The Divine Houses (Norse)
1. Valaskjálfr (“the shivering of the chosen/fallen”), home to the god Váli.
2. Himinbjörg (“sky mountain”, originally “hidden mountain”), home to the god Heimdallr (originally a hermaphrodite).
3. Landvíði ("wood land"), home to the god Víðarr.
4. Søkkvabekkr ("deep creek", "sinking creek"), home to the goddess Sága.
5. Þrúðheimr ("strength world"), home to the god Þórr.
6. Breiðablik ("wide flash"), home to the god Baldr.
7. Nóatun ("ship yard"), home to the god (goddess) Njörðr.
8. Glítnir ("sparkling"), home to the god Týr, alias Forseti.
9. Folkvangr ("folk meadow"), home to the goddess Freyja.
10. Alfheimr ("white world"), home to the god Freyr.
11. Glaðsheimr ("shining light world"), home to the god Óðinn.
12. Þrýmheimr ("noise world"), home to the goddess (god) Skaði.
13. Ýdalir ("yew dale"), home to the god Ullr, alias Höðr.
The Divine Houses (proto-Nordic reconstructions)
1 Walaskelbijo, home to the god Walan.
2. Hemenaberga, home to the hermaphroditic deity Haimadalþaz.
3. Landawaíduz, home to the god Wídanaz.
4. Sinkwabankiz, home to the goddess Sagon.
5. Þruþohaimaz, home to the god Þunaz.
6. Braidoblika, home to the god Balþuz.
7. Nowatuna, home to the goddess Nerþuz.
8. Glítnijaz, home to the god Tíwaz, alias Furasitan.
9. Fulkawangiz, home to the goddess Fraujon.
10. Albahaimaz, home to the god Fraujaz.
11. Gladashaimaz, home to the god Woþanaz.
12. Þrímahaimaz, home to the god Skanþan.
13. Íwadalaz, home to the god Wulþaz, alias Hadnuz.
The first day of the Scandinavian calendar was not the 1st of January, but the New Year's Day, a day between the thirteenth and the first month. It was therefore seen as a world outside all worlds. It was not in the house of a deity, neither in the spirit garden nor in the realm of the dead, it was between autumn and winter, beyond life and death, and was therefore known in the Bronze Age as Medagardaz. We know this garden from the Scandinavian mythology as Miðgarðr ("the garden in the middle").
When I describe the ancient traditions and holidays I use the ancient calendar, and I need to in order to make any sense of it all. The week began with the Sunday, and a celebration of the Sun's life-giving and life-preserving force. They often ate circular shaped food, like pancakes or other round cakes, and ingredients were often vegetables, fruits and meat from animals sacred to the Sun. The Sunday began when the Sun set on the Saturday (around 21:00), and therefore the celebration of the Sunday began on the Saturday eve. The celebration often lasted until dawn Sunday morning. It was sacrilege to work on the Sunday, and the day was supposed to be dedicated to rest, music, poetry and joy.
The Friday was the day of love, and naturally the day of the goddess of love. The second Friday of every month was the Friday of the week of birth, and was therefore seen as a particularly favourable day for marriage. This Friday, the 13th day of every month, was also seen as the birthday of the deity. All the thirteen most important deities' birthdays were celebrated in turn, one every month of the year, and every year.
The Saturday was the last day of the week, and was dedicated to Heimdallr, because he was the deity for the principle; "you harvest what you sow". It was not a holiday, but the day everyone had to wash up well, clean the house and get ready for the next week and the holy Sunday. Clean and without any feelings of guilt.
