Freya, Wrestler, Czech Republic, Timeless Viking Spirit

Statuesque, beautiful, blonde and blessed with golden Nordic looks, though wrestling in the Czech Republic, when watching the Warrior Princess Freya, symbolism abounds.

Her current competitive wrestling is modern, her symbolism is Viking timeless.

One of the best Viking movies of all-time is the masterful and broad shouldered Kirk Douglas masterpiece, simply titled, The Vikings.

fciwomenswrestling.com article, united artists photo credit

The Vikings is a 1958 adventure film directed by Richard Fleischer and filmed in Technicolor. It was produced by and stars Kirk Douglas. It is based on the novel The Viking by Edison Marshall, which in turn is based on material from the sagas of Ragnar Lodbrok and his sons

Other starring roles were taken by Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh and Ernest Borgnine. The film made notable use of natural locations in Norway. It was mostly filmed in Maurangerfjorden and Maurangsnes, captured on film by cinematographer Jack Cardiff.

As sweeping and magnificent as it was, when it opened to box office success, it wasn’t well received by the critics and here, one critic in particular.

On June 12, 1958, New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther capsulized it as a Norse Opera and added, “The romantic notion that the Norsemen were a lot of noisy, carousing brutes, semi-barbaric in nature, who plied the northern seas back in the eighth and ninth centuries, looking for places to plunder and women to ravish, is given a hard-sell in “The Vikings,” which opened at the Victoria and the Astor last night. It is the best advertisement for beer-drinking since the breweries put wrestling on TV.

There isn’t much doubt that Kirk Douglas, who personally produced this giant charade, as well as plays the Number One boozer and bruiser on the Norsemen team, set out to make the goldarndest wide-screen and color action film that is physically possible within the confines of ancient castles, grotesque rowboats and bushy beards.”

Mr. Crowther, please relax, its entertainment. Not Shakespeare.

If we wanted a completely accurate historical Viking portrayal, we would go to a Minnesota library.

Besides, it’s symbolic. Inspiring. Sad. Sweeping. Melodramatic. Never to made again. Not like that.

Rich and Unforgettable.

The power of symbolism is spoken of in a September, 2010 article at Psychology Today. “Many philosophers, anthropologists, sociologists, and psychologists have pointed out that humans are uniquely symbolic creatures.

Look at the diverse tapestry of human cultural life. We go to great lengths to fashion a symbolic world. If you don’t believe in the power of symbols, try attending a local sporting event wearing the jersey of a rival team. In certain places, this little experiment could be a rather painful lesson in how important the symbolic world is to humans.

But the question is still unanswered. Why is the symbolic world so important to us? Many scholars have argued that the symbolic world is critical to humans because we are smart enough to fully understand the implications of being physical beings. We understand that life is fragile, we often have little control over it (e.g., I could be hit by a bus tomorrow or a tumor could be growing in me right now), and, critically, it is finite. However, the same advanced intellect that allows us to contemplate the grim reality of physical existence also allows us to construct a symbolic world.”

Freya is new to wrestling but she is symbolic of what Femcompetitor Magazine loves about the new world of competitive female submission wrestling. She comes from a well-rounded background, is a team player and has interests that would acceptable to the reputable and conservative global community.

Her favorite sports and activities are Sanshou, Equestrian riding and Taekwondo.

Many of her fellow Czech sorority sisters are skilled in Equestrian riding and we’ve written about that, but what is Sanshou? Have you heard of it?

Sanshou is a Chinese self-defense system and combat sport.

Sanshou is a martial art which was originally developed by the Chinese military based upon the study and practices of traditional Kung Fu and modern combat fighting techniques; it combines full-contact kickboxing, which includes close range and rapid successive punches and kicks, with wrestling, takedowns, throws, sweeps, kick catches, and in some competitions, even elbow and knee strikes.

Freya evidently leads a varied life.

Let’s meet our fair haired beauty.

At the fantastic mixed wrestling site alphacatz.com she glows, “Ever since being little, I was playing with the boys, trying to beat ‘em at everything and anything. I signed up for various martial arts sports, and always enjoyed sparring against the guys. The look on their faces when my kicks and punches proved too much for ‘em to bear gave me a giggle every time. While wrestling may be new to me, I am a tough girl, and I always fight to win. Learning the ground game is exciting and will only make me a bigger and better amazon than I already am.”

