Odin Gregorjanski – male
((Low German Wodan; south German Wuotan) Germanic god, described in the Edda as the chief of the Aesir (→ As) the husband of → Frigg. He is god of war, patron of heroes and ‘father of the dead’ (Walvater). He is served by the → Valkyries. Sacred to the god are the wolf and the raven; and two ravens, Hugin and Munin, whisper into his ear what they have seen on their flight through the world. The name Odin/Wodan is connected with the German word Wut = rage, fury. Wodan is the god of ecstasy, of magic (runic magic) and of the art of poetry; and to achieve wisdom he sacrificed one of his eyes. In saga and in popular belief he appears as a one-eyed warrior armed with a spear, or as a wanderer in a blue mantle with a floppy hat. Finally, he is also the leader of the ‘wild army’ of peregrinating souls. One of his epithets is Grimnir (‘the masked one’) – this because of his fondness for changing his outward shape (e.g. into eagle or snake) and for disguises. Other specific epithets are Hangagud (‘god of the hanged’) and Bölverkr (‘harm-bringer’). In Scandinavia and in England, the third day of the week is called after him – English Wednesday. In the myth, Odin is swallowed by → Fenrir at Ragnarök, the destruction of the world. Early medieval bracteates show the god threatened by a monster; he is accompanied by two birds and sometimes by a deer. |
Orion Gregorjanski – male
Orion Son of the Greek sea-god → Poseidon. He was a mighty hunter who was abducted by → Eos to be her lover. But the Olympians begrudged Eos her possession of the beautiful youth, and he was killed by an arrow from → Artemis; according to another version, however, he was slain because he made sexual advances to the goddess herself or to one of her nymphs. Orion was elevated to the stars, where his constellation is still to be seen. |
Orpheus Gregorjanski – male
Orpheus The son of the Thracian river-god Oiagros and the Muse → Kalliópe. Apóllon is often said to be his father. Orpheus can charm plants and animals with his singing and his luteplaying. When his wife Eurydice died, he moved the gods of the underworld so deeply with his singing that they restored her to him – but she had to go back to the underworld again because Orpheus disobeyed the command of the gods and looked round at her. Later, he was torn to pieces by Thracian Maenads and interred by the → Muses. |
Oya Gregorjanska – female
Oya Mother-goddess of the Yoruba people in Nigeria. She is the ‘good mother’, but as goddess of storms she has her terrifying aspect as well. She can even bend the spirits of the dead to do her bidding. She is goddess of dancing and is accordingly represented on the rods carried by Yoruba women in folkdances. |
