Norse Creation Story

The Norse story of the origin of the earth, sky, and humanity were only in spoken form by Viking poets.

      In the beginning of time, there was nothing. Heaven and earth did not exist. Before the earth was made, Niflheim was made, and in it were twelve rivers. To the south was Muspell, a place where there was heat and brightness guarded by Surt, a giant who carried a flaming sword.  Ginnungagap was to the North it was frigid and cold the rivers froze and all was ice. Where  Muspell reached the south side of  Ginnungagap, the ice thawed and dripped, and from that there formed the shape of a man. His name was Ymir, the first of and ancestor of the frost-giants.

As the ice melted more it formed a cow, and from her there flowed four rivers of milk that fed Ymir. The cow ate the salt of the ice, and from this came a man and his name was Buri. He had a son named Bor, who married Bestla, a daughter of one of the giants. Bor and Bestla had three sons, one of whom was Odin, the most powerful of the gods.

Ymir a frost-giant, but not a god caused a struggle between the giant and the young gods, Bor's three sons killed Ymir. Bor's sons dragged Ymir's body to the center of Ginnungagap, and made the earth from . Ymir's blood became the sea, his bones became the rocks, and his hair became the trees. With his skull they made the sky. In it they fixed sparks and molten rock from Muspell they created the stars. With Ymir's brains made the clouds.

 On the sea shore, Bor's sons fashioned people out of them out of two logs. One son gave them breath and life, the second son gave them consciousness and movement, and the third gave them faces and senses. From this man and woman came all humans.

One of the descendants of the first two people had two children. Those two children were so beautiful that their father named the son Moon and the daughter Sol. The gods were insulted at the impudence put the brother and sister up to the sky and forced them to labor. Sol drives the chariot that carries the sun across the sky. Moon takes a course across the sky each night.

 The gods left one path from earth to heaven. This is the bridge that appears in the sky as a rainbow.

The common theme of rivers is seen in most stories of creation.  The need of water to cultivate the earth is an essential part of most creation stories. Along with fire the subjects for the necessity for the life of man to continue on earth is often found in mythology. In the older cultures rivers and rivers were the central part of farming, harvesting, and cooking. Following along these lines are the main component of creation stories.