Disir - the female spirits known as the disir (pronounced "dee-sir;" old norse dãsir, old saxon idisi) are one of the most enigmatic and vexing groups of beings in the mythology and religion of the pre-christian norse and other germanic peoples. it's impossible to cleanly separate the disir from other kinds of spiritual beings recognized by the ancient germanic peoples.
for example, the valkyries, female helping-spirits of the god odin, are referred to as "odin's disir" (herjans dãsir) in one old norse poem. the disir, like the valkyries, are depicted as being at times warlike, and at other times nourishing and protective.
the disir are often portrayed as being tutelary (guardian) spirits of a particular person, group, or location. such portrayals never seek to distinguish them from other tutelary spirits such as the fylgjur, hamingjur, and especially the land spirits. the land spirits, known in old norse as landvã¦ttir, are sometimes, when female, even called landdãsir in certain literary sources and place-names in iceland and norway. as that example indicates, even the names for these kinds of beings are often used interchangeably with one another.
the disir are often depicted as the spirits of dead female ancestors, which suggests a considerable degree of overlap with the elves, who are often characterized likewise.
at some point in the winter – the exact timing differed widely across the germanic lands – a festival was held in honor of the disir. in norway and iceland, this festival was known as the dãsablã³t, "sacrifice to the disir," and took place at the beginning of winter. it could be held in either a private house or a formal temple, depending on the availability of the latter. from the name of the festival, we can infer that a sacrifice was its principal ritual act, and literary sources add that a lavish banquet (which probably followed the sacrifice) was another central part of the event. in sweden, the disting or dãsaã¾ing ("disir-assembly") was held at the beginning of february, and unfortunately the sources have even less to tell us about what transpired there than they do in the case of the dãsablã³t.
the anglo-saxon counterpart to the dãsablã³t and dãsaã¾ing seems to have been the modraniht ("mother’s night"), which took place around new year's and is probably connected to the continental germanic and celtic "matron" cult. the "matrons" are female spirits who are very much like the disir and valkyries and every bit as varied – fertility spirits, guardian spirits, warriors, etc.
in other instances in old norse literature, the word dãs, the singular form of dãsir, is used as a generic term for "goddess" or even simply "woman."
what are we to gather from all of this apparent confusion? who and what exactly are the disir?
it must be borne in mind that the pre-christian mythology and religion of the norse and other germanic peoples were never systematized or codified. there was never any established doctrine on what a dãs is or anything else, for that matter – is. it should therefore come as no surprise that we find so much confusion and contradiction in the sources themselves, both between texts and within a single text – and, of course, instead of "confusion" and "contradiction," we could just as aptly say "dynamism" and "vitality." when the religion in question was a living tradition, it went through countless different permutations across time and space, as all living traditions do, and the germanic peoples themselves apparently never felt any particular need to restrain that process the way that certain other religions have often done.
who and what were the disir? the answer depends on which text – or, in other words, which person, group, place, and/or time – you choose to consult. the only common element in the above portrayals is that the disir are always female. they seem to have been thought of as some sort of nominally distinct group of spiritual beings – just distinct enough to have a festival in their honor, but still indistinct enough to be impossible to really differentiate from females of other types of spiritual beings. the rest was entirely up to interpretation.
Dwarves - a dwarf (old norse dvergr, old english dweorg, old high german twerg, proto-germanic *dwergaz) is a certain kind of invisible being in the pre-christian mythology and religion of the norse and other germanic peoples. no one really knows what the word "dwarf" and its cognates originally meant, but there’s no indication that it had anything to do with a small stature, a characteristic which is never mentioned in ancient descriptions of these beings. the dwarves are pitch-black in appearance and live underground in svartalfheim, a place which was probably thought of as a labyrinthine complex of mines and forges.
the dwarves are most often noted for being extremely skilled smiths and craftspeople. among the many irreplaceable treasures created by them are: mjollnir, the hammer of thor; gleipnir, the chain that bound the wolf fenrir when all other fetters failed; skidbladnir, a ship which belongs to freyr and always has a favorable wind; gungnir, the spear of odin; draupnir, a ring owned by odin; the brisingamen, a magnificent necklace owned by freya; and the long, golden hair of sif, thor's wife. they're also extremely knowledgeable, wise, and magically powerful. they turn to stone if exposed to the rays of the sun.
four dwarves, austri, vestri, nordri, and sudri ("east," "west," "north," and "south") hold aloft the four corners of the sky, evidencing their colossal strength.
the lines between the dwarves, elves, and dead humans are very blurry. the dwarves are occasionally called "black elves" (old norse svartãlfar), and in some instances they're described as being dead or resembling human corpses.
