Work In Progress for my painting, I will be posting my research with updates. I love to research my topics. I hope you enjoy learning with me.
We are exploring Frigg wife of Odin.
Frigg or Anglicized form is known as Frigga means Beloved. She is the highest of the Aesir goddesses. And the mother of Baldur, the bright light, a friend to all. When Frigg traveled, her carriage was pulled by two giant house cats. That is why you see a cat mandala, which represents a portal to the center of the Nordic universe in which a giant tree grows called the Yggdrasil.
There are nine worlds located in the Yggdrasil. Asgard is located in the higher branches, the home of the Aesir Gods and Goddesses, Odin being the chief amongst all the gods. I will paint Yggdrasil behind the cat mandala with roots settling in the middle ground behind Frigg. You see the reference to weaving in the background? In many stories I read, Frigg can weave clouds and people's fate. Maybe she is related to the Norns? See my last post.
Most Nordic religious and cultural beliefs are lost because they were oral traditions. Between wars, new cultures, and religions migrating into the indigenous cultures, there is scant information relating to the Nordic traditions from 800 AD to the Viking age 11th to 12th century.
There is very little information related to the Goddesses of the Aesir. Most of the specifics related to personality, Frigg's deeds, or other attributes related to both the Aesir and Vanier tribes could fit many of the Goddess like Freya, who belong to both tribes. The Vanir are one of the two tribes of deities in Nordic Mythology. There are many female goddesses, Freya, Freyr, Njord, and early Germanic Goddess Nerthus. Their home is Vanaheim, one of the Nine Worlds held within the branches of the world tree Yggdrasil.
The late nineteenth to twentieth-century anthropologists divided the Caucasian race, attributing them to Northwestern and northern Europe, expressly to populations such as the Anglo-Saxons, Germanic peoples, Balts, Baltic Fins, Northern French, and certain Celts and Slaves. With advanced genetic testing, this is changing and still an ongoing argument exactly where the Northern European people originated. (wiki)
Frigg is the mother of Baldr, and her many stepchildren are Thor, Hermodr, Heimdallur, Tyr, Bragi, Vioarr, Vali, Skjodur, and Hodr. Frigg's companion is Eir, a goddess associated with medical skills. Odin was a busy man! Frigg's attendants are Hlin, GNA, and Fulla.
Old Norse Frigg ( from Friggjar, stars of Odin's belt, Friday, and staff, which holds fibers for weaving.), Old Saxon Fri, and Old English Frig are derived from Common Germanic Frijjo. Frigg is cognate with Sanskrit Priya, which means wife, dear, beloved, woman, mistress, and devoted (plus many more depending on context). The root also appears in Old Saxon Fri, which means beloved lady, in Swedish as Fria (to propose for marriage), and Icelandic as frja, which means to love.
Odin was married to Frigg, the Goddess of the sky, fertility, motherhood, love, and the arts. One Goddess who shares many of Frigg's characteristics with Freyja is the Goddess of Venir. She seems to be the opposite of a devoted and beloved wife. Freyja was famous for lust, music, spring, and flowers; Jord, the earth goddess who happened to be his daughter and wife; Gulveig and witch with a love of all things gold and burned in a fire for her desire. She was reborn three times. (I need to read that story!)
Many scholars think that Frigg, Freyja, and Gulveig are the same Goddess. As the worship of Odin spread from village to village, from region to region, through time, local Gods and Goddesses were incorporated into the pantheon of the Nordic religion. I think this happens with all religions that migrate to other lands and cultures.
Jord is never mentioned as a main character in the Nordic sagas, and she was a giantess. There are many stories of Odin's affairs with giantesses. Who were the giants in Nordic mythology? Jord was the mother of Thor and the daughter of Nott, which means night, and Annar, her mother. Jotnor was translated to the word giant. This does not describe the Jotnor. The Jotnor were as diverse as human beings. There were big, magical, and powerful Jotnor, there were evil Jotnor, and female Jotnor could be beautiful or ugly like human females.
Jord the Giantess
Odin's Women
Nordic Countries
Frigg
I had my ancestral DNA traced to the area today we referred to as Turkey. The people from Turkey migrated to Great Britain six thousand years ago (agrarian culture), and the humans that were living in Northern Europe for over thirty to forty thousand years (hunter-gathers)
A link to My Blog
Its going to be a very delightful art with myth and the atmosphere of yggdrasil, though i have no knowledge abiut it but seems like some religious and ritual are involved, waiting to watch its full version.
I won't go into rituals, and maybe they were much like shamans that won't worship in temples but nature. Most of the data on these people's life has been lost because nothing was written down and kept safe. Some families may have saved their religion and ritual, but because of persecution by other religions, they have remained hidden through the centuries.
Its going to be a very special art for you, lots of color combination and complex patern are used here, waiting to see your final work.
The knotwork is fun, thank you @abontikazaman.