Viking Mythology on Trees

Inspired by a friend’s blog posting about “trees in fantasy fiction”, I had to explore the topic further but with a Viking theme!

The tree of life Viking
The Vikings had a tree of life called Yggdrasil also known as a world tree in Norse mythology and is translated as Odin’s Horse or Odin’s Gallows. It was the connection between nine worlds. It is an ash tree and therefore considered as holy. Symbolic creatures lived there like a dragon an eagle and stags. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yggdrasil If we talk about making the trees in the world of the Vikings it was the hairs of Ymir who made trees. http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/creation.html

Other trees include:

Barnstokkr: In the great hall of King Völsung

Donar’s Oak: Also known as Thor’s oak

Glasir: Placed outside the doors of Valhalla (Golden)

Irminsul: There is discussion about this tree for over more then hundred years but named after Odin

Læraðr: Known as betrayal. Related to Yggdrasil because Odin took his life and hung himself at the tree of life

Mímameiðr: Stretched over every land

Sacred Tree of Upsalla: Stood in the temple of Upsalla

Yggdrasil, Glasir and the Sacred tree of Upsalla have all been referenced on the TV series Vikings. There are different versions and myths but the one theme in common with all is that they all refer to the “Tree of Life”.

You can find out more at the following link; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Trees_in_Germanic_paganism