| Fornjótr hét maðr. Hann átti þrjá sonu; var einn Hlér, annarr Logi, þriði Kári. Hann réð fyrir vindum, en Logi fyrir eldi, Hlér fyrir sjó. Kári var faðir Jökuls, föður Snæs konungs, en börn Snæs konungs váru þau Þorri, Fönn, Drífa ok Mjöll. Þorri var konungr ágætr. Hann réð fyrir Gotlandi, Kænlandi ok Finnlandi. Hann blótuðu Kænir til þess, at snjóva gerði ok væri skíðfæri gott. Þat er ár þeira. Þat blót skyldi vera at miðjum vetri, ok var þaðan af kallaðr Þorra mánaðr. | There was a man called Fornjot. He had three sons; one was Hler, another Logi, the third Kari; he ruled over winds, but Logi over fire, Hler over the seas. Kari was the father of Jökull, the father of king Snow. But the children of king Snow were these: Thorri, Fönn, Drifa, and Mjol. Thorri was a noble king; he ruled over Gothland, Kvenland, and Finland. To him the Kvens sacrificed that it might be snowy, and that there might be good going on snow-shoon. That was their harvest. That sacrifice was to be at mid-winter; and the month Thorri was called after it. |
From Flateyjarbók Translated by George W. Dasent (Flb, 1.21, 22).
Kári or Kåre is mentioned as a wind god in Flateyjarbók. Wikipedia says he’s a son of Ran and Ægir, but from the excerpt from Flateyjarbók above, we can see that he’s the brother of Ægir. Nevertheless, he’s still one of the Jǫtnar. He’s also connected to the kings of Finland. The word Kári means a gust of wind in Old Norse. It was also used as a man’s name, and still is in the Scandinavian countries.
Some people have a strong aversion towards the Jǫtnar, I don’t. I see them as chaotic and powerful, yes, but not evil. The duality of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ is not something I’ve found to be present as such in Norse Mythology. I’ve seen many ex Judeo-Christians just change the names of their God, saints, demons etc, and hang on to the ideas and values from their old religion. Since I never was a Christian, I’ve never lived by the ideas of good, evil and sin.
Don’t misunderstand me here. I have nothing against Judeo-Christians, or their religion, besides the missionary activity. I fully support religious freedom for everyone. Enough of that, back to the subject at hand. My point here is, that if I needed wind for a voyage at sea, I would first look to Njörðr. If it was for something on land, I would probably call on the four dwarves, but I would have no problem in calling Kári in both of those situations. The same way I’d call on Skaði if it had to do with for example skiing.
What’s your view of the Jǫtnar?
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This post is part of the Pagan Blog Project, created by Rowan Pendragon.
