Publication details
Významné stromy severské mytologie
| Title in English | Important Trees in Old Norse and Old Finnish Mythology |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2025 |
| Type | Requested lectures |
| Citation | |
| Description | The paper focuses on examples of significant trees and, more broadly, the function of the forest in North Germanic and Finnish textual sources, which capture the cosmogonic and cosmological ideas of the ancient Scandinavias and Finns, i.e., how they believed the world was created and how it is organized. Despite the geographical proximity of Scandinavia and Finland and cultural influences mainly from the west to the east, the two traditions differ significantly, which is due to the different cultural and linguistic origins of these ethnic groups. A key role in Norse mythology is played by the concept of the world tree in the form of the ash tree Yggdrasill, which in the imagination of the ancient Norse people forms the axis of the world and is also associated with wisdom, justice, and protection. In Finnish tradition, on the other hand, the forest plays a central role in mythological beliefs as the home of gods or "guardians" who live in close proximity to humans and can either help or harm them. |