Английская Википедия:Germanic paganism
Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:About Шаблон:Use dmy dates
Шаблон:Indo-European topics Germanic paganism or Germanic religion refers to the traditional, culturally significant religion of the Germanic peoples. With a chronological range of at least one thousand years in an area covering Scandinavia, the British Isles, modern Germany, and at times other parts of Europe, the beliefs and practices of Germanic paganism varied. Scholars typically assume some degree of continuity between Roman-era beliefs and those found in Norse paganism, as well as between Germanic religion and reconstructed Indo-European religion and post-conversion folklore, though the precise degree and details of this continuity are subjects of debate. Germanic religion was influenced by neighboring cultures, including that of the Celts, the Romans, and, later, by the Christian religion. Very few sources exist that were written by pagan adherents themselves; instead, most were written by outsiders and can thus present problems for reconstructing authentic Germanic beliefs and practices.
Some basic aspects of Germanic belief can be reconstructed, including the existence of one or more origin myths, the existence of a myth of the end of the world, a general belief in the inhabited world being a "middle-earth", as well as some aspects of belief in fate and the afterlife. The Germanic peoples believed in a multitude of gods, and in other supernatural beings such as jötnar (often glossed as giants), dwarfs, elves, and dragons. Roman-era sources, using Roman names, mention several important male gods, as well as several goddesses such as Nerthus and the matronae. Early medieval sources identify a pantheon consisting of the gods *Wodanaz (Odin), *Thunraz (Thor), *Tiwaz (Tyr), and *Frijjō (Frigg),Шаблон:Efn as well as numerous other gods, many of whom are only attested from Norse sources (see Proto-Germanic folklore).
Textual and archaeological sources allow the reconstruction of aspects of Germanic ritual and practice. These include well-attested burial practices, which likely had religious significance, such as rich grave goods and the burial in ships or wagons. Wooden carved figures that may represent gods have been discovered in bogs throughout northern Europe, and rich sacrificial deposits, including objects, animals, and human remains, have been discovered in springs, bogs, and under the foundations of new structures. Evidence for sacred places includes not only natural locations such as sacred groves but also early evidence for the construction of structures such as temples and the worship of standing poles in some places. Other known Germanic religious practices include divination and magic, and there is some evidence for festivals and the existence of priests.
Subject and terminology
Definition
Germanic religion is principally defined as the religious traditions of speakers of Germanic languages (the Germanic peoples).Шаблон:Sfn The term "religion" in this context is itself controversial, Bernhard Maier noting that it "implies a specifically modern point of view, which reflects the modern conceptual isolation of 'religion' from other aspects of culture".Шаблон:Sfn Never a unified or codified set of beliefs or practices, Germanic religion showed strong regional variations and Rudolf Simek writes that it is better to refer to "Germanic religions".Шаблон:Sfn In many contact areas (e.g. Rhineland and eastern and northern Scandinavia), Germanic paganism was similar to neighboring religions such as those of the Slavs, Celts, or Finnic peoples.Шаблон:Sfn The use of the qualifier "Germanic" (e.g. "Germanic religion" and its variants) remains common in German-language scholarship, but is less commonly used in English and other scholarly languages, where scholars usually specify which branch of paganism is meant (e.g. Norse paganism or Anglo-Saxon paganism).Шаблон:Sfn The term "Germanic religion" is sometimes applied to practices dating to as early as the Stone Age or Bronze Age, but its use is more generally restricted to the time period after the Germanic languages had become distinct from other Indo-European languages (early Iron Age). Germanic paganism covers a period of around one thousand years in terms of written sources, from the first reports in Roman sources to the final conversion to Christianity.Шаблон:Sfn
Continuity
Because of the amount of time and space covered by the term "Germanic religion", controversy exists as to the degree of continuity of beliefs and practices between the earliest attestations in Tacitus and the later attestations of Norse paganism from the high Middle Ages. Many scholars argue for continuity, seeing evidence of commonalities between the Roman, early medieval, and Norse attestations, while many other scholars are skeptical.Шаблон:Sfn The majority of Germanic gods attested by name during the Roman period cannot be related to a later Norse god; many names attested in the Nordic sources are similarly without any known non-Nordic equivalents.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The much higher number of sources on Scandinavian religion has led to a methodologically problematic tendency to use Scandinavian material to complete and interpret the much more sparsely attested information on continental Germanic religion.Шаблон:Sfn
Most scholars accept some form of continuity between Indo-European and Germanic religion,Шаблон:Sfn but the degree of continuity is a subject of controversy.Шаблон:Sfn Jens Peter Schjødt writes that while many scholars view comparisons of Germanic religion with other attested Indo-European religions positively, "just as many, or perhaps even more, have been sceptical".Шаблон:Sfn While supportive of Indo-European comparison, Schjødt notes that the "dangers" of comparison are taking disparate elements out of context and arguing that myths and mythical structures found around the world must be Indo-European just because they appear in multiple Indo-European cultures.Шаблон:Sfn Bernhard Maier argues that similarities with other Indo-European religions do not necessarily result from a common origin, but can also be the result of convergence.Шаблон:Sfn
Continuity also concerns the question of whether popular, post-conversion beliefs and practices (folklore) found among Germanic speakers up to the modern day reflect a continuity with earlier Germanic religion. Earlier scholars, beginning with Jacob Grimm, believed that modern folklore was of ancient origin and had changed little over the centuries, which allowed the use of folklore and fairy tales as sources of Germanic religion.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn These ideas later came under the influence of völkisch ideology, which stressed the organic unity of a Germanic "national spirit" (Шаблон:Lang), as expressed in Otto Höfler's "Germanic continuity theory".Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn As a result, the use of folklore as a source went out of fashion after World War II, especially in Germany,Шаблон:Sfn but has experienced a revival since the 1990s in Nordic scholarship.Шаблон:Sfn Today, scholars are cautious in their use of folkloric material, keeping in mind that most was collected long after the conversion and the advent of writing.Шаблон:Sfn Areas where continuity can be noted include agrarian rites and magical ideas,Шаблон:Sfn as well as the root elements of some folktales.Шаблон:Sfn
Sources
Sources on Germanic religion can be divided between primary sources and secondary sources. Primary sources include texts, structures, place names, personal names, and objects that were created by devotees of the religion; secondary sources are normally texts that were written by outsiders.Шаблон:Sfn
Primary sources
Examples of primary sources include some Latin alphabet and Runic inscriptions, as well as poetic texts such as the Merseburg Charms and heroic texts that may date from pagan times, but were written down by Christians.Шаблон:Sfn The poems of the Edda, while pagan in origin, continued to circulate orally in a Christian context before being written down, which makes an application to pre-Christian times difficult.Шаблон:Sfn In contrast, pre-Christian images such as on bracteates, gold foil figures, and rune and picture stones are direct attestations of Germanic religion. The interpretation of these images is not always immediately obvious.Шаблон:Sfn Archaeological evidence is also extensive, including evidence from burials and sacrificial sites.Шаблон:Sfn Ancient votive altars from the Rhineland often contain inscriptions naming gods with Germanic or partially Germanic names.Шаблон:Sfn
Secondary sources
Most textual sources on Germanic religion were written by outsiders.Шаблон:Sfn The chief textual source for Germanic religion in the Roman period is Tacitus's Germania.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn There are problems with Tacitus's work, however, as it is unclear how much he really knew about the Germanic peoples he described and because he employed numerous topoi dating back to Herodotus that were used when describing a barbarian people.Шаблон:Sfn Tacitus' reliability as a source can be characterized by his rhetorical tendencies, since one of the purposes of Germania was to present his Roman compatriots with an example of the virtues he believed they lacked.Шаблон:Sfn Julius Caesar, Procopius, and other ancient authors also offer some information on Germanic religion.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Efn
