Hello everyone! This is Casimir with The Skald’s Circle again. Today we’ll be talking about winter, and what it had traditionally meant in folklore and myth.
Winter, my favorite season. The cold, the snow, the ice, and the beautiful quiet that can only be found with falling snow. Winter is a fascinating two-faced season. It’s a time of dark, cold, and death, as well as a time of hearth, home, and family. It’s a time when: inside of home, all is good and families become close, but outside it’s a time of freezing death. You can even see the dichotomy in people. You see people like me who love the winter and look forward to it year round, and then there are those who dread it’s coming like a sentence to be passed.
This dichotomy is what this article is about. We can see the difference in how cultures personify their winters. In Scotland, the goddess Beira was the queen of winter, and the mother of most of the gods and goddess of Scottish mythology, serving a similar role to Gaia. Yet, she was a winter goddess, rather than a verdant one. The culture can change how winter is viewed. In places like Scotland and Russia, with Father Frost being one of the stories that we have told, winter can be both helpful and cruel, all depending on how you act, if you are wise and kind, you will be safe, and warm in your home.
You can see the difference in places where winter was more cruel, in the lands of the Norse you get the goddess Skadi. She wasn’t evil, but, she also wasn’t kind. She was harsh, but returned favor with favor. The Norse viewed winter as a harsh unforgiving force that one was to not take lightly, just like Skadi.
In none of these stories is the personification of winter anything that is wholly evil and out for death and doom. Winter can be comforting, bringing people in for time with family and the hearth. It can also be a force that keeps you from getting a bit too confident. Hubris is the natural enemy of heroes and heroines in stores afterall. Treat winter with respect, and make the best of the season, because all the misery in the world will not shovel your driveway afterall!
I hope you have enjoyed our discussion of mythology folklore, and history on History with The Skald’s Circle. If you’d like to know more, or perhaps discuss it with me I’m always more than willing. Also, if you have something you would like us to research, please let us know! Also if you learned something new, give us a like, and let us know, we really appreciate being noticed… Until then, until next time with another fascinating topic. This is Casimir, signing off, and remember, always check your sources!
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