Viking Ragnarok: Norse Mythology Predicts the World Ends This Weekend

There have been a few "prophecies" that have predicted the end of the world in recent years (Including 2012's 'Mayan apocalypse'), and this weekend happens to be another one. If you subscribe to Norse mythology, Ragnarok (spelled Ragnarök in old Norse) is calling for the end of the world to happen tomorrow, February 22, 2014.

According to the Jorvik Viking Festival website,

The sound of an ancient horn heard reverberating across the rooftops of York this evening is a portent of doom and the beginning of a countdown to the Norse apocalypse, according to experts in Norse mythology from the JORVIK Viking Centre.

The horn belonged to the Norse god, Heimdallr, who was said to blow the mythical Gjallerhorn to warn that Ragnarok – the Viking apocalypse – will take place in 100 days.  Experts are predicting the end of the world will take place on 22 February 2014.

That date just happens to coincide with the grand finale of the 30^th JORVIK Viking Festival in New York. (Coincidence?)

Just how will the world end? According to IBTimes:

Ragnarok, or Doom of the Gods, is described in Viking mythology as the catastrophic event where the nine worlds that make up the cosmos are destroyed.

It is a prophecy about the end of the world in which all the Viking gods including Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdallr, and Loki, will fight in a great battle following which the world will submerge in water to resurface afresh with two human survivors.

My plan? I think I'll have a Thor movie marathon and then see if I can learn something about actual Viking culture. (Looking into this story I learned that I know little-to-nothing about it.)

You can read a bit more about Ragnarok from Norse Mythology.com and if the world doesn't end, you'll be armed with some killer Viking trivia facts.