Norse Myths · Part 9 · Treasures and tricks · B2
Freyja and the Vanir
Part 9 of the Norse Myths: the first war in the world, between two families of gods, the Æsir of Odin and the Vanir of the sea and the harvest, and the peace they made by exchanging hostages. With them came Freyja, goddess of love, magic and battle, who rides in a chariot drawn by cats and weeps tears of gold. The language of negotiation and suggestion (shall we, how about, why don’t we, I suggest that we, would you be willing to), each other / one another, and the vocabulary of war and peace, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
We have met Freyja several times: the goddess Thrym wanted to marry, the goddess the builder wanted as payment. Tonight we learn who she is, and where she came from, because she was not born one of Odin’s family. She came as a hostage, at the end of a war.
The first war in the world, Demetria, between two families of gods. Neither side could win, so they did something very wise: they made peace by exchanging members of their families, so that each would live among the other. Tonight’s grammar is the grammar of making peace.
Hostages as a bridge rather than a threat. Rome does the same.
There were two families of gods. The Æsir (Odin, Thor, Tyr and others) were gods of war, law and wisdom. The Vanir, who lived in Vanaheim, were gods of the sea, the harvest, wealth and love, and they practised a kind of magic called seiðr. The poem Völuspá says the first war began when a mysterious woman called Gullveig, “gold-drink”, came to the Æsir; they burned her three times, and three times she was reborn.
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