Misplaced Pages

#126873

126-518: Concepts of time and space play a major role in the Old Norse corpus's presentation of Norse cosmology. While events in Norse mythology describe a somewhat linear progression, various scholars in ancient Germanic studies note that Old Norse texts may imply or directly describe a fundamental belief in cyclic time . According to scholar John Lindow , "the cosmos might be formed and reformed on multiple occasions by

252-576: A night shift . Nightlife , encompassing bars, nightclubs, and cultural venues, has become a significant part of urban culture, contributing to social and political movements. A planet's rotation causes nighttime and daytime . When a place on Earth is pointed away from the Sun, that location experiences night. The Sun appears to set in the West and rise in the East due to Earth's rotation. Many celestial bodies, including

378-903: A vomeronasal organ that enhances their sense of smell. Bats heavily depend on echolocation . Echolocation allows an animal to navigate with their sense of hearing by emitting sounds and listening for the time it takes them to bounce back. Bats emit a steady stream of clicks while hunting insects and home in on prey as thin as human hair. People and other diurnal animals sleep primarily at night. Humans, other mammals, and birds experience multiple stages of sleep visible via electroencephalography . The stages of sleep are wakefulness , three stages of non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM) including deep sleep , and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep . During REM sleep, dreams are more frequent and complex. Studies show that some reptiles may also experience REM sleep. During deep sleep, memories are consolidated into long-term memory . Invertebrates most likely experience

504-412: A certain grain raw; but they immediately burst into laughter, because they knew that one ought not eat it so ... and since then men imitate them whenever they have this grain cooked. The Bagadjimbiri threw a primal (a kind of large baton) at an animal and killed it—and this is how men have done it ever since. A great many myths describe the manner in which the brothers Bagadjimbiri founded all the customs of

630-449: A circle. Not historical time, which runs in a line." Jean Cocteau 's screenplay for L'Éternel retour portrays the timeless nature of the myth of Tristan and Isolde . The Heavy Metal band Therion released "Eternal Return" on their 2000 album " Deggial ." The song is thematically in line with Eliade's concept of the eternal return and would seem to be inspired by it. In Milan Kundera 's book, The Unbearable Lightness of Being ,

756-549: A closed circle, always returning to the sacred time celebrated during the New Year: the cosmos's entire duration is limited to one year, which repeats itself indefinitely. These ritual cycles do more than give humans a sense of value. Because traditional man identifies reality with the Sacred, he believes that the world can endure only if it remains in sacred time. He periodically revives sacred time through myths and rituals in order to keep

882-561: A form of sleep as well. Studies on bees, which have complex but unrelated brain structures, have shown improvements in memory after sleep, similar to mammals. Compared to waking life, dreams are sparse with limited sensory detail. Dreams are hallucinatory or bizarre, and they often have a narrative structure. Many hypotheses exist to explain the function of dreams without a definitive answer. Nightmares are dreams that cause distress. The word "night-mare" originally referred to nocturnal demons that were believed to assail sleeping dreamers, like

1008-482: A greater percentage of rod cells. In most mammals, rod cells contain densely packed DNA near the edge of the nucleus. For nocturnal mammals, this is reversed with the densely packed DNA in the center of the nucleus, which reduces the scattering of light. Some nocturnal animals have a mirror, the tapetum lucidum , behind the retina . This doubles the amount of light their eyes can process. The compound eyes of insects can see at even lower levels of light. For example,

1134-400: A magical power over them". The way a thing was created establishes that thing's nature, the pattern to which it should conform. By gaining control over the origin of a thing, one also gains control over the thing itself. Eliade concluded that, if origin and power are to be the same, "it is the first manifestation of a thing that is significant and valid". The Sacred first manifested itself in

1260-462: A major part of the economy and urban planning in modern cities. People who prefer to be active at night are called night owls . Social movements in the 20th century including feminism , black activism, the gay rights movement , and community action blurred the lines between political action and broader cultural activities, making political movements a part of the nightlife. Sociologists have argued that vibrant city nightlife scenes contribute to

1386-419: A male and female jötunn, "and one of his legs begot a son with another", and these limbs too produced children. Ymir fed from rivers of milk that flowed from the teats of the primordial cow, Auðumbla . Auðumbla fed from salt she licked from rime stones. Over the course of three days, she licked free a beautiful and strong man, Búri . Búri's son Borr married a jötunn named Bestla , and the two had three sons:

SECTION 10

#1732852131127

1512-513: A metaphor for nocturnal danger. Roman poets like Marcus Manilius and Aratus worked late into the night and incorporated darkness and the night sky into their writing. Since the Age of Enlightenment , nocturnal settings have been a frequent place for passionate chaos as a counterbalance to the rationality present during the day. In Gothic fiction , this absence of rationality offered a space for lust and terror. Ottoman literature portrayed night as

1638-532: A much broader definition of "myth" than many professional folklorists. According to the classical definition used by folklorists, many Greek stories conventionally called "myths" are not myths, precisely because they fall outside a sacred age of origins. ) Even Wendy Doniger, a religious-studies scholar and Eliade's successor at the University of Chicago, claims (in the Introduction to Eliade's own Shamanism ) that

1764-496: A much higher rate. Before the industrial era , night was a time of heightened insecurity. Fear of the night was common but varied in intensity across cultures. Dangers increased due to lower visibility. Injuries and deaths were caused by drowning and falling into pits, ditches, and shafts. People were less able to evaluate others after dark. Due to nocturnal alcohol consumption and the anonymity of darkness, quarrels were more likely to escalate to violence. In medieval Stockholm ,

1890-421: A pessimistic vision of existence . When it is no longer a vehicle for reintegrating a primordial situation ... that is, when it is desacralized , cyclic time becomes terrifying; it is seen as a circle forever turning on itself, repeating itself to infinity. When the world becomes desacralized, the traditional cyclic view of time is too firmly entrenched to simply vanish. It survives, but in a profane form (such as

