Nótt and Dagr: Night and Day Take the Road

“Then took Alfather Night and her son Day, gave them two horses and two cars, and set them up in heaven to drive around the earth, each in twelve hours by turns. Night rides first on the horse which is called Hrimfaxe, and every morning he bedews the earth with the foam from his bit. The horse on which Day rides is called Skinfaxe, and with his mane he lights up all the sky and the earth.”

14. “Hrimfaxi he is called, that each night draws forth over the beneficent powers. He from his bit lets fall drops every morn, whence in the dales comes dew.”

In Gylfaginning, as Anderson translates it, Night is the daughter of a giant who lived in Jötunheimr, called Norfe or Narfe, and is dark like her kin. She has three husbands. Her last is Dellingr, of the Æsir, and their son Dagr is light and fair like his father. Alfather takes mother and son, gives them two horses and two cars, and sets them in heaven to drive round the earth in turn, twelve hours each.

Night goes first, on Hrímfaxi, whose bit-foam bedews the earth each morning. Day’s horse Skinfaxi lights sky and earth with his mane. The poem Vafþrúðnismál names the same two horses with the same effects. Neither text describes a hall or a place for them to rest.

The names are plain words: Nótt is “night”, Dagr “day”, and Anderson glosses Dellingr as “Daybreak”. The father’s name varies between editions of Gylfaginning, and this entry follows Anderson’s spelling.

The idea that the sun and moon are driven in chariots belongs to the same passage; see Sól and Máni.