The Goddess of Love
Freya, the fair Northern goddess of beauty and love, was the sister
of Frey and the daughter of Niörd and Nerthus, or Skadi. She was the
most beautiful and best beloved of all the goddesses, and while in
Germany she was identified with Frigga, in Norway, Sweden, Denmark,
and Iceland she was considered a separate divinity. Freya, having
been born in Vana-heim, was also known as Vanadis, the goddess of
the Vanas, or as Vanabride.
When she reached Asgard, the gods were so charmed by her beauty and
grace that they bestowed upon her the realm of Folkvang and the great
hall Sessrymnir (the roomy-seated), where they assured her she could
easily accommodate all her guests.
"Folkvang 'tis called,
Where Freyja has right
To dispose of the hall-seats.
Every day of the slain
She chooses the half,
And leaves half to Odin."
Norse Mythology (R. B. Anderson).
Queen of the Valkyrs
Although goddess of love, Freya was not soft and pleasure-loving only,
for the ancient Northern races believed that she had very martial
tastes, and that as Valfreya she often led the Valkyrs down to the
battlefields, choosing and claiming one half the heroes slain. She
was therefore often represented with corselet and helmet, shield
and spear, the lower part of her body only being clad in the usual
flowing feminine garb.
Freya transported the chosen slain to Folkvang, where they were duly
entertained. There also she welcomed all pure maidens and faithful
wives, that they might enjoy the company of their lovers and husbands
after death. The joys of her abode were so enticing to the heroic
Northern women that they often rushed into battle when their loved
ones were slain, hoping to meet with the same fate; or they fell upon
their swords, or were voluntarily burned on the same funeral pyre as
the remains of their beloved.
As Freya was believed to lend a favourable ear to lovers' prayers,
she was often invoked by them, and it was customary to compose in
her honour love-songs, which were sung on all festive occasions,
her very name in Germany being used as the verb "to woo."
Freya and Odur
Freya, the golden-haired and blue-eyed goddess, was also, at times,
considered as a personification of the earth. As such she married Odur,
a symbol of the summer sun, whom she dearly loved, and by whom she
had two daughters, Hnoss and Gersemi. These maidens were so beautiful
that all things lovely and precious were called by their names.
While Odur lingered contentedly at her side, Freya was smiling
and perfectly happy; but, alas! the god was a rover at heart, and,
wearying of his wife's company, he suddenly left home and wandered far
out into the wide world. Freya, sad and forsaken, wept abundantly,
and her tears fell upon the hard rocks, which softened at their
contact. We are told even that they trickled down to the very centre
of the stones, where they were transformed to gold. Some tears fell
into the sea and were changed into translucent amber.
Weary of her widowed condition, and longing to clasp her beloved in her
arms once more, Freya finally started out in search of him, passing
through many lands, where she became known by different names, such
as Mardel, Horn, Gefn, Syr, Skialf, and Thrung, inquiring of all she
met whether her husband had passed that way, and shedding everywhere
so many tears that gold is to be found in all parts of the earth.
"And Freya next came nigh, with golden tears;
The loveliest Goddess she in Heaven, by all
Most honour'd after Frea, Odin's wife.
Her long ago the wandering Oder took
To mate, but left her to roam distant lands;
Since then she seeks him, and weeps tears of gold.
Names hath she many; Vanadis on earth
They call her, Freya is her name in Heaven."
Balder Dead (Matthew Arnold).
Far away in the sunny South, under the flowering myrtle-trees,
Freya found Odur at last, and her love being restored to her, she
was happy and smiling once again, and as radiant as a bride. It is
perhaps because Freya found her husband beneath the flowering myrtle,
that Northern brides, to this day, wear myrtle in preference to the
conventional orange wreath of other climes.
Hand in hand, Odur and Freya now gently wended their way home once
more, and in the light of their happiness the grass grew green, the
flowers bloomed, and the birds sang, for all Nature sympathised as
heartily with Freya's joy as it had mourned with her when she was
in sorrow.
"Out of the morning land,
Over the snowdrifts,
Beautiful Freya came
Tripping to Scoring.
White were the moorlands,
And frozen before her;
Green were the moorlands,
And blooming behind her.
Out of her gold locks
Shaking the spring flowers,
Out of her garments
Shaking the south wind,
Around in the birches
Awaking the throstles,
And making chaste housewives all
Long for their heroes home,
Loving and love-giving,
Came she to Scoring."
The Longbeards' Saga (Charles Kingsley).
The prettiest plants and flowers in the North were called Freya's hair
or Freya's eye dew, while the butterfly was called Freya's hen. This
goddess was also supposed to have a special affection for the fairies,
whom she loved to watch dancing in the moonbeams, and for whom she
reserved her daintiest flowers and sweetest honey. Odur, Freya's
husband, besides being considered a personification of the sun,
was also regarded as an emblem of passion, or of the intoxicating
pleasures of love; so the ancients declared that it was no wonder
his wife could not be happy without him.
