Lyfing
07-31-2009, 01:07 AM
Death and the Afterlife in the Norse Tradition.. (http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:uUAAoRrfzcgJ:www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/5595/deathout.doc+%22Death+and+the+Afterlife+in+the+Nor se+Tradition%22&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a)
1. “Cattle die, kinsmen die”: reputation and immortality.
Cattle die, and kinsmen die,
And so one dies oneself;
But a noble name will never die,
If good renown one gets.
Cattle die, and kinsmen die,
And so one does oneself;
One thing I know that never dies,
The fame of a dead man’s deeds.
-Havamal, Poetic Edda
1. Memorials
Howes (burial mounds) and rune-stones were raised to honor and remember the dead. Howes were sometimes cenotaphs, i.e., the howe was important even when there was no body to bury, and howes were also raised over cremated remains. Howes were usually in prominent places or else on family land. Runestones were not grave-markers, but memorial stones raised in public places.
According to “Ynglinga saga”, Odhin introduced cremation to his people, but he also emphasized memorials:
They should bear the ashes out to sea or bury them in the earth; for a renowned man they should build a howe as a mark of remembrance, and for all men in whom there was some manliness they should raise standing-stones.
-Heimskringla, p. 6.
2. Names
With baseness never thy life is burdened,
Hero noble, hold that sure;
Lofty as long as the world shall live,
Battle-bringer, thy name shall be.
-Gripisspa, Poetic Edda
To have one’s name remembered was a form of immortality. Descendants were named for ancestors, partly in hopes that they would inherit or take on characteristics of their namesakes, but also to keep the name alive. Ancestors might be angered if their names were not passed on.
Sometimes, a name was even passed to someone outside the family. In The Road to Hel (p. 141), Hilda R. Ellis describes a passage from Finnboga Saga:
Finnbogi… begs his friend to accept his name while he lies dying, for then, he says, ‘I know that my name will be known while the earth is inhabited.’
Later,
-Lyfing
1. “Cattle die, kinsmen die”: reputation and immortality.
Cattle die, and kinsmen die,
And so one dies oneself;
But a noble name will never die,
If good renown one gets.
Cattle die, and kinsmen die,
And so one does oneself;
One thing I know that never dies,
The fame of a dead man’s deeds.
-Havamal, Poetic Edda
1. Memorials
Howes (burial mounds) and rune-stones were raised to honor and remember the dead. Howes were sometimes cenotaphs, i.e., the howe was important even when there was no body to bury, and howes were also raised over cremated remains. Howes were usually in prominent places or else on family land. Runestones were not grave-markers, but memorial stones raised in public places.
According to “Ynglinga saga”, Odhin introduced cremation to his people, but he also emphasized memorials:
They should bear the ashes out to sea or bury them in the earth; for a renowned man they should build a howe as a mark of remembrance, and for all men in whom there was some manliness they should raise standing-stones.
-Heimskringla, p. 6.
2. Names
With baseness never thy life is burdened,
Hero noble, hold that sure;
Lofty as long as the world shall live,
Battle-bringer, thy name shall be.
-Gripisspa, Poetic Edda
To have one’s name remembered was a form of immortality. Descendants were named for ancestors, partly in hopes that they would inherit or take on characteristics of their namesakes, but also to keep the name alive. Ancestors might be angered if their names were not passed on.
Sometimes, a name was even passed to someone outside the family. In The Road to Hel (p. 141), Hilda R. Ellis describes a passage from Finnboga Saga:
Finnbogi… begs his friend to accept his name while he lies dying, for then, he says, ‘I know that my name will be known while the earth is inhabited.’
Later,
-Lyfing