The gate of the year

Illustration by Lorenz Frølich, from the volume by Karl Gjellerup Den ældre Eddas Gudesange, published at Copenhagen in 1895, showing two Dwarfs of Norse mythology.
The Dwarfs (Dvergar, from which the English form derives) were born like worms from the flesh of the giant Ymir, killed by Odin and his brothers at the beginning of the world. “The Dwarves had first been shaped and taken quickness in Ymir’s flesh, and were then maggots; but at the will of the Gods they became wise with the wit of men, and were in the likeness of men; albeit they abide in earth and stones” (Snorri, Gylfaginning, 14). They represented the beneficent powers of nature, living underground and under the rocks, associated with the Underworld and thus with the dead. They were regarded as skilled craftsmen, especially in blacksmithing, wise and cunning, sometimes playful, custodians of fabulous treasures. Most of the precious and magical objects owned by the gods had been forged by the Dwarfs. Also the mead, the drink of wisdom and poetic inspiration, had been created by two of them. They could, furthermore, assume different shapes and become invisible. Four of these beings, Nordri, Sudri, Austri and Vestri (from whom derived the names of the cardinal directions in most of European languages) were put at the four quarters of the world to hold up the vault of the sky (Lindow 2001).
In the Celtic world, figures in some way analogous to the Dwarfs were those who are called generally fairies, a term which is not Celtic, but derives from the Latin fatae, the goddesses of destiny, and became to designate those beings of Celtic mythology, who were deemed to be the ancient primordial divinities, the Tuatha Dé Danann, who had transformed themselves, becoming invisible and hiding into the earth. They were described as of small dimensions, inhabiting the marginal territories, like lakes, swamps, woods or earth mounds made by the Prehistoric peoples. They were regarded as immortal, but it is rather a question of a different kind of time-flow, characterizing the world of the fairies and distinguishing it from the world of humans. They were also associated with the world of the dead, and, for a number of their aspects, among which that of occasionally kidnapping human beings and taking them to their own world, they are sometimes distinguishable with difficulty from the dead themselves (Monaghan 2004).

[Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Two_V%C3%B6lusp%C3%A1_ Dwarves_by_Fr%C3%B8lich.jpg]




Wild Men

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Illustration by Lorenz Frølich, from the volume by Karl Gjellerup Den ældre Eddas Gudesange, published at Copenhagen in 1895, showing two Dwarfs of Norse mythology. The Dwarfs (Dvergar, from which the English form derives) were born like worms from the flesh of the giant Ymir, killed by Odin and his brothers at the beginning of the world. “The Dwarves had first been shaped and taken quickness in Ymir’s flesh, and were then maggots; but at the will of the Gods they became wise with the wit of men, and were in the likeness of men; albeit they abide in earth and stones” (Snorri, Gylfaginning, 14). They represented the beneficent powers of nature, living underground and under the rocks, associated with the Underworld and thus with the dead. They were regarded as skilled craftsmen, especially in blacksmithing, wise and cunning, sometimes playful, custodians of fabulous treasures. Most of the precious and magical objects owned by the gods had been forged by the Dwarfs. Also the mead, the drink of wisdom and poetic inspiration, had been created by two of them. They could, furthermore, assume different shapes and become invisible. Four of these beings, Nordri, Sudri, Austri and Vestri (from whom derived the names of the cardinal directions in most of European languages) were put at the four quarters of the world to hold up the vault of the sky (Lindow 2001). In the Celtic world, figures in some way analogous to the Dwarfs were those who are called generally fairies, a term which is not Celtic, but derives from the Latin fatae, the goddesses of destiny, and became to designate those beings of Celtic mythology, who were deemed to be the ancient primordial divinities, the Tuatha Dé Danann, who had transformed themselves, becoming invisible and hiding into the earth. They were described as of small dimensions, inhabiting the marginal territories, like lakes, swamps, woods or earth mounds made by the Prehistoric peoples. They were regarded as immortal, but it is rather a question of a different kind of time-flow, characterizing the world of the fairies and distinguishing it from the world of humans. They were also associated with the world of the dead, and, for a number of their aspects, among which that of occasionally kidnapping human beings and taking them to their own world, they are sometimes distinguishable with difficulty from the dead themselves (Monaghan 2004). [Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Two_V%C3%B6lusp%C3%A1_ Dwarves_by_Fr%C3%B8lich.jpg]