Freya's Necklace
Being goddess of beauty, Freya, naturally, was very fond of the
toilet, of glittering adornments, and of precious jewels. One day,
while she was in Svart-alfa-heim, the underground kingdom, she saw
four dwarfs fashioning the most wonderful necklace she had ever
seen. Almost beside herself with longing to possess this treasure,
which was called Brisinga-men, and was an emblem of the stars, or of
the fruitfulness of the earth, Freya implored the dwarfs to give it to
her; but they obstinately refused to do so unless she would promise
to grant them her favour. Having secured the necklace at this price,
Freya hastened to put it on, and its beauty so enhanced her charms that
she wore it night and day, and only occasionally could be persuaded
to lend it to the other divinities. Thor, however, wore this necklace
when he personated Freya in Jötun-heim, and Loki coveted and would
have stolen it, had it not been for the watchfulness of Heimdall.
Freya was also the proud possessor of a falcon garb, or falcon plumes,
which enabled the wearer to flit through the air as a bird; and this
garment was so invaluable that it was twice borrowed by Loki, and
was used by Freya herself when she went in search of the missing Odur.
"Freya one day
Falcon wings took, and through space hied away;
Northward and southward she sought her
Dearly-loved Odur."
Frithiof Saga, Tegnér (Stephens's tr.).
As Freya was also considered the goddess of fruitfulness, she was
sometimes represented as riding about with her brother Frey in the
chariot drawn by the golden-bristled boar, scattering, with lavish
hands, fruits and flowers to gladden the hearts of mankind. She had a
chariot of her own, however, in which she generally travelled. This
was drawn by cats, her favourite animals, the emblems of caressing
fondness and sensuality, or the personifications of fecundity.
"Then came dark-bearded Niörd, and after him
Freyia, thin robed, about her ankles slim
The gray cats playing."
Lovers of Gudrun (William Morris).
Frey and Freya were held in such high honour throughout the North
that their names, in modified forms, are still used for "master"
and "mistress," and one day of the week is called Freya's day,
or Friday, by the English-speaking race. Freya's temples were very
numerous indeed, and were long maintained by her votaries, the last,
in Magdeburg, Germany, being destroyed by order of Charlemagne.
Story of Ottar and Angantyr
The Northern people were wont to invoke Freya not only for success
in love, prosperity, and increase, but also, at times, for aid
and protection. This she vouchsafed to all who served her truly,
as appeared in the story of Ottar and Angantyr, two men who, after
disputing for some time concerning their rights to a certain piece of
property, laid their quarrel before the Thing. That popular assembly
decreed that the man who could prove that he had the longest line of
noble ancestors should be declared the winner, and a special day was
appointed to investigate the genealogy of each claimant.
Ottar, unable to remember the names of more than a few of his
progenitors, offered sacrifices to Freya, entreating her aid. The
goddess graciously heard his prayer, and appearing before him, she
changed him into a boar, and rode off upon his back to the dwelling of
the sorceress Hyndla, a most renowned witch. By threats and entreaties,
Freya compelled the old woman to trace Ottar's genealogy back to
Odin, and to name every individual in turn, with a synopsis of his
achievements. Then, fearing lest her votary's memory should be unable
to retain so many details, Freya further compelled Hyndla to brew a
potion of remembrance, which she gave him to drink.
"He shall drink
Delicious draughts.
All the gods I pray
To favour Ottar."
Sæmund's Edda (Thorpe's tr.).
Thus prepared, Ottar presented himself before the Thing on the
appointed day, and glibly reciting his pedigree, he named so many
more ancestors than Angantyr could recollect, that he was easily
awarded possession of the property he coveted.
"A duty 'tis to act
So that the young prince
His paternal heritage may have
After his kindred."
Sæmund's Edda (Thorpe's tr.).
The Husbands of Freya
Freya was so beautiful that all the gods, giants, and dwarfs longed for
her love and in turn tried to secure her as wife. But Freya scorned
the ugly giants and refused even Thrym, when urged to accept him
by Loki and Thor. She was not so obdurate where the gods themselves
were concerned, if the various mythologists are to be believed, for
as the personification of the earth she is said to have wedded Odin
(the sky), Frey (the fruitful rain), Odur (the sunshine), &c., until
it seems as if she deserved the accusation hurled against her by the
arch-fiend Loki, of having loved and wedded all the gods in turn.
Worship of Freya
It was customary on solemn occasions to drink Freya's health with
that of the other gods, and when Christianity was introduced in the
North this toast was transferred to the Virgin or to St. Gertrude;
Freya herself, like all the heathen divinities, was declared a demon
or witch, and banished to the mountain peaks of Norway, Sweden,
or Germany, where the Brocken is pointed out as her special abode,
and the general trysting-place of her demon train on Valpurgisnacht.
Chorus of Witches.
"On to the Brocken the witches are flocking--
Merry meet--merry part--how they gallop and drive,
Yellow stubble and stalk are rocking,
And young green corn is merry alive,
With the shapes and shadows swimming by.
To the highest heights they fly,
Where Sir Urian sits on high--
Throughout and about,
With clamour and shout,
Drives the maddening rout,
Over stock, over stone;
Shriek, laughter, and moan,
Before them are blown."
Goethe's Faust (Anster's tr.).
As the swallow, cuckoo, and cat were held sacred to Freya in heathen
times, these creatures were supposed to have demoniacal attributes,
and to this day witches are always depicted with coal-black cats
beside them.