2016-470: A single side. Gangs were uncommon except for housebreaking . The increased humidity of night was deemed the result of vapors and fumes. The annual movements of stars and constellations across the night sky were used to track the passage of time, but other changes in the night sky were interpreted as significant omens . Many daytime religious, governmental, and local social controls dissipated after nightfall. Fortified Christian communities announced

2142-664: A time for forbidden or unrequited love . Night and day were long depicted as opposite conditions. The electric light, the industrial revolution, and shift work brought many aspects of daily life into the night. The author Charles Dickens lived in London during the time of gas lighting and compared the unstable separation between the waking and sleeping city, to the unstable separation he perceived between dream and delusion. Night in contemporary literature offers liminal settings, such as hospitals and gas stations, that contain some aspects of daily life. Night fell, while Helga Crane in

2268-405: A transcendent reality". Something in our world is only "real" to the extent that it conforms to the Sacred or the patterns established by the Sacred. Hence, there is profane space, and there is sacred space. Sacred space is space where the Sacred manifests itself; unlike profane space, sacred space has a sense of direction: In the homogeneous and infinite expanse, in which no point of reference

2394-400: A vision of where all events occurring after the mythical age cannot have value or reality); he indicated that, if the Sacred's essence lies only in its first appearance, then any later appearance must actually be the first appearance. Thus, an imitation of a mythical event is actually the mythical event itself, happening again— myths and rituals carry one back to the mythical age: In imitating

2520-411: Is Neurospora crassa , a bread mold, widely used to study biorhythms. During the day, plants engage in photosynthesis and release oxygen . By night, plants engage in respiration , consuming oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide. Plants can draw up more water after sunset, which facilitates new leaf growth. As plants cannot create energy through photosynthesis after sunset, they use energy stored in

2646-427: Is an idea for interpreting religious behavior proposed by the historian Mircea Eliade ; it is a belief expressed through behavior (sometimes implicitly, but often explicitly) that one is able to become contemporary with or return to the " mythical age"—the time when the events described in one's myths occurred. It should be distinguished from the philosophical concept of eternal return . According to Eliade, all

SECTION 20

#1732852131127

2772-470: Is embodied by Nótt . Ratri and Nött are goddesses of sleep and rest, but it's common for personifications to be associated with misfortune. In Aztec Mythology, Black Tezcatlipoca , the "Night Wind", was associated with obsidian and the nocturnal jaguar. In his "Precious Owl" manifestation, the Aztecs regarded Tezcatlipoca as the bringer of death and destruction. The Aztecs anticipated an unending night when

2898-422: Is expressed by the words for earth or world. ... The cosmos is conceived [of] as a living unity that is born, develops, and dies on the last day of the year, to be reborn on New Year's Day. ... At every New Year, time begins ab initio . The New Year ritual reenacts the mythical beginning of the cosmos. Therefore, by the logic of the eternal return, each New Year is the beginning of the cosmos. Thus, time flows in

3024-452: Is less like the eternal return in most traditional societies (for whom time has an objective beginning, to which one should return) and more like the philosophical concept of eternal return—an endless cosmic cycle, with no beginning and, thus, no inherently sacred time. Although immensely influential in religious studies, the ideas behind Eliade's hypothesis of the eternal return are less well accepted in anthropology and sociology. According to

3150-470: Is nostalgic: by retelling and reenacting mythical events, Australian Aborigines aim to evoke and relive the Dreamtime. However, Kirk believes that Native American myths "are not evocative or nostalgic in tone, but tend to be detailed and severely practical". In many Native American mythologies, animals once acted like humans, during the mythical age; but they don't any longer: the division between animals and men

3276-399: Is now a firm one, and according to Kirk, "that in itself reduces the effectiveness of myth-telling as a reconstitution" of the mythical age. As for Greek myths, many of them fall outside any sacred age of origins: this challenges Eliade's claim that almost all myths are about origins, and that people retell and reenact myths to return to the time of origins. (Note that the classicist Kirk uses

3402-671: Is personified as Dagr (Old Norse 'day'); and Dagr's father, the god Dellingr (Old Norse 'shining'), may in some manner personify the dawn . Bodies of water also receive personification, such as the goddess Rán , her jötunn husband Ægir , and their wave-maiden children, the Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán . Yggdrasil is a tree central to the Norse concept of the cosmos. The tree's branches extend into various realms, and various creatures dwell on and around it. The gods go to Yggdrasil daily to assemble at their things, traditional governing assemblies . The branches of Yggdrasil extend far into

3528-449: Is possible and hence no orientation is established, the hierophany [appearance of the Sacred] reveals an absolute fixed point, a center. Where the Sacred intersects our world, it appears in the form of ideal models (e.g., the actions and commandments of gods or mythical heroes). All things become truly "real" by imitating these models. Eliade claims: "For archaic man, reality is a function of

3654-453: Is profane, and sacredness lies in cyclic time. But, in Buddhism, Jainism , and some forms of Hinduism, even cyclic time has become profane. The Sacred cannot be found in the mythical age; it exists outside all ages. Thus, human fulfilment does not lie in returning to a sacred time, but in escaping from time altogether, in "a transcendence of the cosmos." In these religions, the "eternal return"

3780-515: Is the only extant Greek tragedy where night is explicitly invoked and made an element of the story. In the play, night is a time of disorder and confusion that allows Odysseus to sneak into the Trojan camp and kill King Rhesus of Thrace . The handful of surviving classical Classical Greek texts that describe the nocturnal activities of women portray female freedom especially to speak openly, male anxieties about that freedom, and magic that functions as

3906-422: Is the time when the Sacred entered our world, giving it form and meaning: "The manifestation of the sacred ontologically founds the world". Thus, the mythical age is sacred time, the only time that has value for traditional man. According to Eliade, in the archaic worldview, the power of a thing resides in its origin, so that "knowing the origin of an object, an animal, a plant, and so on is equivalent to acquiring

Norse cosmology - Misplaced Pages Continue

4032-514: Is those who die of sickness or old age. The Old Norse corpus does not clearly list the Nine Worlds, if it provides them at all. However, some scholars have proposed identifications for the nine. For example, Henry Adams Bellows (1923) says that the Nine Worlds consist of Ásgarðr , Vanaheimr , Álfheimr , Miðgarðr , Jötunheimr , Múspellsheimr , Svartálfaheimr , Niflheimr (sometimes Hel ), and perhaps Niðavellir . Some editions of translations of