Elves (The Alfar) - an elf (old norse ã¡lfr, old english ã¦lf, old high german alb, proto-germanic *albaz) is a certain kind of demigod-like being in the pre-christian mythology and religion of the norse and other germanic peoples.
the elves are luminous beings, "more beautiful than the sun," whose exalted status is demonstrated by their constantly being linked with the aesir and vanir gods in old norse and old english poetry. the lines between elves and other spiritual beings such as the gods, giants, dwarves, and land spirits are blurry, and it seems unlikely that the heathen germanic peoples themselves made any cold, systematic distinctions between these various groupings. it's especially hard to discern the boundary that distinguishes the elves from the vanir gods and goddesses. the vanir god freyr is the lord of the elves' homeland, alfheim, and at least one old norse poem repeatedly uses the word "elves" to designate the vanir. still, other sources do speak of the elves and the vanir as being distinct categories of beings, such that a simple identification of the two would be misguided.
the elves also have ambivalent relations with humans. elves commonly cause human illnesses, but they also have the power to heal them, and seem especially willing to do so if sacrifices are offered to them. humans and elves can interbreed and produce half-human, half-elfin children, who often have the appearance of humans but possess extraordinary intuitive and magical powers. humans can apparently become elves after death, and there was considerable overlap between the worship of human ancestors and the worship of the elves.
the worship of the elves persisted centuries after the germanic people's formal conversion to christianity, as medieval law codes prohibiting such practices demonstrate. ultimately, then, their veneration lasted longer than even that of the god
Kvasir - kvasir (pronounced "kvahss-ir") is a being who was created by the aesir and vanir gods and goddesses at the conclusion of the aesir-vanir war.
the war had ended with a truce. in the tale of the mead of poetry, whose storyline picks up where that of the aesir-vanir war leaves off, the deities sealed their peace treaty by coming together to produce an alcoholic drink by an ancient, communal method: everyone in the group chewed berries and spat out the resulting mush into a single vat. this liquid was then fermented. in this particular instance, the fermented liquid became the god kvasir, whose name is surely related to norwegian kvase and russian kvas, both of which mean "fermented berry juice."
kvasir was the wisest of all beings. there was no question for which he did not have a ready and satisfying answer. he took up the life of a wanderer, dispensing his wisdom to all whom he met along the road. when he came to the house of two dwarves, fjalar ("deceiver") and galar ("screamer"), they killed him and drained his blood into three containers. they told the gods that kvasir had suffocated from an excess of wisdom. the two dwarves then brewed mead by mixing kvasir's blood with honey – the mead of poetry.
the story of the mead of poetry comes from the medieval icelandic historian snorri sturluson, whose works can't necessarily be taken at face value. however, we have good reasons for accepting this story as authentic, at least in its general outline. in old norse poetry, "kvasir's blood" (kvasis dreyra) was an established kenning for poetry. there's also a mythological narrative from india that closely resembles snorri's account of the mead of poetry. both stories probably grew out of a common, and much older, indo-european myth.
however, in an excellent example of why it's a bad idea to accept snorri uncritically, snorri contradicts this story in his description of the aesir-vanir war itself. there, he claims that kvasir was a vanir god who went to live with the aesir when the two tribes exchanged hostages long before the peace treaty was established. of course, if kvasir was only created after the war had ended, it would have been impossible for him to have been alive during the war. since snorri's account of the mead of poetry is corroborated by outside evidence and his account of the aesir-vanir war is not, the most reasonable interpretation is that his account of the aesir-vanir war is wrong, at least on this point.
there's no evidence that there was ever a cult of kvasir. he seems to have been solely a literary figure who epitomized the qualities of the mead of poetry. since the mead of poetry became the exclusive property of odin shortly after its production, it should come as no surprise that the defining characteristics of kvasir's personality are all attributes that are more commonly and more powerfully associated with odin himself.
