Odin

Roles

Odin (or Óðinn , or Odhinn in Old norrois, or Jolnir , or Wotan or Wodan in Germanic Language) was looked like the king of the gods.

He accommodates the hearts of half of the warriors died in the combat, Freyja accommodating second half. Those fight between them the day to prepare with the Ragnarök. The night they are invited to the Banquet of Odin .
He is also god of wisdom and the poetic inspiration. He is also a warrior. He is god of the rage, god of the trick, god of the victoire.
It is a wise, courageous and generous god, but also sinks, cheating, severe and craint.

Odin has many Hypostase S of which some were perhaps not identified yet.

It was famous to have thousand nicknames. Let us quote in particular:

Alfadir (the father of all),
Bolverk (instigator of misfortune),
Har (very high),
Harbard (beard gray),
Jafnhar (also high),
Thidi (the third),
Vegtam (familiar of the ways).

Symbols and attributes

Odin is represented like an old, bearded and one-eyed man. It moves on a horse with eight legs, Sleipnir, armed with its lance Gungnir.
When it is in its palate, the Valhöll, the two corbels Hugin (the thought) and Munin (memory) tell him with the ear what they saw of the nine worlds. Two wolves remain with its feet: Geri the glouton and Freki the voracious one.

Its throne, Hlidskjalf, enable him to see all that exists in the nine worlds.

It had the ring Draupnir, a ring which multiplied by nine every nine days; but it posed it on roughing-hew it funerary of his son Baldr.

Festivals and rites

Odin shares the festival of Jul (December 21st) with the god Ull.

Myths and legends referring to this divinity

Odin and its brothers (Vé and Vili) killed Ymir, the giant paramount. With its remainders, they manufactured Midgard, the world of the men. With the worms which corroded the carcass of the monster, they created the dwarf S. Then they gave life to two branches of Frêne and Orme to create the first men.

Thereafter, Odin remained hung with Yggdrasil during nine nights without drinking nor to eat, with a lance (Gungnir) planted in the body, in order to obtain the secrecy of the Runes.

It left its eye to the fountain of Mimir in exchange of wisdom and stole poetry to the giant Suttung and offered it to the gods and to the men.

The Voluspa affirms that he will be eaten by the wolf Fenrir, wire of Loki, the day of the Ragnarök.

Relationship and filiation

Odin is the son of the giant Bor and Bestla. He is the father of Thor (god of the thunder), of Baldr (god of the light), of Hermód (messenger of the gods), of Ali/Vali, of Vidar, Saga (goddess of poetry).

He is the husband of Frigg (cultivated ground) and was also that of Jord (uninhabited ground), of Grid and Rind (winter and cold ground).

Nowadays

Contrary to the Latin languages which take again the names of the Roman gods for the days of the week (" mardi" = " day of Mars" , " mercredi" = day of Mercury etc), the Anglo-Saxon languages take again the names of the Scandinavian gods.

Thus, the name of Odin finds in English Wednesday (by assimilation with the Germanic god Woden in " Woden' S day"). In the beginning, the days of the week were directly related to the divinities:

Old norrois : Sunnadagr , Mánadagr , Týsdagr , Óðinsdagr , Þórsdagr , Frjádagr , Laugardagr .

Norrois : Søndag , Mandag , Tirsdag/Tysdag , Onsdag , Torsdag , Fredag Lørdag/Laurdag .

English : Sunday , Monday , Tuesday , Wednesday , Thursday , Friday and Saturday

Translations: The day of the Sun, the day of the the Moon, the day of Týr, the day of Odin, the day of Thor, the day of Freyr/Freyja (of the love) and the day of the purification, cleaning.

As Odin was compared to Mercure by the Romans, one can say that the " mercredi" French (or the " miercoles" Spanish etc) pareillement is pareillement devoted to him.

It is a central figure, under the C-W communication “Wotan”, of the tetralogy the Ring of Nibelung of Richard Wagner: it appears in the Gold of the Rhine , the Valkyrie and - under the name “the Traveller” - in Siegfried .

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