The ninth solar house (May 21. to June 23.), Breidablik,—the wide-shining, was named Baldur from the god who inhabited it. An unclouded sun, warm breezes, and sudden fertility, caused the god to be esteemed the most beautiful of all the deities; to be denominated the fair, the bright, the gentle, the good. The mythos of his death by the hands of Hoder[27], may be explained by the gradual yielding of the sun to the encroachments of night; for Hoder is represented as blind, and is employed as the symbol of darkness. The nights are beginning to lengthen, the sun to leave the northern hemisphere: Hoder, or darkness, is instigated by Loke, the personification of evil, to encroach on the light. In all the ancient systems, especially in the Magian, which has so many points of affinity with the Scandinavian, night is the characteristic of the evil, just as light is of the good principle; and the former is always at war with the latter. The tears of all nature for the fate of Baldur more strongly illustrate the truth of the physical interpretation. Even the mistletoe, the instrument of Baldur’s death, was not chosen without a meaning; it flourishes when the tree decays; it retains its verdure throughout the winter: hence it was the symbol of immortality, while the physical god was created mortal. When heroes or monarchs died, their bodies were burnt: the funeral fire was therefore a rite necessary to the honour of the dead; and all who loved him or were dependent on him, were present on this last solemn occasion. In the mythos, Odin and all the gods were present: their worshippers, corroborating the physical interpretation, honoured Baldur on mid-summer eve by lighting fires on the high mountain tops. When the Northmen, and we may add, Scotland and Ireland, received the Christian faith, they still continued the custom; but now they paid the honour, not to Baldur, but to St. John, whose festival happened at the same period. 8. HIMMELBIERG.