Norse Creation Myth

Nine Worlds and a Giant Tree

Norse mythology: with nine different worlds and the biggest ash tree imaginable, it sounds like a lovely place for a vacation, right? One might think so, until they found out about the geography of these worlds, and exactly how they got there.

 In the beginning, the Norse said, most of the universe was the Ginnungagap, which was, as the name would suggest, a gigantic nothingness, somewhat like the sea of chaos that appears in many other myths. On the north and south, there were said to be two areas: Niflheim and Muspelheim. Niflheim was a place of frigid ice, and Muspelheim of blistering fire. The first being, the giant Ymir, was said to have been created when ice from Niflheim and fire from Muspelheim met. He was nursed by a "cosmic cow", which fed off of a salt-lick that she eventually licked into the god Buri. Buri's son Bor then was the father of Odin,Vili, and Ve.

In the meantime, Ymir had grown gigantic, as well as evil. Odin, Vili, and Ve killed him, then lay his body over Ginnungagap to create the nine worlds of the Norse universe. They used his flesh for the ground and his blood for the seas. His skull became the heavens, and his eyebrows became the home of humans, called Midgard. As well, a gigantic ash tree called Yggsdrasil supported the whole universe, with roots reaching to Muspelheim, Niflheim, and many places in between.