Idun

Idun is a Norse goddess. Keeper of the apples of youth, she doles out the fruits that keep the gods vigorous and healthy. She is married to Bragi, the bard and poet of the gods. Her origins are a bit fuzzy, but some say she is the daughter of the dwarf Ivaldi and the elf Hildegrun.

The most famous story involving Idun is that of her kidnapping. It begins with an adventure in which Odin, Loki, and Honir were traveling about in Midgard. One night as they cooked an ox for their dinner, an eagle came to rest in the tree above them. It declared itself hungry and asked the gods for some of their meat. They agreed, but the eagle ate so much that Loki became angry and seized up a wooden staff to impale the creature.

At that moment it became clear the eagle was not an ordinary bird but the Jotun, Thiazi. Thiazi took flight, and Loki found his hands stuck fast to the staff so that he could not free himself. Thiazi then in his eagle-form took Loki on a merry ride, bashing him against rocks and scraping him along tree branches until Loki begged for mercy. Thiazi said he would let him go, but at a price: Loki must fetch Idun and her apples out of Asgard. Battered and exhausted, Loki agreed.


Loki returned to Asgard and told Idun he had seen a tree in Midgard with apples like hers. Idun, curious, agreed to bring some of her own apples to compare them, and accompanied Loki over the Bifrost to Midgard. Thiazi was waiting, and swooped Idun up in his eagle form, whisking her away to his fortress in Jotunheim.



Idun's absence was noted immediately; before long, the gods began to succumb to the process of aging. Suspicion fell upon Loki, who soon admitted his role in her disappearance and, on pain of death, agreed to arrange her rescue. He borrowed Freyja's falcon skin and flew off to Thrymheim, Thiazi's fortress, in the form of that fast flyer. Finding Idun, he transformed her into a nut and grasped her in his falcon's talons to take her back to Asgard.

It wasn't long before Thiazi realized what had happened, and he took off after Loki at full speed. With his head start Loki was just barely able to outpace Thiazi in his eagle form, swooping and diving as he closed in on the walls of Asgard, Thiazi hot on his heels. The gods were waiting. As Loki crossed into the city, the gods set fire to a large bundle of wood they had piled up outside the walls. Thiazi's wings were burned in the flames and he fell to the ground, where the gods killed him.

So was Idun snatched away and returned.

Days of the Week

Here we see Sunna and Mani, the Norse goddess of the sun and god of the moon. Pagan traditions typically view the moon as female, presumably because the moon's waxing and waning coincides with the female menstrual cycle. Why the Norse viewed it the other way around is not known (to me; please enlighten me if you have any insight), but I'll speculate that it has something to do with the life-giving power of the sun in a land so often cold and dark.

So the Sun and the Moon are the first two days of the calendar, and rightly so. These two celestial objects are the most visible and important to us; the sun that gives us life, and the ever-changing moon that helps us mark the seasons.

I think it's common knowledge that nearly all the English days of the week are named after Norse deities.


Tyr's day (Tuesday)
Woden's day (Wednesday)
Thor's day (Thursday)
Freyja/Frigg's day (Friday - it's debatable which goddess this day is named for)

Saturday is the outlier, named after the Roman god Saturn.

I've been making an effort in my daily practice to wear some symbol of that day's deity, and have a mind to what qualities they exemplify as I go through my day. Woden (Odin), for example, calls to mind wisdom and discipline. Thor suggests strength and courage. Frigg's domain is the home, wisdom, prophecy; Freyja's is sexuality and magic. I have seen a theory that Saturday could come from Saeter, a Germanic term for the god Loki, and while this is dubious at best I have a special fondness for Loki, and what better day to celebrate mischief and fun than Saturday?

It's probably not accurate, though. The old Norse name for Saturday translates to "washing day." Most weeks, that's what I'm doing.