Textual sources for post-Roman continental Germanic religion are written by Christian authors: Some of the gods of the Lombards are described in the 7th-century Origo gentis Langobardorum ("Origin of the Lombard People"), while a small amount of information on the religion of the pagan Franks can be found in Gregory of Tours's late 6th-century Шаблон:Lang ("History of the Franks").Шаблон:Sfn An important source for the pre-Christian religion of the Anglo-Saxons is Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People (c. 731).Шаблон:Sfn Other sources include historians such as Jordanes (6th century CE) and Paul the Deacon (8th century), as well as saint lives and Christian legislation against various practices.Шаблон:Sfn
Textual sources for Scandinavian religion are much more extensive. They include the aforementioned poems of the Poetic Edda, Eddic poetry found in other sources, the Prose Edda, which is usually attributed to the Icelander Snorri Sturluson (13th century CE), Skaldic poetry, poetic kennings with mythological content, Snorri's Heimskringla, the Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus (12th-13th century CE), Icelandic historical writing and sagas, as well as outsider sources such as the report on the Rus' made by the Arab traveler Ahmad ibn Fadlan (10th century), the Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum by bishop Adam of Bremen (11th century CE), and various saints' lives.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Outside influences and syncretism
Germanic religion has been influenced by the beliefs of other cultures. Celtic and Germanic peoples were in close contact in the first millennium BCE, and evidence for Celtic influence on Germanic religion is found in religious vocabulary. This includes, for instance, the name of the deity *Þun(a)raz (Thor), which is identical to Celtic *Toranos (Taranis), the Germanic name of the runes (Celtic *rūna 'secret, magic'), and the Germanic name for the sacred groves, *nemeđaz (Celtic nemeton).Шаблон:Sfn Evidence for further close religious contacts is found in the Roman-era Rhineland goddesses known as matronae, which display both Celtic and Germanic names.Шаблон:Sfn During the Viking Age, there is evidence for continued Irish mythological and Insular Celtic influence on Norse religion.Шаблон:Sfn
During the Roman period, Germanic gods were equated with Roman gods and worshipped with Roman names in contact zones, a process known as Шаблон:Lang; later, Germanic names were also applied to Roman gods (Шаблон:Lang). This was done to better understand one another's religions as well as to syncretize elements of each religion.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn This resulted in various aspects of Roman worship and iconography being adopted among the Germanic peoples, including those living at some distance from the Roman frontier.Шаблон:Sfn
In later centuries, Germanic religion was also influenced by Christianity. There is evidence for the appropriation of Christian symbolism on gold bracteates and possibly in the understanding of the roles of particular gods.Шаблон:Sfn The Christianization of the Germanic peoples was a long process during which there are many textual and archaeological examples of the co-existence and sometimes mixture of pagan and Christian worship and ideas.Шаблон:Sfn Christian sources frequently equate Germanic gods with demons and forms of the devil (Шаблон:Lang).Шаблон:Sfn
Cosmology
Creation myth
Шаблон:See also It is likely that multiple creation myths existed among Germanic peoples.Шаблон:Sfn Creation myths are not attested for the continental Germanic peoples or Anglo-Saxons;Шаблон:Sfn Tacitus includes the story of Germanic tribes' descent from the gods Tuisto (or Tuisco), who is born from the earth,Шаблон:Sfn and Mannus (Germania chapter 2), resulting in a division into three or five Germanic subgroups.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Tuisto appears to mean "twin" or "double-being", suggesting that he was a hermaphroditic being capable of impregnating himself.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn These gods are only attested in Germania.Шаблон:Sfn It is not possible to decide based on Tacitus's report whether the myth was meant to describe an origin of the gods or of humans.Шаблон:Sfn Tacitus also includes a second myth: the Semnones believed that they originated in a sacred grove of fetters where a particular god dwelled (Germania chapter 39, for more on this see "Sacred trees, groves, and poles" below).Шаблон:Sfn
The only Nordic comprehensive origin myth is provided by the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning. According to Gylfaginning, the first being was the giant Ymir, who was followed by the cow Auðumbla, eventually leading to the birth of Odin and his two brothers. The brothers kill Ymir and make the world out of his body, before finally making the first man and woman out of trees (Ask and Embla).Шаблон:Sfn Some scholars suspect that Gylfaginning had been compiled from various contradictory sources, with some details from those sources having been left out.Шаблон:Sfn Besides Gylfaginning, the most important sources on Nordic creation myths are the Eddic poems Vǫluspá, Vafþrúðnismál, and Grímnismál.Шаблон:Sfn The 9th-century Old High German Wessobrunn Prayer begins with a series of negative pairs to describe the time before creation that show similarity to a number of Nordic descriptions of the time before the world, suggesting an orally transmitted formula.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
There may be a continuity between Tacitus's account of Tuisto and Mannus and the Gylfaginning account of the creation of the world.Шаблон:Sfn The name Tuisto, if it means 'twin' or 'double-being', could connect him to the name of the primordial being Ymir, whose name probably has a similar meaning. On the other hand, the form "Tuisco" may suggest a connection to Tyr.Шаблон:Sfn Similarly, both myths have a genealogy consisting of a grandfather, a father, and then three sons.Шаблон:Sfn Ymir's name is etymologically connected to the Sanskrit Yama and Iranian Yima, while the creation of the world from Ymir's body is paralleled by the creation of the world from the primordial being Purusha in Indic mythology, suggesting not only a Proto-Germanic origin for Ymir but an even older Indo-European origin (see Indo-European cosmogony).Шаблон:Sfn
Myth of the end of the world
There is evidence of a myth of the end of the world in Germanic mythology, which can be reconstructed in very general terms from the surviving sources.Шаблон:Sfn The best known is the myth of Ragnarök, attested from Old Norse sources, which involves a war between the gods and the beings of chaos, leading to the destruction of almost all gods, giants, and living things in a cataclysm of fire. It is followed by a rebirth of the world.Шаблон:Sfn The notion of the world's destruction by fire in the Southern Germanic area seems confirmed by the existence of the word Шаблон:Lang (probably "world conflagration") to refer to the end of the world in Old High German; however, it is possible that this aspect derives from Christian influence.Шаблон:Sfn Scholarship on Ragnarök tends to either argue that it is a myth with composite, partially non-Scandinavian origins, that it has Indo-European parallels and thus origins, or that it derives from Christian influence.Шаблон:Sfn
Physical cosmos
Information on Germanic cosmology is only provided in Nordic sources,Шаблон:Sfn but there is evidence for considerable continuity of beliefs despite variation over time and space.Шаблон:Sfn Scholarship is marked by disagreement about whether Snorri Sturlason's Edda is a reliable source for pre-Christian Norse cosmology, as Snorri has undoubtedly imposed an ordered, Christian worldview on his material.Шаблон:Sfn
Midgard ("dwelling place in the middle") is used to refer to the inhabited world or a barrier surrounding the inhabited world in Norse mythology.Шаблон:Sfn The term is first attested as Шаблон:Lang in Gothic with Wulfila's translation of the bible (c. 370 CE), and has cognates in Saxon, Old English, and Old High German. It is thus probably an old Germanic designation. In the Prose Edda, Midgard also seems to be the part of the world inhabited by the gods.Шаблон:Sfn The dwelling place of the gods themselves is known as Asgard, while the giants dwell in lands sometimes referred to as Jötunheimar, outside of Midgard.Шаблон:Sfn The ash tree Yggdrasill is at the center of the world,Шаблон:Sfn and propped up the heavens in the same way as the Saxon pillar Irminsul was said to.Шаблон:Sfn The world of the dead (Hel) seems to have been underground, and it is possible that the realm of the gods was originally subterranean as well.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The Norse imagined the inhabited world to be surrounded by a sort of dragon or serpent, Jörmungandr; although only explicitly attested in Scandinavian sources, allusions to a world-surrounding monster from southern Germany and England suggest that this concept may have been common Germanic.Шаблон:Sfn
Fate