4158-563: Is tidally locked to Earth; it rotates so that one side of the Moon always faces the Earth. The side of the Moon facing away from Earth is called the far side of the Moon and the side facing Earth is called the near side of the Moon . During lunar night on the near side, Earth is 50 times brighter than a full moon. Because the Moon has no atmosphere, there is an abrupt transition from day to night without twilight. Night varies from planet to planet within

4284-644: The Aztec personification of the Milky Way. The elongated Egyptian goddess Nut and N!adima from Botswana are said to consume the Sun at dusk. In the Ancient Egyptian religion , the Sun then travels through the netherworld inside Nut's body, where it is reborn at dawn. Many cultures have personified the night. Ratri is the star-covered Hindu goddess of the night. In the Icelandic Prose Edda , night

4410-598: The Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda feature illustrations of what the author or artist suspects the Nine Worlds to be in part based on the Völuspá stanza above. Ask and Embla—male and female respectively—were the first two humans, created by the gods from driftwood they encounter on a shore. The gods who form these first humans vary by source: According to the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá , they are Hœnir, Lóðurr and Odin, whereas in

4536-544: The Prose Edda they are Odin, Vili, and Vé. Ragnarök is a series of future events, including a great battle, foretold to ultimately result in the death of a number of major figures (including various deities), the occurrence of various natural disasters, and the subsequent submersion of the world in water. Afterward, the world will resurface anew and fertile, the surviving and returning gods will meet, and mankind will be repopulated by Líf and Lífþrasir , who will emerge from Yggdrasil. Cyclic time The " eternal return "

4662-538: The Solar System . Mars 's dusty atmosphere causes a lengthy twilight period. The refracted light ranges from purple to blue, often resulting in glowing noctilucent clouds . Venus and Mercury have long nights because of their slow rotational periods. The planet Venus rotates once every 243 Earth days. Because of its unusual retrograde rotation, nights last 116.75 Earth days. The dense greenhouse atmosphere on Venus keeps its surface hot enough to melt lead throughout

4788-607: The Tigris has its model in the star Anunit and the Euphrates in the star of the Swallow . A Sumerian text tells of the "place of the creation of the gods," where "the [divinity of] the flocks and grains" is to be found. For the Ural–Altaic peoples the mountains, in the same way, have an ideal archetype in the sky. In Egypt , places and nomes were named after the celestial "fields": first

4914-456: The Tzitzimīmeh , skeletal female star deities, would descend to consume all humans. In classical mythology, the night goddess Nyx  is the mother of Sleep , Death , Disease, Strife , and Doom . In Jewish culture and mysticism , the demon Lilith embodies the emotional reactions to darkness including terror, lust, and liberation. Nighttime in the pre-industrial period, often called

5040-424: The central nervous system of their prey, allowing the fungi to control the actions of the dying insect. During the late afternoon, the fungi will pilot their prey to higher elevation where wind currents can carry its spores further. The fungi will kill and digest the insect as night falls, extending fruiting bodies from the host's exoskeleton. Few species of fungi have true circadian rhythms. A notable exception

5166-577: The elephant hawk moth can see in color, including ultraviolet , with only starlight. Nocturnal insects navigate using moonlight, lunar phases, infrared vision, the position of the stars, and the Earth's magnetic field. Artificial lighting disrupts the biorhythms of many animals. Night-flying insects that use the moon for navigation are especially vulnerable to disorientation from increasing levels of artificial lighting. Artificial lights attract many night-flying insects that die from exhaustion and nocturnal predators. Decreases in insect populations disrupt

Norse cosmology - Misplaced Pages Continue

5292-594: The incubus (male) or succubus (female). It was believed that the demons could sit upon a dreamer's chest to suffocate a victim, as depicted in John Henry Fuseli's The Nightmare . Fungi can sense the presence and absence of light, and the nightly changes of most fungi growth and biological processes are direct responses to either darkness or falling temperatures. By night, fungi are more engaged in synthesizing cellular components and increasing their biomass. For example, fungi that preys on insects will infect

5418-526: The loup-garou and rougarou —were believed to be people who transformed into beasts at night. In West Africa and among the African diaspora , there is a widespread tradition of a type of vampire who removes their human skin at night and travels as a blood-sucking ball of light. Variation includes the feu-follet , Surinamese asema , and Caribbean sukuyan , Ashanti obayifo , and Ghanaian asanbosam . The medieval fear of night-flying European witches

5544-447: The "night season", was associated with darkness and uncertainty. Various cultures have regarded the night as a time when ghosts and other spirits are active on Earth. When Protestant theologians abandoned the concept of purgatory , many came to view reported ghost sightings as the result of demonic activity. In the sixteenth century, Swiss theologian Ludwig Lavater began attempting to explain reported spirits as mistakes, deceit, or

5670-446: The 1600s, the major European cities introduced streetlights. These were lit by lamplighters each evening outside of the summer months. Early street lights were metal and glass enclosures housing candles or  oil lamps . They were suspended above streets or mounted on posts. The use of artificial lighting led to an increase in acceptable nightlife. In more rural areas, night remained a period of rest and nocturnal labor. Young adults,

5796-562: The Dreamtime" (the Australian mythical age) "into the present with potent and fruitful results". However, Kirk argues, Eliade takes this Australian phenomenon and applies it to other cultures uncritically. In short, Kirk sees Eliade's theory of eternal return as a universalization of the Australian Dreamtime concept. As two counterexamples to the eternal return, Kirk cites Native American mythology and Greek mythology. The eternal return

5922-502: The Karadjeri, and even their behavior. The mythical age was the time when the Sacred appeared and established reality. For traditional man, Eliade argues, (1) only the first appearance of something has value; (2) only the Sacred has value; and, therefore, (3) only the first appearance of the Sacred has value. Because the Sacred first appeared in the mythical age, only the mythical age has value. According to Eliade's hypothesis, "primitive man

