I'd like to share with you the Ancient Nordic Creation Myth from Sweden
A giant, named Ymer, was formed out of the ice of "Ginnungagap". While sleeping, he was sweating, and from his left armpit a man and a woman grew. Then Ymer's right foot got a son with his left foot. This son became the father of horrible giants who filled the Earth. Out of the frost in Ginnungagap a cow was formed. The cow nursed Ymer and thus Ymer got food.
The cow got nourishment from stones, and from these stones a man named Bure emerged. His son got three sons: Oden, Vile, and Ve. They later stabbed Ymer to death and formed the world from him. His meat became land, the blood oceans and rivers. His hair became forest, his skull the sky and his brain the clouds. Ymer's eyebrows were the mountains of Midgård, which was the Ancient Nordic name for the Earth.
While walking along the beach one day, the gods saw two tree trunks. From these they made humans - a man named Ask and a woman named Embla. The humans of Midgård stem from these two.
Source: http://hem.passagen.se/studenten/myter.htm
Swedish Midsummer
I'd like to talk about the Swedish Midsummer feasts.
Midsummer's Eve - we Swedes tend to celebrate the "eves" rather than the "days", for example at Christmas and Easter - is always celebrated on the Friday closest to June 21. The Midsummer night is said to be a night full of magic and power. Take the dew for instance.
The dew that appears during the Midsummer night, is believed to heal diseases, and mixed in dough it helps make the baking successful. Peonies are flowers to beware of, because according to old beliefs they are said to contain cancer and one shouldn't smell them.
But the most well-known legend, myth or old belief, is the one about seven kinds of flowers. On the Midsummer night, you are to go through seven meadows and pick seven kinds of flowers, put them under your piillow and not say a word. This is supposed to make you dream about your future spouse.
These stories and translations were made by Marianne, btw. the midsummer myth's in Finland are the same. Thank you sweetie *S*
