Vár

Vár (probably from Old Norse várar : "pledges") is a goddess in Norse Mythology.

Snorri Sturluson writes in his Gylfaginning that:

she harkens to the oaths and compacts made between men and women; wherefore such covenants are called 'vows' [várar]. She also takes vengeance on those who perjure themselves.

—Gylfaginning (35), Brodeur's translation

She is invoked during the wedding of the giant Þrymr and his "bride" (in fact Thor):

Then loud spake Thrym,

the giants' leader:

"Bring in the hammer

to hallow the bride;

On the maiden's knees

let Mjollnir lie,

That us both the hand

of Vor may bless."

—Thrymskvitha (30), Bellows' translation

But, as Andy Orchard states, "the antiquity of such a ritual is far from clear".

Britt-Mari Näsström argues that, like many other minor goddesses, Vár was originally one of Freyja's names, "later apprehended as independent goddesses".

Sources

• Bellows, Henry Adams (trans.). 1923. The poetic Edda. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
• Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist (trans.). 1916. Snorri Sturluson: The Prose Edda. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
• Orchard, Andy. 2002. Cassell's dictionary of Norse myth & legend. London: Cassell. First published: 1997. ISBN 0-304-36385-5.
• Näsström, Britt-Mari. 2003. Freyja - the great Goddess of the North. Harwich Port: Clock & Rose, 2003. First published: University of Lund, 1995. ISBN 1-59386-019-6.