THE MYTHOLOGY AND CULT OF FREYJA AND HER IMPORTANCE TO VIKING AGE WOMEN
Abstract
Freyja, one of the most popular goddesses of the Norse pantheon among Viking age women. Here we investigate how she is the only goddess to have her own poem in the Poetic Edda, possibly the only god or goddess to have any reference to receiving cult in the poems. We compare her mythological role within the poems, with her role as Vanadís within the disir and how that relates to the private, household, women’s sphere of worship. We investigate the cult of Freyja through the material world finds and her strong connections to seiðr. We investigate the practice of seiðr and Freyja. Finally, we look at archaeology of women’s finds to uncover whether there are any connections with the worship of Freyja there.
Keywords: Freyja, cult, Norse, women
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