Helgafell (, "holy mountain") is a small mountain on the
Snæfellsnes
The Snæfellsnes () is a peninsula situated to the west of Borgarfjörður, in western Iceland.
The peninsula has a volcanic origin having the Snæfellsnes volcanic belt down its centre, and the Snæfellsjökull volcano
A volcano is com ...
Peninsula of
Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
. The mountain is high. A temple in honor of
Thor
Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...
(''Þór'') was built there by Þórólfr Mostrarskegg, the first settler of the area.
His biography is described in literary form with fictional and mythical elements in ''
Eyrbyggja saga
''Eyrbyggja saga'' (; ) is one of the Icelanders' sagas; its title can be translated as ''The Saga of the People of Eyri.'' It was written by an anonymous writer, who describes a long-standing feud between Snorri Goði and Arnkel Goði, two stron ...
''.
Helgafell also appears in the ''
Laxdæla saga
''Laxdæla saga'' (), Old Norse ''Laxdœla saga'' (Old Norse pronunciation ) or ''The Saga of the People of Laxárdalur'', is one of the sagas of Icelanders. Written in the 13th century CE, it tells of people in the Breiðafjörður area in weste ...
'' as the location where the heroine
Guðrún Ósvífrsdóttir
Guðrún Ósvífrsdóttir (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ; 10th century – 11th century), was an Icelandic woman who was famed for her great wisdom and beauty. She was married four times.
She is the main protagonist of the Medieval Icela ...
last lived and is supposedly where she is buried.
See also
*
Death in Norse paganism
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. After the funeral, the individual could go to a range of afterlives including ...
References
Mountains of Iceland
Snæfellsnes
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