Germanic religion

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The Germanic religion is a collective term for the polytheistic religious cults and rites of the Germanic tribes and peoples from the younger Bronze Age to the end of the early Middle Ages . The religion is from the Germanic mythology to distinguish.

The Germanic religion is scientifically differentiated into a North Germanic religion and South Germanic religion due to the temporal and local differentiations of the sources , and due to the special development of the Anglo-Saxons through the move to the British main island into the Anglo-Saxon religion .

Sources on the Germanic religion

The sources are very sketchy, so that there is a great temptation to generalize a locally handed down tradition over the entire area of ​​the Teutons. For such an assumption, however, there must be several independent traditions. The other danger is to regard the inhabitants of the Germanic area as a homogeneous society in religious views. As is known from classical Greece , there have always been people who include the supernatural very strongly in their life, and others who think nothing of all of this (more in the article North Germanic religion ), and in between all sorts of mixed forms who reject popular belief , nonetheless buried amulets under the doorstep "just to be on the safe side" and for reasons of social reputation and peer pressure to take part in the cult festivals. It deals with the ideas of those who believed in the supernatural and lived accordingly.

Archaeological sources Iconographic sources
Cult places: Gravestones / image stones
Sacrificial sites Rock art
Burial places Gravestones and picture stones
Festival halls Images in precious metal
Temples and altars Carpets and wall hangings
Loose items: Reconstructed image documents from shield poems
Cult objects Church depictions from the time of the mission
Anthropomorphic and other cult figures
Figurative carving
Amulets
Items with religious inscriptions
Votive and offerings
Literary sources Linguistic sources Folklore sources
Runic magic Names: Folk tales
Runic religious texts Place names Folk customs
Religious poetry Personal names Popular belief
Spells Poetic and Archaic Names in Poetry
Abjuration formulas Mythological names
External representations of ancient authors Poetic terminology:
External representations of Christian authors of the missionary era Kenningar, Heiti
Literary adaptations of the Christian period Remnants of archaic cult terminology:
Knowledge Reconstructions by medieval authors
Early Christian profane laws :
Christian law , Grágás , Gulathingslov , Frostathingslov , Indiculien , Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae , Capitulatio de partibus Saxonicum ,

Lex Salica , Lex Ribuariorum , Lex Angliorum et Werinorum hoc est Thuringorum , Lex Burgundionum , Lex Frisionum , Lex Alamannorum , Pactus legis Alamannorum , Ewa Chamavorum , Leges Visigothorum , Edictus Langobardorum

Ghosts

Belief in what is now grouped under the term "spirits" was widespread. So they were convinced that there were mothers who could change their shape. Many legends are based on a similarity between the Mahr with an approximately human body and humans. In the old Norrønen texts, a person who acts in a supernatural way in a different guise is called “hamleypa”. A concise example is reported by Odin:

“Óðinn skipti hömum; lá þá búkrinn sem sofinn eða dahðr, en hann var þá fugl eða dýr, fiskr eða ormr, ok fór á einni svipstund á fjarlæg lönd, at sínum erendum eða annarra manna. "

“If Odin wanted to change his shape, then his body lay there as if asleep or dead, but he himself was a bird or a wild animal, a fish or a snake. In an instant he could go to distant lands in his own business or in other matters. "

- Heimskringla . Ynglingasaga chap. 7th

The person let their "hugr" go into another body. The term “hugr” is more comprehensive than the Christian concept of soul. It includes everything that is not the body, the thoughts, the desires, the spirit, the memory. The human mental functions are seen as a unit. “Hamr”, the first component of the word hamhleypa , is the randomly chosen form in which the “hugr” comes in. The Mahr is a sub-case of the “hamhleypa”. Another case is the werewolf , a human who turns into a wolf from time to time. This is how Kveld – Ulfr is portrayed:

“En dag hvern, he at kveldi leið, þá gerðist hann styggr, svá at fáir menn máttu orðum við hann koma. Var hann kveldsvæfr. Þat var mál manna, at hann væri mjök hamrammr. Hann var kallaðr Kveld-Úlfr. "

“But every time it came to evening he got so angry that only a few people could get into conversation with him. When it got dark he used to get sleepy. It was said that he often walked around in a transformed form at night. People called him Kveld-Ulf, which means evening wolf. "

- Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar chap. 1

magic

swell

Certain practices of the population can be derived from early laws, where they are listed in detail and threatened with punishment. You can also find references in early sermons and regional synodal resolutions or missionary services. The very rich sources of Scandinavia are only considered sporadically because they have their place in the article North Germanic Religion .