6048-528: The Sun and shorter when a hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun. As a result, the longest night of the year for the Northern Hemisphere will be the shortest night of the year for the Southern Hemisphere . Night's duration varies least near the equator . The difference between the shortest and longest night increases approaching the poles . At the equator, night lasts roughly 12 hours throughout

6174-631: The Supernatural Beings are ritually re-created. In Kimberley the rock paintings, which are believed to have been painted by the Ancestors, are repainted in order to reactivate their creative force, as it was first manifested in the mythical times, at the beginning of the World. Every New Year, the people of Mesopotamia reenacted the Enuma Elish , a creation myth, in which the god Marduk slays Tiamat ,

6300-615: The author fixates around the theme of eternal return. This is especially evident in his exploration of the concept of lightness. Night Night or nighttime is the period of darkness when the Sun is below the horizon . The opposite of nighttime is daytime . Sunlight illuminates one side of the Earth, leaving the other in darkness. Earth's rotation causes the appearance of sunrise and sunset . Moonlight , airglow , starlight , and light pollution dimly illuminate night. The duration of day, night, and twilight varies depending on

6426-485: The background. Lower budget films are more likely to use day for night shooting, larger budget films are more likely to film at night with artificial lighting. Cinematographers have used tinting, filters, color balance settings, and physical lights to color night scenes blue. In low light, people experience the Purkinje effect which causes reds to dim so that more blue is perceived. As light decreases towards total darkness,

SECTION 50

#1732852131127

6552-433: The catastrophes and horrors of history—from collective deportations and massacres to atomic bombings—if beyond them he can glimpse no sign, no transhistorical meaning; if they are only the blind play of economic, social, or political forces, or, even worse, only the result of the 'liberties' that a minority takes and exercises directly on the stage of universal history? We know how, in the past, humanity has been able to endure

6678-420: The celestial fields were known, then they were identified in terrestrial geography. Further, there is profane time, and there is sacred time. According to Eliade, myths describe a time that is fundamentally different from historical time (what modern man would consider "normal" time). "In short," says Eliade, "myths describe ... breakthroughs of the sacred (or the 'supernatural') into the World". The mythical age

6804-606: The ceremony is called "repair" or "fixing" of the world, and, in English, "New Year". Its purpose is to re-establish or strengthen the Earth for the following year or two years. To some, the theory of the eternal return may suggest a view of traditional societies as stagnant and unimaginative, afraid to try anything new. However, Eliade argues that the eternal return does not lead to "a total cultural immobility". If it did, traditional societies would never have changed or evolved, and "ethnology knows of no single people that has not changed in

6930-478: The changes brought by nightfall, including darkness, increased humidity, and lower temperatures. Their responses include direct reactions and adjustments to circadian rhythms , governed by an internal biological clock . These circadian rhythms, regulated by exposure to light and darkness, affect an organism's behavior and physiology . Animals more active at night are called nocturnal and have adaptations for low light, including different forms of night vision and

7056-453: The city's marketability but also something to be managed in order to reduce activities viewed as disorderly, risky, or otherwise problematic. Urban renewal policies have increased the available possibilities for nighttime consumers and decreased the non-commercial nocturnal activities outside of sanctioned festivals and concerts. In literature, night is often associated with mysterious, hidden, dangerous, and clandestine activities. Rhesus

7182-710: The classicist Geoffrey Kirk , this is because Eliade overextends the application of his ideas: for example, Eliade claims that the modern myth of the "noble savage" results from the religious tendency to idealize the primordial, mythical age. Kirk claims that Eliade's relative unpopularity among anthropologists and sociologists also results from Eliade's assumption—essential for belief in the eternal return as Eliade formulates it—that primitive and archaic cultures had concepts such as "being" and "real", although they lacked words for them. Kirk thinks Eliade's theory of eternal return applies to some cultures. Specifically, he agrees that Australian Aborigines used myths and rituals "to bring

7308-437: The coming darkness with horns, church bells , or drums. This alerted residents—like peasants working the fields—to return home before the city gates shut. The English engaged in a daily process of "shutting in", where valuables were brought into homes before they were bolted, barred, locked, and shuttered . Many English and European towns attempted to impose curfews during the medieval period and gradually loosened

7434-407: The course of time". The mere fact that traditional societies have colonized new lands and invented new technologies proves that the eternal return hasn't suppressed their sense of initiative. Far from suppressing creativity, Eliade argues, the eternal return promotes it: There is no reason to hesitate before setting out on a sea voyage, because the mythical Hero has already made [such a voyage] in

7560-809: The darkness of night. Light and darkness also affect circadian rhythms, the physical and mental changes that occur in a 24-hour cycle. This daily cycle is regulated by an internal " biological clock " that is adjusted by exposure to light. The length and timing of nighttime depend on location and time of year. Organisms that are more active at night possess adaptations to the night's dimmer light, increased humidity, and lower temperatures. Animals that are active primarily at night are called nocturnal and usually possess adaptations for night vision. In vertebrates' eyes, two types of photoreceptor cells sense light. Cone cells sense color but are ineffective in low light; rod cells sense only brightness but remain effective in very dim light. The eyes of nocturnal animals have

7686-440: The day in black and white. The sections of the monochrome film reel with exterior night scenes were soaked in an acidic dye, that tinted the whole scene blue. " Day for night " is a set of cinematic techniques that simulate a night scene while filming in daylight. They include underexposing to the soften scene, using a graduated neutral-density filter to mute lighting, and setting up the artificial lighting to amplify shadows in

SECTION 60

#1732852131127

7812-485: The definitions given up till now of the religious phenomenon have one thing in common: Each has its own way of showing that the sacred and the religious life are the opposite of the profane and secular life . This concept had already been extensively formulated by the French sociologist Émile Durkheim in 1912. Scholars such as Jack Goody gave evidence that it may not be universal. This sharp distinction between

7938-618: The development of culture and political movements. David Grazian cites as examples the development of beat poetry , musical styles including bebop , urban blues , and early rock, and the importance of nightlife for the development of the gay rights movement in the United States kicked off by the riots at the Stonewall Inn nightclub in Greenwich Village , Lower Manhattan , New York City . odern cities treat nightlife as necessary to