Land Spirits - land spirits (old norse landvã¦ttir) are, as the name implies, the spirits who dwell within particular places or features of the land. they wield considerable influence over the well-being of the land and all who depend on it. they can bless or curse those who live or travel within their land, and be blessed or cursed by them in turn. they're fierce protectors of their native lands, seldom tolerant of mistreatment and dishonor, and seem to have a very passionate disposition in general. the pre-christian germanic peoples seem to have taken great care to maintain the land spirits’ favor. for example, the first law code of iceland (930 ce) instructed those entering the country by ship to remove the dragon-heads from their boats when they sighted land, lest they frighten the land spirits. just as there’s no absolutely distinct line between the land spirits and the gods, the lines that separate the land spirits from the elves, dwarves, and giants are blurry as well. as with the elves, the worship of the land spirits continued long after the germanic peoples were officially converted to christianity and the veneration of the gods had ceased.
Norns - in norse mythology, the norns (pronounced like "norms" with an "n" instead of the "m"; old norse nornir) are female beings who create and control fate. this makes them the most terribly powerful entities in the cosmos – more so than even the gods, since the gods are subject to fate just like any and all other beings.
according to one description of the norns in the old norse poem fã¡fnismã¡l, there are a great many of them, and no one knows the exact number. some of them come from the gods, others from the elves, and still others from the dwarves. the poem vã¶luspã¡, however, has another, grander account of them that has (perhaps deservedly) become the standard image that people today associate with the norns.
in vã¶luspã¡, the norns are mysterious beings who don’t seem to come from any of the recognized kinds of beings who populate the norse otherworld. they seem to be a category unto themselves. there are exactly three of them, and their names suggest their ability to construct the content of time: one is urd (old norse urã°r, "the past," and a common word for fate in and of itself), the second verdandi (old norse verã°andi, "what is presently coming into being") and the third skuld (old norse skuld, "what shall be"). they live in a hall by a well (urã°arbrunnr, "well of fate") beneath yggdrasil, the mighty tree at the center of the norse otherworld, which holds the nine worlds in its branches and roots.
several different images are used for the norns' fate-crafting activity throughout old norse literature. the three most common are casting wooden lots, weaving a piece of cloth, and carving symbols – likely runes – into wood.
there's no evidence that the norns were ever worshiped. a person lamenting his or her fate is a relatively common element in old norse literature, and in ancient and medieval germanic literature more broadly, so we can be sure that if the vikings had thought it possible to productively petition the norns to change their fates, they would have. but in the norse view, fate was blind and utterly implacable. you couldn’t change it; all that was left to you was to decide the attitude with which you would meet whatever fate happened to bring.
Valkyrie - a valkyrie (pronounced "val-ker-ee"; old norse valkyrja, plural valkyrjur, "choosers of the fallen") is a female helping spirit of the god odin. the modern image of the valkyries as elegant, noble maidens bearing dead heroes to valhalla is largely accurate for what it is, but a highly selective portrayal that exaggerates their pleasant qualities. to some extent, this tendency toward sanitization is present even in the later old norse sources, which focus on their love affairs with human men and their assisting odin in transporting his favorites among those slain in battle to valhalla, where they will fight by his side during ragnarok.
as far as we today can tell, the valkyries have always had such characteristics, but in heathen times they were far more sinister. the meaning of their name, "choosers of the slain," refers not only to their choosing who gains admittance to valhalla, but also to their choosing who dies in battle and using malicious magic to ensure that their preferences in this regard are brought to fruition. examples of valkyries deciding who lives and who dies abound in the eddas and sagas. the valkyries' gruesome side is illustrated most vividly in the darraã°arljã³ã°, a poem contained within njal’s saga. here, twelve valkyries are seen prior to the battle of clontarf, sitting at a loom and weaving the tragic fate of the warriors (an activity highly reminiscent of the norns). they use intestines for their thread, severed heads for weights, and swords and arrows for beaters, all the while chanting their intentions with ominous delight. the saga of the volsungs compares beholding a valkyrie to "staring into a flame."
this picture is confirmed when we turn to the lore of other germanic peoples. amongst the anglo-saxons, for example, the valkyries (old english wã¦lcyrie, singular wã¦lcyrge) were female spirits of carnage. the celts, with whom the norse and other germanic peoples engaged in fruitful cultural exchanges for numerous centuries, had similar beings of their own, such as the war goddesses badb and the morrãgan.
whether in their loving or bloodthirsty modalities, the valkyries are best understood as part of the extensive and dynamic complex of shamanism that permeates pre-christian germanic religion. much like the ravens hugin and munin, they’re projections of parts of odin, semi-distinct beings that are parts of his larger being.
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