Some Christian authors of the Middle Ages, such as Bede (c. 700) and Thietmar of Merseburg (c. 1000), attribute a strong belief in fate and chance to the followers of Germanic religion. Similarly, Old English, Old High German, and Old Saxon associate a word for fate, wyrd, as referring to an inescapable, impersonal fate or death.Шаблон:Sfn While scholarship of the early 20th century believed that this meant that Germanic religion was essentially fatalistic, scholars since 1969 have noted that this concept appears to have been heavily influenced by the Christianized Greco-Roman notion of Шаблон:Lang ("fatal fortune") rather than reflecting Germanic belief.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Nevertheless, Norse myth attests the belief that even the gods were subject to fate.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn While it is thus clear that older scholarship exaggerated the importance of fate in Germanic religion, it still had its own concept of fate. Most Norse texts dealing with fate are heroic, which probably influences their portrayal of fate.Шаблон:Sfn
In Norse myth, fate was created by supernatural female beings called Norns, who appear either individually or as a collective and who give people their fate at birth and are somehow involved in their deaths.Шаблон:Sfn Other female beings, the disir and valkyries, were also associated with fate.Шаблон:Sfn
Afterlife
Шаблон:See also Early Germanic beliefs about the afterlife are not well known; however, the sources indicate a variety of beliefs, including belief in an underworld, continued life in the grave, a world of the dead in the sky, and reincarnation.Шаблон:Sfn Beliefs varied by time and place and may have contradictory in the same time and place.Шаблон:Sfn The two most important afterlives in the attested corpus were located at Hel and Valhalla, while additional destinations for the dead are also mentioned.Шаблон:Sfn A number of sources refer to Hel as the general abode of the dead.Шаблон:Sfn
The Old Norse proper noun Hel and its cognates in other Germanic languages are used for the Christian hell, but they originally refer to a Germanic underworld and/or afterlife location that predates Christianization.Шаблон:Sfn Its relation to the West Germanic verb Шаблон:Lang ("to hide") suggests that it may have originally referred to the grave itself.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn It could also suggest the idea that the realm of the dead is hidden from human view.Шаблон:Sfn It was not conceived of as a place of punishment until the high Middle Ages, when it takes on some characteristics of the Christian hell. It is described as cold, dark, and in the north.Шаблон:Sfn Valhalla ("hall of the slain"), on the other hand, is a hall in Asgard where the illustrious dead dwell with Odin, feasting and fighting.Шаблон:Sfn
Old Norse material often include the notion that the dead lived in their graves, and that they can sometimes come back as revenants.Шаблон:Sfn Several inscriptions in the Elder Futhark found on stones marking graves seem intended to prevent this.Шаблон:Sfn The concept of the Wild Hunt of the dead, first attested in the 11th century, is found throughout the Germanic-speaking regions.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Religiously significant numbers
Шаблон:See also In Germanic mythology, the numbers three, nine, and twelve play an important role.Шаблон:Sfn The symbolic importance of the number three is attested widely among many cultures,Шаблон:Sfn and the number twelve is also attested as significant in other cultures, meaning that foreign influence is possible. The number three often occurs as a symbol of completeness, which is probably how the frequent use in Germanic religion of triads of gods or giants should be understood.Шаблон:Sfn Groups of three gods are mentioned in a number of sources, including Adam of Bremen, the Nordendorf Fibula, the Old Saxon Baptismal Formula, Gylfaginning, and Þorsteins þáttr uxafóts.Шаблон:Sfn The number nine can be understood as three threes.Шаблон:Sfn Its importance is attested in both mythology and worship.Шаблон:Sfn
Supernatural and divine beings
Gods
Шаблон:See also The Germanic gods were a category of supernatural beings who interacted with humans, as well as with other supernatural beings such as giants (jötnar), elves, and dwarfs.Шаблон:Sfn The distinction between gods and other supernaturally powerful beings might not always be clear.Шаблон:Sfn Unlike the Christian god, the Germanic gods were born, can die, and are unable to change the fate of the world.Шаблон:Sfn The gods had mostly human features, with human forms, male or female gender, and familial relationships, and lived in a society organized like human society; however, their sight, hearing, and strength were superhuman, and they possessed a superhuman ability to influence the world.Шаблон:Sfn Within the religion, they functioned as helpers of humans,Шаблон:Sfn granting Шаблон:Lang ("good luck, good fortune") for correct religious observance. The adjectival form Шаблон:Lang (English holy) is attested in all Germanic languages, including Gothic on the Ring of Pietroassa.Шаблон:Sfn
Based on Old Norse evidence, Germanic paganism probably had a variety of words to refer to gods.Шаблон:Sfn Words descended from Proto-Germanic *ansuz, the origin of the Old Norse family of gods known as the Aesir (singular Áss), are attested as a name for divine beings from around the Germanic world.Шаблон:Sfn The earliest attestations are the name of a war goddess Шаблон:Lang ("battle goddess") that appears on a Roman inscription from Tongeren, with a second early attestion on a Runic belt-buckle found at Vimose, Denmark from around 200 CE.Шаблон:Sfn The historian Jordanes mentions the Latinized form Шаблон:Lang in the Getica, while the Old English rune poem attests the Old English form Шаблон:Lang, and personal names also exist using the word from the area where Old High German was spoken.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The Indo-European word for god, *deiuos, is only found in Old Norse, where it occurs as Шаблон:Lang; it mostly appears in the plural (Шаблон:Lang) or in compound bynames.Шаблон:Sfn
In Norse mythology, the Aesir are one of two families of gods, the other being the Vanir: the most important gods of Norse mythology belong to the Aesir and the term can also be used for the gods in general.Шаблон:Sfn The Vanir appear to have been mostly fertility gods.Шаблон:Sfn There is no evidence for the existence of a separate Vanir family of gods outside of Icelandic mythological texts,Шаблон:Sfn namely the Eddic poem Vǫluspá and Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda and Ynglinga Saga. These sources detail a mythical Æsir–Vanir War, which, however, is portrayed quite differently in the different accounts.Шаблон:Sfn
Giants (Jötnar)
Шаблон:Main Giants (Jötnar) play a significant role in Germanic myth as preserved in Iceland, being just as important as the gods in myths of the cosmology and the creation and the end of the world.Шаблон:Sfn They appear to have been various types of powerful, non-divine supernatural beings who lived in a kind of wilderness and were mostly hostile to humans and gods.Шаблон:Sfn They have human form and live in families, but can sometimes take on animal form.Шаблон:Sfn In addition to Шаблон:Lang-non, the beings are also commonly referred to as Шаблон:Lang, both terms having cognates in West Germanic;Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Lang is probably derived from the verb "to eat", either referring to their strength,Шаблон:Sfn or possibly to cannibalism as a characteristic trait of giants.Шаблон:Sfn Giants often have a special association with some phenomena of nature, such as frost, mountains, water, and fire.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Scholars are divided as to whether there were any religious offerings or rituals offered to giants in Germanic religion.Шаблон:Sfn Scholars such as Gro Steisland and Nanna Løkka have suggested that the division of the gods from giants is not actually very clear.Шаблон:Sfn
Elves, dwarfs and other beings
Germanic religion also contained various other mythological beings, such as the monstrous wolf Fenrir, as well as beings such as elves, dwarfs, and other non-divine supernatural beings.Шаблон:Sfn
Elves are beings of Germanic lower mythology that are mostly male and appear as a collective.Шаблон:Sfn Snorri Sturluson divides the elves into two groups, the dark elves and the light elves; however, this division is not attested elsewhere.Шаблон:Sfn People's understanding of elves varied by time and place: in some instances they were godlike beings, in others dead ancestors, nature spirits, or demons.Шаблон:Sfn In Norse pagan belief, elves seem to have been worshipped to some extent.Шаблон:Sfn The concept of elves begins to differ between Scandinavia and the West Germanic peoples in the Middle Ages, possibly under Celtic influence.Шаблон:Sfn In Anglo-Saxon England, elves seem to have been potentially dangerous, powerful supernatural beings associated with woods, fields, hills, and bodies of water.Шаблон:Sfn
Like elves, dwarfs are beings of Germanic lower mythology. They are mostly male and imagined as a collective;Шаблон:Sfn however, individual named dwarfs also play an important role in Norse mythology.Шаблон:Sfn In Norse and German texts, dwarfs live in mountains and are known as great smiths and craftsmen. They may have originally been nature spirits or demons of death.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Snorri Sturluson equates the dwarfs to a subgroup of the elves,Шаблон:Sfn and many high medieval German epics and some Old Norse myths give dwarfs names with the word Шаблон:Lang or Шаблон:Lang ("elf") in them, suggesting some confusion between the two.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn However, there is no evidence that the dwarfs were worshipped.Шаблон:Sfn In Anglo-Saxon England, dwarfs were potentially dangerous supernatural beings associated with madness, fever, and dementia, and have no known association with mountains.Шаблон:Sfn
