Open AccessThe Relation between the two Phenomenological Categories Initiation and Sacrifice as Exemplified by the Norse Myth of Óðinn on the Tree
Author(s) -
Jens Peter Schjødt
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
scripta instituti donneriani aboensis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2343-4937
pISSN - 0582-3226
DOI - 10.30674/scripta.67215
Subject(s) - mythology , sacrifice , old norse , relation (database) , tree (set theory) , literature , aesthetics , history , art , archaeology , computer science , mathematics , data mining , mathematical analysis
Many articles have been devoted to the Old Norse myth which relates how Odin was hanging from a tree for nine nights without being offered food or drink. The question we are going to investigate here is, as mentioned, whether we are facing a sacrifice or an initiation. Both possibilities have been proposed, and some scholars have even believed that the strophes deal with an exemplary myth which has served directly as a model for some ritual.