2.2. The Mysteries
The first holiday of the year was New Year's Day, better known in English as Halloween ("initiation evening"), and in Gaelic as Samhain ("summer's end"). The sorcerers and later the gods (i. e. religious kings) and their challengers dressed up as different creatures with access to the realm of the dead. They fasted and hung their clothes in a tree or the gallows, to make it look as if they had hanged themselves. They wounded themselves with a spear, to bleed, smeared ash or white mud all over their bodies to look like the dead, they put on masks and sacrificed a cow or an ox on the grave mound, so that the blood poured down and into the grave underneath; into the realm of the dead. They then blew a horn, in the Bronze Age a lure, to open up the entrance to the realm of the dead. They then travelled into hollow trees, caves in the mountain, holes in the ground, or more commonly into the burial mounds. These were all seen as entrances to the realm of the dead. Inside, in the darkness of the grave, a woman was waiting for them, sprinkled in the sacrificed animal's blood and dressed like the queen of death. They then took at least some of the objects their dead forebears had been buried with and brought them back out.
The Scandinavian mythology tells us many things about this journey, one of them being a journey made by Heimdallr. Before I speak about that I have to tell you more about this mysterious deity. He was originally the spirit of the world tree, the tree growing on the burial mound, and was, when he turned into a deity in the Bronze Age, given the name Haimadalþaz ("world tree", “tree above the bed”). He was also known as Yggdrasill ("that which demands reverence", or "the terrible horse"). He was indeed originally just a tree, but not any tree; he was the tree of sacrifice. The crown of the tree was located in the sky (Ásgarðr), the trunk of the tree on the burial mound (Miðgarðr, since they visited it on the New Year's Day) and the roots in the realm of death (Hel), inside the burial mound. Therefore he was in contact with all the worlds. In the age of mythology he was regarded as a guardian between Heaven and Earth, and resided at the end of the rainbow in the sky – over the North Pole. He had the power to open up all worlds, by blowing his horn, called Gjallarhorn ("the sharp horn", "horn with piercing sounds").
When Baldr was killed by Höðr, using the mistletoe, Heimdallr volunteered to bring him back. The living had no access to the realm of the dead, but the god of death, Óðinn ("thought", "mind", "spirit", "fury"), obviously had. Heimdallr therefore disguised himself as Óðinn, opened up the gate to the realm of the dead and entered in silence. We know him in this context as the god Hermóðr ("Óðinn/spirit impersonator"). When disguised as Óðinn he could mount and ride Óðinn's horse, Sleipnir (a horse only Óðinn could ride), which is the same as the Trojan Horse we know from Greek mythology, sneak past the giant dog guarding the entrance, and get past the giant woman guarding the bridge across the river of forgetfulness. He tried to be quiet, but she still told him that he made more noise than several dead armies walking across the bridge before him had done. He was still alive, behind his disguise, and therefore he naturally made more noise than the dead, no matter how much he tried to be quiet. He rode for nine nights before he finally arrived and could ask the goddess of the dead, Hel, to bring Baldr back to the world of the living. She refused, but Baldr and his wife, Nanna ("eager", "resourceful", "industrious"), gave him two rings and a blanket, to bring back to the living gods as gifts.
In another myth the goddess Íðunn ("eager", "sustainable", "who likes to work", "diligent", "effective", or "recurring work"), the wife of Bragi ("glory", "first", “winner”), has because of Loki's schemes been abducted by the ettin Þjazi ("noisy") to the realm of the dead, to Jötumheimr ("world of hunger"). Íðunn was also known as Nanna and was Baldr's wife. Bragi was just another name for Baldr. When we know this the meaning of the myth becomes clear. In the myth about Baldr's death, Nanna's heart broke in two from grief when she saw the dead body of Baldr. In this myth she was instead abducted. This might sound a bit confusing, but it makes perfect sense; Baldr died when the mistletoe was removed from the oak tree! Þjazi was not another name for Höðr, Baldr's killer, but another name for the mistletoe itself. This is evident when we know that Þjazi was also called Bölþorn ("bad shoot", "bad branch", "painful thorn"). He is the bad shoot, the sacred branch, that contains the life force of Baldr when the oak tree dies. When cut down it killed Baldr and took Íðunn away, to the realm of the dead.