[lit-ideas] Murderous flowers
- From: Torgeir Fjeld <torgfje2@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2004 14:34:42 +0200
Steve Cameron asked
"Wasn't there a Norse myth that had Loki giving blind Hodur a thistle to throw
at and kill Balder ?? Something about everything swearing an oath no to harm
Balder, but the thistle was overlooked?? Can't remember it all..."
According to the story (as it's told to school children of countries that like
to fashion themselves as descendants of the Norse) Balder was the son of Frigg
and Odin. He dreamt of his own death, and, on account of it, his mother made
every object on earth swear not to hurt him. She forgot the mistletoe. It was
this weed that was turned into a magical spear. Hod, Baldur's blind brother,
was, finally, tricked into killing Baldur with the mistletoe. (See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldur)
Now there appears to be at least three sources for the Balder myth. Snorri
tells the story of Balder's death in his Edda, where Balder is portrayed as
the only god without vices. Snorre writes of Balder:
"He is the best and everybody cherishes him. He is so beautiful to behold, and
so fair that he emits a glow. Yes, a flower is so white that it compares to
Balder's eyelashes, it is the whitest of all herbs, and from this you can
deduce his fairness. He is the brightest of all the gods and the most well
spoken. He is also the friendliest." etc.
According to Snorri, it was Loki (the trickster god) who betrayed Balder. When
Balder's mother asked Hel, the god of the underworld, to ship Balder back to
earth, Hel agreed, if only all creatures would want him back. One old woman
didn't comply. Again, it was Loki in drag who prevented Balder's glorious
return.
However, there's an earlier account of Balder's death that can be drawn from
Edda the Elder (the Lokasenna) where Loki is not implicated. Also, in Saxo
Grammaticus Balder is portrayed as a rather snotty son of a god-king.
(http://www.home.no/norron-mytologi/gudene/balder.htm)
It appears that the later sources, and particularly Snorri, were invested in
portraying Balder as a new Jesus. The old skaldrs, however, appears to have
invoked "Baldr" as synonymous for "man," hence "army-Baldr," "court-Baldr,"
"spear-Baldr," "shield-Baldr" and so forth.
The source above speculates in Balder as a final attempt of the old pagan
mythologies to accomodate a christian figure into itself, and thus accomplish
some kind of hegemony. If that's the case, they failed. Miserably.
Be also advised that old norse mythology is gaining popularity among right
wing neo-nationalists and anti-Semite groups to assert some kind of religious
autonomy to the Germanic race in Scandinavia. For more up-to-date use of norse
mythology in contemporary Norwegian politics, check out the murder of =D8ystein
Aarseth in 1993. "Varg" Vikernes/"Count Grishn=E1ckh" was sentenced for this
murder, along with a host of arsons to old church buildings around Norway. He
now claims that he is no longer a Satanist, but has converted to Odinism. He's
taken his name from The Lord of the Rings. More at
http://www.uib.no/People/hnohf/greven.htm.
-tor
--
Torgeir Fjeld
torgfje2@xxxxxxxxxx
http://home.no.net/torgfje/
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
