Hamingja
Thehamingjawas a type of femaleguardian spiritinNorse mythology.It was believed that she accompanied a person and decided their luck and happiness. Consequently, the name was also used to indicate happiness, and that is what it means in modern Icelandic. When a person died, the hamingja passed to a beloved family member and thus accompanied a family for several generations, continuing to influence their fortunes. It was even possible to lend one's own hamingja to a friend, as happened whenHjalti Skeggiasonwas about to leave on a perilous voyage and askedOlaf II of Norwayto lend him his hamingja.
It usually appears during sleep in the form of an animal, but it can also be the spirit of a sleeping person who appears in the form of an animal, as Bödvar Bjarki in the saga of Hrólfr Kraki.
InNorse mythology,hamingja(Old Norse"luck"[1]) refers to two concepts:
- the personification of the good fortune or luck of an individual or family,
- the altered appearance of shape-shifters.
BothAndy OrchardandRudolf Simeknote parallels between the concept of the hamingja and thefylgja.[2]Luck may be transferred to a descendant of the owner, or to a member of a tribe for a perilous journey, it accords wealth, success and power, and it accrues over a life time. Sometimes hamingja is used to denote honor.
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- Orchard, Andy (1997).Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend.Cassell.ISBN0-304-34520-2
- Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall.Dictionary of Northern Mythology.D.S. Brewer.ISBN0-85991-513-1