Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

98 FRIGGLITERARY SOURCES Icelandic codices; Prose Edda(Snorri); Historia Danica (Saxo); Adam of Bremen;inscriptions; place names.One of the VANIR gods inhabiting Asgard, andconcerned with the fertility, prosperity and peaceof the world. The twin of FREYJA and one of thechildren of NJORD. Married to the giantess Gerd,a liaison interpreted by some as representing themarriage of a sky god with the earth resulting inthe harvest. He was, according to the writer Adamof Bremen, represented in the cult temple atUppsala by a dramatically ithyphallic statue. TheFreyr cult was possibly accompanied by a sacredmarriage and he was regarded as the progenitor ofthe royal Swedish Ynglinge dynasty. According tothe Flateyjarbok (Icelandic), the statue of Freyrwas carried around the countryside in a coveredwagon with an attendant priestess to bless theseasons. Other festivals may have included a ritualdrama in which male attendants dressed ineffeminate costumes.Freyr enjoys very ancient links with the boar,considered to possess protective powers, and hehad a sacred animal with golden bristles calledGullinborsti. A sacred stable is described atThrandheim, one of the centers of a horse cultwith which he was also strongly identified. Freyris also associated with a ship cult based on thenotion of a phantom vessel, Skidbladnir orSkioblaonir, large enough to hold all the gods butsmall enough to fold into a man’s pocket.FRIGGORIGIN Nordic (Icelandic) or Germanic. Mothergoddess.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP Viking period (circaAD 700) and earlier, until Christianization (circaAD 1100).SYNONYMS Frija (Germanic).CENTER(S) OF CULT various around Nordicregion.ART REFERENCES stone carvings.LITERARY SOURCES Icelandic codices; Prose Edda(Snorri); Historia Danica (Saxo); inscriptions;place names.The senior AESIR goddess living in Asgard; consortof OTHIN and mother of BALDER. Saxoimplies that she had been the unfaithful spousebut generally she was revered as a regal consortand “queen of heaven.” The Germanic version ofher name, Frija, is the origin of Friday. She isthought to have been closely concerned withchildbirth and midwifery. She may also haveheaded a group of shadowy female deities towhom carved stones were often erected in pre-Christian Europe (Roman matrones) associatedwith fertility and protection of the household.Such stones are generally found in the Rhineland.A weeping goddess occasionally described as takingthe shape of a falcon (see FREYJA).Fu ShenGod of luck. Chinese. He is often linked iniconography with TSAI SHEN, god of wealth, andSHOU LAO, god of longevity. Usually depictedwith his son, and wearing blue robes, which signifyhis official position.FujinGod of winds. Shinto [Japan]. Depicted carryinga sack on his shoulder which contains the fourwinds.FukurokujuGod of luck. Shinto [Japan]. One of seven deitiesin Shintoism concerned with fortune. He isallegedly a Chinese hermit who lived during theSung dynasty and whose name means happiness,wealth and longevity. He is depicted as a little oldman, bald and with a prominent high forehead.