Origin of the Mythology of Elves, Fairies and Pixies

I think the Scandinavian link can be traced back at the earliest to Snorri Sturluson (1179 - September 23, 1241). He wrote the prose Edda (which included Gylfaginning) over two hundred years after Iceland became Christianized around 1000 AD.

This link will lead to some churches which were built around that time, look out for the dragon heads. http://www.medsca.org/stav_borgund.html

I think in academic circles Jætterne is translated as Jotuns or Jötunn of Utgar; Jötunnheim were the race of giants, separated into categories such as frost and storm giants. . .
 
But why giants? Were they percieved as the movers of the wind, creators of the snow, or like jack frost, did they paint the ice on everything?
 
guthrie said:
But why giants? Were they percieved as the movers of the wind, creators of the snow, or like jack frost, did they paint the ice on everything?
Click to expand...

'Against the gods were arrayed the iotnar (singular: iotunn or Jotun), generally translated as "giants", although "trolls" and "demons" have been suggested as suitable alternatives. Some of these are mentioned by name in the eddas, but they are generally symbolic representations of natural phenomena or psychic states. There were thought to be two general types of giant: the frost-giants, who symbolised the severe winters of the area, and the hill-giants, who symbolised the mountains. '

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_mythology
 
HHmm, again we come across the giants againsst the gods, seen in genesis, and in Prometheus and the titans etc.
 
Jötunnheim is the land of Jætterne, Jötuns is proberly the Swedish spelling of Jætte(Danish), Utgar is another name for Jötunnheim, after the Chief Jætte Udgård Loke(dk spelling).

My problem in translating them is because there are many different Jotuns, there are good and evil, ugly and beautiful, big and small, so you can not just call then trolls or giants. But Jotuns a commenly pictured as trolls and/or giants.
 
Here is a little snipet of something by Varg Vikernes. He's a lunatic and rambles about nothing, but he says some good things sometimes:

"The gods represent different aspects of our self; the Aesir and Aesiress, Vanirs and Disers are all different sides of our consciousness; while Jotuns and Dwarfs are different sides of our subconscious. Helheim and Utgard are our subconscious, while Asgard and Midgard are our conscious. When Balder - as a metaphor for the meaning of life - is murdered he ends up in Helheim. Pretty simple, this means that we have “forgotten” the meaning of life; the meaning of life has been repressed by a Judeo-Christian psychosis.

In the myths the trolls cannot stand sunlight, this is because a thought (a troll) that comes from the subconscious, up in the daylight, in mind; is no longer a subconscious thought (a troll). "

Might be some help.
 
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