Personal Narrative : I Am Balder

Norse mythology is the religion of the Viking people, who were seafaring warriors, raiders, and explorers from the region which includes modern-day Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland. They occupied this region from approximately 793 CE to 1000 CE. This religion did not have a proper name and was simply referred to as “tradition.” For this project, I would like to explore the role of women in the religion, particularly, Freya and Frigg and their similarities to one another.

Marriage is described as two people as partners in a personal relationship. There are two typical ideas of marriage that we know today. The first one that comes to mind is the one we all know, based on love, but there is another one that some may not even know of and its arranged marriages. Arranged marriage is not typically in our culture we know but in different cultures arranged marriages are their normal marriage. Throughout this essay, I will discuss the importance of realizing cultural diversity and how we apply the perspectives we gain from cross-cultural comparison to our own experience using central concepts about marriage to compare and contrast marriage in several cultures.

You can see the Viking characters looking very similar to that of Norse Gods very early in the film. They wear horned helmets, body armor and carry around round shields. Both men and women are fighting. Their weaponry are axes, swords, spears and hammers, are used by Norse gods. There hair is long and the men have grown long breads as well. Their form of transportation from their island were that of long and slender viking ships. Vikings based their fashion choice around their own beliefs of Norse Gods, so naturally the characters who are Vikings also look much like them.

Almost all day was spent outside working in the fields, fishing, hunting, and socializing. The women would tend the crops and collect berries and greens as well as catching some smaller game. The men would also work in the fields but most of their time was probably spent on short hunting and fishing trips to nearby lakes and forests. At the end of the day, families and friends would gather together for their evening meal. Much time was spent around the cook-fires telling stories, mending nets, sharpening tools, and working wood (Pauketat

Marriages were organized in a way in which both families would benefit from the marriage ("Elizabethan Wedding Customs" 1).

We notice that both the bride and groom did not make any arrangement. They did not have any choice but to follow their parents’ will. Once married, women had to serve their husband and their family. They often became a sort of servant to their mother-in-law, to whom they had the obligation to obey. Families were omnipresent in the marriage; it was a very strict marriage where women had no other choice but to listen to men of her family.

Almost 95 years ago most farmers did not have the technology and machines to help them with planting, harvesting, and just simple work around the farm. Farming in the 1920’s was very different compared to today’s farming styles. In the 1920’s life around the farm, caring for livestock, planting and harvesting crops and machines was much different than it is today. Farming and work around the farm revolved around the seasons.

Their families administered the wedding process before, during and after the ceremony. It appeared to be based upon who has the most land, how much money everyone had and more about the profit from the marriage. Marriages never developed off of the husband and wife’s feelings until the late eighteen hundreds, soon ideals began to shift. Soon people started detecting an increase of love, as explained in Colonial Williamsburg, “With the rise of the affectionate family, arranged marriages became a thing of the past. While parents expected to be consulted and offered advice or criticism freely, men and women chose their own marriage partners, and parents usually accepted their children’s choices,” (Maurer). Weddings exhibited less conventional traditions as the years moved on and, the parents became less and less involved in the decision making of their child’s spouse. This upset the parents because they did not collect any profit from their child’s marriage arrangement. While both partner’s choice became important during the wedding, the ceremony still placed many restrictions towards how women could act, and how they performed

Being able to keep an open mind even in the face of something that is completely new to you is a difficult feat to accomplish for some, including myself. I am a naturally curious person, but also come from a town where there is not much diversity so any sort of deviation from the “norm” has always piqued my interest. One of the most enlightening experiences I have had was as a student in high school when I joined the gay straight alliance club and one of the guests they brought in was transexual. This was the first time I had been exposed to someone who identified in that category and I was interested and unsure of how I would react to meeting this person.

Although marriage was built on the yearning of security and prestige, the success of the marriage was based on how well the man and woman could stay within the boundaries of their gender roles. These gender roles also applied to the

Once I get the main meats I start on my side dishes and desserts. The farmers market is my spot for veggies and fruits where I buy my turnip greens and

Since it was first settled by the Vikings, the culture is very similar to the rest of historical Scandinavia. For example, Icelanders do not use surnames, but they use the Viking tradition of a first name and a last name which combines the father’s name and adds either -son for a male or -dottir for a female. In fact, so many people have the same name in Iceland, that the phone directory has to include each person’s occupation.

Hi i’m Zoe Parsons, and I am 14 years old. Although I will only be a freshman this year I have been in and out of the high school for three years doing the high school's musical productions. I think that because of this high school will be a lot different for me compared to other kids. Hopefully this will help make my transition into high school easier.

The typical diet of hunters and gatherers was considerably healthier than the diet of the farmers. On average, hunters and gatherers would eat around 2140 calories during months where food was easily accessible. They also took in 93 grams of protein, which is much more than a necessary amount for a person at that time. Since hunters and gatherers traveled and lived in many different places, they were able to eat around 75 different plants (Diamond 2). Farmers, on the other hand, were dependent on very few crops. If the crop grown on one’s farm was unsuccessful, there was a high chance of starvation for the farming family. Most crops grown on farms were wheat, rice, and corn. These are starches which are

In the Grandparents’ era, my grandparents were met from the marriage arrangement in between two families because they believed that parents had a big role to let their children to get married and have kids later. Also, most of the people listened to their parents during that era because they