Dragons occur in Germanic mythology, with Norse examples including Níðhöggr and the world-serpent Jörmungandr. In the (late) sources for Scandinavian religion, dragons play an important role in the mythic cosmology.Шаблон:Sfn It is difficult to tell how much existing sources have been influenced by Greco-Roman and Christian ideas about dragons.Шаблон:Sfn Based on the native word (Шаблон:Lang-goh, related to Шаблон:Lang-non, "snake"), the early description in Beowulf, and early pictorial depictions, they were probably imagined as snake-like and of large size, able to spit poison or fire, and dwelled under the earth.Шаблон:Sfn Scholarly consensus is that Germanic dragons were originally more snake- or worm-like and could not fly, but that the idea of flying dragons entered from Greco-Roman culture.Шаблон:Sfn The medieval Germanic languages did not distinguish linguistically or conceptually between snakes and dragons in their mythology.Шаблон:Sfn
Pantheon
Шаблон:See also Due to the scarcity of sources and the origin of the Germanic gods over a broad period of time and in different locations, it is not possible to reconstruct a full pantheon of Germanic deities that is valid for Germanic religion everywhere; this is only possible for the last stage of Germanic religion, Norse paganism.Шаблон:Sfn People in different times and places would have worshiped different individual gods and groups of gods.Шаблон:Sfn Placename evidence containing divine names gives some indication of which gods were important in particular regions,Шаблон:Sfn however, such names are not well attested or researched outside Scandinavia.Шаблон:Sfn
The following section first includes some information on the gods attested during the Roman period, then the four main Germanic gods *Tiwaz (Tyr), Thunraz (Thor), *Wodanaz (Odin), and Frijjō (Frigg), who are securely attested since the early Middle Ages but were probably worshiped during Roman times,Шаблон:Sfn and finally some information on other gods, many of whom are only attested in Norse paganism.Шаблон:Sfn
Roman-era
Germanic gods with Roman names
Шаблон:Further The Roman authors Julius Caesar and Tacitus both use Roman names to describe foreign gods, but whereas Caesar claims the Germani worshiped no individual gods but only natural phenomena such as the sun, moon, and fire, Tacitus mentions a number of deities, saying that the most worshiped god is Mercury, followed by Hercules, and Mars;Шаблон:Sfn he also mentions Isis, Odysseus, and Laertes.Шаблон:Sfn Scholars generally interpret Mercury as meaning Odin, Hercules as meaning Thor, and Mars as meaning Tyr.Шаблон:Sfn As these names are only attested much later, however, there is some doubt about these identifications and it has been suggested that the gods Tacitus names were not worshiped by all Germanic peoples or that he has transferred information about the Gauls to the Germans.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
The Germani themselves also worshiped gods with Roman names at votive altars constructed according to Roman tradition; while isolated instances of Germanic bynames (such as "Mars Thingsus") indicate that a Germanic god was meant, often it is not possible to know if the Roman god or a Germanic equivalent is meant.Шаблон:Sfn Most surviving dedications are to Mercury.Шаблон:Sfn Female deities, on the other hand, were not given Roman names.Шаблон:Sfn Additionally, the Germanic speakers also translated Roman gods' names into their own languages (Шаблон:Lang) most prominently in the Germanic days of the week. Usually the translation of the days of the week is dated to the 3rd or 4th century CE; however, they are not attested until the early Middle Ages.Шаблон:Sfn This late attestation causes some scholars to question the usefulness of the days of the week for reconstructing early Germanic religion.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Alcis
Шаблон:Main Tacitus mentions a divine pair of twins called the Alcis worshipped by the Naharvali, whom he compares to the Roman twin horsemen Castor and Pollux.Шаблон:Sfn These twins can be associated with the Indo-European myth of the divine twin horsemen (Dioscuri) attested in various Indo-European cultures.Шаблон:Sfn Among later Germanic peoples, twin founding figures such as Hengist and Horsa allude to the motif of the divine twins; Hengist and Horsa's names both mean "horse", strengthening the connection.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn In Scandinavia, images of divine twins are attested from 15th century BCE until the 8th century CE, after which they disappear, apparently as a result of religious change. Norse texts contain no identifiable divine twins, though scholars have looked for parallels among gods and heroes.Шаблон:Sfn
Nerthus
Шаблон:Main In Germania, Tacitus mentions that the Lombards and Suebi venerated a goddess, Nerthus, and describes the rites of the goddess in some detail. At their center is a ceremonial wagon procession. Nerthus's cart is found on an unspecified island in the "ocean", where it is kept in a sacred grove and draped in white cloth. Only a priest may touch it. When the priest detects Nerthus's presence by the cart, the cart is drawn by heifers. Nerthus's cart is met with celebration and peacetime everywhere it goes, and during her procession no one goes to war and all iron objects are locked away. In time, after the goddess has had her fill of human company, the priest returns the cart to her "temple" and slaves ritually wash the goddess, her cart, and the cloth in a "secluded lake". According to Tacitus, the slaves are then immediately drowned in the lake.Шаблон:Sfn
The majority of modern scholars identify Nerthus as a direct etymological precursor to the Old Norse deity Njörðr, attested over a thousand years later. However, Njörðr is attested as male, leading to many proposals regarding this apparent change, such as incest motifs described among the Vanir, a group of gods to which Njörðr belongs, in Old Norse sources.Шаблон:Sfn
Matronae
Шаблон:Main Collectives of three goddess known as matronae appear on numerous votive altars from the Roman province of Germania inferior, especially from Cologne,Шаблон:Sfn dating to the third and fourth centuries CE.Шаблон:Sfn The altars depict three women in non-Roman dress.Шаблон:Sfn About half of serving matronae altars can be identified as Germanic because of their bynames; other have Latin or Celtic bynames.Шаблон:Sfn The bynames are often connected to a place or ethnic group, but a number are associated with water,Шаблон:Sfn and many of them seem to indicate a giving and protecting nature.Шаблон:Sfn Despite their frequency in the archaeological record, the matronae receive no mention in any written source.Шаблон:Sfn
The matronae may be connected to female deities attested in collectives from later times, such as the Norns, the disir and valkyries; Rudolf Simek suggests that a connection to the disir is most likely.Шаблон:Sfn The disir may be etymologically connected to minor Hindu deities known as dhisanās, who likewise appear in a group; this would give them an Indo-European origin.Шаблон:Sfn Since Jacob Grimm, scholars have sought to connect the disir with the Шаблон:Lang found in the Old High German First Merseburg Charm and with a conjecturally corrected place name from Tacitus; however, these connections are contested.Шаблон:Sfn The disir share some functions with the Norns and valkyries,Шаблон:Sfn and the Nordic sources suggest a close association between the three groups of Norse minor female deities.Шаблон:Sfn Further connections of the matronae have been proposed: the Anglo-Saxon pagan festival of Шаблон:Lang ("night of the mothers") mentioned by Bede has been associated with the matronae.Шаблон:Sfn Likewise, the poorly attested Anglo-Saxon goddesses Eostre and Rheda may be connected with the matronae.Шаблон:Sfn
Other female deities
Besides Nerthus, Tacitus elsewhere mentions other important female deities worshiped by the Germanic peoples, such as Tamfana by the Marsi (Annals, 1:50) and the "mother of the gods" (Шаблон:Lang) by the Aestii (Germania, chapter 45).Шаблон:Sfn
In addition to the collective Шаблон:Lang, votive altars from Roman Germania attest a number of individual goddesses.Шаблон:Sfn A goddess Nehelenia is attested on numerous votive altars from the 3rd century CE on the Rhine islands of Walcheren and Noord-Beveland, as well as at Cologne.Шаблон:Sfn Dedicatory inscriptions to Nehelenia make up 15% of all extant dedications to gods from the Roman province Germania inferior and 50% of dedications to female deities.Шаблон:Sfn She appears to have been associated with trade and commerce, and was possibly a chthonic deity: she is usually depicted with baskets of fruit, a dog, or the prow of a ship or an oar.Шаблон:Sfn Her attributes are shared with the Hellenistic-Egyptian goddess Isis, suggesting a connection to the Isis of the Suebi mentioned by Tacitus.Шаблон:Sfn Despite her obvious importance, she is not attested in later periods.Шаблон:Sfn
Another goddess, Hludana, is also attested from five votive inscriptions along the Rhine; her name is cognate with Old Norse Hlóðyn, one of the names of Jörð (earth), the mother of Thor. It has thus been suggested she may have been a chthonic deity, possibly also connected to later attested figures such as Hel, Huld and Frau Holle.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Post-Roman era
