As we've just had the first decent frost of the winter my thoughts have turned to Jack Frost who was a much larger character in my childhood than he is now. When his fingers regularly trace lines on the inside of your window he becomes more important. I've not lived in a place that cold since I was a student! With climate change our winters are milder and wetter it seems and so Jack is in retreat. However, who is Jack Frost and where did he come from?
Our modern view seems to have been invented late 19th Century, a little later than Jack-in-the-Green was created by chimney sweeps for some charity to last them throughout the summer. This is when he starts to appear in literature and images as a mischievous sprite. His name leads us to Jack (Jack as a cultural hero figure) where it may come from the Norse Hjaki - Jack & Jill. The Jokul Frosti name used in Norse seems to have a more ancient link so I went looking for references to Jokul...
Norse - A Frost Giant.
A God of glaciers. A son of Thrym the protagonist where Thor's Hammer Mjollnir is stolen and Thor cross-dresses as Freyja to fool the Jotun and get his hammer back. Brother of Drifta, Frosti and Snoer. On occasion, called Jokul, Iokul, Iokul, Jokul, Jokul or Jokul. John Lindow has it that Jokul (Glacier) is a son of Kari (Wind), Kari son of Fornjot (a primeval father Jotun - I like the translation of his name as Ancient Screamer). Jokul's son is Snaer (Snow) who's children are a son Thorri (fourth month of winter) and daughters Fönn (Heap of Snow), Drífa (Snowdrift) and Mjöll (Fresh Powdery Snow). It's interesting to note that Kari is brother to Logi (Fire) and Aegir/Hlér (Sea). Logi and Loki have an eating contest...
Eldest of the 9 sons of Niorfe
Niorfe or Njarfi could well be the surviving son of Loki. In the saga of Thorstein Vikingsson, Thorstein's father Viking is a grandson of Logi. Here we potentially see a contest again between the descendents of Logi, Thorstein, with the descendents of Loki, Jokul. The story is a tale full of magic and wonder about the feud between these two sets of brothers. Check 'thorsteins saga vikingssonar' In which...
Dis (daugher of King Kol) married Jokul Ironback, a blue berserk. This is not the Jokul we're looking for but an interesting part of the story is one of the few mentions in any literature of a were-boar... Dis' brother Ingjald
Ingjald was out of sight, and instead of him there was a grim-looking boar, that left nothing undone as
he attacked them, so they could do nothing but defend themselves. When this had been done for some time, the boar
turned upon Halfdan, bearing away the whole calf of his leg. Straightway came Viking and smote the bristles of
the boar, so that his back was cut in two. Then seeing that Ingjald lay dead on the spot, they kindled a fire and burned
him to ashes.
The Jokul we are looking for is mentioned later on...
King Olaf had a daughter who hight Bryngerd, whom Njorfe married, took her with him, and got with her nine sons:
Jokul hight the eldest of these brothers; the rest hight Olaf, Grim, Geiter, Teit, Tyrfing, Bjorn, Geir, Grane and
Toke. They were all promising men, though Jokul far surpassed them all in all accomplishments...
The saga continues with an interesting bag that does relate to Jack Frost...
Now I will tell you, continued Ogautan, that I have a belg (skin-bag) called the weather-
belg. If I shake it, storm and wind will blow out of it, together with such biting frost and cold that within three
nights the lake shall be covered with so strong an ice that you may cross it on horseback if you wish. Said Jokul:
Really you are a man of great cunning ; and this is the only way of reaching the holm, for there are no ships before you
get to the sea, and nobody can carry them so far. Hereupon Ogautan took his belg and shook it, and out of it there
came so fearful a snowstorm and such biting frost that nobody could be out of doors. This was a thing of great
wonder to all; and after three nights every water and fjord was frozen.
In all of this there are tantalising glimpses of a Jack/Jokul who is related to cold weather, is related to the Elves or Giants and has much to do with ice and snow. Sadly with global warming most of our glaciers are retreating, I am sure that Jokul is plotting his return.
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