Giant Superstition

Giants appear in the myth and lore of many ancient societies, often depicted in vastly different ways.

Most commonly giants are portrayed as mean and brutish, clumsy and oafish, primitive and destructive. There were “bad” giants and we’ve heard tales of “good giants”. We use the word giant to describe anything of inordinate size but also to imply an excellence of character, talent or ability. In most of the myths of ancient times, giants were used to depict the image of the existence of powers that had supernatural powers and mystical control over the actions of human beings and other animals. There were believed to be good as well as bad giants whereby the name per se was an indication of Excellency in character, ability and talent. According to legends, mythology, monsters and cultures, giant was an indication and symbolism of strength.

In the book of Samuel, there is an analogy of Goliath who was a philistine giant. However, the giant was killed by little David. In this case, the giant was used as a reference to the villain powers of the evil one that not prevail against the mighty powers of God. In the book of Genesis, there is told a story about the son of God who slept with daughters of men and as result led to the birth of giants who were perceived to be a sign of evil and as a result contributed to the destruction of human kind by floods. They were a perfect symbol of evil and sin to the human race.

According to the Hinduism there is a tale about Giants. Giant’s are called Daityas and there was apparently some giants that fought against the gods because they were jealous of Deva who are half brothers. It was said that there existed giants who at one point waged war against the gods and even their half-brothers (Deva). They convinced the other tribes which were displeased that the gods fought back and as a result this led to the demon mythology which surrounds giants. They were believed to hold demonic powers that resulted in rebellion actions and giants were hence cursed and bestowed with the demonic affiliations.

Giant's existed in Greek mythology which also believed in the existence of giants; it originated from the story about the conflict between the sky spirits and the earthly spirits. It is believed that the conflict led to the death of the earth spirits which were later transformed into giants. This led to the belief that any giant that existed was a symbol of evil spirits and was thought to bring evil implications upon those that encountered them. The Norse mythology Jotun which was considered a cognate was opposed to god’s principles, teachings and beliefs which later got converted to giants. On the other hand it was believed - according to this mythology that the world was created out of the flesh of giants and as a result every human activity was under the influence and control of the giants.