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Þorri
Þorri () is the Icelandic name of the personification of frost or winter in Norse mythology, and also the name of the fourth winter month (mid January to mid February) in the Icelandic calendar. Attestations In the ''Orkneyinga saga'' (written in the 13th century), Þorri (often written Thorri in English) is a legendary Nordic king, the son of Snær ('Snow') the Old, a descendant of Fornjót. Þorri was father of two sons named Nór (eponymous founder of Norway) and Gór, and a daughter named Gói ('thin snow, track-snow'). The saga '' Hversu Noregr byggðist'' ("How Norway was settled", written in the 12th century) states that Þorri was an ancient king of Finland (which until the 17th century CE referred only to Finland Proper, the southwesternmost part of Finland), Kænlandi (which according to the sources was located just north of Finland Proper, i.e. in Satakunta) and Gotland, and that the "Kænir" offered a yearly sacrifice to Þorri, at mid-winter. The ''Hversu Nore ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Mid-winter
Midwinter is the middle of the winter. The term is attested in the early Germanic calendars where it was a period or a day which may have been determined by a lunisolar calendar before it was adapted into the Gregorian calendar. It appears with several meanings in later sources, including the Christmas and holiday season, Christmas season, the first day of Þorri and the period from the middle of January to the middle of February. Since the 18th century, it has sometimes been misunderstood as synonymous with the astronomical winter solstice, which the word also can refer to in contemporary English. Attestations Midwinter is attested in the early Germanic calendars, where it appears to have been a specific day or a number of days during the winter half of the year. Before Christianisation and the adoption of the Julian calendar, the date of midwinter may have varied due to the use of a lunisolar calendar, or it may have been based on a week system tied to the astronomical winter so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Þorrablót
Þorrablót (; transliterated as thorrablot) is an Icelandic midwinter festival, named for the month of '' Þorri'' of the historical Icelandic calendar (corresponding to mid January to mid February), and ''blót'', literally meaning ''sacrifice''. The historical context is from the ''Orkneyinga saga'', where Þorri ("Frost") is an early Finnish king, the son of Snær ("Snow"). '' Hversu Noregr byggðist'' in the ''Flateyjarbók'' states that the Kvens offered a yearly sacrifice to Þorri at mid-winter. The modern festival arose in the second half of the 19th century, with the Romantic nationalism of the time, comparable to Burns night in Scotland. The first known celebration was reportedly organised by the association of Icelandic students in Copenhagen in 1873, and by other societies active in the Icelandic independence movement of the time (Iceland received a constitution in 1874, and was recognized as a kingdom in personal union with Denmark in 1918). The Þorrabló ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |