Chapter 3 - HAMMERS (Myths from different CULTURAL AREAS with TOOLS OF CONTROL)
Hammers
A similarity between the jewellery of Eastern Polynesia and Scandinavia is the tradition of wearing pendants shaped as tools as necklaces [figure 25]. In the Scandinavian countries, as well as the countries that witnessed the expanding migration of the people from the region, that pendant is in the shape of Mjölnir, the hammer of Thor, Tor, or Donar. According to Littledale, Mjölnir is an extension of the solar god’s hammer or battle-axe of light, which was used and brought to importance to crush, pound, or grind the ‘solid grains’. This was both meant literally for food and metaphorically for knowledge, just as Thor’s hammer was used to crush the Frost Giants to help the people of Midgard, Earth (Littledale, 1985: 282-3). He arrives at this conclusion on the basis of language transliteration; Mjölnir originally came from the Proto-Germanic language word malanan meaning “to grind or mill” meal or flour, and ultimately the Sanskrit mr̥ṇā́ti, meaning to “crush, smash, slay" (Grimm in Derksen 2008: 307). Mjölnir itself is thought to have the power to level mountains, “Then [Brokkr, one of the two dwarfs who crafted Mjölnir] gave the hammer to Thor, and said that Thor might smite as hard as he desired, whatsoever might be before him, and the hammer would not fail; and if he threw it at anything, it would never miss, and never fly so far as not to return to his hand; and if be desired, he might keep it in his sark (shirt), it was so small; … This was [the Aesir’s] decision: that the hammer was best of all the precious works, and in it there was the greatest defence against the Rime-Giants…” (Sturluson, 1200: 148). And this shows Mjölnir as more than a weapon [figure 26], it was even said to be a tool to create and maintain order from the chaos and anarchy of the utengard (outside).
Uchide no kozuchi, the legendary Japanese magic wooden hammer, which can “tap out” anything wished for, held in the hand of the deity Daikoku-ten [figure 27] (Sargent, 1959). Unlike Mjölnir, the iconography of the deity wielding the mallet is what is often depicted on pendants and tokens of good fortune, which are often still sold at the toshi-no-ichi or year-end market (Thakur, 1986: 190). The image of the hammer, however, is a popular tattoo. Daikoku-ten is the god of great darkness or blackness and is one of the Fukujin (seven lucky gods) who were a reinterpretation of the Hindu god Mahākāla, whose name translates into English as ‘beyond time’ or death (Mookerjee, 1988). Deikoku-ten is typically shown sitting atop a mound of cereals or rice to depict that there is plenty of food. A later version of the Issun bōshi fairytale tells that the hammer was a treasure owned by the oni, ogres, who had dropped it after the oni had lost a ‘fight’ with the title character, the one-inch tall boy. After Issun bōshi protected the princess, he presented her with the hammer and makes Issun bōshi normal sized because the hammer can “strike out anything that is desired” (Antoni, 1991). This connects to the notion of creating and controlling the world with a tool made out of wood, creating order and culture from the chaos of the outside.
Hephaestus, the Greek god of smithing and craftsmanship, is often represented by the symbols of a hammer, anvil, and tongs to demonstrate the work he did for the gods on Mount Olympus [figure 28]. Being the lame son of Hera, and depending on the story Zeus, he may have been the patron god of craftsman, but Hephaestus is not nor are any of his tools often depicted as specifically magical in their own right. Instead, the deed for which Hephaestus is most known is that he used a double-edged axe (labrys) to split open Zeus’ head to allow Athena to be born (Kerényi, 2016). This axe type was, however, more symbolic of the older Minoan culture on Crete.
To summarize, the meaning of hammer wielding is connected to craftsmanship and creation. A magical hammer could be used to punish evil and make anything good appear, often being used for each, as seen in the Nordic countries and Japan. This creates the dichotomy for what the society deemed as good and evil and is useful for determining which side fits into the cultural norms versus the chaos and trouble from outside forces.
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