Freyja
Freyja, daughter of Njörd, is the only female member of the Vanir to be named, and her name translates simply to ‘lady’. Snorri is full of praise for her:
Freyja is the most splendid of the goddesses. She has a home in heaven called Folkvangar [‘warriors’ fields’. Wherever she rides into battle, half of the slain belong to her… She drives a chariot drawn by two cats. She is easily approachable for people who want to pray to her… She delights in love songs, and it is good to call on her in matters of love. (Gylfaginning, 24)
Snorri describes Freyja as ‘beautiful and powerful’ (Gylfaginning, 24). Her beauty makes Freyja the frequent subject of the jötnar’s amorous attentions, and her gigantic suitors are slain by Thor. She is also attested to be promiscuous, and is accused of nymphomania by Loki – ‘of the Æsir and the elves, who are in here/ each one has been your lover’ (Lokasenna, 30) – and even of incest: ‘you were astride your brother, all the laughing gods surprised you/ and then, Freyja, you farted’ (Lokasenna, 32). This promiscuity explains why ‘it is good to call on her in matters of love’.
Like Thor, Freyja’s popularity rose in the last years of Norse paganism. We have preserved a record from Iceland in which a Christian was outlawed (a serious punishment, which meant the condemned could be killed without penalty by anyone) for blaspheming her name. This man, Hjalti Skeggjason, sang a ditty in which he called Freyja a bitch (probably meaning ‘whore’ in this context) at an assembly. By contrast to the depiction of women in the Abrahamic religions, Freyja’s sexual potency is praised, and she is so powerful a goddess that she shares dead warriors only with Odin.