*Tiwaz/Tyr
The god *Tiwaz (Tyr) may be attested as early as 450-350 BCE on the Negau helmet.Шаблон:Sfn Etymologically, his name is related to the Vedic Dyaus and Greek Zeus, indicating an origin in the reconstructed Indo-European sky deity *Dyēus.Шаблон:Sfn He is thus the only attested Germanic god who was already important in Indo-European times.Шаблон:Sfn When the days of the week were translated into Germanic, Tyr was associated with the Roman god Mars, so that Шаблон:Lang (day of Mars) became "Tuesday" ("day of *Tiwaz/Tyr").Шаблон:Sfn A votive inscription to "Mars Thingsus" (Mars of the thing) suggests he also had a connection to the legal sphere.Шаблон:Sfn
Scholars generally believe that Tyr became less and less important in the Scandinavian branch of Germanic paganism over time and had largely ceased to be worshiped by the Viking Age.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn He plays a major role in only one myth, the binding of the monstrous wolf Fenrir, during which Tyr loses his hand.Шаблон:Sfn
*Thunraz/Thor
Шаблон:Main Thor was the most widely known and perhaps the most widely worshiped god in Viking Age Scandinavia.Шаблон:Sfn When the days of the week were translated into Germanic, he was associated with Jupiter, so that Шаблон:Lang ("Day of Jupiter") becomes "Thursday" ["day of Thunraz/Thor"]). This contradicts the earlier Шаблон:Lang, where Thor is generally thought to be Hercules.Шаблон:Sfn Textual sources such as Adam of Bremen as well as the association with Jupiter in the Шаблон:Lang suggest he may have been the head of the pantheon, at least in some times and places.Шаблон:Sfn Alternatively, Thor's hammer may have been equated with Jupiter's lightning bolt.Шаблон:Sfn Outside of Scandinavia, he appears on the Nordendorf fibulae (6th or 7th century CE) and in the Old Saxon Baptismal Vow (9th century CE).Шаблон:Sfn The Oak of Jupiter, destroyed by Saint Boniface among the Chatti in 723 CE, is also usually presumed to have been dedicated to Thor.Шаблон:Sfn
Viking age runestones as well as the Nordendorf fibulae appear to call upon Thor to bless objects.Шаблон:Sfn The most important archaeological evidence for the worship of Thor in Viking Age Scandinavia is found in the form of Thor's hammer pendants.Шаблон:Sfn Myths about Thor are only attested from Scandinavia, and it is unclear how representative the Nordic corpus is for the entire Germanic region.Шаблон:Sfn As Thor's name means "thunder", scholars since Jacob Grimm have interpreted him to be a sky and weather god. In Norse mythology, he shares features with other Indo-European thunder gods, including his slaying of monsters; these features likely derive from a common Indo-European source.Шаблон:Sfn In the extant mythology of Thor, however, he has very little association with thunder.Шаблон:Sfn
*Wodanaz/Odin
Шаблон:Main Odin (*Wodanaz) plays the main role in a number of myths as well as well-attested Norse rituals; he appears to have been venerated by many Germanic peoples in the early Middle Ages, though his exact characteristics probably varied in different times and places.Шаблон:Sfn In the Germanic days of the week, Odin is equated with Mercury (Шаблон:Lang [day of Mercury] which became "Wednesday" ["day of *Wodanaz/Odin"]), an association that accords with the usual scholarly interpretation of the Шаблон:LangШаблон:Sfn and is also found in early medieval authors.Шаблон:Sfn It may have been inspired by both gods' connections to arcane knowledge and the dead.Шаблон:Sfn
The age of the cult of Odin is disputed.Шаблон:Sfn The earliest clear reference to Odin by name is found on a C-bracteate discovered in Denmark in 2020. Dated to as early as the 400s, the bracteate features a Proto-Norse Elder Futhark inscription reading "He is Odin’s man".Шаблон:Sfn Archaeological evidence for Odin is found in the form of his later bynames on Runic inscriptions found in Danish bogs from 4th or 5th century AD; other possible archaeological attestations may date to the 3rd century CE.Шаблон:Sfn Images of Odin dating to the late migration period are known from Frisia, but appear to have come there from Scandinavia.Шаблон:Sfn
In Norse myths, Odin plays one of the most important roles of all the gods.Шаблон:Sfn He is also attested in myths outside of the Norse area. In the mid-7th century CE, the Franco-Burgundian chronicler Fredegar narrates that "Wodan" gave the Lombards their name; this story also appears in the roughly contemporary Origo gentis Langobardorum and later in the Historia Langobardorum of Paul the Deacon (790 CE).Шаблон:Sfn In Germany, Odin is attested as part of a divine triad on the Nordendorf fibulae and the second Merseburg charm, in which he heals Balder's horse. In England, he appears as a healing magician in the Nine Herbs CharmШаблон:Sfn and in Anglo-Saxon genealogies.Шаблон:Sfn It is disputed whether he was worshiped among the Goths.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
*Frijjō/Frigg
Шаблон:Main The only major Norse goddess also found in the pre-Viking period is Frigg, Odin's wife.Шаблон:Sfn When the Germanic days of the week were translated, Frigg was equated with Venus, so that Шаблон:Lang ("day of Venus") became "Friday" ("day of Frijjō/Frigg").Шаблон:Sfn This translation suggests a connection to fertility and sexuality, and her name is etymologically derived from an Indo-European root meaning "love".Шаблон:Sfn In the stories of how the Lombards got their name, Frea (Frigg) plays an important role in tricking her husband Vodan (Odin) into giving the Lombards victory.Шаблон:Sfn She is also mentioned in the Merseburg Charms, where she displays magical abilities.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The only Norse myth in which Frigg plays a major role is the death of Baldr,Шаблон:Sfn and there is only little evidence for a cult of Frigg in Scandinavia.Шаблон:Sfn
Other gods
The god Baldr is attested from Scandinavia, England, and Germany; except for the Old High German Second Merseburg Charm (9th century CE), all literary references to the god are from Scandinavia and nothing is known of his worship.Шаблон:Sfn
The god Freyr was the most important fertility god of the Viking Age.Шаблон:Sfn He is sometimes known as Yngvi-Freyr, which would associate him with the god or hero *Ingwaz, the presumed progenitor of the Inguaeones found in Tacitus's Germania,Шаблон:Sfn whose name is attested in the Old English rune poem (8th or 9th century CE) as Ing.Шаблон:Sfn A minor god named Forseti is attested in a few Old Norse sources; he is generally associated with the Frisian god Fosite who was worshiped on Helgoland,Шаблон:Sfn but this connection is uncertain.Шаблон:Sfn The Old Saxon Baptismal Formula and some Old English genealogies mention a god Saxnot, who appears to be the founder of the Saxons; some scholars identify him as a form of Tyr, while others propose that he may be a form of Freyr.Шаблон:Sfn
The most important goddess in the recorded Old Norse pantheon was Freyr's sister, Freyja,Шаблон:Sfn who features in more myths and appears to have been worshiped more than Frigg, Odin's wife.Шаблон:Sfn She was associated with sexuality and fertility, as well as war, death, and magic.Шаблон:Sfn It is unclear how old the worship of Freyja is, and there is no indisputable evidence for her or any of the vanir gods in the southern Germanic area.Шаблон:Sfn There is considerable debate about whether Frigg and Freyja were originally the same goddess or aspects of the same goddess.Шаблон:Sfn
Besides Freyja, many gods and goddesses are only known from Scandinavia, including Ægir, Höðr, Hönir, Heimdall, Idunn, Loki, Njörðr, Sif, and Ullr.Шаблон:Sfn There are a number of minor or regional gods mentioned in various medieval Norse sources: in some cases, it is unclear whether or not they are post-conversion literary creations.Шаблон:Sfn Many regional or highly local gods and spirits are probably not mentioned in the sources at all.Шаблон:Sfn It is also likely that many Roman-era and continental Germanic gods do not appear in Norse mythology.Шаблон:Sfn
Places and objects of worship
Divine images
Julius Caesar and Tacitus claimed that the Germani did not venerate their gods in human form; however, this is a topos of ancient ethnography when describing supposedly primitive people.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Archaeologists have found Germanic statues that appear to depict gods, and Tacitus appears to contradict himself when discussing the cult of Nerthus (Germania chapter 40); the Eddic poem Hávamál also mentions wooden statues of gods, while Gregory of Tours (Historia Francorum II: 29) mentions wooden statues and ones made of stone and metal.Шаблон:Sfn Archaeologists have not found any divine statues dating from after the end of the migration period; it is likely that they were destroyed during Christianization, as is repeatedly depicted in the Norse sagas.Шаблон:Sfn
Roughly carved wooden male and female figures that may depict gods are frequent finds in bogs;Шаблон:Sfn these figures generally follow the natural form of a branch. It is unclear whether the figures themselves were sacrifices or if they were the beings to whom the sacrifice was given.Шаблон:Sfn Most date from the first several centuries CE.Шаблон:Sfn For the pre-Roman Iron Age, board-like statues that were set up in dangerous places encountered in everyday life are also attested.Шаблон:Sfn Most statues were made out of oak wood.Шаблон:Sfn Small animal figurines of cattle and horses are also found in bogs; some may have been worn as amulets while others seem to have been placed by hearths before they were sacrificed.Шаблон:Sfn
