In Norse mythology, Sæhrímnir is the
creature killed and eaten every night by the Æsir and einherjar.
The cook of the gods, Andhrímnir,
is responsible for the slaughter of Sæhrímnir and its preparation in
the cauldron Eldhrímnir. After Sæhrímnir is eaten, the beast
is brought back to life to again provide sustenance for the following
day. Sæhrímnir is attested in the Poetic
Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional
material, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson.
The enthroned figure of High quotes this stanza in the
Prose Edda book Gylfaginning
and specifically states that Sæhrímnir is a boar. However, some
scholars have translated the Poetic Edda attestation, which the Prose
Edda attestation quotes, as not referring to the creature as any
specific type. Those scholars who recognize a difference between the
taxonomy of the creature between the two sources have commented on the
matter, further issues have been raised about the apparently
contradictory etymology of the name of the creature in relation to its
apparent status as a boar, and some scholars have theorized that the
ritual killing of the animal may ultimately stem from religious
practices in Germanic paganism.
Friday, March 30, 2012
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