Dís

For this week's episode, we're heading over to Scandinavia for the lovely Norse spirits, the Dís! How do these monsters relate to Freyja? Why are they so often confused with Valkyries? Find out this week!

Transcript

INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

It strangely feels like it’s been ages since I last did an episode and I think it’s because I did one so early last week and completely forgot about it for a moment. I wish I was more organised, but you usually hear these after I’ve written them the day before - sorry not sorry.

DESCRIPTION:

We’re heading over to Scandinavia this week, which as you know is one of my favourite places - and looking at a guardian spirit from Norse mythology, the Dis or Disir.

So what are the Dis? These were female protective spirits who generally speaking did not have a fixed appearance, however are often described as being beautiful and radiant, surrounded by a glowing aura. They would only really appear in dreams or visions and so they were also ethereal and unable to be touched, but could touch if they chose to. They would often be dressed in peasant clothes, and would appear humanoid in appearance unless they were travelling, where they would appear as a bright light or ghost-like creature.

An important note is that they were always considered to be women, as they were destined to look after the humans they watched and this of course links to the maternal tendencies that generally stereotypes women.

The Disir are argued about by scholars because they are either considered born of the gods or as spirits of dead noble women - but either way, they did have powers to consider. Their main power was that they were considered protective deities over a particular family line. They had the power to bless entire families with wealth and power, as well as warding off evil and shaping their fate. These chosen families had Disir because they were ancestrally tied to one and were chosen to be the guardian of their lineage by protecting them and guiding them through life. 

You could tell that a family had a Dis attached to them by noting if they had any easy rides in life, as well as if they had money coming in - and a family was expected to leave offerings to the Dis to repay them for this blessing. We’ll get into the offerings and celebrations for them later on.

Their most powerful trait was that they had some control over fate and destiny. They had the power to influence the future and guide the destinies of those under their care. But they don’t have full control of this, as this belongs to the Norse fates, the Norns, they could influence the path it took and make their chosen families' normal lives significantly better. If you offended them however, they would make sure to lead you into a path of misfortune, destruction or death.

They live between the worlds of life and death, and can’t be found specifically anywhere within the Norse realms on their own. But based on the belief, they were sometimes thought to live in Alfheim with the elves of Norse mythology due to their ethereal nature - but this isn’t a theme I’ve picked up much during my research.

ORIGIN:

For etymology, the word Dis comes from Old Norse and is spelt with an accented i which is an interesting little fun fact. This means lady or goddess, and the plural is Disir - just in case you thought they might be related or different monsters all together. However, Dis also can be an umbrella term for actual female deities and goddesses that we know of, ancestral female spirits or groups of supernatural women. We’ll get into some examples later. 

In history, they go back, much like our other Norse myths, to quite a while ago to 793-1066 AD when the Vikings were dominating Europe. However, whilst we do think this is a Norse myth - it’s also argued that it may just be a Germanic monster, which does include the Scandinavians by default. They are very often attributed to the Germanic creature, the Idisi, which were divine female beings within Pagan Germany from around the 4th century AD, making them even older than the Vikings. 

But to make things easier for all of us, we’ll stick with the Norse and they were first mentioned in the Poetic Edda - because of course they were. This 14th century text goes over all the Norse myths that we know to this day, and I talk about it in every single Norse episode we do. However, before I give you an extract in English of course, remember that etymology I told you earlier - that Dis also means woman, well that can also be a generic woman. 

Here’s an extract from the Grimnismal, where Odin, king of the gods, predicts another king’s death and attributes it to the disir;

The fallen by the sword

Ygg shall now have;

thy life is now run out:

Wroth with thee are the dísir:

Odin thou now shalt see:

draw near to me if thou canst.

There’s also another one from the Reginsmal, where the disir appear to a dead soldier to comfort him to Valhalla;

Foul is the sign

if thy foot shall stumble

As thou goest forth to fight;

Goddesses [dísir] baneful

at both thy sides

Will that wounds thou shalt get.

And lastly for extracts from Eddic poems, Atlamal, where the heroes’ wife warns him that she had a dream about the Disir;

I thought dead women

came hither into the hall,

not poorly decked out.

They wished to choose you,

would've invited you quickly

to their benches;

I declare of no value

these dísir to you.

The Disir were incredibly important within Norse life due to their powers and their symbolic presence within the family. Honouring them was key and offerings were made to them by the family they watched over with food, drink and valuable possessions that would gain the favour of their ancestral watcher. There was also a festival for the Disir called the Disablot, which was held in the first weeks of winter - which was foretold by the solstice during these pagan times, and involved feasting, drinking, dancing and animal sacrifice. 

This festival was intended to seek the Disir’s blessings for the year ahead and to strengthen their familial bonds between Disir and their worshippers on Midgard, or Earth as we know it. 

There were a few very famous Disir women, including the most important - Freyja, the Norse goddess of Love and Fertility. She was a symbol of prosperity and familial happiness, as well as being influential in the destinies of humans, especially within the home and with feminine roles such as childbirth and fertility. She was also the courier for the newly dead to the afterlife - which means she ticked all the boxes to be a Dis. 

