Vár

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Vár (probably from Old Norse várar : "pledge") is a goddess in Norse Mythology.

Snorri Sturluson writes in his Gylfaginning that:

she harkens to the oaths and compacts made between men and women; wherefore such covenants are called 'vows' [várar]. She also takes vengeance on those who perjure themselves.
—Gylfaginning (35), Brodeur's translation

She is invoked during the wedding of the giant Þrymr and his "bride" (in fact Thor):

Then loud spake Thrym,
the giants' leader:
"Bring in the hammer
to hallow the bride;
On the maiden's knees
let Mjollnir lie,
That us both the hand
of Vor may bless."
—Thrymskvitha (30), Bellows' translation

But, as Andy Orchard states, "the antiquity of such a ritual is far from clear"[1].

Britt-Mari Näsström argues that, like many other minor goddesses, Vár was originally one of Freyja's names, "later apprehended as independent goddesses"[2].

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Orchard 2002.
  2. ^ Näsström 2003:83.

[edit] Sources

  • Bellows, Henry Adams (trans.). 1923. The poetic Edda. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
  • Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist (trans.). 1916. Snorri Sturluson: The Prose Edda. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
  • Orchard, Andy. 2002. Cassell's dictionary of Norse myth & legend. London: Cassell. First published: 1997. ISBN 0-304-36385-5.
  • Näsström, Britt-Mari. 2003. Freyja - the great Goddess of the North. Harwich Port: Clock & Rose, 2003. First published: University of Lund, 1995. ISBN 1-59386-019-6.


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