I have always been interested in Myths
and legends. These are often illustrated by relief carvings. So I looked
through my book:
New Larousse
Encyclopedia of Mythology
I
am a Dutch New Zealander, so my cultural background is Teutonic. I went
further back to the Norse branch, rather then the Germanic branch. (the
other being the Goths)
In
the Scandinavian countries, Christianity did not get established until
the second millenium. And when it did, the two religions were absorbed
together for a while and the early churches of the area, called stave
churches, incorporated scenes depicting the Gods of old, as well as the
One God.
On
the left (1)is the left side of a carved door from the Urnes stave church,
depicting the world tree Yggdrasil. This is a gigantic ash tree maintaining
the fabric of the universe.
On the right (2) is my flat copy.
