Valdres Samband
The Oldest Bygdelag in America - 1899

 The Norse myths, written down in thirteenth-century Iceland but the intellectual and spiritual property of all Germanic-speaking peoples, have an oral history stretching back at least as far as the Viking Age in Scandinavia.  Those myths--as few and fragmentary as they are--constitute the clearest "voices" we can hear from our ancient Nordic ancestors.  If we would learn of their hopes and fears, their world-views and values, we need to heed those voices and become familiar with the stories that captured our ancestors' imaginations.  In this column I hope to introduce you to the Nine Worlds of Norse mythology and some of the characters who inhabit them, so be prepared to meet an array of gods and goddesses, giants and trolls, elves and dwarves, dragons and runestones . . . and that's just for starters!