Holy sites from the migration period frequently contain gold bracteates and gold foil figures that depict obviously divine figures.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The bracteates are originally based on motifs found on Roman gold medallions and coins of the era of Constantine the Great, but have become highly stylized.Шаблон:Sfn A few them have runic inscriptions that may be names of Odin.Шаблон:Sfn Others, such as Trollhätten-A, may display scenes known from later mythological texts.Шаблон:Sfn
The stone altars of the matronae and Nehalennia show women in Germanic dress, but otherwise follow Roman models, while images of Mercury, Hercules, or Mars do not show any difference from Roman models.Шаблон:Sfn Many bronze and silver statues of Roman gods have been found throughout Germania, some made by the Germani themselves, suggesting an appropriation of these figures by the Germani.Шаблон:Sfn Heiko Steuer suggests that these statues likely were reinterpreted as local, Germanic gods and used on home altars: a find from Odense dating c. 100-300 CE includes statues of Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Apollo.Шаблон:Sfn Imported Roman swords, found from Scandinavia to the Black Sea, frequently depicted the Roman god Mars Ultor ("Mars the Avenger").Шаблон:Sfn
Sacred places
Caesar and Tacitus claimed that the ancient Germans had no temples and only worshipped in sacred groves.Шаблон:Sfn However, while groves, trees, bogs, springs, and lakes undoubtedly were seen as holy places by the Germani, there is archaeological evidence for temples.Шаблон:Sfn Archaeology also indicates that neolithic structures and Bronze Age tumuli were used as places of worship.Шаблон:Sfn Steuer argues that finds of sacrificial places enclosed with a palisade in England indicate that similarly enclosed areas in northern Germany and Jutland may have been holy sites.Шаблон:Sfn Large fire pits near settlements, found in many sites including those from the Bronze Age, the pre-Roman Iron Age, and the migration period, probably served as ritual, political, and social locations.Шаблон:Sfn Large halls in settlements probably also fulfilled ceremonial religious functions.Шаблон:Sfn
Tacitus mentions a temple of the goddess Tamfana in Annales 1.51, and also uses the word Шаблон:Lang in reference to Nerthus in Germania, though this could simply mean a consecrated place rather than a building.Шаблон:Sfn Later Christian sources refer to temples (Шаблон:Lang) used by the Franks, Lombards, continental Saxons, and Anglo-Saxons, while the post-conversion Lex Frisionum (Frisian Law) continued to include punishments for those who broke into or desecrated temples.Шаблон:Sfn A temple dedicated to Hercules from the territory of the Batavi at Empel in the Netherlands shows a typical Romano-Celtic building style.Шаблон:Sfn Other Roman-style temples dedicated to the matronae are known from the Lower Rhine region.Шаблон:Sfn
An early Scandinavian temple has been identified at Uppåkra, modern Sweden.Шаблон:Sfn The building, a very large hall with two entrances, was rebuilt on exactly the same site 7 times from 200 to 950 CE.Шаблон:Sfn Architecturally, the temple resembles later Scandinavian stave churches in construction.Шаблон:Sfn The building was surrounded by animal bones and a few human bones.Шаблон:Sfn A similar building has been found at Møllebækvej on Zealand dating from the 3rd century CE,Шаблон:Sfn while the later stages of a ritual house at Tissø in Zealand (850-950 CE) likewise resemble a stave church.Шаблон:Sfn
The most important description of a Scandinavian temple is of the Temple of Uppsala by Adam of Bremen (11th century): he describes the temple as containing the idols of Borr, Thor, Odin, and Frey (Fricco). Glosses mention the existence of a large tree and well nearby where sacrifices were made.Шаблон:Sfn Some aspects of Adam's description appear to be inaccurate, possibly influenced by Norse mythology.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Archaeology has shown that Uppsala became an important cult center around 500 CE, with a main royal hall dating from 600 to 800 CE and having large doors with iron spirals flat against the wood.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Four large grave mounds were constructed southwest of the main hall, and there were ritual roads with rows of large wooden posts and lines of fireplaces. The arrangements indicate that there were different processions and rituals both inside and around Gamla Uppsala. The only material remains from the rituals once performed there are of animals; the age of the animals indicates that they were deposited in March, which agrees with the written sources on the Dísablót.Шаблон:Sfn
Sacred trees, groves, and poles
Sacred trees occur as important symbols in many pre-modern cultures, particularly those of Indo-European origin.Шаблон:Sfn Modern scholars, on the basis of Greco-Roman religious understanding, usually distinguish between sacred groves and trees, where a god is worshiped, and the worship of trees as divine (tree cult); it is unclear whether this distinction is valid for Germanic religion.Шаблон:Sfn Tacitus describes the ancient Germani as worshiping in sacred groves, including the grove of fetters of the Semnones and the grove where the Alcis were worshipped by the Nahanarvali.Шаблон:Sfn Tacitus mentions the following functions for Germanic sacred groves: the display of captured enemy standards and weapons, the keeping of the animal-shaped standards of the Batavii (Tac. hist. 4.22), and human sacrifice.Шаблон:Sfn Reconstructed Germanic words for sacred groves include *nimið-, *alh-, and *haruh-, which may have originally described different functions of the groves.Шаблон:Sfn
Physical trees or poles could represent either a world tree, (Yggdrasil in Norse mythology),Шаблон:Sfn or a world pillar.Шаблон:Sfn Modern scholars describe such a sacred tree as an axis mundi ("hub of the world"), a center that runs along and connects multiple levels of the universe while also representing the world itself.Шаблон:Sfn In Roman Germania, columns depicting the god Jupiter as a rider are commonly found; they probably have a Celtic background and some connection to the notion of the world tree or column.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn One example of a sacred tree during the Middle Ages is the Oak of Jupiter purportedly felled by Saint Boniface in 724 CE in Hesse.Шаблон:Sfn Adam of Bremen mentions a sacred tree at the Temple of Uppsala, but the existence of this tree is controversial among scholars. It is also mentioned in Hervarar saga, and it may have been the central focus at the site and represented the world tree Yggdrasil.Шаблон:Sfn Further support for the existence of votive trees is provided by a birch root surrounded by animal skulls that was excavated at Frösö.Шаблон:Sfn Pagan Anglo-Saxon settlements often contained large standing poles, which were condemned as focuses of pagan worship by 6th-century English bishop Aldhelm.Шаблон:Sfn The Irminsul (Old Saxon great pillar) among the continental Saxons may have also been part of such a pole cult.Шаблон:Sfn
Personnel and devotees
Animal symbolism and warrior bands
Шаблон:Further Post-conversion Norse texts mention dedicated groups of warriors, some of whom, the Шаблон:Lang (berserkers) and Шаблон:Lang, were associated with bears and wolves respectively. In Ynglinga saga, Snorri Sturluson associates these warriors with Odin.Шаблон:Sfn Many scholars argue that warrior bands, with their initiation rites and forms of organization, can be traced to the time of Tacitus, who discusses several warrior bands and societies among the Germani. These scholars further argue that these bands can be traced further back to Proto-Indo-European precursors to some extent. Other scholars, such as Hans Kuhn, dispute continuity between Norse and earlier warrior bands.Шаблон:Sfn Inhumation and cremation graves containing bear claws, teeth, and hides are found throughout the Germanic-speaking area, being especially common on the Elbe from 100 BCE to 100 CE and in Scandinavia from the 2nd to 5th centuries CE; these may be connected to the warrior societies.Шаблон:Sfn
Archaeologists have found metal objects, especially on weapons and brooches,Шаблон:Sfn decorated with animal art and dating from the 4th to the 12th centuries CE in Scandinavia.Шаблон:Sfn Animals depicted include snakes, birds of prey, wolves, and boars.Шаблон:Sfn Some scholars have discussed these images as related to shamanism, while others view animal art as similar to Skaldic kennings, capable of expressing both Christian and pagan meanings.Шаблон:Sfn
Ritual specialists
Шаблон:Further Scholars are divided as to the nature and function of Germanic ritual specialists: many religious studies scholars believe that there was originally no class of priests and cultic functions were mostly carried out by kings and chieftains; many philologists, however, argue on the basis of reconstructed words for "priest" that a specialized class of priests existed.Шаблон:Sfn Caesar says the Germani had no druids, while Tacitus mentions several priests.Шаблон:Sfn Roman sources do not otherwise mention Germanic cultic functionaries.Шаблон:Sfn Later descriptions of similar rituals to those mentioned in Tacitus do not mention any ritual specialists; however, it is reasonable to assume that they continued to exist.Шаблон:Sfn While ritual specialists in Viking Age Scandinavia may have had defining insignia such as staffs and oath rings, it is unclear if they formed a hierarchy and they seem to have fulfilled non-cultic roles in society as well.Шаблон:Sfn