8064-460: The difference in day to night temperature shifts increases dramatically. Some exoplanets, like those of TRAPPIST-1 , are tidally locked . Tidally locked planets have equal rotation and orbital periods, so one side experiences constant day, and the other side constant night. In these situations, astrophysicists believe that life would most likely develop in the twilight zone between the day and night hemispheres. Living organisms react directly to

8190-457: The earth's lands with sea, forming a circle. From Ymir's skull they made the sky, which they placed above the earth in four points, each held by a dwarf ( Norðri, Suðri, Austri and Vestri —Old Norse 'north, south, east, and west', respectively). After forming the dome of the Earth, the brothers Odin , Vili and Vé took sparks of light from Muspell and placed them around the Earth, both above and below. Some remained fixed and others moved through

8316-481: The earth. The Nine Worlds receive a second and final mention in the Poetic Edda in stanza 43 of the poem Vafþrúðnismál , where the wise jötunn Vafþrúðnir engages in a deadly battle of wits with the disguised god Odin: Vafthruthnir spake : "Of the runes of the gods and the giants' race The truth indeed can I tell, (For to every world have I won;) To nine worlds came I, to Niflhel beneath, The home where dead men dwell." Vafthrudnir said: "I can tell you

8442-432: The equator, day quickly transitions to night, while the transition can take weeks near the poles. The duration of twilight is longest at the summer solstice and shortest near the equinoxes. Moonlight , starlight , airglow , and light pollution can dimly illuminates the nighttime, with their diffuse aspects being termed skyglow . The amount of skyglow increases each year due to artificial lighting . Night exists on

8568-504: The eternal return as something positive, even necessary. However, in some religions, such as Buddhism and certain forms of Hinduism , the traditional cyclic view of time becomes a source of terror: In certain highly evolved societies, the intellectual élites progressively detach themselves from the patterns of traditional religion. The periodical resanctification of cosmic time then proves useless and without meaning. ... But repetition emptied of its religious content necessarily leads to

8694-418: The eternal return does not apply to all myths and rituals, although it may apply to many of them. In T. A. Barron 's The Lost Years of Merlin (the "Sacred Time" chapter), Merlin's mother says that "stories"—specifically, myths—are "real enough to help [her] live. And work. And find the meaning hidden in every dream, every leaf, every drop of dew." She states that "they dwell in sacred time, which flows in

8820-431: The events of the mythical age; hence, traditional man sees the mythical age as the foundation of value. Eliade's theory implies that as the power of a thing lies in its origin, the entire world's power lies in the cosmogony . If the Sacred established all valid patterns in the beginning, during the time recorded in myth, then the mythical age is sacred time—the only time that contains any value. Man's life only has value to

8946-551: The exemplary acts of a god or of a mythic hero , or simply by recounting their adventures, the man of an archaic society detaches himself from profane time and magically re-enters the Great Time, the sacred time. Myth and ritual are vehicles of "eternal return" to the mythical age. Traditional man's myth- and ritual-filled life constantly unites him with sacred time, giving his existence value. As an example of this phenomenon, Eliade cites church services, by which churchgoers "return" to

9072-605: The extent that it conforms to the patterns of the mythical age. The religion of the Australian Aboriginals is supposed to contain many examples of the veneration paid to the mythical age. Just before the dawn of the first day, the Bagadjimbiri brothers emerged from the Earth in the form of dingos , and then turned into human giants whose heads touched the sky. Before the Bagadjimbiri came, nothing had existed. But when

9198-405: The fabulous Time. All that is needed is to follow his example. Similarly, there is no reason to fear settling an unknown, wild territory, because one knows what to do. One has merely to repeat the cosmogonic ritual, whereupon the unknown territory (= "Chaos") is transformed into "Cosmos". According to Eliade, traditional man has endless creative possibilities because "the possibilities for applying

9324-453: The festival of the previous year or in the festival of a century earlier." According to Eliade, some traditional societies express their cyclic experience of time by equating the world with the year: In a number of North American Indian languages the term world (= Cosmos) is also used in the sense of year. The Yokuts says "the world has passed," meaning "a year has gone by." For the Yuki, the year

9450-486: The full acceptance of linear, historical time, with its "terror", is one of the reasons for modern man 's anxieties . Traditional societies escape this anxiety to an extent, as they refuse to completely acknowledge historical time. Eliade describes the difference between ancient and modern man's reactions to history, as well as modern man's impotence before the terror of history, as follows: In our day, when historical pressure no longer allows any escape, how can man tolerate

9576-514: The gods Odin , Vili and Vé . The sons killed Ymir, and Ymir's blood poured across the land, producing great floods that killed all of the jötnar but two ( Bergelmir and his unnamed wife, who sailed across the flooded landscape). Odin, Vili, and Vé took Ymir's corpse to the center of Ginnungagap and carved it. They made the earth from Ymir's flesh; the rocks from his bones; from his blood the sea, lakes, and oceans; and scree and stone from his molars, teeth, and remaining bone fragments. They surrounded

9702-406: The gods lived. Personifications, such as those of astronomical objects , time , and water bodies occur in Norse mythology. The Sun is personified as a goddess, Sól (Old Norse 'Sun'); the moon is personified as a male entity, Máni (Old Norse 'moon'); and the Earth too is personified ( Jörð , Old Norse 'earth'). Night appears personified as the female jötunn Nótt (Old Norse 'night'); day

9828-516: The heavens, and the tree is supported by three roots that extend far away into other locations; one to the well Urðarbrunnr in the heavens, one to the spring Hvergelmir , and another to the well Mímisbrunnr . Creatures live within Yggdrasil, including the dragon Níðhöggr , an unnamed eagle , and the stags Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór . Old Norse texts mention the existence of Níu Heimar , translated by scholars as "Nine Worlds". According to

