Thor's hammer :

Thursday 06 December, 2018 |

Thor's hammer

by fanssteel

Thor's hammer is recognised as one of the most distinctive religious symbols of the heathen Norse, and for a time was the chief rival of the Christian cross among the peoples of Medieval Scandinavia and Iceland. It was celebrated in Scandinavian mythology as the primary defence of gods and men against destruction at the hands of the fearsome frost-giants. Art, archaeology and folklore attest to the remarkable endurance of the hammer symbol, from the Bronze Age to the present day, not only as a significant religious motif, but also as a powerful ritual device, closely associated with the cult of Thor.

Thor's hammers of many different styles are known, from simple shapes in iron or bronze to elaborately crafted works of silver with staring eyes and bearded faces, sometimes suspended on rings and twisted chains. The rings are miniature versions of those kept in the temples of Thor, upon which oaths were sworn and contracts were sealed, so that the wrath of Thor would fall upon those who broke their agreements. The chains, made of twisted wire and sometimes ending in monstrous heads, recall Jormangand, the Midgard Serpent, the monstrous offspring of Loki, whose coils encircle the world, and with whom Thor does battle in a famous episode from Hymiskvida, a scene which is found carved on a memorial stone from Altuna, Sweden, and another stone found under Gosforth Church, Cumberland. Many other memorial stones incorporate hammer designs, such as one example from Stenkvista, Sweden, which shows a hammer hanging from a thong-like serpent design. Often the stones bear runic inscriptions containing the formula "Thur uiki..." (from ON Thor vigja) or "May Thor hallow...", found in such compositions as "May Thor hallow this memorial", or "May Thor hallow these runes", or even "May Thor, the Almighty God, take to himself the body which lies under this stone".

Thor's hammer represents heroism, nobility, self-reliance, and honor. It’s a symbol with a history that extends back a thousand years to pre-Christian Europe. And adherents of Odinism, the religion that Thor’s hammer represents, tend to make natural soldiers. Oh, and it also shares a pretty strong cultural heritage with a superhero who is, in his own weird, Technicolor, space viking way, as American as apple pie. How strange would it be, then, if the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs--the organization that oversees cemeteries dedicated to U.S. veterans and ultimately says which symbols can be used therein to represent your religious faith--had a problem with Thor's hammer?

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