literature

Daily Deity #256 Nott

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There are many things that all the different pantheons of the world share, and one of them is the personification of certain natural aspects of the world. In the case of Nott, she is the Norse goddess of night. 

Her role is not so much to rule over the night and all the happenings within, but is instead to bring about the night. This might make one think of her as a moon goddess, because that is often a job ascribed to lunar deities, but Norse mythology already has one of them who is actually the god, Mani. Yet, Nott follows the average protocol that involves bringing about a different time of day. 

Like most gods that deal with either a celestial body or a time of day, they are the ones that physically move through the sky and change the time of day. For most of the pantheons, and especially, the Norse pantheon this involves horses. In order for the night to occur, Nott is said to get on her horse and ride throughout the night, until the coming morning. She likely crosses paths with Mani at some point during her ride. For Nott she has Hrimfaxi, which means frost-maned. This horse is the apparent cause of the dew that accumulates on grass that you see in the morning. So, just in case you ever wanted a mythological explanation for that, there it is. Hrimfaxi has a contemporary, which is Skinfaxi, who is the steed of Dellingr (we'll get to him in a moment.) 

Now, we must discuss her family. This is where things get a little bit tricky, because there are two versions to this story and to Norse mythology as a whole. These two versions are rather famous and are called the Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda. There is a whole history on these works, and for the most part, it's why people tend to lean towards the Prose Edda versus the Poetic Edda. We'll first go through the Poetic Edda version, since it's shorter. In this version she is said to be the wife of Dellingr, the god of day. Together they are said to be the parents of Dagr, who is the god of the dawn. So, they maintain a family business.

In the Prose Edda there is a bit of a different timeline of events. Here she is listed to first be married to Naglifari and their son is Audr. Her next husband is Annar, with which she is said to have her daughter Jord, who is the Norse goddess of the Earth. She is then, finally, attributed to Dellingr and their son Dagr. For the most part, it's safer to follow the course set by the Prose Edda and one the examples of why originates from the person that is attributed to being her father in the Poetic Edda. In the Poetic Edda her father is stated to be Norvi, however Norvi is strikingly close to Narvi, which is the son of Loki that is killed by his brother and whose entrails are used to bind Loki beneath the snake. Long story short, that's something that ends up being pretty common in the Poetic Edda, so for our purposes, we're following the stories established by the Prose Edda

Nott takes on a very similar role to the Greek goddess of the night, Nyx. This is mainly in their roles, of course, but also in their age. The night is... old. Like near beginning of creation old. Like one of the first beings to emerge from chaos old. This, for one, attributes to her being the mother of Jord, which in turn makes Nott the grandmother of Thor. So, even though she might not have more than a couple references in the Prose Edda, Nott has an important part to play in both the cycles of the Earth on a daily (or nightly) basis as well as and to the world as a whole, as she is a forebear of the great thunderer himself. 
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isnorden's avatar
Always glad to see my favorite pantheon here!