The management at Alpha Catz sees her as golden. “Freya is tough and can be intense when wrestling. She is very competitive and tenacious and you can feel she is used to competing against boys in physical sports. She is what all tall girls should be like, fearless and dominating!”

That is a bold proclamation so we decided to purchase and review some of Freya’s matches at Female Wrestling Zone.

Versatile and athletic, Freya engages the blonde, sexy and shapely Alkaia in a boxing match. What’s admirable is that she is a very skilled and a well-trained boxer. No amateur chick fight hour here. The two engage with sportsmanship and energy.

We love Alkaia and previously featured her.

Alkaia, Czech Wrestler, Warrior Princess, Big Stage Ready

When they wrestled, to our surprise Freya kept Alkaia in trouble in a protracted ground war, even extracting a submission. The curvy Alkaia found herself constantly under attack from the Nordic new comer.

When Freya met the far more experienced Artemis, it would be too tall an order, even from someone of great height like Freya, to counter her stealth opponent’s higher technical skills and tenacity. Still, the two girls fight it out on the ground in a match that is very competitive.

fciwomenswrestling.com article, female wrestling zone photo credit

http://www.femalewrestlingzone.com/ArtemisVsFreyaPreview.html

Freya lives up to her name.

At the well-researched naming site sheknows.com they enlighten, “In Scandinavian the meaning of the name Freya is: Lady. Derived from the name of Freyja, the Norse goddess of love and fertility and mythological wife of Odin.

People with this name have a deep inner desire for a stable, loving family or community, and a need to work with others and to be appreciated.

People with this name tend to initiate events, to be leaders rather than followers, with powerful personalities. They tend to be focused on specific goals, experience a wealth of creative new ideas, and have the ability to implement these ideas with efficiency and determination. They tend to be courageous and sometimes aggressive.”

Very intriguing.

Rich with symbolism let’s peer back into the history of this mesmerizing Goddess.

In Norse mythology, Freyja is a goddess associated with love, sex, beauty, fertility, gold, seiðr, war, and death. Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chariot pulled by two cats, keeps the boar Hildisvíni by her side, possesses a cloak of falcon feathers, and, by her husband Óðr, is the mother of two daughters, Hnoss and Gersemi.

Freyja rules over her heavenly afterlife field Fólkvangr and there receives half of those that die in battle, whereas the other half go to the god Odin‘s hall, Valhalla.

Powerful mythology and symbolism.

And what do the Scandinavian Gods dine on?

The informative site scandikitchen.co.uk educates, “There’s so much more to Nordic food than pickled herring and meatballs. Stretching from the midnight sun of northern Norway to the flat, fertile fields of Denmark, Scandinavian food culture is a lot more varied than you might think.

That said, several dishes and ingredients link all the regions together, bringing a uniquely Nordic food experience to life. That was created by thousands of years of heritage and shared culture. And a bit of Viking pillaging.

Scandinavian food is simple. We call it husmanskost – farmer’s fare. It’s natural and honest, made with the staple produce found on the land. For ScandiKitchen, trying to turn traditional dishes into fancy and fussy affairs isn’t true to who we are. When you work with the very best produce, there’s no need to overcomplicate it. Just pick (or pickle), serve and eat.”

In this writer’s opinion that is why the 1958 version of The Vikings was so penetrating.

It embodied courage, risk, love greatly desired, but like so many of us have experienced, unrequited. What Kirk Douglas character was willing to do to bring back his English prize, he would later anoint Viking Queen, was impossible not to admire, even if it was ill advised, especially since he placed so many at risk who would later lose their lives in his quest of sheer emotional madness.

Yes we know in terms of historical detail it was not entirely accurate but that wasn’t the point.

The music score was so moving that it engulfs you with so many emotions of melancholy, sadness and inspiration. Please see for yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gays7kImkT4

We invest so heavily in the symbolic cultural institutions and identifications, in part, because they help emotionally protect us from basic fears about our mortal predicament.

From our cherished universities, religious institutions and yes film, they live on while we die.

With model like looks, a competitive spirit and her complimentary healthy lifestyle, the regal Freya from the Czech Republic symbolizes and embodies the direction that we are happy to see the global fully competitive female submission wrestling industry headed in.