Odin and His Ravens Huginn and Muninn

The leader of all the Gods in Norse mythology, Odin, was routinely accompanied by his ravens named Huginn (“thought”) and Muninn (“mind”), appearing together in visual records as early as the sixth century The names of these birds called attention to Odin’s vast knowledge — the medieval Icelandic sources have Odin’s ravens fly all over the world to tell their master news of the day. Odin cared about knowledge: medieval myths relay how the God went so far as to sacrifice himself on a tree and exchange one of his eyes for it. The way Huginn and Muninn depart from and return to Odin has suggested to some historians that somewhere along the line shamanic practices influenced Norse religions. In some such traditions, shamans send out components of their personality in the form of animals. Odin’s ravens represented another aspect to the deity: his role as overseer of death. Odin decided who died on the battlefield, and ravens were carrion birds. Daniel McCroy writes that blood was sometimes called “Huginn’s drink,” and battle “Huginn’s feast.”