Editing Vanaheimr (section)

==Attestations==
Vanaheimr is mentioned a single time in the ''Poetic Edda''; in a stanza of the poem ''[[Vafþrúðnismál]]''. In ''Vafþrúðnismál'', [[List of names of Odin|Gagnráðr]] (the god [[Odin]] in disguise) engages in a game of wits with the [[jötunn]] [[Vafþrúðnir]]. Gagnráðr asks Vafþrúðnir whence the Van god Njörðr came, for, though he rules over many [[Heathen hofs|hofs]] and [[hörgr]]s, Njörðr was not raised among the Æsir. Vafþrúðnir responds that Njörðr was created in Vanaheimr by "wise powers" and references that Njörðr was exchanged as a hostage during the [[Æsir-Vanir War]]. In addition, Vafþrúðnir comments that, when the world ends ([[Ragnarök]]), Njörðr will return to the "wise Vanir" (Bellows here anglicizes ''Vanir'' to ''Wanes''):
<blockquote>
{|
|
:<small>[[Benjamin Thorpe]] translation:</small>
:In Vanaheim wise powers him created,
:and to the gods a hostage gave.
:At the world's dissolution,
:he will return to the wise Vanir.<ref name=THORPE16>Thorpe (1866:16).</ref>
|
:<small>[[Henry Adams Bellows (businessman)|Henry Adams Bellows]] translation:</small>
:In the home of the Wanes did the wise ones create him,
:And gave him as a pledge to the gods;
:At the fall of the world shall he far once more
:Home to the Wanes so wise.<ref name=BELLOWS79>Bellows (1923:79).</ref>
|
|}
</blockquote>

In chapter 23 of the ''[[Prose Edda]]'' book ''[[Gylfaginning]]'', the enthroned figure of [[High, Just-As-High, and Third|High]] says that Njörðr was raised in Vanaheimr, but was later sent as a hostage to the [[Æsir]].<ref name=BYOCK33>Byock (2005:33).</ref> 

The ''[[Heimskringla]]'' book ''[[Ynglinga saga]]'' records an [[euhemerized]] account of the origins of  Norse mythology. In chapter 1, "Van Home or the Home of the Vanir" is described as located around the [[Don River (Russia)|Don River]] (which Snorri writes was once called "Tana Fork" or "Vana Fork").<ref name=HOLLANDER6>Hollander (2007:6).</ref> Chapter 4 describes the Æsir-Vanir War, noting that during a hostage exchange, the Æsir sent the god [[Hœnir]] to Vanaheim and there he was immediately made chieftain.<ref name=HOLLANDER8>Hollander (2007:8).</ref> In chapter 15, the king [[Sveigðir]] is recorded as having married a woman named Vana in "Vanaland", located in [[Sweden]]. The two produced a child, who they named [[Vanlandi]] (meaning "Man from the Land of the Vanir"<ref name=MCKINNELL70>McKinnell (2005:70)</ref>).<ref name=HOLLANDER15>Hollander (2007:15).</ref>