Hello, my readers! I hope you’re doing well this week!
Many thanks to my reader(s) in Australia - you are the 25th country to check out my blog!
We’re back to Norse mythology for this post. I mentioned in my Mother’s Day post that mythology has quite a lot of cool moms. Unfortunately, at that time I hadn’t really talked about any. Last week I spoke about Demeter and her devotion to her daughter; this time, I’m doing Frigg.
In Norse mythology Frigg is credited as being the mother of Baldr, and possibly of Thor and Hodur. When Baldr is killed she mourns deeply for him. If you've seen the Thor movies (especially the second one), then you have a pretty good idea of what a mother Frigg looks like. Marvel may mess with the backstories of its mythological characters, but they got Frigg down pretty darn well. (Of course, Frigg isn't actually Loki's mother - Loki is a blood-brother of Odin, and has no relation to Thor in the original myths.)
Besides being an awesome mother, Frigg is also a pretty swell wife. Frigg is married to Odin, chief of the Norse gods. If Odin is the All-father, Frigg is the All-mother; in fact, she’s referred to in the myths as the Earth Mother.
Frigg is an interesting goddess because of the duality of her nature. On the one hand, she’s a goddess of love, marriage, and mothers (a little bit like the Greek Hera, but minus the petty revenge schemes.). In this role Frigg is represented as a great stay-at-home mom. She takes care of her kids, and is frequently depicted weaving with her handmaidens - a skill that was prized in wives of the time.
On the other hand, Frigg is also shown to be a powerful sorceress (something Marvel got right!) who could change her shape. She was able to transform herself into a falcon whenever she desired - not something your average mom could do! (I think. Right? Are your moms different than mine?)
Frigg also possessed the ability to see into the future, a skill that her husband Odin also had. Of course, Odin worked really hard and sacrificed an eye to get that gift - Frigg, on the other hand, is said to just possess it!
What makes Frigg truly interesting to me is the similarities between she and another Norse goddess. I'd like to talk about a few of them.
Frigg was known by several different names, depending on the dialect of those who worshipped her. Sometimes she was called Frigga; at other times, Frija.
Norse mythology also features a goddess named Freya. Freya, Frija - pretty similar, right?
The two goddesses have more in common than just their names. Freya was worshipped as a fertility/love goddess, which fits nicely with Frigg’s traits. Freya was also said to be married to a man named Od (a word that means wanderer or roamer), who mysteriously disappears partway through mythology. Od sounds pretty similar to Odin, at least to me. Odin was well-known for roaming the earth and interacting with mortals.
Like Frigg, Freya also had a not-so-nurturing side. She was able to perform feats of powerful magic. She was a war goddess - Freya shared rule over battle with Odin, collecting half of the deceased warriors to take to her own version of Valhalla.
Just like Frigg, Freya was able to turn herself into a falcon thanks to a falcon cloak she possessed.
My favorite part about Freya? Her battle chariot was pulled by two enormous cats.
Yes. Cats.
Frigg and Freya share one more very important thing. Both are portrayed in the myths as coveting gold - often in an unflattering way. While the stories on Frigg’s love of the metal are a little harder to find, there is a very famous one about Freya.
Norse mythology often has the gods interacting with giants, elves, and dwarves. Dwarves in the Norse myths are said to be short, ugly creatures - but they possess a great skill for making beautiful things from metal, be they weapons, jewelry, or anything else. Freya once paid a visit to a group of dwarves and found them around a gorgeous golden necklace they had just crafted. Struck with desire for the bauble, Freya begged the dwarves to allow her to purchase it.
Unfortunately for the goddess, the dwarves already had more gold and gems than they knew what to do with. They would not part with the necklace for any amount of treasure. After conferring, the dwarves told Freya that they would give her the necklace if she spent a full day and night with each of them.
The goddess agreed, and the poem which speaks of this myth shows her walking out of the cave several days later wearing the necklace.
Freya was unlucky in that Loki had seen the entire exchange (creepy, right?) and reported her doings back to Odin. The necklace was taken from her as a punishment, but was eventually returned to her.
So here we have two goddesses, each reigning over similar things - love, marriage, family, etc. They are each competent in ways one wouldn’t necessarily expect, and are skilled sorceresses. The duo are married to men who have similar names - Od and Odin. Lastly, they both share a passionate (and sometimes awkward) love of gold.
(Interestingly enough, the days of our weeks are named after the Norse gods. Sunday is named for the sun, Monday was originally Moon Day, Tuesday was Tyr’s Day, Wednesday was Woden’s [Odin’s] Day, Thursday = Thor’s Day, and Friday...well, Friday is interesting. Depending on which scholars you listen to, Friday was named for Freyr, his sister Freya, or Frigg. Frigg’s Day seems the closest to me, but the fact that she and Freya both might have been the origin of Friday’s name fascinates me.)
Some scholars believe that Freya and Frigg are in fact the same goddess - they just represent different aspects of the same divine being.
One last interesting thing about the duo? I did a Google image search for Frigg and Freya.
I wasn't able to find a picture of the two of them together.
What do you guys think? The similarities are pretty striking, and I’m pretty intrigued by the thought of them being the same being at their core. Do you agree? Disagree?
Sorry for the short post today. My grandmother is in the hospital, and things have been hectic at my home. I’ll do my best to have an update up every Monday, but it might be delayed a day or two depending on circumstances here.
As always, questions or comments can go below or be emailed to me. I hope you guys enjoyed the post, and I’ll see you all next week!
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