Who Was Freya? A Guide to the Viking Goddess
Magical powers and cat-chariots - who exactly was the Viking goddess Freya?
God of
Freya (also spelled Freyja) was the Norse (Viking) goddess of love, fertility, battle and death.
Boars and Pigs
Freya loved pigs, they were sacred to her. She often rode around on a boar with golden bristles. But when she got boar-ed of the boar, she also had a chariot pulled by two cats to travel around in too. I wonder if she'd let us borrow it for a morning. Could you imagine pulling up to school on a cat-chariot? (Perhaps we could call it the Catriot? Or the Cat-ariot? Or just the Whisker-Mobile?)
Vanir Vs Aesir
There were two tribes of Viking gods, the Vanir and the Aesir. Freya was of the Vanir. In the distant past these two groups went to war against each other, in the appropriately named 'Aesir-Vanir' war. This was an epic smackdown to rock the ages but, at some point, the gods grew weary of fighting and decided to organise peace.
Living with the Aesir
As part of this truce, the two tribes sent a few representatives to mingle and spend some time with each other. This was how Freya of the Vanir came to live with the Aesir.
Magical Powers
Freya, like her fellow Vanir, is an expert in magic. It was she who brought this mystical art to the gods and to mortals as well. She can control the health, wellbeing and success of others - as such, she is a very powerful god indeed.
Valhalla
Freya is also in charge of the afterlife. It was she who chose the warriors who had died bravely enough in battle to reside in Viking heaven; Valhalla.
Find out more about the Viking gods in our A-Z list right here.
Or perhaps you're looking for something more out of the ordinary? Then you'll want to check out our list of Viking gods you've (probably) never heard of, right here.