9954-770: The heightening of other senses. Diurnal animals are active during the day and sleep at night; mammals, birds, and some others dream while asleep. Fungi respond directly to nightfall and increase their biomass. With some exceptions, fungi do not rely on a biological clock. Plants store energy produced through photosynthesis as starch granules to consume at night. Algae engage in a similar process, and cyanobacteria transition from photosynthesis to nitrogen fixation after sunset. In arid environments like deserts, plants evolved to be more active at night, with many gathering carbon dioxide overnight for daytime photosynthesis. Night-blooming cacti rely on nocturnal pollinators such as bats and moths for reproduction. Light pollution disrupts

10080-439: The horizon. During nautical twilight, the horizon is visible enough for navigation. "Astronomical" twilight continues until the Sun has sunk 18 degrees below the horizon. Beyond 18 degrees, refracted sunlight is no longer visible. The period when the sun is 18 or more degrees below either horizon is called astronomical night. Similar to the duration of night itself, the duration of twilight varies according to latitude . At

10206-441: The human eye has more scotopic vision , relying more rod cells and less able to perceive color. Night photography can capture the natural colors of night by increasing the exposure time , or length of time captured in the photography. Longer exposures open the possibility for photographers to use light painting to selectively illuminate a scene. Digital photography can also make use of high-ISO settings , which increase

10332-654: The imitation of a celestial archetype ." As evidence for this view, in The Myth of the Eternal Return , he cites a belief of the Iranian Zurvanites . The Zurvanites believed that each thing on Earth corresponds to a sacred, celestial counterpart: for the physical sky, there is a sacred sky; for the physical Earth, there is a sacred Earth; actions are virtuous by conforming to a sacred pattern. These are some other examples Eliade gives: According to Mesopotamian beliefs ,

10458-508: The late evening into the early morning. It has traditionally included venues such as pubs , bars , nightclubs , live music , concerts , cabarets , theatre , Hookah lounges , cinemas , and shows. Nightlife entertainment is often more adult -oriented than daytime entertainment. It also includes informal gatherings like parties , botellón , gymkhanas , bingo , and amateur sports. In many cities, there has been an increasing focus on nightlife catering to tourists. Nightlife has become

10584-639: The limited water availability in arid environments like deserts . The stomata of cacti do not open until night. When the temperature drops, the pores open to allow the cacti to store carbon dioxide for photosynthesis the next day, a process known as crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM). Cacti and most night-blooming plants use CAM to store up to 99% of the carbon dioxide they use in daily photosynthesis. Ceroid cacti often have flowers that bloom at night and fade before sunrise. As few bees are nocturnal, night-flowering plants rely on other pollinators including moths, beetles, and bats. These flowers rely more on

10710-399: The majority of murders were committed while intoxicated. Crime and fear of crime increased at night. In pre-industrial Europe, criminals disguised themselves with hats, face paint, or cloaks . Thieves would trip pedestrians with ropes laid across streets and dismount horse riders using long poles extended from the roadside shadows. They used "dark lanterns" where light could be shined through

10836-473: The myth of reincarnation ). Time is no longer static, as for the Karadjeri, for whom almost every action imitates a mythical model, keeping the world constantly in the mythical age. Nor is time cyclical but sacred, as for the ancient Mesopotamians, whose ritual calendar periodically returned the world to the mythical age. Rather, for some Dharmic religions , "time was homologized to the cosmic illusion ( māyā )". For most of traditional humanity, linear history

10962-433: The mythical model are endless". According to Eliade, this yearning to remain in the mythical age causes a "terror of history". Traditional man desires to escape the linear march of events, empty of any inherent value or sacrality. In Chapter 4 of The Myth of the Eternal Return (entitled "The Terror of History") and in the appendix to Myths, Dreams and Mysteries , Eliade suggests that the abandonment of mythical thought and

11088-749: The night by the electric light bulb —invented in the late 19th century—and the widespread usage of newer timekeeping devices like watches. Electric lights created night shifts for traditionally daytime fields, like India's cotton industry, and created opportunities for working adults to attend night school . Before the widespread usage of artificial lighting, sleep was typically split into two major segments separated by about an hour of wakefulness. During this midnight period, people engaged in prayer, crimes, urination, sex, and, most commonly, reflection. Without exposure to artificial light, studies show that people revert to sleeping in two separate intervals. Diverse cultures have made connections between

11214-489: The night sky and the afterlife . Many Native American peoples have described the Milky Way as a path where the deceased travel as stars. The Lakota term for the Milky Way is Wanáǧi Thacháŋku , or "Spirit's Road". In Mayan mythology, the Milky Way's dark band is the Road of Xibalba , the path to the underworld . Unrelated cultures share a myth of a star-covered sky goddess who arches over the planet after sunset, like Citlālicue ,

11340-427: The night together this way. Some families took precautions to prevent unintended pregnancies , like sleeping in the same room, laying a large wooden board between the couple, or pulling a single stocking over both of their daughter's legs. Historian Roger Ekirch described pre-industrial night as a "sanctuary from ordinary existence." Artificial lighting expanded the scope of acceptable work and leisure after dark. In

11466-448: The night," including werewolves , witches , ghosts, and goblins , reflecting societal fears and anxieties. The introduction of artificial lighting extended daytime activities. Major European cities hung lanterns housing candles and oil lamps in the 1600s. Nineteenth-century gas and electric lights created unprecedented illumination. The range of socially acceptable leisure activities expanded, and various industries introduced

11592-412: The night. Its planetary wind system, driven by solar heat, reverses direction from day to night. Venus's winds flow from the equator to the poles on the day side and from the poles to the equator on the night side. On Mercury , the planet closest to the Sun, the temperature drops over 1,000 °F (538 °C) after nightfall. The day-night cycle is one consideration for planetary habitability or

11718-450: The other planets and moons in the solar system. The length of night is affected by the rotation period and orbital period of the celestial object. The lunar phases visible from Earth result from nightfall on the Moon . The Moon has longer nights than Earth, lasting about two weeks. This is half of the synodic lunar month , the time it takes the Moon to cycle through its phases. The Moon

