What is Asatru? What is Norse Mythology?

Question

What are the differences between them if any at all? What are the similarites between them if any at all? Ten points to the person whogives me the most information that's accurate. Serious replies only please.

No it's not going through for whatever reason. I think Yahoo is having a good time screwing with me.

Answer 1

Asatru Beliefs:
Asatru is a polytheistic religion. There are three races of Deities in the Norse pantheon. They are all regarded as living entities who are involved in human life: The Aesir: These are the Gods of the tribe or clan, representing Kingship, order, craft, etc.
The Vanir: These represent the fertility of the earth and forces of nature. They are associated with the clan but are not part of it.
The Jotnar: These are giants who are in a constant state of war with the Aesir. They represent chaos and destruction. At the battle of Ragnarok, many of the Gods will die, the world will come to an end and be reborn.

Specific Gods: Some of the more important are: Thor is the Thunderer, who wields Mjolnir, the divine Hammer. His chariot racing across the sky generates thunder. Thursday (Thor's Day) was named after him.
Odin is the one-eyed God; he gave up one of his eyes in order to drink from the Fount of Wisdom. He is a magician and wise one. He learned the secrets of the runes (Northern European alphabet) by hanging himself on the tree Yggdrasil for nine nights.
Frey is the God of Yule (born on the Winter Solstice, typically December 21). He is a God of peace and plenty who brings fertility and prosperity. His father was Njord.

Specific Goddesses: Some important ones are: Freya (aka Freyja) is the Goddess of love, beauty and sexuality, and perhaps a dozen other attributes. She leads the Valkyries who take the souls of slain soldiers to Valhalla (Odin's great hall).
Frigg is Odin's wife. Her name has been secularized to a slang term which refers to sexual intercourse. She is the patroness of the household and of married women.
Skadi is the Goddess of independence, death, hunting and skiing. Scandinavia was named after her; the English words shadow, skullduggery and shade came from her name.
Ostara, is a Goddess of fertility who is celebrated at the time of the Spring equinox. She was known by the Saxons as Eostre, the Goddess of Spring, from whom we have derived the word Easter. Ostara's symbols are the hare and the egg.

Other Entities Other Deities are Aegir, Balder, Bragi, Forseti, Heimdall, Hel, Loki, Njord, Ran, Tyr, Ull and Vithar. Followers of Asatru also honor the Landvaettir (land spirits) of the forest, earth and streams.
Life Values: Asatruars in North America have created a list of Nine Noble Virtues: Courage, Truth, Honor, Fidelity, Discipline, Hospitality, Industriousness, Self-Reliance and Perseverance. The family is greatly valued and honored. They reject any form of discrimination based on ethnicity, gender, language, nationality, race, sexual orientation, or "other divisive criteria".
Origins: Humanity is literally descended from the Gods. Three brothers, Odin, Vili, and Ve created people from two trees and gave them the names Ask and Embla. One deity, Rig visited the earth and established the social classes.
Od: This is the gift of ecstasy provided to humans by the Gods. It is what separates humanity from other animals, and is our eternal link with the Gods.
Creation Story: A poem Voluspa (Prophecy of the Seeress) contains an Asatru story of the creation of the universe. Between Muspelheim (The Land of Fire) and Niflheim the Land of Ice was an empty space called Ginnungigap. The fire and ice moved towards each other; when they collided, the universe came into being. Odin, Vili and Ve later created the world from the body of a giant that they had slain.
After death: Those who die in battle will be carried to Valhalla by the Valkyries. There they will eat Särimner (a pig that is daily slaughtered and resurrected) with the Gods. Some, but not all, Asatruars believe that those who have lived a very evil and treacherous life go to Hifhel, (a.k.a Hiflhel). This is a place of torment. The remainder go to Hel, a place of calmness and peace, from which the name of the Christian Hell was derived. However, Hel is much closer to the Christian view of Heaven than to its concept of Hell.



Norse or Scandinavian mythology comprises the pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian people, including those who settled on Iceland, where the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. Norse mythology is the best-preserved version of the older common Germanic mythology, which also includes the closely related Anglo-Saxon mythology. Germanic mythology, in its turn, had evolved from an earlier Indo-European mythology.

Norse mythology is a collection of beliefs and stories shared by Northern Germanic tribes. It had no one set of doctrinal beliefs. The mythology was orally transmitted in the form of poetry and our knowledge about it is mainly based on the Eddas and other medieval texts written down during and after Christianisation.

In Scandinavian folklore, these beliefs held on the longest, and in rural areas, some traditions have been maintained until today. Others have recently been reinvented as Germanic Neopaganism. The mythology also remains as an inspiration in literature (see Norse mythological influences on later literature) as well as on stage productions and movies.


