r/Norse

I have a question about the Norse creation myth: when Odin, Vili and Vé kill Ymir, should I picture them as young men, or as children? I’m not aware of any descriptions of Odin himself, only of his actions, and the mental image I have of him, is that of an old man.

I was just wondering if Viking costumes are offensive, because we all know dressing up as a Native American, or like a racist costume is super uncool. But I have never heard of someone calling out someone in a Viking costume. Just wondering

I started looked list of Vanir Gods and i see in lot of places of these sub ppl say 'Vanir" was a word that was very few used outside poetic sourses, and in "day to day" probably they were Freyjr or Freyja or Oðr were seen as members of the same "family" than Odin, Thor or Heimdall

If i understand this argument, is like if hypotetically, greek poets say all the God allied to Zeus that weren't descend of Chronus & Rhea (like Helios,Selenne,Eos,Prometheus, etc) were the "Noble Titans" & Poetry say "Olympians & Noble Titans" while in religion all were members of the same godly "family"/"alliance" no?, (basically than in "normal norse religion" Freyja,Frey & their relatives were seen as part of the same "Clan/Pantheon" than Thor or Odin, simply they had a more developted genealogy than the random Jottuns Ladies that joined the Æsir no?

In the Encyclopedia of Mythology (by Arthur Cotterell), the primordial ice-giant Ymir, from whose corpse the world was made, is described as "utterly evil". This characterization can be found in both the entry on Ymir himself and also in the entry on Vé, who together with Odin and Villi killed Ymir. The latter entry also points out that the idea of the world being made of the posthumous remains of an evil creature is not unique to Nordic mythology but appears also in the Babylonian story of Marduk slaying the chaos-dragon Tiamat.

Moreover, the entry on Loki points out that Loki was likely evil because his parents were giants, and all giants (which would include Ymir) are evil.

Wikipedia also seems to concur that Ymir was evil, describing him as having been born from (or made of) some sort of nasty venom or bile ("atter", pus), which likely symbolizes a rather unpleasant disposition.

I wonder, is there any basis for this in the original Nordic texts like the Eddas, or some other lore? I've scanned the poetic Edda but couldn't immediately find any passage that obviously confirms this idea.

Interesting article recently posted regarding the Battle of Cynuit.

Saxo famously mentions the days of the week being named after Roman and Norse gods and rejects the equation of Thor with Jupiter and Odin with Mercury (VI.183-4(152)).

In his Latin paraphrase of the lost Bjarkamal, he has characters refer to Odin as Pluto (II.65(59)) which I assume is a rendering of a Norse kenning or title of Odin as a death god, not an attempt to equate the two gods. As also he has Odin referred to as Mars elsewhere. Earlier in his poem (II.60(64)), he has a character say "Per summum iurata Iouem, superosque potentes." translated by Fischer as "our oaths to the highest god [Jove] and the powers above." Is there Norse precedent for a phrase that might lie behind this like an oath to Odin and the Æsir? Or is Saxo being inconsistent snd referring to Thor as Jupiter?

Would the Franks, Saxons, and Angles of the Migration Period have recognized the later Vikings and Normans as culturally similar peoples? Would they have noticed significant similarities in language, customs, religion, or social organization, or would the cultural differences created by the intervening centuries have made the Vikings and Normans seem largely foreign to them?

Most examples that I seem to find of seaxes in Sweden are from the vendel and valsgärde grave sites, neither of which are from the viking age (roughly 800-1100)

I'm getting into reenactment, and I've accumulated a proper set of clothing. I've had it for almost a year now, but I'm having doubts about colours.

My tunic is an accurate cut and size, its honey-yellow.
I have grey wool pants, and burgundy puttees.
I also intend on buying a Skjoldehamn style hood, which will come in black.

I'm starting to feel, bland? I don't want to fall into the hole of all beige, so I've been considering getting my tunic dyed a nice green.

Thoughts?

Small edit: I'd like to thank everyone who responded to this post. It's been great reading advice and having feedback from the people active here.
Additionally, I've commissioned the hood in a green colour.

Just watched the 2008 film Outlander. I was somewhat impressed with some of the details that got mixed in with the typical crazy Hollywood viking stuff, like at least one costume/set designer peeked in a history book for some stuff.

During the feast scene, the villagers lift a bunch of shields up and two characters chase each other around the hall while walking on top of the shields. I could have sworn I'd seen this exact trope in numerous other movies, though I can't recall specifically which ones.

In addition to the dubious skill of inebriated people both to balance on a shield and to hold someone's entire weight up, Norse shields might not even support the weight of a person standing on it like that. I assume there's no evidence for this ever being a thing, right?