Creating the Cosmos Through Gingerbread

By Rev. Francesca Hedrick

Originally published in Oak Leaves #71

In ADF we consider the origins of the cosmos as the Indo-Europeans may have viewed it. Modern science aside, in trying to describe how the cosmos is created through sacrifice, one of the best explanations is stated by Bruce Lincoln: “The myth tells us of the origin of the world and also of the origin of the most important human institution – sacrifice. In truth, these are not two separate origins but one. The first sacrifice is the origin of the world, and each repeated sacrifice serves to re-create it” (Lincoln 139).

In the Norse/Germanic myths, the story of creation starts with the formation of the primordial giant Ymir ‘ Twin,’ who is nurtured by a cow born of the frost (Puhvel 219). The tale then continues with three brothers related to the giant (Odin, Vili and Ve), who kill Ymir. From this giant Ymir, pieces of him are transformed to become the sea, land and mountains. Races of giants, both male and female, emerge from the body parts of Ymir (Davidson 173). 

The sacrificial death and subsequent transformation of body parts into beings and their world, sets the stage for the subsequent myths of the giants, the gods, and the future. Therefore, the murder is necessary for life to spring forth and creation of the world to occur as told in the myths. By sacrificing the life of the giant Ymir, the creation of the world and cosmos is formed.

How then do we actually create the cosmos for use in ritual that describes the process of creation through sacrifice? The easiest way to do this would be to make a giant gingerbread man cookie.

Stop laughing.

The flour used represents the earth that is mixed with the primordial waters; this forms the basis for the creation of the being, then it goes through the transmutation of baking by fire. As the ‘being’ cools, he is then decorated and revered. During ritual, the creation of the cosmos is recreated by the dismemberment of this cosmic man by offering parts of it to the Kindreds and finally to the folk that are present.

Hail Holy One

You were born of the land and the waters,
You were born of the air and the fire,
Hail Holy One

You are sacrificed to once again become the land and the waters,
You are sacrificed to once again become the air and the fire,
Hail Holy One

You are remembered as a giant among us,
You are remembered as one of the Kindreds,
Hail Holy One

• Davidson, H. R. Ellis. Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions. Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 1988. Print.
• Eliade, Mircea. The Myth of the Eternal Return: Cosmos and History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2005. Print.
• Lincoln, Bruce. “The Indo-European Myth of Creation.” History of Religions 15.2 (1975): 121-45. 21/02/2013. http://www.jstor.org/stable /1061927. Web
• Puhvel, Jaan. Comparative Mythology. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1987. Print.