Practices and sanctuaries

It was believed that certain individuals were given the gift of divination. So it says in Lombard law:

"84. I. Si quis timoris dei immemor ad ariolûs aut ad ariolas pro aruspiciis aut qualibuscumque responsis ab ipsis accipiendis ambolauerit, conponat in sagro palatio medietatem pretii sui, sicut adpretiatus pen fuerit, tamquam si eum institute aliquis occisis agitum canitonumer secissit, et insuper. Simili modo et qui ad arbore, quam rustici sanctiuum uocant, atque ad fontanas adorauerit, aut sagrilegium uel incantationis fecerit, similiter mediaetatem pretii gui conponat in sagro palatio. "

“Anyone who forgets about the fear of God and goes to fortune tellers to get predictions or other information pays half his wergeld to the Holy Palace as it is valued if he had been slain. He must also repent under canon law. Likewise, whoever prays to a tree, which the peasants call healing, or prays to springs, uses raffles or magic spells, should also pay half his wergeld to the Holy Palace. "

- Laws of Liutprand 15th year 84 I.

Other magical practices are also mentioned here. Tree sanctuaries are very old elements that certainly had many generations behind them in the time of Adam of Bremen . He tells of a sacred grove at the festival of sacrifice in Upsala. Boniface felled the Danube oak.

Sacrifice and cult festivals

Sacrifice was the central religious practice . Animals were sacrificed, and less often people, as well as weapons and other valuable objects of daily use. In times of peace, religious life found its expression in various cult festivals. The character and development of these cult festivals was determined by the type and size of the political community. At that time political community also meant religious district, and there was no separation between politics and cult.

Of particular interest should be Tacitus' report on the sacrifice in the Semnonenhain .

“Vetustissimos se nobilissimosque Sueborum Semnones memorant; fides antiquitatis religione firmatur. Stato tempore in silvam auguriis patrum et prisca formidine sacram omnes eiusdem sanguinis populi legationibus coeunt caesoque publice homine celebrant barbari ritus horrenda primordia. Est et alia luco reverentia: nemo nisi vinculo ligatus ingreditur, ut minor et potestatem numinis prae se ferens. Si forte prolapsus est, attolli et insurgere haud licitum: per humum evolvuntur. Eoque omnis superstitio respicit, tamquam inde initia gentis, ibi regnator omnium deus, cetera subiecta atque parentia. Adicit auctoritatem fortuna Semnonum: centum pagi iis habitantur magnoque corpore efficitur ut se Sueborum caput credant. "

“The Semnones are praised as the oldest and most respected of the Suebi; belief in old age is sustained by their religious customs. At a fixed time, in a grove that is consecrated by the sacrifices of the fathers and ancient shyness, all tribes of the same blood come with embassies to a meeting and, after they have publicly slaughtered a person, celebrate the terrifying beginning of a barbaric worship service. Another form of worship is also paid to this grove: everyone enters it only bound with chains, conscious of inferiority and openly displaying the power of the deity. If he accidentally falls, it is not allowed to be picked up and stand up: they crawl out on the ground. And the whole of faith has the idea that here are the beginnings of the people, here God ruling over all, but that everything else is subject and obliged to obedience. Reputation was added by the external fate of the Semnones: a hundred districts are inhabited by them, and this great mass causes them to consider themselves the head of the Suebi. "

- Germania chap. 39.

This Semnonenhain is localized by research in northeast Germany. This report by Tacitus was linked to the Helgi songs of the Edda early on. The grove “Fiöturlindi” mentioned there is identified with the bondage grove near Tacitus. It can be assumed that the killing described by Tacitus was carried out with a sacred weapon. According to the Edda, this was Odin's sacred spear:

"Var Helgi eigi gamall. Dagur Högnason blótaði Óðin til föðurhefnda. Óðinn léði Dag geirs síns. Dagur fann Helga, mág sinn, þar sem heitir að Fjöturlundi. Hann lagði í Gegnum Helga með geirnum. "

“Helgi didn't get old. Dagr, Högni's son, sacrificed to Odin in order to obtain vengeance. Odin lent his spear to Dagr. Dagr met his brother-in-law where it says Fiöturlundr . He pierced Helgi with the spear. "

- Helga kviða Hundingsbana II.

The main festivals took place in late autumn or at the beginning of winter, at mid-winter, i.e. in mid-January, in late spring and at the beginning of summer. There was also the midsummer festival . These were annual festivals and sacrifices were made for good growth, a good harvest and peace; occasionally for victory.

The festival cycle had a certain structure that appears in different variations: The genius of fertility is represented by a specific representative, usually a person, more rarely an animal. After the end of the fertility period or before the beginning of a new one, this representative of life is killed (in more recent times only symbolically). Mostly his opponent, who kills him in a killing rite, then succeeds him. A symbol of the killed is solemnly burned, buried or given to the water. At the beginning of spring, the appearance of the new fertility spirit is celebrated. He is considered to be the reborn slain or his successor. If the killing ritual takes place in autumn, its successor is initially a winter demon ( Wintergraf ), who is then killed in spring by the growth spirit ( Maigraf ). Mostly this unites with a girl who represents the mother earth, thus a variety of hierogamy .

