Viking mythology Trees

http://www.germanicmythology.com/original/cosmology3.html

When a friend of mine posted about his first blog about trees in fantasy fiction I couldn’t resist it to talk about it either but in the way the Vikings did.

The tree of life Viking

The Vikings had a tree of life called Yggdrasil also known as a world tree in Norse mythology and is translated as Odin’s Horse or Odin’s Gallows. It was the connection between nine worlds. It is an ash tree and therefore considered as holy. Symbolic creatures lived there like a dragon an eagle and stags. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yggdrasil

If we talk about making the trees in the world of the Vikings it was the hairs of Ymir who made trees. http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/creation.html

Other trees

Barnstokkr: in the great hall of King Völsung.

Donar’s Oak: also known as Thor’s oak.

Glasir: placed outside the doors of Valhalla (Golden)

Irminsul: there is discussion about this tree for over more then hundred years but named after Odin.

Læraðr: known as betrayal.  Related to Yggdrasil because Odin took his life and hung himself at the tree of life.

Mímameiðr: stretched over every land

Sacred tree of Upsalla: stood in the temple of Upsalla.

They all refer to the tree of life. Different myths are told about those trees.

Go and find it out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Trees_in_Germanic_paganism

Which of them are used in the tv series of Vikings?

Yggdrasil, Glasir and the Sacred tree of Upsalla.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4v8CjTcdcQ

http://www.history.com/shows/vikings/episodes/season-1/episode-8