Caesar and Tacitus both mention women engaged in casting lots and prophecy and there are some other indications of female ritual specialists.Шаблон:Sfn Tacitus and the Roman writer Cassius Dio (163-c. 229 CE) both mention several seeresses by name, while an ostracon from Egypt attests one living in the second century CE.Шаблон:Sfn A female ritual specialist named Gambara appears in Paul the Deacon (8th century).Шаблон:Sfn A gap in the historical record occurs until the North Germanic record began over a millennium later, when the Old Norse sagas frequently mention female ritual specialists among the North Germanic peoples, both in the form of priestesses and diviners.Шаблон:Sfn Both Tacitus and Eiríks saga rauða mention the seeress prophesying from a raised platform, while Eiríks saga rauða also mentions the use of a wand.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Practices
Burial practices
Some insight into Germanic religion can be provided by burial customs,Шаблон:Sfn which varied widely in time and space but nonetheless show a few consistent practices.Шаблон:Sfn The Germanic peoples generally practiced cremation until the first century BCE, when limited inhumation burials begin to appear.Шаблон:Sfn The ashes were usually placed in an urn, but the use of pits, mounds, and cases when the ashes were left on the pyre after cremation are also known.Шаблон:Sfn In Viking Age Scandinavia, as much as half the population may not have received any grave, with their ashes scattered or their bodies unburied.Шаблон:Sfn Grave goods, which might be broken and placed in the grave or burnt on the pyre with the body, included clothing, jewelry, food, drink, dishes, and utensils.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Beginning in the early 1st century CE, a minority of graves also included weapons.Шаблон:Sfn On the continent, inhumation burial becomes the most common form of burial among the southern Germanic peoples by the end of the migration period,Шаблон:Sfn while cremation remains more common in Scandinavia.Шаблон:Sfn In the Migration period and Merovingian period, the grave was often reopened and these grave gifts removed,Шаблон:Sfn either as grave robbery or as part of an authorized removal.Шаблон:Sfn By the Merovingian period, most male burials include weapons.Шаблон:Sfn
Often, urns were covered with stones and then surrounded by circles of stones.Шаблон:Sfn The urns of the dead were often placed in a mortuary house, which may have served as a cultic structure.Шаблон:Sfn Cemeteries might be placed around or reuse old Bronze Age barrows, and later placed near Roman ruins and roads, possibly to ease the passing of the dead into the afterlife.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Some graves included burials of horses and dogs;Шаблон:Sfn horses may have been meant as conveyances to the afterlife.Шаблон:Sfn Burials with dogs are found over a wide area through the migration period; it is possible that they were meant either to protect the deceased in the afterlife or to prevent the return of the dead as a revenant.Шаблон:Sfn
After 1 CE, inhumation burials in large burial mounds with wooden or stone grave chambers, which contained expensive grave goods and were separate from the normal cemeteries, begin to appear across the entire Germanic area.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn By the 3rd century, elite burials are attested from Norway to Slovakia, with a large number appearing on Jutland.Шаблон:Sfn These graves usually include dishes and tableware: this may have been meant for the deceased to use in the afterlife or may have been used in a funerary meal.Шаблон:Sfn In the 400s CE, the practice of erecting elite Шаблон:Lang ("row graves") appears among the continental Germanic peoples: these grave were arranged in rows and contain large amounts of gold, jewelry, ornaments, and other luxury items. Unlike cremation cemeteries, only a few hundred individuals are found buried in Reihengräber cemeteries.Шаблон:Sfn Elite chamber graves become especially common in Scandinavia in the 9th and 10th centuries, in which the body of deceased was sometimes buried seated with objects in the hands or on the lap.Шаблон:Sfn
Stones set up in the shape of a ship are known from Scandinavia, where they are sometimes surrounded by graves or occasionally contain one or more cremations.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The earliest ship burial is found in Jutland from the late Roman Imperial period. Another earlier burial is from outside Scandinavia, near Wremen on the Weser river in northern Germany from the 4th or 5th century CE.Шаблон:Sfn Ship burials are attested in England from around 600 CE and from across Scandinavia and areas where Scandinavians traveled beginning around the same time and for centuries afterward.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn In some cases, the deceased was evidently cremated in the ship before a mound was thrown up over it, as is described by Ahmad ibn Fadlan for the Rus'.Шаблон:Sfn Scholars debate the meaning of these burials: the ship may have been a means of transport to the next life or may have represented a feasting hall. Parts of the ships were often left uncovered for extended periods of time.Шаблон:Sfn
Divination
Various practices for divining the future are attested for Germanic paganism, some of which were likely only practiced in a particular time or place.Шаблон:Sfn The main sources on Germanic divination are Tacitus, Christian early medieval texts of the missionary period (such as penitentials and Frankish capitularies), and various texts describing Scandinavian practices; however, the value of all of these sources for genuine Germanic practices is debated.Шаблон:Sfn
The casting and drawing of lots to determine the future is well-attested among the Germanic peoples in medieval and ancient texts; linguistic analysis confirms that it was an old practice.Шаблон:Sfn As of 2002, about 160 lots made of various materials have been found in Roman-era and migration-period archaeological sites.Шаблон:Sfn The most detailed description of Germanic lots is found in Tacitus, Germania, chapter 10. According to Tacitus, the Germani cast lots, made from the wood of fruit-bearing trees and marked with signs, onto a white sheet, after which three lots were drawn by either the head of the family or a priest.Шаблон:Sfn While the signs Tacitus mentions have been interpreted as Runes, most scholars believe they were simple symbols.Шаблон:Sfn Thirteenth-century Icelandic sources also attest the drawing of lots carved with signs; however, there is debate about whether these late sources represent a form of ordeal that was introduced with Christianity or a continuation of Germanic practice.Шаблон:Sfn
Another important form of divination involved animals. The interpretation of the actions of birds is a common practice across the world and is well attested for the Germani and the Norse.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn More uniquely, Tacitus says the Germani used the whinnying of horses to divine the future.Шаблон:Sfn Although there is no later or corroborating evidence for Tacitus's horse-divination, the importance of horses in Germanic religion is well-attested.Шаблон:Sfn Both forms of divination might be connected to the portrayal of birds and horses on gold bracteates.Шаблон:Sfn
A few other methods of divination are also attested. Tacitus mentions duels as a method of learning the future; while Norse sources attest many duels, none are obviously used for divination.Шаблон:Sfn Roman and Christian sources sometimes claimed that the Germanic peoples used the blood or entrails of human sacrifices to divine the future. This may derive from ancient topoi rather than reality,Шаблон:Sfn although blood played an important role in pagan ritual. Norse sources include additional forms of divination such as a form of necromancy known as Шаблон:Lang, as well as seiðr rituals.Шаблон:Sfn
Feasts and festivals
The evidence suggests that the Germanic peoples had recurrent sacrifices and festivals at certain times of year.Шаблон:Sfn Often these feasts involved sacrifice at communal meals, ritual drinking, as well as processions and divination.Шаблон:Sfn Almost all information on Germanic religious festivals concerns Western Scandinavia,Шаблон:Sfn but Tacitus mentions a sacrifice to the goddess Tamfana took place in the autumn, while Bede mentions a festival called Mōdraniht that occurred in early February,Шаблон:Sfn and Jonas of Bobbio's Life of Saint Columbanus (640s) mentions a festival to Vodan (Odin) held by the Suebi that involved the drinking of beer.Шаблон:Sfn On the basis of several informants and possibly textual sources, Adam of Bremen describes a Swedish sacrificial festival held every nine years at the Temple of Uppsala, while Thietmar of Merseburg mentions a similar festival taking place each January at Lejre in Zealand.Шаблон:Sfn The Swedish feast known as Шаблон:Lang took place in February, the same time as the Old English Шаблон:Lang; the only other widely attested festival is Yule around Christmas. Snorri Sturluson mentions three additional festivals in Ynglinga saga: a festival at the beginning of winter for a good harvest, one at midwinter for fertility, and one at the beginning of summer for victory. The summer festival is not attested elsewhere, but Rudolf Simek argues that the winter festival was probably in honor of the ancestors while another festival at spring was for fertility.Шаблон:Sfn
