kids encyclopedia robot

Gefjun facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Gefion
The Gefion fountain in Churchill Park Copenhagen, Denmark.

Gefjun (or Gefjon, Gefion) is one of the Æsir in Norse mythology. This name could be from Old Norse geð fiá meaning "chaste" is one of the Asynjur in Norse mythology. She appears only a few times in surviving sources. Medieval sources talk of her mainly as a goddess of chastity. However, modern scholarship suggests that she may originally have been a fertility goddess connected with ritual plowing, and even that she was originally the same fertility goddess as Freyja.

It has also been suggested that she is the origin of Grendel's mother who appears in the epic poem Beowulf.


Images for kids

  • Gefion fountain by Anders Bundgaard II

    Detail of the Gefion Fountain (1908) by Anders Bundgaard

  • Gefion pflügt mit ihren Stieren Seeland by Karl Ehrenberg

    Gefjun Plows Zealand with her Oxen (1882) by Karl Ehrenberg

  • Beowulf Cotton MS Vitellius A XV f. 132r

    The first page of the Beowulf manuscript

  • Gefion fountain by Anders Bundgaard I

    The Gefion Fountain (1908) by Anders Bundgaard

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Gefjun para niños

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Gefjun Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.