Vár
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Vár (probably from Old Norse várar : "pledge") is a goddess in Norse Mythology.
Snorri Sturluson writes in his Gylfaginning that:
- she harkens to the oaths and compacts made between men and women; wherefore such covenants are called 'vows' [várar]. She also takes vengeance on those who perjure themselves.
-
- —Gylfaginning (35), Brodeur's translation
She is invoked during the wedding of the giant Þrymr and his "bride" (in fact Thor):
- Then loud spake Thrym,
- the giants' leader:
- "Bring in the hammer
- to hallow the bride;
- On the maiden's knees
- let Mjollnir lie,
- That us both the hand
- of Vor may bless."
-
- —Thrymskvitha (30), Bellows' translation
But, as Andy Orchard states, "the antiquity of such a ritual is far from clear"[1].
Britt-Mari Näsström argues that, like many other minor goddesses, Vár was originally one of Freyja's names, "later apprehended as independent goddesses"[2].
[edit] Notes
[edit] Sources
- Bellows, Henry Adams (trans.). 1923. The poetic Edda. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
- Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist (trans.). 1916. Snorri Sturluson: The Prose Edda. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
- Orchard, Andy. 2002. Cassell's dictionary of Norse myth & legend. London: Cassell. First published: 1997. ISBN 0-304-36385-5.
- Näsström, Britt-Mari. 2003. Freyja - the great Goddess of the North. Harwich Port: Clock & Rose, 2003. First published: University of Lund, 1995. ISBN 1-59386-019-6.
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