Iceland – Huginn and Muninn

Hugin and Munin

Fly every day

Over all the world;

I worry for Hugin

That he might not return,

But I worry more for Munin.

Among the Aesir gods in Norse mythology, the supreme god Odin, is frequently depicted sitting on his high seat, Hlidskjalf, in Asgard, the home of the gods.

Odin always has his two raven companions, Hugin (Huginn)  and Munin (Munnin) on his shoulders.

Hugin is believed to represent ‘memory’, while Munin personifies ‘thought’.

Every day, Odin sends them out and they fly across the worlds to seek for important news and events. Odin surveys the worlds from Hlidskjalf and must know reports of what is going on in all Nine Worlds.

In the evening, Hugin and Munin return to Odin’s shoulders and during dinner in Valhalla, they whisper all they have heard in his ears.

‘Hrafnagaldur Odins’ (Odin’s Raven Chant), an obscure, Icelandic poem in the style of the Poetic Edda mentions that Odin is particularly worried one day. Idun, the wide of Bragi, god of music, poetry and eloquence, has disappeared, and an untimely winter is coming from the north.

He decides to send his ravens to the underworld to investigate the disappearance of the goddess Idun. But the report of Hugin and Munin is enigmatic and unsatisfying.