Hjúki and Bil
Siblings who follow the Moon across the heavens.
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Hjúki and Bil are a brother and sister pair of children in Norse mythology who follow the personified Moon, Máni, across the heavens. They are solely attested in the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. Scholarly theories about them concern their nature, their role as potential personifications of the Moon's craters or phases, and their relation to later folklore in Germanic Europe.
Quick Facts
- Mythology
- Norse
- Attested in
- Prose Edda (13th century, Snorri Sturluson)
- Father
- Viðfinnr
- Associated figure
- Bilwis (Germanic folklore)
Facts from the source article.
Background
In chapter 11 of the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, the enthroned figure of High states that Hjúki and Bil were fathered by Viðfinnr. Once while the two were walking from the well Byrgir—both carrying on their shoulders the pole Simul that held the pail Sæg between them—Máni took them from the Earth, and they now follow Máni in the heavens, 'as can be seen from the earth.' Hjúki is otherwise unmentioned, but Bil receives recognition. In chapter 35 of Gylfaginning, both Sól (the personified Sun) and Bil are listed together as goddesses 'whose nature has already been described.' Bil appears twice more in the Prose Edda book Skáldskaparmál: in chapter 75 within another list of goddesses, and in chapter 47 in a kenning for 'woman.'
More in Mythological duos
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Hjúki and Bil (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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