Sacrificial animals were sacrificed, primarily the horse. Afterwards a common cult meal took place. This also included emptying the so-called " Minnebug ". In this was a binge drinking (mostly mead ). These cups were, with sacred formulas, consecrated either to the gods or to the dead. The blood of the sacrificed animals was collected in a sacrificial kettle and sprinkled on the altar and the cult community. Church writings show that there was no lack of dance and song at such sacrificial feasts.

Human sacrifices only took place at the so-called state and federal festivals. Various sources indicate that only slaves or prisoners were sacrificed. The only exception: if a tribe or clan member was pronounced “unholy” because of an offense, that is, the clan was repudiated and without rights.

Through the domestic festivals and cults, for example, the birth of a child, its naming and admission into the clan was celebrated. For this or similar purposes, small “sacrificial houses” were built. The goddess Nerthus found great veneration in many clans. She was widely regarded as an earth and fertility goddess. There was an annual parade in her honor. In doing so, she drove on a cart pulled by cows, covered with a sheet. After this parade, the goddess was ritually washed at a lake, during which the participants in the ritual were also submerged.

Legal system

→ Germanic tribal rights

The Germanic legal system was originally based on a religious foundation. There were so-called things , court meetings . These were always held during the day at so-called thing sites (hence the name conference). The things were sacred places. Thus one wanted to be sure of the divine help with the judiciary.

On a "holy altar ring" the right oath was held while invoking the gods. The invocation of the gods seemed important to the Germanic peoples, because this would prevent breaking the oath and violating the law.

There was no kind of sacred criminal law; Perjury was also unpunished because it was assumed that the gods invoked in the oath would punish the perpetrator themselves.

What is certain, however, is that the prosecutor called down the wrath of the gods on a lawbreaker. But this was just a kind of curse, the importance of which should not be underestimated.

Vows of victory were made to the gods before a war or a warlike act , and after the battle the prisoners of war were hung up as votive offerings . The victory celebrations were associated with honors for the leader and funeral celebrations for the fallen.

See also

literature

  • Franz Beyerle: The laws of the Lombards . Weimar 1947.
  • Matthias Egeler: "Germanic Cult Places in Germany," in: Michael Klöcker; Udo Tworuschka (Ed.): Handbook of Religions. Munich: Olzog, Supplementary Delivery 43 (March 2015) / Volume 2, I - 23.6, pp. 1–23.
  • Matthias Egeler (ed.): Germanic cult sites. Comparative, historical and reception-historical approaches. (= Munich Nordic Studies 24), Munich: Utz 2016.
  • Matthias Egeler: Celtic Influences in Germanic Religion. A survey. (= Münchner Nordistische Studien 15), Munich: Utz Verlag 2013.
  • Hans-Peter Hasenfratz: The religious world of the Teutons. Ritual, magic, cult, myth . Herder, Freiburg / Br. 1992, ISBN 3-451-04145-6 .
  • Otto Höfler : The victim in the Semnonenhain and the Edda. In: Hermann Schneider (Hrsg.): Edda, Skalden, Saga. Festschrift for Felix Genzmer's 70th birthday . Carl Winter, Heidelberg 1952.
  • Bernhard Maier : The religion of the Teutons. Gods - myths - worldview . Beck Verlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-50280-6 .
  • Cathrina Raudvere: Mara trað hann. Maragestaltens förutsättningar i nordiska förkristna själsförestillingar (The Mahr kicks him. The prerequisites for the Mahr figure in the Nordic pre-Christian ideas of the soul). In: Norsk hedendom. Et symposium . Odense 1991.
  • Snorri Sturluson, Felix Niedner (Ed., Ex.): Heimskringla. In: Snorris King's Book (3 volumes) . Cologne - Düsseldorf 1965.
  • Anders Hultgård :  Religion. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 24, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2003, ISBN 3-11-017575-4 , pp. 429-457.

Ancient authors as sources

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Raudvere. P. 90.
  2. ↑ correct: sortilegium.
  3. ↑ Beyerle p. 249.
  4. ^ Rudolf Simek : Lexicon of Germanic Mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 368). 3rd, completely revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-520-36803-X , pp. 328-330.
  5. ↑ translated by Karl Bücher
  6. ↑ Höfler p. 4.
  7. ↑ Ludwig Uhland: Writings on the history of poetry and legend . Reprint of the 1873 edition. Hildesheim 1972. Vol. VIII. P. 139.
  8. ↑ Höfler p. 11.
  9. ^ Translation by Klaus von See u. a .: Commentary on the songs of the Edda Vol. 4. Heidelberg 2004. S. 739.
  10. ↑ Höfler p. 20.