Sources
Most of this mythology was passed down orally, and much of it has been lost. However, some of it was captured and recorded by Christian scholars, particularly in the Eddas and the Heimskringla by Snorri Sturluson, who believed that pre-Christian deities were men and women rather than devils. There is also the Danish Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus, where, however, the Norse gods are strongly Euhemerized. The Prose or Younger Edda was written in the early 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, who was a leading poet, chieftain, and diplomat in Iceland. It may be thought of primarily as a handbook for aspiring poets. It contains prose explications of traditional "kennings," or compressed metaphors found in poetry. These prose retellings make the various tales of the Norse gods systematic and coherent.

The Poetic Edda (also known as the Elder Edda) was committed to writing about 50 years after the Prose Edda. It contains 29 long poems, of which 11 deal with the Germanic deities, the rest with legendary heroes like Sigurd the Volsung (the Siegfried of the German version Nibelungenlied). Although scholars think it was transcribed later than the other Edda, the language and poetic forms involved in the tales appear to have been composed centuries earlier than their transcription.

Besides these sources, there are surviving legends in Scandinavian folklore. Some of these can be corroborated with legends appearing in other Germanic literatures e.g. the tale related in the Anglo-Saxon Battle of Finnsburgh and the many allusions to mythological tales in Deor. When several partial references and tellings survive, scholars can deduce the underlying tale. Additionally, there are hundreds of place names in Scandinavia named after the gods.

A few runic inscriptions, such as the Rök Runestone and the Kvinneby amulet, make references to the mythology. There are also several runestones and image stones that depict scenes from Norse mythology, such as Thor's fishing trip, scenes from the Völsunga saga, Odin and Sleipnir, Odin being devoured by Fenrir, and one of the surviving stones from the Hunnestad Monument appears to show Hyrrokkin riding to Baldr's funeral (DR 284).

In Denmark, one image stone depicts Loki with curled dandy-like mustaches and lips that are sewn together and the British Gosforth cross shows several intriguing images. There are also smaller images, such as figurines depicting the god Odin (with one eye), Thor (with his hammer) and Freyr (with his erect phallus).



judge for yourself : )

Answer 2

Asatru is an Scandinavian term consisting of two parts: ASA (Genitive of Aesir) referring to the Germanic Gods and Goddesses (of both the Aesir and the Vanir), and Tru meaning faith. The faith is also referred to as Norse Heathenry. The Old Norse term for 'heathenry' is "heidni". Yet another Old Norse designation is "Forn Sidr", meaning "the ancient custom". Asatru is a hard-polytheistic, nature-oriented belief system and yes it is based on what is commonly known as Norse Mythology. Asatru would not be Asatru without the Scared Lore, the two cannot be separated. Those who practice Asatru are called Asatruar, Asafolk, Tru Folk, Heathens or just worshipers of the Old Gods, etc..

Strictly speaking, since Asatru is the religion which springs from the specific spiritual beliefs of the Northern Europeans, it is as old as this particular branch of the human race.

Answer 3

Asatru literally means: True to the Asa. (Norse gods) While Norse Mythology is about the Norse Gods and Heroes, and the Havamal is Odin's suggestions on what to do in many common (at the time) life situations. They are not exactly the same, but they are related. There is also underlying esoteric knowledge in writings like the Havamal, where there are clues to the meaning of some of the Runes.

Edit - Why does there always have to be one person who cuts and pastes the whole Wiki article? Just put a link up please.

Answer 4

Asatru is the indigenous faith of the Northern European people. It is a hard polytheistic religion (which means the common belief is that the Gods are each distinct and individual beings) which venerates several Gods, and many other beings.
Norse mythology comprises the stories of supernatural beings and events dealing with the Norse belief systems.

The difference is that the mythology is simply the stories, while Asatru is the spiritual faith.

Answer 5

While superficially they mean and describe the same thing, the same set of beliefs in the same pantheon of gods, the term "Asatru" is normally used by the believers in this faith, describing the belief itself.
The term "Norse mythology" is more broadly used in the media, sources and by non believers to describe the same set of beliefs and the stories about the gods of Norse pantheon.

An Asatruar (a believer in Asatru) will of course not call his own religion "mythology".

Answer 6

Well i hate to use the term "Mythology" for any religion/Gods as it kinda puts it down, but. . .

Asatruars base their beliefs on Norse Mythology.
As in the Gods, elves, Dwarfs, Dragons, and Asgard.

And Asatru is a religion, and Norse Mythology are stories (that's your difference)

Sorry but thats as much as i got for ya, try talking to Lokasenna, i'm sure she could help.

Answer 7

Asatru is a revival of norse mythology, I think...

Answer 8

why didn't this question show up? My Nordic mythology is rusty, so I'll just wiki it

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

here ya go!

Answer 9

I'm not real sure, but I'm sure Lokasenna can give you a very accurate answer.

Did your question not show up?

Here is a link to her profile and she does accept email...

http://answers.yahoo.com/my/profile;_ylt=Asm5zdmNghEusiZ_Uak1h.Ld7BR.?show=64554a8e1157e502654f643d0ffe309baa

Answer 10

I second Storm Chaser... I'm only beginning my studies in that realm myself.

_()_