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Paganism, Part IV; "The Æsir & the Vanir"
The Vanir and the Æsir are often described as two different races of deities, but is it really so? Let's find out.
The great battle described in the mythology between the Æsir and the Vanir is in reality a description of a selection process that took place every year where the men competed for the title of the May King. And the women competed (in a beauty contest) for the title of "May Queen". And those who won were called the most beautiful. As we know from Greek mythology as well, when Paris hands an apple to the deity he finds the most beautiful. That is, the winner of a men's contest gave an apple to the woman he found the most beautiful so she would be the winner and she would be the May Queen. And this couple was seen as the most beautiful and Vanir is simply a term for the most beautiful. So we can see the same in the name Venice. The root Ven and Van is the same. It means beautiful. So it had nothing to do with a war whatsoever.
They competed and we know these games they competed in from the later ages as well as the medieval knights tournaments. So they had these ring games also called knight games and they threw spares and they competed. And again from Greece we know these as the Olympic games which of course is just one of four games in the Greek world. They had four different and these contests were held every single year. And in Scandinavia this was of course in a smaller scale. The reason for the war is that the May Queen and the May King are supposed to represent the deities or the best of the deities and they are supposed to be young and strong and beautiful and they have to be otherwise nature will suffer.
The May couple no matter who they were no matter for how long they had been a May couple would have to compete in the same game along with all the other challengers every year. So of course eventually they would lose and be replaced and the women would grow old or older and they would they would be replaced by younger and more beautiful women. The men would grow old and weaker and then they would be replaced by stronger men and therefore this is a yearly it's an annual contest and in the mythology it's described as a war. I can add that the May couple didn't have any marrital duties. It was solely a symbolic marriage.
So Vanir means simply the most beautiful that is those amongst the Æsir that are the most beautiful and Æsir means simply spirit and it's a term for describing the deities. I can mention the third power discussed in the mythology namely Jötnar that would be the Ettins. This term translates simply as "hunger" or "the hungry" and refers to the uncontrollable and negative forces in nature and man. Ettin/Jötunn from proto-Nordic *EtunaR, from proto-Germanic *Etunaz, meaning 'hunger' or 'hungry'. We see the same root in the terms 'Eat' (Norwegian 'Ete'). If you are hungry, you eat.
So there are no different races in our mythology only description of different forces in nature. If you want to know more about this, you can read 'Sorcery and Religion in Ancient Scandinavia' or the High Festivals chapter of 'Mythic Fantasy Role-playing Game'.
The Vanir and the Æsir are often described as two different races of deities, but is it really so? Let's find out.
The great battle described in the mythology between the Æsir and the Vanir is in reality a description of a selection process that took place every year where the men competed for the title of the May King. And the women competed (in a beauty contest) for the title of "May Queen". And those who won were called the most beautiful. As we know from Greek mythology as well, when Paris hands an apple to the deity he finds the most beautiful. That is, the winner of a men's contest gave an apple to the woman he found the most beautiful so she would be the winner and she would be the May Queen. And this couple was seen as the most beautiful and Vanir is simply a term for the most beautiful. So we can see the same in the name Venice. The root Ven and Van is the same. It means beautiful. So it had nothing to do with a war whatsoever.
They competed and we know these games they competed in from the later ages as well as the medieval knights tournaments. So they had these ring games also called knight games and they threw spares and they competed. And again from Greece we know these as the Olympic games which of course is just one of four games in the Greek world. They had four different and these contests were held every single year. And in Scandinavia this was of course in a smaller scale. The reason for the war is that the May Queen and the May King are supposed to represent the deities or the best of the deities and they are supposed to be young and strong and beautiful and they have to be otherwise nature will suffer.
The May couple no matter who they were no matter for how long they had been a May couple would have to compete in the same game along with all the other challengers every year. So of course eventually they would lose and be replaced and the women would grow old or older and they would they would be replaced by younger and more beautiful women. The men would grow old and weaker and then they would be replaced by stronger men and therefore this is a yearly it's an annual contest and in the mythology it's described as a war. I can add that the May couple didn't have any marrital duties. It was solely a symbolic marriage.
So Vanir means simply the most beautiful that is those amongst the Æsir that are the most beautiful and Æsir means simply spirit and it's a term for describing the deities. I can mention the third power discussed in the mythology namely Jötnar that would be the Ettins. This term translates simply as "hunger" or "the hungry" and refers to the uncontrollable and negative forces in nature and man. Ettin/Jötunn from proto-Nordic *EtunaR, from proto-Germanic *Etunaz, meaning 'hunger' or 'hungry'. We see the same root in the terms 'Eat' (Norwegian 'Ete'). If you are hungry, you eat.
So there are no different races in our mythology only description of different forces in nature. If you want to know more about this, you can read 'Sorcery and Religion in Ancient Scandinavia' or the High Festivals chapter of 'Mythic Fantasy Role-playing Game'.