Flkvangr

Flkvangr
In Norse mythology, Flkvangr ("field of the host"[1] or "people-field" or "army-field"[2]) is a meadow or field ruled over by the goddess Freyja where half of those that die in combat go upon death, while the other half go to the god Odin in Valhalla. Flkvangr is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. According to the Prose Edda, within Flkvangr is Freyja's hall Sessrmnir. Scholarly theories have been proposed about the implications of the location.

Attestations

"Freya" (1882) by Carl Emil Doepler.

In the poem Grmnisml collected in the Poetic Edda, Odin (disguised as Grmnir) tells the young Agnar that Freyja allots seats to half of those that die in her hall Flkvangr, while Odin receives the other half (Flkvangr is here anglicized to Flkvang and Folkvang):
Benjamin Thorpe translation: Flkvang is the ninth, there Freyia directs the sittings in the hall. She half the fallen chooses each day, [3] but Odin th' other half. Henry Adams Bellows translation: The ninth is Folkvang, where Freyja decrees Who shall have seats in the hall; The half of the dead each day does she choose, [4] And half does Othin have.

In chapter 24 of the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, High tells Gangleri (described as king Gylfi in disguise) that Freyja is "the most glorious of the synjur", that Freyja has a dwelling in the heavens called Flkvangr, and that "whenever she rides to battle she gets half of the slain, and the other half Odin, as it says here: [the stanza above from Grmnisml is then quoted]". High then continues with a description of Freyja's hall Sessrmnir.[5]

Theories
Egils saga
In Egils saga, when Egill Skallagrmsson refuses to eat, his daughter orgerr (here anglicized as "Thorgerd") says she will go without food and thus starve to death, and in doing so will meet the goddess Freyja: Thorgerd replied in a loud voice, 'I have had no evening meal, nor will I do so until I join Freyja. I know no better course of action than my father's. I do not want to live after my father and brother are dead.'[6] Britt-Mari Nsstrm says that "as a receiver of the dead her [Freyja's] abode is also open for women who have suffered a noble death." Nsstrm cites the above passage from Egils saga as an example, and points to a potential additional connection in the saga Hervarar saga ok Heireks, where the queen hangs herself in the dsarsalr (Old Norse "the Hall of the Ds") after discovering that her husband has betrayed both her father and brother. Nsstrm comments that "this Ds could hardly be anyone but Freyja herself, the natural leader of the collective female deities called dsir, and the place of the queen's suicide seems thus to be connected with Freyja."[7]

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Implications
John Lindow says that if the Flk- element of Flkvangr is to be understood as "army", then Flkvangr appears as an alternative to Valhalla. Lindow adds that, like Odin, Freyja has an association with warriors in that she presides over the eternal combat of Hjaningavg.[2] Rudolf Simek theorizes that the name Flkvangr is "surely not much older than Grmnisml itself", and adds that the Gylfaginning description keeps close to the Grmnisml description, yet that the Gylfaginning descriptions adds that Sessrmnir is located within Flkvangr.[8] According to Hilda Ellis Davidson, Valhalla "is well known because it plays so large a part in images of warfare and death," yet the significance of other halls in Norse mythology such as dalir, where the god Ullr dwells, and Freyja's Flkvangr have been lost.[9] Britt-Mari Nsstrm places emphasis on that Gylfaginning relates that "whenever she rides into battle she takes half of the slain," and interprets Flkvangr as "the field of the Warriors." Nsstrm comments that: Freyja receives the slain heroes of the battlefield quite respectfully as inn does. Her house is called Sessrumnir, 'filled with many seats', and it probably fills the same function as Valhll, 'the hall of the slain', where the warriors eat and drink beer after the fighting. Still, we must ask why there are two heroic paradises in the Old Norse View of afterlife. It might possibly be a consequence of different forms of initiation of warriors, where one part seemed to have belonged to inn and the other to Freyja. These examples indicate that Freyja was a war-goddess, and she even appears as a valkyrie, literally 'the one who chooses the slain'.[7] Siegfried Andres Dobat comments that "in her mythological role as the chooser of half the fallen warriors for her death realm Flkvangr, the goddess Freyja, however, emerges as the mythological role model for the Valkyrjar and the dsir."[10]

Modern influence
Early in the 20th century, Karl Ernst Osthaus developed the "Folkwang-Gedanke" or "Folkwang-Konzept", that art and life can be reconciled. Several cultural institutions bearing the name Folkwang (the German spelling of Flkvangr) were founded on this concept. These institutions include the Museum Folkwang in Essen (opened 1902), the publishing house Folkwang-Verlag (founded 1919), Folkwang Kammerorchester Essen (founded 1958), Folkwang-Musikschule in Essen (founded 1974), and Folkwang University of the Arts, focusing on music, theater, dance, design and academic studies.

Notes
[1] Orchard (1997:45). [2] Lindow (2001:118). [3] Thorpe (1907:21). [4] Bellows (1923:9091). [5] Faulkes (1995:24). [6] Scudder (2001:151). [7] Nsstrm (1999:61). [8] Simek (2007:87). [9] Davidson (1993:67). [10] Dobat (2006:186).

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References
Bellows, Henry Adams (1923). The Poetic Edda. American-Scandinavian Foundation. Davidson, Hilda Roderick Ellis (1993). The Lost Beliefs of Northern Europe (http://books.google.com/ books?id=sWLVZN0H224C&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Lost+Beliefs+of+Northern+ Europe#v=onepage&q=&f=false) (illustrated edition). Routledge. ISBN 0-415-04937-7 Dobat, Siegfried Andres (2006). "Bridging Mythology and Belief: Viking Age Functional Culture as a Reflection of the Belief in Divine Intervention" as collected in Andren, A. Jennbert, K. Raudvere, C. Old Norse Religion in Long Term Perspectives: Origins, Changes and Interactions, an International Conference in Lund, Sweden, June 3-7, 2004 (http://books.google.com/books?id=gjq6rvoIRpAC&printsec=frontcover& source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false). Nordic Academic Press. ISBN 91-89116-81-X Faulkes, Anthony (Trans.) (1995). Edda. Everyman. ISBN 0-460-87616-3 Lindow, John (2001). Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs (http://books.google. com/books?id=KlT7tv3eMSwC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515382-0 Nsstrm, Britt-Mari (1999). "Freyja - The Trivalent Goddess" as collected in Sand, Reenberg Erik. Srensen, Jrgen Podemann (1999). Comparative Studies in History of Religions: Their Aim, Scrope and Validity. Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 87-7289-533-0 Orchard, Andy (1997). Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. Cassell. ISBN 0-304-34520-2 Scudder, Bernard (Trans.) (2001). "Egils saga" as collected in various (2001). The Sagas of Icelanders. Penguin Group. ISBN 0 14 10.0003 1 Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. D.S. Brewer. ISBN 0-85991-513-1 Thorpe, Benjamin (Trans.) (1907). The Elder Edda of Saemund Sigfusson. Norrna Society.

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

Flkvangr Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=551082627 Contributors: AndrewHowse, Austriacus, BD2412, Blainster, Bloodofox, Critto, Deanlaw, DocWatson42, EchoBravo, Gene Nygaard, Glenn, Goustien, Koavf, Melanchthon, Michael Devore, Pigman, Salleman, SallyForth123, Sardanaphalus, SchreiberBike, Sigo, TUF-KAT, Tabletop, Tbennert, WereSpielChequers, Wiglaf, 5 anonymous edits

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File:Freya by C. E. Doepler.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Freya_by_C._E._Doepler.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Carl Emil Doepler (1824-1905)

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