Whenever people hear Frey’s name, they automatically associate him with wealth, prosperity, and sex. But Frey’s function is much broader. He is also a sacred priest, a God of the land and a warrior – at least he was while he still owned his sword.
The name Frey means Lord, just as Freyja means Lady, and so it could be a title rather than his real name. After the war between the Æsir and the Vanir, Frey, his sister Freyja and his father Njörd were sent to Asgard as hostages. Thereafter, peace reigned between the formerly warring fractions. Although Frey belongs to the Vanir family, Snorri has no hesitation in placing him among the Æsir. Incestuous relationships were common among the members of Vanir and therefore Frey and Freyja’s mother was actually Njörd’s sister. After Frey and Freyja started living in Asgard, they had to renounce their own incestuous sexual relationship and dissolve their marriage.
Frey owns a mechanical boar, Gullinbursti (“Golden Bristles”), who can run over water, and a magical ship, Skidbladnir (ON Skíðblaðnir, ‘assembled from thin pieces of wood’). It can sail anywhere and always gets a favourable wind after setting sail. The whole boat can be folded like a cloth and stored away in a shirt pocket. Normally, however, it is so large that all the Æsir can board it with all their gear and equipment. Gullinbursti’s bristles give off such a glow that where it runs, night never starts, even in a world of darkness (Murky Regions). Both these creations of the dwarves Sindri and Brokk can be linked to the solar symbolism. In the case of the golden boar, it is obvious, but Rudolf Simek sees this connection also in the case of the ship, since ship engravings from the Scandinavian Bronze Age are often accompanied by solar motifs. One possible explanation could be that just as a good harvest and prosperity is needed on land (symbolised by boar), the same is needed at sea, i.e. a good catch for fishermen and a good season for traders setting out on long journeys with goods.
The chronicler Adam of Bremen states that in Uppsala three gods had their statues in the sanctuary; Thor, Wotan and Frey, whom he lists under the Latinised name Fricco. According to Snorri, Frey was the most popular of the Aesir because he brought peace and prosperity to the people.
We also know of Frodhi’s peace (friðr), which came about during the reign of a generous and wise ruler who is sometimes identified with Frey himself. Frith is therefore a sacred time when everything goes as it should, the gods accept the offerings that people bring to them and reward them with a rich harvest. That is, what we might think of as prosperity, but frith is much more than that; it also means that people do not fight among themselves, and so they can enjoy a blessed time of ease among their own. Frith also represents friendship. It can also be experienced in the bonds of partnership and marriage or within the family. Peace also prevailed at the time of festivals and sacrifices, when no one was allowed to enter sacred places armed.
Small pieces of gold foil with engravings from the Migration Age and the early Viking Age (gullgubber) have been discovered in various places in Scandinavia. These plaques are mostly found around human dwellings and temples, rarely in graves. Sometimes their motif shows an animal, other times a man and woman with a leafy branch between them, facing each other or embracing. Hilda Ellis Davidson states that it is thought that the figures may personify the idea of a divine marriage, such as the union of Gerda and Frey. This is perhaps the most famous myth about the god Frey and is contained in the poem Skírnismál (‘The Lay of Skírnir’). One day Frey sat on Odin’s throne and looked around the Nine worlds. In Jötunheim he saw the beautiful giantess Gerd, who had just come out of her father’s hall and was heading for the pantry. He immediately fell in love with her, and her image robbed him of his sleep as he was constantly thinking about her. His father, Njörd, also noticed this and sent Frey’s faithful servant Skírnir to find out what was troubling him. Skírnir did so and Frey sent him to Jötunheim in order to court the beautiful Gerd, provided him with his own horse, capable of crossing through the walls of fire that blocked the way and with his own sword that was so good that it fought by itself so he could defend himself in case he was attacked. Finally, Skírnir stood before the giantess. At first, she didn’t even want to hear of any meeting with Frey. She refused the offered apples from Idun’s apple tree, the ring Draupnir that can multiply gold and creates eight identical rings every ninth night, and Frey’s magical sword that cuts down enemies all by itself. All of that was not enough for her! It was not until she was threatened with Skírnir’s spell, called the taming rod, that would leave Gerd alone, barren and abandoned for the rest of her life. Only then she agreed to meet Frey. This story can be taken as an allegory in which the giantess Gerd represents the earth, frozen after the winter season, indifferent and frigid to all the amorous advances of Frey, her male counterpart and procreative principle. Skírnir, meanwhile, may represent the first warm ray of spring, who is the emissary of the god Frey. Some, however, identify him with the whiteish gush of semen. One thing is certain; sexuality has always been associated with the procreative principle as well as prosperity both of which fall into Frey’s domain, which is why he is often depicted with a giant erect phallus. This is how the statue from Rällinge depicts him. After the winter break, the earth had to be reawakened to bear the fruits on which the human species depended. There is another side to the story. Although Gerd despised Frey’s magic sword, arguing that her father owned a lot of gold and weapons, the sword remained in Jötunheim and, according to Völva’s prophecy, Frey will miss it in battle with Surtr during the Ragnarök.
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S. Sedlakova, Brno, CZE