The end of the world, or apocalypse if you will, has been predicted time and time again. The ancient Mayan prophecy claimed the earth would be hit by an asteroid on December 21st, 2012, which proved false.
So did Harold Camping’s famous prediction that a physical Rapture or ‘Spiritual Judgement’ would occur on May 21st 2011, after which God would take 3% of the earth’s inhabitant’s up to heaven and leave the rest on earth to suffer an apocalypse that would take place on October 21st of the same year.
Other religious figures have foretold dates in the past when Jesus would supposedly return to earth and, coincidentally, the world would cease to exist at this moment. While some end-of-the-world theories might seem scientifically possible, so far NASA has refuted any claim made claiming that the earth will be slammed by an asteroid or meteor of any sort. Yes, earth suffered a massive hit 65 million years ago — the asteroid which killed the dinosaurs, but NASA does not predict any meteor coming even close to us in the near future.
However, it seems people will never stop predicting the date of the end of the world. The most recent end of world theory trending on the internet is for this Saturday, February 22, 2014. Called the ‘Viking Apocalypse’ and it’s based on Norse Mythology. It may sounds absurd, but people are preparing for this.
According to Norse Myth, the Viking apocalypse will destroy the earth this Saturday by splitting the earth open and unleashing the creatures of Hel, short for Helheim, meaning ‘underworld.’ Hel essentially is our version of hell, as it is home for the dishonorable dead.
This event launches Ragnarök or a series of future events during which several ancient gods including Odin, Thor, Freyr, Heimdallr, and Loki fight in a great battle. The battle will result in the deaths of several gods, causing a series of natural disasters, culminating in the submersion of the world in water, wiping out earth’s entire population.
According to the Daily Mail, the specific act which starts it all is when Loki’s grandson, a wolf named Skoll, consumes the sun, setting off a blast of winter. After this, Skoll’s brother Hati polishes off the moon, causing the stars to fall out of the sky. Then, the creatures of ‘Hel’ are unleashed including the legendary wolf Fenrir, the snake Jormungand emerges from the sea, and so on. Then the other gods like Thor and Odin get involved, fighting off these terrible creatures as well as each other. It would get messy, I could imagine.
In York, believers are holding an entire festival called Jorvik to celebrate this occasion. They’re dressing up like Vikings and marching down the streets, swinging their fake swords at each other. For those who can’t make it to York, “eating a lot of Nordic smoked salmon and rocking back and forth crying hysterically is a perfectly acceptable way to join the festivities” according to Time magazine.
Strangely enough, the Viking Apocalypse supposedly isn’t supposed to just wipe out humanity and the world; after Ragnarök occurs, the world is supposed to be restored anew — a quiet, tranquil paradise. The surviving Gods would enjoy this beautiful place, as well as two very privileged human survivors. It sounds like a rerun of Genesis, no?
What would you do to prepare for the end of the world? Would you celebrate like these Yorkshire inhabitants or curl up in a ball and sob?
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