Fimbulwinter

The Fimbulwinter (from Old Norse Fimbulvetr, " huge winter " ) is in Norse mythology, the first of the four eschatological catastrophes that called the downfall of the gods, Ragnarok initiate.

It is an ice age with three harsh winters without intervening summer, with snow, below zero outside and icy storms. There is speculation that climate change, which began at the end of the Nordic Bronze Age in Scandinavia, the legend of Fimbulwinter justified.

While Snorri Sturluson mentions the Fimbulwinter in the Prose Edda as a prelude to Ragnarök, it is used as a synonym for doomsday in Wafthrudnirlied the Poetic Edda.

Nowadays, the term Fimbulwinter in Scandinavian countries colloquially also an exceptionally cold and harsh winter.