Nordic Mythology

The Nordics are a group of people in Northern Europe that include the ancient Vikings.  Generally Nordic countries include Sweden (9 million), Norway (5 million), Finland (5 million), Greenland (56,000), Iceland (320,000), parts of Northern Germany (81 million in Germany) and Denmark (5 million).  The Nordics have travelled all over the world, including to the Americas.  They also have a rich collection of ancient mythology and legends and include a pantheon of gods and goddesses as well.  Many of the ancient myths have been recorded in poetic form in the Poetic Edda.  The Nordic pantheon included gods divided into multiple groups and multiple worlds.  The pantheon includes the following gods/goddesses:

Odin - Father of the Gods
Baldr - The son of Odin who was killed
Freyr - God of Fertility
Freyja - Goddess of Fertility
Frigg - Wife of Odin, Mother of Baldr
Loki - Trickster God
Thor - God of Thunder
Tyr - God of War
Ve - Brother of Odin
Villi - Brother of Odin


There are many other Nordic gods and goddesses.


By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)


Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thor.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Germanic_deities

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark