Norse Mythology - Creation
From the days of the Vikings, Norse mythology has been one of the most prominent European religions. In the beginning there was a giant void or chasm called Ginnungagap. On one side of the void was Niflheim, the land of fog and ice, in the north, and on the other was Muspelheim, the land of fire, to the south. Part of the ice of Niflheim melted, creating the giant Ymir and the cow Audhumla, who nourished him. Audhumla fed by licking the salty ice, and her licking formed the god Buri. Ymir created the first frost giants, a male and a female, from under his left arm.Odin, the grandson of Buri and the son of Buri's son Bor, killed Ymir, and Ymir's blood drowned all the frost giants except for one, Bergelmir, who fled to continue the race. Odin created the earth from Ymir's body, and Ymir's blood was the sea; his flesh, the earth; his skull, the sky; his bones, the mountains; his hair, the trees.
From Ymir's body grew an ash tree named Yggdrasil, whose branches supported the universe. Yggdrasil had three roots going to each of the three levels of the world. Three springs supplied it with water. One root went into Asgard, the home of the gods, another went to Jotunheim, the land of the giants, and a third went to Niflheim, the primeval land of ice from which Ymir and Audhumla were created. In Jotunheim's spring, Mimir, lay wisdom. Niflheim's spring nourished the adder Nidhogge who gnawed at the roots of Ygdrasil.
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