11844-408: The other planets in the solar system, have a form of night. The length of night on Earth varies depending on the time of year. Longer nights occur in winter, with the winter solstice being the longest. Nights are shorter in the summer, with the summer solstice being the shortest. Earth orbits the Sun on an axis tilted 23.44 degrees. Nights are longer when a hemisphere is tilted away from

11970-486: The overall ecosystem because their larvae are a key food source for smaller fish. Dark-sky advocate Paul Bogard described the unnatural migration of night-flying insects from the unlit Nevada desert into Las Vegas as "like sparkling confetti floating in the beam's white column". Some nocturnal animals have developed other senses to compensate for limited light. Many snakes have a pit organ that senses infrared light and enables them to detect heat. Nocturnal mice possess

12096-454: The passion of a divine messenger or vegetation god), each new massacre repeated the glorious end of the martyrs. ... By virtue of this view, tens of millions of men were able, for century after century, to endure great historical pressures without despairing, without committing suicide or falling into that spiritual aridity that always brings with it a relativistic or nihilistic view of history In general, according to Eliade, traditional man sees

12222-500: The patterns in ecosystems and is especially harmful to night-flying insects. Historically, night has been a time of increased danger and insecurity. Many daytime social controls dissipated after sunset. Theft, fights, murders, taboo sexual activities, and accidental deaths all became more frequent due in part to reduced visibility. Cultures have personified night through deities associated with some or all of these aspects of nighttime. The folklore of many cultures contains "creatures of

12348-523: The plant, typically as starch granules . Plants use this stored energy at a steady rate, depleting their reserves almost right at dawn. Plants will adjust their rate of consumption to match the expected time until sunrise. This avoids prematurely running out of starch reserves, and it allows the plant to adjust for longer nights in the winter. If a plant is subjected to artificially early darkness, it will ration its energy consumption to last until dawn. Succulent plants , including cacti , have adapted to

12474-408: The poisonous substance within the flow came to harden and turn to ice. When the flow became entirely solid, a poisonous vapor rose from the ice and solidified into rime atop the solid river. These thick ice layers grew, in time spreading across the void of Ginnungagap . The northern region of Ginnungagap continued to fill with weight from the growing substance and its accompanying blowing vapor, yet

12600-429: The pole itself, polar night lasts 179 days from September to March. Over a year, there is more daytime than nighttime because of the Sun's size and atmospheric refraction . The Sun is not a single point. Viewed from Earth, the Sun ranges in angular diameter from 31 to 33 arcminutes . When the center of the Sun falls level with the western horizon , half of the Sun will still be visible during sunset. Likewise, by

12726-442: The pollinators' sense of smell with strong perfumes to attract moths and foul-smelling odors to attract bats. Eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms that engage in photosynthesis are also affected by nightfall. Like plants, algae will switch to taking in oxygen and processing energy stored as starch. Cyanobacteria , also known as blue algae, switch from photosynthesis to nitrogen fixation after sunset, and they absorb DNA at

12852-434: The possibility of extraterrestrial life on distant exoplanets . In general, shorter nights result in a higher equilibrium temperature for the planet. On an Earth-like planet, longer day-night cycles may increase habitability up to a point. Computer models show that longer nights would affect Hadley circulation , resulting in a cooler, less cloudy planet. Once the rotation speed of a planet slows beyond 1/16 that of Earth,

12978-455: The primordial monster, and creates the world from her body. They correlated the birth of the year with the mythical birth of the world. By periodically bringing man back to the mythical age, these liturgical cycles turn time itself into a circle. Those who perform an annual ritual return to the same point in time every 365 days: "With each periodical [ritual] festival, the participants find the same sacred time—the same that had been manifested in

13104-490: The restrictions via exceptions. Prayer and folk magic were more common by night. Amulets were hung to ward off nightmares, spells were cast against thievery, and pig hearts were hung in chimneys to block demons from traveling down them. The common phrase "good night" has been shortened from "God give you a good night." In Ottoman Istanbul , the royal palaces shifted to projecting nocturnal power through large parties lit by lanterns, candles, and fireworks . Though alcohol

13230-579: The rising sea." Drawing in part on various eddic poems, the Gylfaginning section of the Prose Edda contains an account of the development and creation of the cosmos: long before the Earth came to be, there existed the bright and flaming place called Muspell —a location so hot that foreigners may not enter it—and the foggy land of Niflheim . In Niflheim was a spring, Hvergelmir , and from it flow numerous rivers. Together these rivers, known as Élivágar, flowed further and further from their source. Eventually

13356-422: The rushing swiftness of a roaring elevated train sat numb. It was as if all the bogies and goblins that had beset her unloved, unloving, and unhappy childhood had come to life with tenfold power to hurt and frighten. Directly filming at night is rarely done. Film stocks and video cameras are much less sensitive to low light environments than the human eye. During the silent film era, night scenes were filmed during

13482-405: The sacred and the profane is Eliade's trademark theory. According to Eliade, traditional man distinguishes two levels of existence: (1) the Sacred, and (2) the profane world. (Here "the Sacred" can be God, gods, mythical ancestors, or any other beings who established the world's structure.) To traditional man, things "acquire their reality, their identity, only to the extent of their participation in

13608-404: The sacred time of Scripture: Just as a church constitutes a break in plane in the profane space of a modern city, [so] the service celebrated inside [the church] marks a break in profane temporal duration. It is no longer today's historical time that is present—the time that is experienced, for example, in the adjacent streets—but the time in which the historical existence of Jesus Christ occurred,

13734-454: The seashore, they found two trees and shaped humans of them. Odin gave them spirit and life, Vili gave them wit and feeling, and Vé gave them form, speech, hearing, and sight. They gave them clothing and names: the man was called Askr, and the woman Embla. They were the ancestors of mankind who lived in Midgard. The brothers made for themselves in the middle of the world a city called Asgard , where

13860-453: The second stanza of the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá , the Nine Worlds surround the tree Yggdrasil. As recalled by a dead völva in the poem: I remember yet the giants of yore, Who gave me bread in the days gone by; Nine worlds I knew, the nine in the tree With mighty roots beneath the mold. I recall being reared by Jotuns, in days long gone. If I look back, I recall nine worlds, nine wood-witches, that renowned tree of fate below

