
OCTOFREYA – NORDIC COLLECTION
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FREYA
THE GODDESS OF LOVE
Freya, the fair Northern goddess of beauty and love, was the sister of Frey and the daughter of Niörd and Nerthus, or Skadi. She was the most beautiful and best beloved of all the goddesses, and while in Germany she was identified with Frigga, in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland she was considered a separate divinity. Freya, having been born in Vanaheim, was also known as Vanadis, the goddess of the Vanas, or as Vanabride.
When she reached Asgard, the gods were so charmed by her beauty and grace that they bestowed upon her the realm of Folkvang and the great hall Sessrymnir (the roomy-seated), where they assured her she could easily accommodate all her guests.
Folkvang ‚tis called,
Where Freyja has right
To dispose of the hall-seats.
Everyday of the slain
She chooses the half,
And leaves half to Odin.
-Norse Mythology, R. B. Anderson
QUEEN OF THE VALKYRS
Although goddess of love, Freya was not soft and pleasure-loving only, for the ancient Northern races believed that she had very martial tastes, and that as Valfreya she often led the Valkyrs down to the battlefields, choosing and claiming one half the heroes slain. She was therefore often represented with corselet and helmet, shield and spear, the lower part of her body only being clad in the usual flowing feminine garb.
Freya transported the chosen slain to Folkvang, where they were duly entertained. There also she welcomed all pure maidens and faithful wives, that they might enjoy the company of their lovers and husbands after death. The joys of her abode were so enticing to the heroic Northern women that they often rushed into battle when their loved ones were slain, hoping to meet with the same fate; or they fell upon their swords, or were voluntarily burned on the same funeral pyre as the remains of their beloved.
As Freya was believed to lend a favorable ear to lovers‘ prayers, she was often invoked by them, and it was customary to compose in her honor love songs, which were sung on all festive occasions, her very name in Germany being used as the verb „to woo.“
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