07/19/2024
DIFFERENCES & SIMILARITIES OF CREATION STORIES
Throughout the course of time , there have been many conversations, observations, and arguments over what brought about the creation of Norse mythology and Christianity.
In my own observations of both Norse way of life compared to Christianity of old would be this way:
Both Christianity and Norse believe in symbolism and their deities, for the Norse it would be Nordic Runes and the belief in many Gods and Goddess’s of which the main ones you hear people refer to along with their creation stories are:
(Norse Mythology Family Tree To Be Explained later)
Odin-The All Father, Ruler of the Aesir, God Of War, Poetry, and Wisdom
Thor – The Hammer God of thunder, lightning, a protector of mankind and strength,
Loki – The Trickster of Mischief and Destruction who has the ability to change his shape and also recognized by the Aesir as the adopted brother of Odin, of which has not been confirmed
Freya – The Goddess of Love and Fertility, she would also walk among the dead to choose her warriors to join her in her realm she comes from the Vanir as she is also known as the Goddess of War.
The Creation stories of the Norse are as explained by Norse Mythology Family Tree)
Ymir and Giants Created Bestia & Loki
Audhumla and Burl created Bor which in turn Bor & Bestia Created Odin and his brothers Vili and Ve
It is said that Odin and his brothers killed the giant Ymir and used his remains to create the world.
Then Odin and Earth created Thor and Sith who in turn created Magni and Modi the first humans.
When you first look at the lineage tree it is confusing at first but soon becomes clear to the person studying the Viking gods. It also shows the lineage from Loki and Sigyn and Loki & Angrboda
The Norse or Vikings valued their 9 noble virtues and lived by those virtues in their daily lives. Vikings were bold and brave people who believed that death from battle was a great honor and would earn their place in Valhalla. Vikings were also farmers and homesteaders living off the land, forging wood and steel for boats and armor to search out new rich land and treasures among other regions.
The Creation story which Romans believe in is the following
According to legend, Rome was founded by the twin brothers Romulus and Remus, twin brothers born to Princess Rhea Silvia and Mars the Roman God Of War. Mars feared he would be overthrown by the twin boys so he ordered them to be abandoned on the Tiber River. They were then discovered by a wolf who raised them till a shepherd took them in to bring them up as brothers.
The Romans have Jupiter King of the gods, Mars the god of war, and Vulcan the god of artisans.
There is more of a comparison to the Roman Gods to that of the Greek Gods of which most are being recognized as being very similar to that of the Norse Gods and Goddesses.
It is also known that both the Romans and Vikings(Norse) valued their reputation of Honor, Courage, Strength War and Wisdom
Whereas Christians they only believe in one god but yet they too believe in symbolism which represent the images of Jesus and God or Great Creator or to Native Americans The Great Spirit. They also have their bible of which there are currently 40 different versions of said bible and each one has their own version of their god, Jesus and his followers.
The story the bible tells us is this :
In the beginning God created heaven and Earth and the Earth was without form or void. There was only darkness, then God said let there be light and he created light for the Earth. Now most everyone else has a belief in the Big Bang Theory but since there are no factual accounts, this is only myth and speculation.
Both the Norse and Romans have similar stories of Gods who were in control of many aspects of life around them, both have an Underworld which tells of what happens to each of them when they die, and both have their mythological stories of how the world was created and how it works.
We also know that most all of the symbolism, seasonal holidays, stories of which Christians believe in were formed around that of which were originally that of Paganism.
When comparing the two cultures of Norse Viking to that of Roman and Greek is that they both are known to have the most fascinating and well known mythological gods and goddesses that we know of today.
And we all know that Paganism has been in existence long before Christianity was even thought of, and Paganism has always been referred to as the Old Religion. But there are different meanings to the term Paganism :
A person who follows a spiritual belief that does not conform to that of a Christian belief system, the People Of The Prairie, (those who lived outside of the roman empire), a Hedonistic Person, all of which came into being after the fall of the Roman Empire.
The Reuse of Roman objects was not uncommon during the Middle Ages and are used by many pagans today since most all pagans celebrate the moon cycles, seasonal holidays, the spring planting and the fall harvesting of crops.
