The Relation between the two Phenomenological Categories Initiation and Sacrifice as Exemplified by the Norse Myth of Óðinn on the Tree

Many articles have been devoted to the Old Norse myth which relates how Odin was hanging from a tree for nine nights without being offered food or drink. The question we are going to investigate here is, as mentioned, whether we are facing a sacrifice or an initiation. Both possibilities have been proposed, and some scholars have even believed that the strophes deal with an exemplary myth which has served directly as a model for some ritual