Norse Mythology Research Paper

Everything has an origin or a meaning behind it, right? Nothing is just thought of out the blue, as one might say. People stop everything, and become nervous when they “jinx” themselves. They will then knock on the nearest piece of wood to chase the evil spirits away. It is thought in superstition that these “spirits” will cause irony and make bad luck happen. For example, if one would boast about their good fortune, then the evil spirits would cause horrible things to happen and the persons luck to completely change. Why wood, you might ask. Surely metal or rocks would make a louder racket. Rocks and metal do make a louder racket, but the reason for wood dates back to the time before Christianity and Islam. Pagan groups and cultures, such

In Norse mythology, it is said that there were twelve gods seated at a banquet, when Loki, the uninvited thirteenth god, arrived and killed lots of other gods, and unleashed Ragnarok, the Norse doomsday. (http://mentalfloss.com) Thirteen is unlucky in many mythologies, is that a coincidence?

For further instilled dread, traditional gallows had thirteen steps leading up to them, and the hangman’s rope may have had thirteen coils, though it is closer to something like eight coils. (http://mentalfloss.com) These may have been implemented as a scheme by the nobles to inflict fear in the criminals, and perhaps frighten future criminals from their acts.

A subpart of “lucky thirteen”, and maybe the best known, is Friday the Thirteenth. It is thought that if the thirteenth day of the month falls on a Friday, than that day is considered especially unlucky. You may be able to see that the thirteenth day is unlucky, but why does the day of the week matter? The most reasonable answer goes back roughly to the year

Those caught were then burned at the stake. (http://mentalfloss.com)( http://www.catholic.com) The exact dates are unknown, but legend tells of the execution being on Friday the Thirteenth.

It seems like most superstition is bad luck, does it not? This makes excellent sense too, for it is very possible that superstitions were created influence the younger generation away from wrong-doings. Nevertheless, there are superstitions that are about bringing good luck to a person. Perhaps the most popular being the lucky horseshoe. There are several origins about how horseshoes came to be luck, but they all agree on a couple things; Iron and warding off goblins.

Strange duo right? Wrong. It is for the most part agreed on that horseshoes hanging by doors was good luck. It was thought that the horseshoes would scare away the “goblins” that cause misfortune and haunt your dreams. These goblins were scared of the people’s weapons, in other words, scared of iron. (http://www.livescience.com) It is also thought in several different cultures that iron wards off evil