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Death in Norse paganism was associated with diverse customs and beliefs that varied with time, location and social group, and did not form a structured, uniform system.
In her 1948 work on death in Norse mythology and religion, The Road to Hel, Hilda Ellis Davidson argued that the description of Hel as a goddess in surviving sources appeared to be literary personification, the word hel generally being "used simply to signify death or the grave", which she states "naturally lends itself to personification by ...
In Scandinavia, Norse mythology personified death in the shape of Hel, the goddess of death and ruler over the realm of the same name, where she received a portion of the dead. [9] In the times of the Black Plague , Death would often be depicted as an old woman known by the name of Pesta, meaning "plague hag", wearing a black hood.
The English word '"wraith" is derived from vǫrðr, while "ward" and "warden" are cognates. At times, the warden could reveal itself as a small light or as the shape ( hamr ) of the person. The perception of another person's warden could cause a physical sensation such as an itching hand or nose, as a foreboding or an apparition.
A kenning (Old English kenning [cʰɛnːiŋɡ], Modern Icelandic [cʰɛnːiŋk]) is a circumlocution, an ambiguous or roundabout figure of speech, used instead of an ordinary noun in Old Norse, Old English, and later Icelandic poetry.
A single religion/mythology may have death gods of more than one gender existing at the same time and they may be envisioned as a married couple ruling over the afterlife together, as with the Aztecs, Greeks, and Romans. In monotheistic religions, the one god governs both life and death (as well as everything else). However, in practice this ...
Despite the warlike customs of the Norsemen, there was an element of fear surrounding death and what belonged to it. Norse folklore includes spirits of the dead and undead creatures such as revenants and draugr. A supposed sighting of the deceased as one of these creatures was frightful and ominous, usually interpreted as a sign that additional ...
In Norse mythology, Valhalla (/ v æ l ˈ h æ l ə / val-HAL-ə, US also / v ɑː l ˈ h ɑː l ə / vahl-HAH-lə; [1] Old Norse: Valhǫll [ˈwɑlhɒlː], lit. ' Hall of the Slain ') [2] is described as a majestic hall located in Asgard and presided over by the god Odin. There were five possible realms the soul could travel to after death.