NAME: The meaning of his name is clear; it means "lord."

CHARACTERISTICS: Freyr is associated with a golden-bristled boar, which sometimes draws his cart. As a warrior symbol the boar was often placed on weapons and helmets, and may in part reflect Frey's role as protecter of the Ingve's, who traced their decent from Ingvi-Freyr. It may also be a sun symbol, and Freyr is associated with the magical boat Skiðblaðnir, which may also be a sun symbol.

WORSHIP: Freyr is quintessentially a fertility god, and was widely worshipped as such from Sweden in the east to Iceland in the west. Akin to the continental Nerthus, a statue of Freyr was drawn from field to field to consecrate the land. Along with Óðinn and Þórr, Freyr stood as the great triad of Norse gods. According to Adam of Bremen, Frey's temple stood beside those of the other two gods at Uppsala, and inside he was portrayed ithyphallically. The gender ambiguities surrounding his father Njørðr extend to Freyr as well. In some later sources there are dark hints that his worship is tainted with argr -- the word being a deadly insult and an accusation of effeminacy and passive homosexuality.

SACRIFICE: Freyr received human sacrifice, but unlike Óðin's strangled (or hanged) victims, Frey's were drowned.