Another is Skuld, who is one of the three Norns. She is the destiny weaver and her name translates to future - and therefore has a big part to play in mortal’s lives and destinies. Lastly, Gunnr - who was a famous Valkyrie. Valkyries were also female spirits, but they were warrior women who served Odin relentlessly, welcoming spirits of soldiers into the vast drinking halls of Valhalla for their afterlife. Gunnr influenced the outcomes of human battles on Midgard, and would choose who would live or die - again having a touch for fate as well as the dead. 

The Dis are still honoured today within pagan communities and within Scandinavia and Germany. Disablots are really common in Sweden, to thank their ancestors for their life and legacy and to feast and tell stories amongst their communities. There doesn’t seem to be much animal sacrifice at these events anymore which is pretty good. They are also sometimes honoured at births, weddings and funerals in these countries to thank the Disir for honouring them with these familial events or moving their family member onto the next life. 

They also have an important role within feminism in Scandinavia, as all of the destiny-pulling deities within Norse folklore are women, and are definitely a sign of feminine power, spirituality and wisdom. As well as the strength of the woman within Norse folklore, which we see in Viking traditions throughout history, with women having rights to fight, property and marriage based on her own drive.

Now we’ve talked about some other creatures here that we may bring up or have brought up in the podcast already. The biggest one here is the Valkyrie - these warrior spirits of the gods are very similar to the Dis, taking on the bloodier side of death during a time of battle and conquering foreign lands. I covered them not too long ago, and if you want to learn more about them - do check out their episode for more information. 

We do also have the Norns, these deities of fate - however, as they are technically goddesses, they fall in the difficult side of mythology and religion which I tend to avoid, but I might give in and do an episode on all the Fate gods. These three women weave the thread of life, one weaving, one measuring and one cutting it, ending the life of the person it belongs to. Of course, they are intrinsically involved in the destiny of a person and so they could also be linked to the Dis and are frequently called Disir. 

Lastly, because of the Disir’s link to women - it could also be argued that they are linked to the Norse Vaettir, which are any supernatural race within the Norse folklore universe. This includes Elves or Alfar, Dwarves or Dvergar, Giants or Jotnar and even the Norse gods, the Aesir and the Vanir. There are some spirits within this, including the Landvaettir, which were nature spirits, but sometimes these are malevolent to people which doesn’t really suit our monster of the week.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto modern media, we don’t have a lot for Disir specifically, but we do have some for these spiritual warrior goddesses, so we’ll be rocking with that this week.

For art, have a look at The Dises from 1909 by Dorothy Hardy, Idise from 1905 by Emil Doepler or the Disablot by August Malmstrom for portrait art, but there isn’t really much around for independent art this week - so stick with the classics for once.

In movies, we have; Conan the Barbarian, Thor: Ragnarok, Thor: Love and Thunder & Avengers End Game.

For TV, we have; Charmed, Samurai Jack, Looney Tunes, Hey Arnold, LostGirl, Vikings, Xena: Warrior Princess, Kamen Rider Wizard & Courage the Cowardly Dog.

In video games, we have ones such as; Mass Effect 2, God of War, Age of Mythology, NetHack, Castlevania, For Honor, Diablo 2, Brawlhalla, Fate/Grand Order, Elder Scrolls, The Legend of the Valkyrie, Odin Sphere, Ragnarok Online, Gems of War, Max Payne, Too Human, Smite, BlazBlue, The Valkyrie Profile, Archon, Wizardry, Elden Ring, Warcraft & World of Warcraft.

For my book recommendations this week, I’d recommend Tales of Norse Mythology by Helen A Guerber for fabulous Norse myths in a wider variety, but for more warrior women spirits, check out The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women by Nancy Marie Brown & Valkyrie: The Women of the Viking World by Jóhanna Katrín Friðriksdóttir.

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?

If you’ve listened to my Valkyrie episode, you’ll probably know what I’m going to say - and actually, if you listen to any of my spirit episodes you might hear the same. But it’s really hard to figure out if death spirits could be a thing for me, because conceptualising death is quite hard when no one comes back from it to confirm their findings. 

However, I also believe that this leaves a healthy dose of scepticism on both sides of the argument. I also think that this myth doesn’t do anything but good - respecting your family after they have passed is an honourable thing to do, unless they weren’t very nice - and I don’t think there’s many bad things I can say about a spirit that gives you nice things if you tell her about your day sometimes. 

I also think the Disir are important to represent the connection between past, present and future. As well as that, they connect generations, highlighting the importance of family as well as ancestry and collective memory within communities. The Norse were also very good at understanding cause and effect, and the Disir, with their blessings good or bad, will tell you if you’ve been looking after them back. They kind of make you appreciate those who came before you and how that influences our lives. 

I lost my grandmother in December last year, and I find a lot of comfort in the idea of her watching over me with a guiding hand. I also find comfort that she is probably giving some angels so much grief for putting ice in her drink - so there’s that.

But what do you think? Did the Disir look after the Norse families of old? Let me know on Twitter!

OUTRO: 

A fun monster this week, and although this one overlaps a little with our beloved Valkyries - that does not diminish their coolness and use within Norse mythology and as we know, their worship up to the present day too.

Next week, we’re heading over to China for the first time in ages and looking at a creature that is usually shown off in jade, keep your precious metals and gems away from the Pixiu next Thursday!

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube, Threads and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk - you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

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But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.