Yggdrasil : Scandinavian tree mythology
Yggdrasil: the tree of the Universe in Scandinavian mythology
Yggdrasil is the tree of the Universe and center of the divine world in Scandinavian mythology. The roots of that big ash grow in the three underworlds: the world of the death, the world of the frost giants and the world of men. The branches spread over the world.The tree unites earth and heaven and the underworld.
If Ragnarok draws near, Yggdrasil will tremble and a man Lif and women Lifthrasir will survive the holocaust and flood. From these two people the earth will be repeopled and mankind will start a new cycle of time. Yggdrasil is the source of all new life and will always survive Ragnarok...
Yggdrasil as the source of life
The Edda describe the stars as the fruit of the Yggdrasil.
The tree was watered by the sacred fountains of Urd and Mimer, which contain the elixir of life, wisdom and poetry. Therefore the sap of Yggdrasil is live-saving.
The morning dew from Yggdrasil was very sweet and nourishing. Bees used it for making honey
The dragon Nidhogg eats the roots.
Creatures that live in Yggdrasil, are the wyrm (dragon) NÃðhöggr (eating its roots), an unnamed eagle, and the stags Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór.
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Odin and his quest for wisdom
Odin, the major god in Scandinavian mythology, hanged himself on Yggdrasil in his quest for wisdom.
He hung in the tree for nine days in order to learn the wisdom and the power of the nine worlds (nine was a magical number in the Norse magical practice)
Ygg(r) is an alternative name of Odin. Yggdrasil could mean "the horse of Yggr".
and who is Mimir?
Mimir or Mimr is a giant whose abode is a spring flowing from the root of the worldash Yggdrasil. Drinking the waters of the spring, he knows all the past and the future. He was the water-spirit, into whose waters Odin had put his eye in pledge, in order to win wisdom. The poor man is beheaded during the Ãsir-Vanir War. Afterward, the god Odin carries around MÃmir's head and it recites secret knowledge and counsel to him.
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Yggdrasil as a source of inspiration
Painters
Die Nornen (painting, 1888) by K. Ehrenberg
Yggdrasil (fresco, 1933) by Axel Revold, located in the University of Oslo library auditorium in Oslo, Norway
Hjortene beiter i løvet på Yggdrasil asken (wood relief carving, 1938) on the Oslo City Hall by Dagfin Werenskjold
Bronze relief on the doors of the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities (around 1950) by B. Marklund in Stockholm, Sweden.
Poets
Vårdträdet by Viktor Rydberg
Yggdrasill by J. Linke
