ITT I metaphorise the Norse creation story, so that it makes modern sense

[Hippoman]

In the beginning there was nothing except for the ice of Niflheim, to the north, and the fire of Muspelheim, to the south. Between them was a yawning gap, and in this gap a few pieces of ice met a few sparks of fire.

This can easily be related to Physics and theories that try to contemplate the creation of the universe as we know it; there were two opposites and they clashed, out of this came the world.

The ice melted to form Eiter, which formed the bodies of the hermaphrodite giant Ymir and the cow Auðumbla, whose milk fed Ymir. Auðumbla fed by licking the rime ice, and slowly she uncovered a man's hair. After a day, she had uncovered his face. After another day, she had uncovered him completely: Búri.

Let's say Ymir is primordial Earth and Auðumbla is energy (potentially from the sun), the relationship between the two allows Ymir to survive, while Auðumbla slowly effects the universe until the first natural laws (ie gods) "arrive".

Ymir fathered Thrudgelmir, as well as two humans, one man and one woman. Búri fathered Borr. Borr had three sons, Vili, Ve, and Odin, who killed the giant Ymir. In the vast flood of Ymir's blood, both the primordial man and woman died.

The early man could relate to species that have become extinct, but because they are referred to as "humans" or men in the original Norse, let's say they were Neanderthals and the flood of blood that killed them refers to the natural order of dominant species as it's possible to link blood to bloodline etc.

Thrudgelmir was also drowned, although not before he had fathered Bergelmir. Bergelmir hid in a hollow tree trunk and survived. Odin and his brothers used Ymir's body to create the universe : they ground his flesh into dirt, and the maggots that appeared in his flesh became the dwarves that live under the earth. His bones became the mountains, and Odin strew his brains into the sky to create the clouds. The universe comprises nine worlds, of which this earth (Mannheim) is central.

This mainly refers to how Odin (nature/natural law) shaped the Earth into how we view it today. The dwarves are metaphorical but since it's not important to the creation story I'll just pass over them. Bergelmir gives rise to the giants later on (chaos) and so, since he is the grandson of Ymir (primordial Earth) he can be considered a natural part of this world that has to be dealt with, without dropping to his level of hiding to avoid his fate.

They placed the four dwarves Nordri (North), Sudri (South), Austri (East), and Vestri (West) to hold up Ymir's skull and create the heavens.

Lesson of celebration after winning and the personification of strength (dwarves).

Then using sparks from Muspelheim, the gods created the sun, moon and stars. As Odin and two others (the Eddas say Hœnir and Lóðurr, these are thought to be kennings for Vili and Ve) walked along the beach, they found two pieces of driftwood. From these, they created the 'first' human beings (the previous two having drowned in the flood of Ymir's blood), Ask and Embla. Ymir's eyebrows were used to create a place where the human race could live in; a place called Midgard.

Because astronomy wasn't heard of we can excuse the sun, moon and stars bit. The second man and woman refer to Homo Sapien. Ymir's eyebrows (oddly enough eyebrows are related to wisdom in some cultures) being used to create the area we live in mirrors this; sapien = wise.






wait wut

[Dex]

Damn, you actually thought about this

Coo'

[Hippoman]

Generally I appreciate European religions a lot.

[Hohoo]

Next you could metaphorise the Finnish creation story.