FREYA.
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.
As soon as 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).
[Sidenote: Queen of the Valkyrs.]
Although goddess of love, Freya was not soft and pleasure-loving only,
for the ancient Northern races said that she had very martial tastes,
and that as Valfreya she often led 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, only
the lower part of her body being clad in the usual flowing feminine
garb.
[Illustration: FREYA.]
Freya transported the chosen slain to Folkvang, where they were duly
entertained, and where she also welcomed all pure maidens and faithful
wives, that they might enjoy the company of their lovers and husbands
even 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
beloved remains.
As Freya was inclined to lend a favorable ear to lovers’ prayers, she
was often invoked by them, and it was customary to indite love songs in
her honor, which were sung on all festive occasions, her very name in
Germany being used as the verb “to woo.”
[Sidenote: Freya and Odur.]
Freya, the golden-haired and blue-eyed goddess, was also, at times,
considered a personification of the earth. She therefore married Odur,
a symbol of the summer sun, whom she dearly loved, and by whom she had
two daughters, Hnoss and Gersemi, so beautiful that all things lovely
and precious were called by their names.
So long as Odur lingered contentedly at her side, Freya was smiling and
perfectly happy; but, alas! this god was a rover, 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 down upon the hard rocks, which softened at their contact. We are
even told that they trickled down to the very center of the stones,
where they were transformed to drops of gold. The tears which fell into
the sea, however, 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 was called 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 so many tears
that gold can 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 honor’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 grew happy
and smiling once more, 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.
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 sympathized 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.
As goddess of beauty, Freya 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 carefully
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 favor. Having secured the necklace at this price, Freya hastened
to put it on, and its beauty so enhanced her charms that the goddess
wore it night and day, and only occasionally could be persuaded to loan
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 like a bird; and this
garment was so invaluable that it was twice borrowed by Loki, and was
used by Freya herself when 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.”
FRIDTHIOF’S SAGA, TEGNÉR (Stephens’s tr.).
As Freya was also considered goddess of fecundity, 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 all mankind. She also had a chariot
of her own, however, in which she generally traveled, which was drawn
by cats, her favorite 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 honor 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, even 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.
[Sidenote: Story of Ottar and Angantyr.]
The Northern people were wont to invoke her 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 is
proved by 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. In that popular assembly it was
soon decreed that the man who could prove that he had the longest line
of noble ancestors would be the one to win, and a special day was
appointed to hear the genealogy of each claimant.
[Illustration: THE WITCHES’ DANCE (VALPURGISNACHT)--Von Kreling.]
Ottar, unable to remember the names of more than a few of his
progenitors, offered up sacrifices to Freya, entreating her aid. The
goddess graciously heard his prayer, appeared before him, changed
him into a boar, and rode off upon his back to the dwelling of the
sorceress Hyndla, the most renowned witch of the day. By threats and
entreaties, Freya compelled this old woman to trace Ottar’s genealogy
back to Odin, naming every individual in turn, and giving a synopsis
of his achievements. Then, fearing lest her votary’s memory should
prove treacherous, 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 favor Ottar.”
SÆMUND’S EDDA (Thorpe’s tr.).
Thus prepared, Ottar presented himself before the Thing on the
appointed day, glibly recited his pedigree, and by naming many more
ancestors than Angantyr could recollect, obtained 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.).
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 old giants and refused to belong even to 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
married Odin, the sky, Frey, the fruitful rain, Odur, the sunshine,
etc., until it seems as if she deserved the accusation hurled against
her by the arch-fiend Loki, of having loved and married all the gods in
turn.
[Sidenote: 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 clamor 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 properties,
and to this day witches are always depicted with coal-black cats close
beside them.