Magic
Шаблон:See also Magic is an element of religion that intends to influence the world with the help of the otherworldly by using particular rituals, means, or words.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Sources on pre-Christian magic among the Germanic peoples are either textual descriptions or archaeological finds of objects.Шаблон:Sfn The Germanic languages lack a common word that can be translated as "magic",Шаблон:Sfn and there is no indication that the Germanic peoples distinguished between "white" and "black magic".Шаблон:Sfn In Norse texts, the god Odin is especially associated with magic, a connection also found, for instance, in the Old High German Second Merseburg Charm.Шаблон:Sfn Although runes are often associated with magic, most scholars no longer believe that runes were in and of themselves regarded as magical.Шаблон:Sfn
Migration-age inscriptions on bracteates and later rune stones contain a number of early magical words and formulas, the best attested of which, alu, is found on multiple objects from 200 to 700 CE.Шаблон:Sfn Post-conversion Christian sources from continental Europe mention forms of magic including amulets, charms, "witchcraft", divination, and especially weather magic.Шаблон:Sfn Old Norse mythology and post-conversion literature also attest various forms of magic, including divination, magic affecting nature (weather or otherwise), spells to make warriors impervious to weapons, spells to strengthen weapons, and spells to harm and distress others.Шаблон:Sfn
The term "charm" is used to mean magical poetry, which could be blessings or curses; most attested charms are blessings and seek protection, defense against magic or sickness, and healing; the only form of curses attested outside of literature are calls for death.Шаблон:Sfn In Old Norse, a specific meter of alliterative verse was used (Шаблон:Lang) and some pre-Christian charms have survived inscribed on metal or bone.Шаблон:Sfn Otherwise, few charms are attested in Old Norse outside of literature.Шаблон:Sfn Later post-conversion Icelandic charms sometimes mention Odin or Thor, but they may reflect Christian conceptions of magic.Шаблон:Sfn Numerous charms are attested in Old High German, but only the Merseburg Charms exist in a non-Christianized form.Шаблон:Sfn A similar situation exists in Old English, where over 100 charms are attested, including the Nine Herbs Charm, which mentions Wodan (Odin).Шаблон:Sfn
Ritual procession
Ritual processions of the idol of a god in some form of vehicle, usually a wagon, are attested in many religions of Europe and Asia.Шаблон:Sfn Various archaeological finds indicate the existence of such rituals in Scandinavia as early as the Bronze Age.Шаблон:Sfn Ships may also have been used for processions, such as the ship found at Oberdorla moor in Thuringia from the Migration Period. The processions are usually interpreted as fertility rites.Шаблон:Sfn An image of a Viking-age process of some sort, including men, women, and carriages, is provided by the Oseberg tapestry fragments.Шаблон:Sfn
The earliest written source for a ritual procession in Germanic religion is in Tacitus's Germania, chapter 40, when he describes the worship of Nerthus.Шаблон:Sfn According to Tacitus, Nerthus's idol is drawn around the land for several days on a cart pulled by cows, before being brought to a lake and cleaned by slaves, who are then drowned in the lake.Шаблон:Sfn Tacitus's description is reminiscent of archaeological finds of highly decorated wagons in water and in burials from southern Scandinavia roughly contemporary to Tacitus.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn A similar ritual is attested for the Goths, who forced Christians to participate during the Gothic persecution of Christians (369-372 CE), as well as among the Franks by Gregory of Tours, although the latter sets his ritual in pre-Germanic Gaul for an eastern goddess.Шаблон:Sfn The Frankish Merovingian kings are also attested as having been carried by an oxcart to assemblies, something reminiscent of Tacitus's description.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn An extensive description of a ritual procession for the god Freyr is found in the Flateyjarbók (1394); it describes Freyr being driven around in a wagon to ensure a good harvest.Шаблон:Sfn This and several other post-conversion Scandinavian sources on such processions may derive from oral tradition of the worship of Freyr.Шаблон:Sfn
Sacrifices
Archaeology provides evidence of sacrificial offerings of various types. Deposits of valuable objects, including of gold and silver, that were buried in the earth are frequently attested for the period of 1-100 CE. While these objects may have been buried with the intention of their being removed again at a later date, it is also possible that they were intended as sacrifices for the gods or for use in the afterlife.Шаблон:Sfn Metal objects deposited in springs are attested from Bad Pyrmont and Duchcov, as well as such objects deposited in bogs.Шаблон:Sfn There are also examples of hair, clothing, and textiles from c. 500 BCE-200 CE found in Scandinavian wetlands.Шаблон:Sfn Gregory of Tours, when describing a Frankish shrine near Cologne, depicts worshipers leaving wooden carvings of parts of the human body whenever they felt pain.Шаблон:Sfn
Animal sacrifices are attested by bones in various holy places associated with the Przeworsk culture as well as in Denmark, with animals sacrificed included cattle, horses, pigs, and sheep or goats; there is also evidence for human sacrifice.Шаблон:Sfn In Scandinavia, animal bones are often found in bogs and lakes, where a higher proportion of horse bones and young animal bones are found than at settlements.Шаблон:Sfn A detailed description of Norse animal sacrifice at Lade is provided by Snorri Sturluson in Hákonar saga góða, although its accuracy is questionable.Шаблон:Sfn Evidence of the sacrifice of objects, humans, and animals is also found in settlements throughout Germania, perhaps to mark the beginning of the construction of a building.Шаблон:Sfn Dogs buried under the thresholds of houses probably served as protectors.Шаблон:Sfn
Human sacrifices are mentioned periodically by Roman authors, usually to stress elements that they found shocking or abnormal.Шаблон:Sfn Individual finds of human bodies in the bogs, representing all ages and both sexes, show signs of violent death and may have been human sacrifices or victims of capital punishment.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn There are over 100 bog bodies from Denmark alone, attested from the 800 BCE to 200 CE. Human body parts such as skulls are deposited in the same period and as late as 1100 CE.Шаблон:Sfn Regularly occurring human sacrifices among the Norse are mentioned by authors such as Thietmar of Merseburg and Adam of Bremen as well as the Gutasaga.Шаблон:Sfn An image on the picture stone Stora Hammars I is usually interpreted as depicting a human sacrifice.Шаблон:Sfn
Sacrifices of the weapons of defeated enemies have been uncovered in bogs in Jutland as well as in rivers throughout Germania:Шаблон:Sfn such sacrifices probably occurred in other parts of Germania on dry land. Tacitus reports a similar sacrifice and destruction of weapons performed in the forest after Arminius's victory over the Romans at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.Шаблон:Sfn Large deposits of weapons are attested from 350 BCE to 400 CE, with smaller deposits continuing to be made until 600 CE.Шаблон:Sfn Deposits of various sizes were common and often included objects besides weapons, even warships that had been burned and destroyed.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn They appear to be from a ritual performed over a defeated enemy to commit the weapons to the gods.Шаблон:Sfn There is no archaeological evidence for what happened to the warriors who bore the weapons, but Roman sources describe them as being sacrificed as well.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn A possible exception is the site of Alken Enge bog in Jutland: it contains the crushed and dismembered bodies of about 200 men, aged 13–45 years, who seem to have died on a battlefield.Шаблон:Sfn No later Scandinavian sources mention rituals associated with the destruction of weapons, implying that these rites had died out and been forgotten at an early date.Шаблон:Sfn
Variations of Germanic paganism
- Anglo-Saxon paganism
- Continental Germanic mythology
- Frankish mythology
- Gothic paganism
- Old Norse religion
See also
- Ancient Celtic religion
- Ancient Greek religion
- Ancient Iranian religion
- Germanic mythology
- Hittite mythology and religion
- Historical Vedic religion
- Religion in ancient Rome
- Scythian religion
- Slavic paganism
Notes
References
Bibliography
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External links
Шаблон:- Шаблон:Germanic pagan practices Шаблон:Norse mythology Шаблон:Anglo-Saxon paganism Шаблон:History of religions Шаблон:Religion topics Шаблон:Paganism Шаблон:Germanic mythology Шаблон:Germanic peoples
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