Germanic Languages and Germanic Paganism

The recognition that the Germanic languages, and by extension, the languages of other northern “barbarians” (Celts, Slavs, Balts, etc.) were just as old as, and descended from, an ancestral language which they shared with the southern “civilized” languages Greek and Latin, revolutionized the study of linguistics and also permanently altered the social and political views of Europeans about their history and their relation to other cultures and religions. The shift was both allowed by and it allowed for a reassessment of the religious assumptions that had persisted for many centuries, in which it was believed that all cultures descended from the “biblical” culture of the ancient Hebrew-speaking Jews of the Middle-east. It was once thought that, in so far as other cultures, religions and languages differed from those described in the Bible, they had strayed from the common and perfect ancestral form. For example Latin was once believed to be a bastardized form of Hebrew. One of the most far-reaching effects of this reassessment was the acceptance of the literary and archaeological evidence, widely noticed even then, that the older cultures in every country had once been Pagan (specifically polytheistic, that is, with many Gods and Goddesses). It had become clear that monotheism was a late development only in a few cultures and not the original belief system of all humans, as had been believed, based on the Old Testament myths in Genesis, the creation myth of the Hebrew-speaking people.

Charts like the one given above are also used to identify the names of Proto-Indo-European deities. Words like the various words for ‘father’ given in the first line of the chart above are called cognates because they are “cousins” that is, they all have the same “grandmother” or ancestral form marked with an * (asterisk) to show that they are hypothetical reconstructions. For Indo-European Goddesses to be considered cognate, they must have cognate names which appear in several of the Indo-European languages in forms that show these and other sound changes according to the regular pattern. In addition, deities must also have other characteristics in common such as the same sphere of power, the same festivals on the same dates (adjusted for climate or geography), and they must appear in myths which also have cognate elements in common. To meet this very high standard, the Gods and Goddesses must also be shown to be subjects of worship.

Religion
Much is known about the religion of the Germanic-speaking people, especially the deities and the mythology. Less is known about the specific rituals perhaps because writing was only introduced at the same time that Christianity was, so with the means of recording the ancient religion came the brutal and violent suppression of Paganism. For example, it is very sad that many people in the Middle Ages were attacked by church authorities for singing songs of mourning at the graves of their loved ones. Nevertheless some invocations, prayers and rituals are known even in the Germanic languages.

Primary Sources
A list of basic Germanic Pagan Sources (both primary and secondary) can be found on a separate page. This includes links for the most important documents.

Outstanding among the Germanic mythological texts are the Elder Edda, a compendium of ancient Norse mythological texts, and the Younger Edda which was written by Snorri Sturluson, an Icelander, whose stated purpose was to explain the mythological allusions in the ancient skaldic poetry to his contemporaries so that they would not lose the ability to understand them. Sources like these give descriptions of the deities and the myths. Also some early legendary king lists such as the Yngling Saga of the Danish royal house and the genealogies of the Anglo-Saxon kings include Germanic Gods and Goddesses. Additional sources include extensive folklore collections in all of the Germanic-speaking countries, including descriptions of folk customs, folk songs with music, and folk tales which often recapitulate ancient myths. Much of this material has been misinterpreted by various comparative religionists, and it remains to be understood correctly, though many perceptive literary critiques are known especially by translators who see both languages and know their material well.

Secondary Sources
The works of the brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, were the earliest scholarly attempts at a linguistic reconstruction of the ancient religion that was general to Indo-European-speaking people, but their works are old, out of date, the scholarship is somewhat careless, and they are certainly subject to the assumptions ( = bigotry) that were typical of the time. Notably, Jacob Grimm dismisses Germanic Goddesses in the second half of a single chapter as unimportant, and clearly he has no interest in them. Nevertheless, the three volume Teutonic Mythology serves as one of the few introductions to the subject. One of the few good modern books about Germanic Paganism in England is Lost Gods of England by Brian Branston, which includes information on place names in England which clearly indicate patterns of Pagan worship. Heathen Place Names (in England) by Edward Sproston, is another list of possible theophoric place names in a list of poetic expressions (including religious terms). This is not very useful for English place names, but is much better for Scandinavia. Most of the other publications on this subject are limited to arguments to support some social agenda of the authors, either a sort of romantic Neo-Paganism, or a variation on the Catholic fascism of Dumézil, or the Nazi race theories of authors like Stig Wikander.