Vikings relied on the stories told that were passed down from generation to generation as they were not ones to keep written records of their lives. The one question that gets asked is this: Is Norse Mythology Pagan? Yes it is and Norse Mythology stems from Scandinavia and continued on long after the inception of Christianity.
Here is another similarity to Norse and Anglo Saxon.
Their languages were both of Germanic Origins, Norse being of the North Germanic, Saxon being the West Branch Germanic. And both had Runes, The Norse runes had 16 staves each with two possible sound values. The Anglo-Frisian runes had 26 staves. Right now we know more about Norse religion than we do that of Anglo Saxon because the Norse preserved more of their writings and stories a lot more than the pre Christians did of the Anglo Saxon period. To this day, researches continue to dig for more information and artifacts referencing back to the days of the Viking Era because it remains that of a strong interest among many people who still follow the Norse religion and culture.
Whereas with Christians, even though a lot of what Christians tend to believe in stemmed from that of Paganism so you could also say that Christianity assimilated the deities, the symbolism, and the seasonal celebrations as their own. Christians have this belief that pagans are evil people since we do not conform to organized religion which has been instilled into most all Christians from the church. Christians believe in hell and the devil otherwise known as Satan where as Pagans do not believe in the devil or going to hell when we die as the devout Christian would have you believe.
There are ancient Christian beliefs that some Christians could perform miracles by healing the blind, the sick, and the elderly. Again this is all based on theories and myths rather than factual accounts.
Roman Historians will tell you that the Roman Emperor Vespasian could cure blindness, restore the elderly, and heal broken limbs, which is similar to Christian beliefs and mysticism.
Vikings and Norse Pagans believe if they die honorably in battle, they will go to Valhalla to be with Freya and Odin. But if you died peacefully of old age or natural causes, you would go be with Hel. In Norse mythology, Hel was known as the Goddess Of Death but originally known as the World Of Death. Hel was also the offspring of the Trickster Loki and her kingdom laid Downward and Northward.
Their beliefs and myths are what guided them in the way they lived their lives, raised families, living off the land and raiding other villages for wealth and riches.
Pagans believe in the Summerland which is what they believe to be the afterlife. And Christians believe your soul will go to Heaven to be with their God along with the spirits of family and ancestors. Christians also have the belief that if your soul was evil you would be condemned to hell to be with the devil. This was a man made construct for the church to scare people into not straying away from the church.
There is also a similar Greek god known as Hades who was the ruler of the underworld and the son of the Titans Kronus and Rhea.
According to Greek Mythology, Hades protected the wealth of the earth and its riches.
I had a rare instance of being compared to Hades to which I took humor in it and said Thank You? I took it as a compliment as I like Hades but being the ruler of the underworld would be a huge job to fill.
Hades was the brother to Zeus, Poseidon, Hera and Hestia. The three brothers drew lots to see which kingdom they would oversee after the defeat of the Titans in battle.
One similarity of Roman and Norse Gods is that they both are Polytheistic where they both have one god who rules over all other gods ex: Odin being the All Father while Zeus is the King of the roman gods, Romans believe that the world was created from Chaos while Mother Earth created all living things
One big difference between Greek Gods as to Norse Gods is that Greek Mythology states the Greek Gods Are Immortal whereas the Norse Gods are fated to Ragnarock which is essentially the end of life and the world the way I am interpreting the statements made.
The one thing that Norse, Romans, Christians and Pagans all have in common is their belief in the afterlife.
Norse burial practices were clearly designed to ensure that the deceased had everything they need to thrive after death. People were either buried or cremated along with their weapons, trinkets, jewelry which would serve them well in the afterlife.
Christian burials consisted of the same beliefs that in death, the spirit would ascend to heaven to be with the spirits of their family and friends.
Roman burial practices are similar to that of ancient Viking practices of cremation or burial depending on what the family preferred.
I hope that you will be able to take away some valuable knowledge from my presentation today.
Pleasant journeys
References:
https://norse-mythology.org/
http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/mythology/myths/text/creation.htm
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Askr-and-Embla
https://www.windows2universe.org/mythology/viking_family_tree.html
https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/862997/pages/creation-myth
