Who is Sif?
Written by Ivy.
Sif
is the wife of Thor, the god of weather and thunder. We know comparatively
little about Sif from Lore or historical attestations. She does not have
any extant place-names associated with her. She appears most prominently
in two stories, one from the Prose Edda, and one from the Poetic, which shed
some light onto her significance.
Skáldskaparmál, of Snorri’s
Prose Edda, includes a story in which Loki cuts off the long, fair hair for
which Sif was famous. To escape Thor’s wrath, Loki swears to make things
right by having even more lustrous and beautiful locks fashioned for her as
replacement. He makes good on his promise, obtaining from dark elves of
wondrous skill wrought gold strands that, when held to Her head, take root and
grew as if Her own hair. A contest ensues between rival smiths, resulting
in many of the Aesir and Vanir’s treasures -- Odin’s spear and self-replicating
ring, Freyr’s boar and ship, and Thor’s famous hammer (which was a bit short in
the handle).
Some see in the story of
Sif’s hair a metaphor for the cycle of harvesting and growing wheat, and so
conceive of Her primarily as a goddess of earthly fertility and abundance.
In that sense, the harvest of Her hair ultimately delivers wondrous
bounty, indeed, including the hammer Her husband is well-known for, and in
which much of His power is invested.
In the section of the
Poetic Edda called Lokasenna (the “flyting” or “binding” of Loki), an exchange
between Sif and Loki is recorded as part of a larger series of flytings, or
exchanges of heated words or insults. Sif, who is present without her
husband, attempts to make peace in the already-escalating fray by offering the
hospitality and drink that was previously denied. For this, Sif is
regarded as an agent of frith - the set of actions and attitudes which
ensure peace and harmony within extended families and communities. Echoes
of this example can be seen in the epic poem Beowulf, in the character
of Wealthow, the queen who carries the cup within her husband’s hall, making
peace out of dispute. (It is worth noting that Wealthow is described as friðusibb
folca, or a peace-pledge by way of marriage, and you’ll see the roots frið,
or frith, and sib-, which gives us the modern word “sibling” and has old
connotations of familial relationship. Wealthow’s story may have the
trappings of other Norse Goddesses - a certain valuable necklace suggests a
connection with Freyja, too - but at her core, she embodies many of Sif’s
attributes.
We know her family. She is
dearly loved by Her husband, Thor. She has a son, Ullr, the skiing,
hunting god, whose father is not attested; and a daughter, Þrúðr (Thrud), whose
father is Thor. Her forebears are not known; many count Her among the
Aesir, though there are some who look to Her earthy fertility aspects and think
Her more likely to be of Vanir stock. Her other aspect, as frith-weaver,
speaks to the idea of bringing disparate peoples or ideas together by marriage
or oath, so, really, either could be.
Sif is strongly associated
with gold, because of Her golden hair, and Her name is included in a kenning
for a “gold-keeping woman”. The author also associates honey, sweet and
golden-yellow, with Sif as well.
She is also associated with
golden wheat ripe in the fields, and soil sowed with grain. (Her name is
used as a heiti for “earth” in one extant piece of poetry.) This
earthy attribute is consistent with much of what we know about Her husband, who
is the son of earth personified (Jörð), and who takes Jarnsaxa, a decidedly
earthy Jotun, as his lover and the mother of additional children. Some
count the Rowan tree as another plant sacred to her.
Artwork by Thorskegga Thorn.