). Þræll grew up strong but ugly. He married a woman named Thír (slave girl or bondswoman), and they had twelve sons and nine daughters with names mostly suggesting ugliness and squatness. They became the race of serfs.

Next, he slept with the wife of the landowner, the peasant, to create the class that owned property:

Traveling further, Rígr came across a pleasant house where a farmer/craftsman, Afi (grandfather), lived with his wife Amma (grandmother). This couple gave him good food and also let him sleep between them. Nine months later, a son, Karl (churl or freeman), was born, who had a ruddy complexion. Karl married a woman named Snör or Snœr (daughter-in-law; sometimes anglicized as Snor), and they had twelve sons and ten daughters with names mostly suggesting a neat appearance or being of good quality. One of the names is smiðr (smith). These became the ancestors of free farmers, craftsmen and herdsmen.

Lastly, the nobility, warriors, military,  had their turn:

Traveling further, Rígr came to a mansion inhabited by Faðir (Father) and Móðir (Mother). They gave him excellent food served splendidly and, nine months later, Móðir gave birth to a beautiful baby named Jarl (earl or noble), whose hair was blond and who was bleikr (bright white in color). When Jarl grew up and began to handle weapons and to use hawks, hounds, and horses, Rígr reappeared, claimed him as his son, gave him his own name of Rígr, made him his heir, taught him runes, and advised him to seek lordship.

Through warfare Jarl became lord of eighteen homesteads with much wealth besides. He also gained the hand of Erna (Brisk), daughter of Hersir (lord). Erna bore eleven sons to Ríg-Jarl but no daughters. All the sons were given high-sounding names, mostly meaning "son". They became the ancestors of the warrior nobility.

Needless to say, a man named Adolf Hitler loved this myth, a nice bit of story telling explaining the origins of humanity and justifying class structures.

But, those Vanir, now forgotten in the rush to embrace the Aesir, and the women.