13986-405: The sky after sunset and into twilight. There are multiple ways to define twilight, the gradual transition to and from darkness when the Sun is below the horizon. "Civil" twilight occurs when the Sun is between 0 and 6 degrees below the horizon. Nearby planets like Venus and bright stars like Sirius are visible during this period. "Nautical" twilight continues until the Sun is 12 degrees below

14112-444: The sky in predetermined courses. The trio provided land for the jötnar to leave by the sea. Using Ymir's eyelashes, the trio built a fortification around the center of the landmass to contain the hostility of the jötnar. They called this fortification Miðgarðr (Old Norse 'central enclosure'). Finally, from Ymir's brains, they formed the clouds. From Ymir's eyebrows they crafted a stronghold named Midgard . When they were walking along

14238-410: The southern portion of Ginnungagap remained clear due to its proximity to the sparks and flames of Muspell. Between Niflheim and Muspell, ice and fire, was a placid location, "as mild as a windless sky". When the rime and the blowing heat met, the liquid melted and dropped, and this mixture formed the primordial being Ymir , the ancestor of all jötnar . Ymir sweated while sleeping. From his left arm grew

14364-467: The sufferings we have enumerated: they were regarded as a punishment inflicted by God, the syndrome of the decline of the "age," and so on. And it was possible to accept them precisely because they had a metahistorical meaning ... Every war rehearsed the struggle between good and evil, every fresh social injustice was identified with the sufferings of the Saviour (or, for example, in the pre-Christian world, with

14490-529: The sun rose, and the brothers began naming things, the "plants and animals began really to exist". The brothers met a group of people and organized them into a civilized society. The people of this tribe—the Karadjeri of Australia —still imitate the two brothers in many ways: One of the Bagadjimbiri stopped to urinate ... That is the reason why the Australian Karadjeri stop and take up a special position in order to urinate. ... The brothers stopped and ate

14616-466: The time of year and the latitude. Night on other celestial bodies is affected by their rotation and orbital periods . The planets Mercury and Venus have much longer nights than Earth. On Venus, night lasts 120 Earth days. The Moon 's rotation is tidally locked , rotating so that one of the sides of the moon always faces Earth. Nightfall across portions of the near side of the Moon results in lunar phases visible from Earth. Organisms respond to

14742-469: The time sanctified by his preaching, by his passion, death, and resurrection. Eliade attributes the well-known "cyclic" view of time in ancient thought to the eternal return. In many religions, a ritual cycle correlates certain parts of the year with mythical events, making each year a repetition of the mythical age. For instance, Australian Aboriginal peoples annually reenact the events of the "Dreamtime": The animals and plants created in illo tempore by

14868-444: The time the center of the Sun rises to the eastern horizon, half of the Sun will already be visible during sunrise. This shortens night by about 3 minutes in temperate zones . Atmospheric refraction is a larger factor. Refraction bends sunlight over the horizon. On Earth, the Sun remains briefly visible after it has geometrically fallen below the horizon. This shortens night by about 6 minutes. Scattered, diffuse sunlight remains in

14994-607: The true secrets of the Jotun and all the gods because I've journeyed into all of the nine worlds below Niflhel Where the dead dwell below Hel." The Nine Worlds receive a single mention in the Prose Edda , occurring section 34 of the Gylfaginning portion of the book. The section describes how Odin threw Loki 's daughter Hel into the underworld , and granted her power over all Nine Worlds: Hel he threw into Niflheim and gave her authority over nine worlds, such that she has to administer board and lodging to those sent to her, and that

15120-524: The universe in existence. In many cultures, this belief appears to be consciously held and clearly stated. From the perspective of these societies, the world must be periodically renewed or it may perish. The idea that the Cosmos is threatened with ruin if not annually re-created provides the inspiration for the chief festival of the California Karok , Hupa , and Yurok tribes. In the respective languages

15246-462: The urban poor, prostitutes, and thieves benefited from the anonymity of darkness and frequently smashed the new lanterns. Gas lighting was invented in the 1800s. A gas mantle was over ten times brighter than an oil lamp. Gas lighting was associated with the creation of regular police forces. In England, police departments were tasked with maintaining the gas lights, which became known as "police lamps". Daytime routines were further pushed back into

15372-631: The work of demons. The idea of night as a dangerous, dark, or haunted time persists in modern urban legends like the vanishing hitchhiker . Many times in the night season, there have been certain spirits heard softly going or spitting or groaning, who being asked what they were have made answer that they were the souls of this or that man and that they now endure extreme torments. In folklore, nocturnal preternatural beings like goblins , fairies , werewolves , pucks , brownies , banshees , and boggarts have overlapping but non-synonymous definitions. The werewolf —and its francophone variations

15498-440: The year. The tropics have little difference in the length of day and night. At the 45th parallel, the longest winter night is roughly twice as long as the shortest summer night. Within the polar circles , night will last the full 24 hours of the winter solstice. The length of this polar night increases closer to the poles. Utqiagvik, Alaska , the northernmost point in the United States, experiences 65 days of polar night. At

15624-528: Was forbidden for Muslims , after dark, Turkish Muslims went to the bars and taverns beyond the Muslim areas. The night has long been a time of increased sexual activity, especially in taboo forms such as premarital , extramarital , gay , and lesbian sex. In colonial New England courtship, young unmarried couples practiced bundling before marriage. The couples would lie down in the woman's bed, her family would wrap them tightly with blankets, and they would spend

15750-482: Was influenced by the Roman strix . The Romans described the strix as capable of changing between a beautiful woman and an owl-shaped monster. Common themes among these mythical nocturnal entities include hypersexuality , predation, shapeshifting , deception, mischief, and malice. Nightlife , sometimes referred to as "the night-time economy", is a range of entertainment available and generally more popular from

15876-402: Was interested only in the beginnings ... to him it mattered little what had happened to himself, or to others like him, in more or less distant times". Hence, traditional societies express a "nostalgia for the origins", a yearning to return to the mythical age. To traditional man, life only has value in sacred time. Eliade also explained how traditional man could find value for his own life (in

#126873