Land of Nod
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Land of Nod (Hebrew: ’eretz-Nod) is a place in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible, located "to the east of Eden", to which Cain chose to flee to after murdering his brother Abel. The Hebrew word nod means "wandering".
- "And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden." (Genesis 4:16, King James Version)
"Nod" (נוד) is the Hebrew root of the verb "to wander" (לנדוד) and is possibly an etymological etiology intended to explain the peripatetic lifestyle of Cain and his descendants, the Cainites. One interpretation of Genesis 4:16 is that Cain was cursed to wander the land forever, not that he was exiled to a "Land of Wanderers", otherwise absent from the Old Testament.
Contents |
[edit] Places named "Land of Nod"
Land of Nod is the name of a small hamlet in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is located at the far end of a two mile long road which joins the A614 road at Holme-on-Spalding-Moor.
The Land of Nod is also a small forested estate situated in Headley Down, Hampshire owned by the Whitaker family. Its history dates back to the Middle Ages when the owner, Mr Cain, was excommunicated from the Church; he named his home The Land of Nod, thus making direct reference to Genesis 4:16[citation needed].
The Land of Nod is a popular children's furniture/toy retailer based in Northbrook, Illinois, with locations around the Chicago area and in Seattle.
[edit] Popular culture references
[edit] In literature
The term has more recently been associated with being asleep, and was supposedly first used in this context in print by Jonathan Swift in his A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation (1738). Another instance is a poem titled "The Land of Nod" by Robert Louis Stevenson from the A Child's Garden of Verses and Underwoods collection.
In the film adaptation of John Steinbeck's East of Eden, the Bible was read to the character of Cal Trask (played by James Dean in the 1955 movie adaptation), speaking of him as Cain, and being banished to the Land of Nod, East of Eden.
Neil Gaiman used the term to refer to The Dreaming in The Sandman series of graphic novels.
In Chapter 3 of Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, the narrator, Ishmael says, "At last I slid off into a light doze, and had pretty nearly made a good offing towards the land of Nod, when I heard a heavy footfall in the passage ..."
[edit] In games
In the World of Darkness role-playing setting by White Wolf Game Studio, the land of Nod is the home in exile of Caine, the first vampire.
The biblical quote is mentioned in the Command & Conquer video game, and is thought to be the origin of the name for the Brotherhood of Nod, as the group's charismatic leader is also known only as Kane. Kane's command center, known as the Temple of Nod, also houses a coffin bearing the name Abel upon its surface, and the preserved body of his most trusted officer, Seth, whom Kane shot in the head after Seth's attempted coup d'etat. Their relationship is never explained; however, upon introducing himself to the player, Seth states that he is "Seth. Just Seth. From God, to Kane, to Seth."
[edit] In music
Classic rock band Journey mentions the east of eden in their song "Frontiers" from their 1983 Frontiers: "And all the heroes have gone east of Eden, we all need new frontiers."
Tom Waits mentions the land of Nod in his song "Singapore" from the 1985 album Rain Dogs: "We sail tonight for Singapore, we're all as mad as hatters here I've fallen for a tawny Moor, took off to the land of Nod..."
Bob Dylan's song "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum" from the 2001 album Love and Theft refers to those "Livin' in the Land of Nod, Trustin' their fate to the hands of God".
The gothic rock band To/Die/For sings about the Land of Nod in the song "Vale of Tears", in the verse "Sleep well my darling, and leave this vale of tears behind. Land of Nod is a better place".
Musician/cartoonist Sean Hartter refers to "Nod" as a place with his "The Man From Nod" [1] electronic/live music project. Here "Nod" is meant to be a wilderness of jumbled ideas and disjointed notions, the opposite of Eden...much more like the state of a dreaming mind.
The heavy metal band High On Fire included a song called "Return To Nod" on their album Death Is This Communion.
The darkwave band The Crüxshadows refer to Nod in their song called "East" from the 2003 album Ethernaut with the repetitive phrase "East of Eden".
The German rock group Unloved uses the phrase "heading nod" in the corresponding song from the 2006 album "Killersongs" as a metaphor for dealing with unpardonable guilt. Nod becomes not a certain land but a state of self-forgiveness ("It only remains for me to leave, a ridiculous 'sorry' on my lips. it only remains for me to live, telling, I didn't mean it").
Dave Matthews made popular a song written by Daniel Lanois called "The Maker". In it is a reference to the Land of Nod otherwise called East of Eden: "Brother John, have you seen the homeless daughters standing here with broken wings. I have seen the flaming swords there over east of Eden".
[edit] Other uses
Colloquially, the state of heroin or opioid intoxication is referred to as "being in the land of Nod". This is because the most pleasant phase of the high is characterized by people "nodding off" into their own little world.
As a child enters sleep it is also said they are heading off to the "land of nod".
In Inherit the Wind, the character Henry Drummond (based on Clarence Darrow, says, "And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the East of Eden and Cain knew his wife. Now where the hell did she come from?"
