One of the most important festivals was held at the summer solstice, or midsummer’s eve, in honor of Balder the good, for it was considered the anniversary of his death and of his descent into the lower world. On that day, the longest in the year, all the people congregated out of doors, made great bonfires, and watched the sun, which in extreme Northern latitudes merely touches the horizon ere it rises upon a new day. From midsummer, the days gradually grow shorter, and the sun’s rays less warm, until the winter solstice, which was called the “Mother night,” as it was the longest in the year. Midsummer’s eve, once celebrated in honor of Balder, is now called St. John’s day, that saint having entirely supplanted Balder the good.
CHAPTER XXII.
LOKI.
Besides the hideous giant Utgard-Loki, the personification of mischief and evil, whom Thor and his companions visited in Jötun-heim, the ancient Northern nations had another type of sin, whom they called Loki also, and whom we have already seen under many different aspects.
In the beginning, Loki, who by some mythologists is considered the brother of Odin himself, was only the personification of the hearth fire and of the spirit of life. But other authorities assert that Odin and Loki were not related, and had merely gone through the Northern form of swearing blood brotherhood.
“Odin! dost thou remember
When we in early days
Blended our blood together?
When to taste beer
Thou dids’t constantly refuse
Unless to both ’twas offered?”