Introducing “The Gods of the Vikings” by Marion Pearce

In her new book THE GODS OF THE VIKINGS, the author Marion Pearce sets the major Norse gods like Odin, Thor, Loki, Tyr, Baldur, Freya and Frigg into a context of both time and place, telling their tales in a unique manner and through doing so she introduces numerous other gods, giants, heroes, dwarves and monsters from the Norse myths and legends. The author also writes on the Germanic Saxon gods, who sprang from the same roots, and explores the conflict between the Norse and Saxon gods and Christianity. The influences of the Norse and Saxon gods are considered further through their survival in British folk customs and significant calendar festivals.

Drawing on numerous sources, including the Eddas and Sagas, the tale of Beowulf, contemporary Arabic writings and early British laws, the author demonstrates the threads which unite the days of the week and the Norse and Saxon gods with other early civilizations and classical sources from Pliny, Tacitus and Ravenna to the Old Testament. From the world tree Yggdrasil to its gods and creatures, from the Norse creation myths to the cataclysmic Ragnarok, from magic charms to ritual practices,

The book is available from Amazon, B&N and other online shops, as well as directly from the publishers: http://avaloniabooks.co.uk/221/?page_id=956

What follows is an extract from the Introduction to the book by Marion Pearce:

From the Introduction

The days of the week. They are in use all the time, but how did they get their names? There is more to them than meets the eye. Each day represented a Saxon and Norse, Viking god. These gods were sacred. Through the days of the week you can reconstruct the ancient religion of the Saxons and Norse and their world.

Before we can understand them it is interesting to look further into the world of the Northmen, who are perhaps better known as Vikings. The word Viking itself means ‘bay-men’ or ‘fighting men’. It’s a collective term referring to the Danes, Norwegians and Swedes. For the sake of clarity I have interchanged the terms Danes, Norse, Northmen and Viking.

This was a totally different world to the modern one of today. The Vikings plundered, raped and pillaged their way through Anglo-Saxon Britain bringing fear and terror to the hearts of the inhabitants. But they also brought with them their religion, so totally different from that of Christianity.

Britain had been converted from the Anglo-Saxon pagan religion by Pope Gregory when he sent Saint Augustine together with thirty monks to evangelise the Anglo-Saxons of England. Augustine landed in Ebbsfleet in Kent in 597 CE. Christianity was on its way.
The country remained Christian till the Vikings raided Lindisfarne in Northumbria on the 8th of January 793 CE. England would not be the same again. The dreaded aggressive Vikings had arrived, ravaging their way through the land and causing destruction whereever they went.

The fearsome Vikings brought with them their own beliefs, utterly alien to the British. This was a warlike religion, suited to the hard terrain of Iceland from where it originated. Life in Iceland was hard with the land inhospitable. The climate made it hard to live there with its short summers and long cold winters. There were glaciers and frosts. These and the harsh frequent storms were attributed to the power of the equally harsh gods.
For the Vikings to exist they had to rely on the spoils of other countries which they could raid. Unfortunately for those raided, their methods were severe. The murder of men women and children and the rape of females that they encountered were widespread. In fact massacres of whole communities were common. Those were frightening days.
But to understand them more fully you have to look deeper into the world of the Anglo-Saxon and that of the Norse; to look into the Norse religion, which is very different to that of the modern Christian world.

Let’s pull back the mists of time and explore this ancient world so different from that of now. By exploring the meaning of each day and comparing it to the remarkable race of people who named the days of the week we can build a picture of how our weekly calendar grew to its present form.

All Rights Reserved.
(c) Marion Pearce, 2011

More information see http://avaloniabooks.co.uk/221/?page_id=956