Goddesses and Gods
The Germanic Pantheon is well-known as far as the male Gods go, but the female half is very poorly understood. One of the difficulties is that many authors have had trouble understanding that gender is not a fixed characteristic of the Proto-Indo-European Goddesses, even though an early (and sexist) author like Jacob Grimm was able to equate Njord, a male God in Scandinavian mythology with Nerthus, a female deity known from early Roman descriptions of Germanic religious practice. Also, as has been noted elsewhere, the effect of the Pandemonium had a major influence on the appearance of the Germanic pantheon, although there is evidence that this was not universal and that some deities who are demonized or replaced among some groups of Germanic speakers were still worshiped among other groups.

Festivals
There should be a Germanic festival calendar that could be reconstructed for the Pagans, but in fact very little is known about this, and the reasons are not clear. There is an early Anglo-Saxon calendar described by Bede, which gives the names of the months and which Goddess they were devoted to but it isn’t well understood. Certainly many Europeans were Christianized early and Pagan practices were suppressed but that is true of the Slavic people and their Pagan calendar is easy to reconstruct and fits closely with the calendars of other Indo-Europeans. The English folk festivals are very well-known but they include a whole-sale absorption of Welsh (Celtic) traditions, whereas a German (mainland) calendar is unknown. Most of the medieval information about community gatherings in Scandinavia is more concerned with the schedules of law courts and financial affairs and much of it seems impossible--a major community gathering in Scandinavia in February is not very plausible.

Festivals and Rituals that are well attested in English sources and which are known to be continuations of Pagan rituals are:
Charming the Plow and Wassailing the Apple Trees both of which fall in January.
Easter at the Spring Equinox is for the Goddess Eostra or Ostara.
May Day on May 1st is for Freya among the Germanic people.
Harvest Festival begins on August 1st. [fuggle26]
Halloween falls at the beginning of winter, October 31.
Yule is celebrated at the Winter Solstice.

Myths
Germanic mythology is very extensively known, but it is often slightly warped. The same Indo-European (IE) Gods are involved with each other and participate in activities that are known from other versions of widespread Indo-European Myths, but in a way that doesn’t quite make sense, and there is a great deal of gender changing, more than in the other IE mythologies. The reason for these differences is not known. An example is the widespread IE myth about the birth of the horse twins. This is usually attributed to a brief liaison between a grain Goddess (*Devi) and a God of water (Neptune), and then she has twins, either horses or young men associated with horses. In the Norse version the God Loki (who is usually male) seduces a stallion, becomes pregnant and produces the eight-legged horse Sleipnir. This story, more fully told, has a number of points in common with the usual IE myth, but obviously it has a few differences too. Interestingly, the names in Germanic myths often appear in cognate forms, but the Germanic myths seem to have been mangled by the speakers.

Rites
The Germanic people seem not to have had a formal priesthood of the parasitic kind that typically develops at courts, either royal courts or sometimes at the courts of religious figures, such as the Roman papacy. A major element may simply be the lack of large population centers and the accumulation of wealth that allows for the development of hierarchies, which would support such a development. The generally sparse population in northern lands and the independent agrarian lifestyle simply didn’t support such an entrenched priesthood. In any case, we do not have evidence of formal, set prayers. Many of the invocations and common expressions that are known are given by Jacob Grimm in the early chapters of Teutonic Mythology, though there is more information beyond that.

In 2011, remains of a Pagan Temple were found in Ranheim, Norway. There was an article about this published in AftenPosten, which has now been removed but an English translation of the article about the Heathen Temple at the Ranheim Site with illustrations is still here. Unfortunately the site has already been destroyed for a housing project. Apparently this is legal in Norway.

References

© 2009, last updated 9/22/2021, http://piereligion.org/germanic.html