The Symbol of the World Tree - Part One
© Linda Casselman
What will follow is a series of three articles that I have adapted from an essay I wrote in university in 1994 entitled, "The Symbol of the World Tree in Norse Mythology".
Let's begin...
Christianity quickly converted pagan worshipers in Europe. Northern Europe, however, was not so easily conquered, especially the most northern region known as Scandinavia. The ancient Norsemen held on strongly to their pagan beliefs where a pantheon of war and fertility gods coloured their myths and their lives - Odin, the father god of the sky gave them wisdom; Thor, the warring thunder god protected them, and Frey the fertility god gave them lush fields. Rugged and weathered, they were a strong people who lived in a land of snow and ice and the midnight sun. Bitter cold winters, stormy seas, long nights and short summers were the backdrops of their existence. Certainly, this would affect their belief system and their stories. All aspects of Nature invade their tales of the gods and enter their scared space connecting the Norsemen to their land and ultimately to their gods. This provided them with a true sense of self and of the role that they played in their society.
One myth in particular which conveys a Norsemen's worldview and values is the eschatological myth of Ragnarok and the symbol of the World tree found within it. The symbol of the World Tree reveals the ancient Norsemen's perspectives on humanity, on nature, on ultimacy, and on history in a truly pagan way.
Many of the original northern myths and stories have been lost to us as has their traditions and ways of life. When Christianity finally did spread throughout Scandinavia, Christian writers produced accounts of what they learned from the converted pagans, however, "much of the original heathen tradition was edited, misunderstood or forgotten before the myths reached us." What little runic markings were left by the pagans proved difficult to interpret. Therefore, archeological evidence is greatly needed to improve and expand our knowledge of the traditions and beliefs of the ancient Norse people.
One brilliant Icelandic scholar, historian, politician, and poet helped to clarify some of the missing pieces of the riddle of the lost pagans from the north. This man is Snorri Sturluson. "About the year 1220, he produced a handbook for poets, so that they would recognize allusions to the myths and use them correctly." This handbook, known as the Prose Edda, was successful for Sturluson wrote it with the passion and love that he felt for his ancestors and their gods. In his Prose Eda we find a wonderfully imaginative account of the eschatological myth of Ragnarok. An abbreviated version of the myth is as follows:
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