The Germanic and Celtic Tribes
Both Celtic and Germanic cultures belong to the greater Indo-European language family and they are both known for their pagan heritage and pagan beliefs. We all have heard of Thor and Odin, or the Druids. While it is true that these people were very spiritual people, our sources are not directly from the Celtic or Germanic people themselves.
We can study Cornelius Tacitus Germania writings, or Julius Caesar De Bello Gallico for some insights. Generally speaking, the Roman attempt to identify their Gods is known as “Interpretatio Romana. We learn that the Germanic people do worship their Gods out in open nature, in the woodlands and sacred groves. We are also told that the Celtic people have some sort of high-priests, the Druids, and their status is one of a teacher and a high spokesperson. And also, that they have certain rituals or ceremonies to harvest wild herbs and plants on certain days. The Germanic people seem to have a strong bond to the oak tree, the Donnereiche, (High German for “Donar’s oak”) and many other insights. Trees are most holy to them. There are of course other writings such as the Merseburger Zaubersprueche, The Wessobrunn Prayer, but they are from the middle Ages when Christianity already has taken over and distorted most of the sources and knowledge about their beliefs. There are, of course, plenty of sacred sites, so called “Keltenschanzen” all over Germany and Central Europe, and there is plenty of archaeological finds from all over Europe – but how much does it reveal about their actual beliefs?
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The Nordendorf Fibulae from Nordendorf, Bavaria, Germany was found next to my parents horsepaddock where they have 2 Haflinger horses. It’s a pagan fibulae where it says written in Elder Futhark that “Wodan and Donar are sorcerers. Wodan refers to Wotan, the highest God of the Germanic Pantheon, his name is related to the German word “Wut”, and means “fury”. Donar is the norse Thor, related to the High German word “Donner”, meaning “Thunder”.
But my reserach has shown me that pre-christian remnants, scattered here and there, can be found in many traditions and even tales. When it comes to written sources, we must remain very careful. The Roman Empire certainly was not neutral toward the Germanic or Celtic people (“Barbarians”, “Pagans”). The same is valid for Snorri Sturluson’s Edda and the Norwegian or Icelandic Rune Poems. They are of course valuable, but not always 100% reliable. The Roman Empire plays an essential role in the disappearing of Germanic and Celtic cultures. And both the Germanic and Celtic cultures were of an oral tradition. This is our dilemma.
Many believe the Celtic and Germanic people to be of two entirely different cultures with no relations whatsoever. This, however, is not true. They are both Indo-European in origin. The Celtic Culture developed in the late Bronze Age and was known as “The Urnfield culture” along the Upper Danube in Central Europe sometime around 1300 BC. The “Urnfield” people spoke Proto-Celtic and during the 8th Century BC, Bronze metals got replaced with Iron. This culture was then known as “The Hallstatt culture” which became the classic “Celtic culture”, the La Tene Culture which began in 450 BC in southern Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
Julius Caesar’s memoir Commentarii De Bello Gallico
“They wish to inculcate this as one of their leading tenets, that souls do not become extinct, but pass after death from one body to another, and they think that men by this tenet are in a great degree excited to valour, the fear of death being disregarded.”
“All the Gauls assert that they are descended from the god Dis, and say that this tradition has been handed down by the Druids.”
Proto-Germanic was first spoken in the area of what today would be Northern Germany or Denmark. By 500 BC, the Germanic people lived along the Baltic shores, what today is Denmark and Southern Sweden. However, they also migrated southwards later sometime in the 2nd Century BC and during the 4th and 5th Century the great Völkerwanderung, migration of tribes, happened. There was substantial Celtic influence in the Proto-Germanic language which explains many Celtic loanwords during the Nordic Bronze Age.
Tacitus on the Germanic religion:
“In the ancient songs, which are their only form of record and are a kind of chronicle, they celebrate Tuisto, an earth-born God. To him they attribute a son, Mannus”
“Among the Gods Mercury (Odin/Woden) is the one they principally worship. Hercules (Donar) and Mars (Tyr/Tiu) they appease by animal offerings of the permitted kind. Part of the Suebi sacrifice to Isis as well. I have little idea what the origin or explanation of this foreign cult is, except the Goddess’ emblem, which resembles a light warship, indicates that the cult came in from abroad . (The Suebi were said to honour the Germanic Goddess Nerthus whom Tactius refers to as “Terra Mater” – meaning “Mother Earth”). In general, they judge it not to be in keeping with the majesty of heavenly beings to confine them within walls or to portray them in any human likeness. They consecrate woods and groves and they apply the names of the Gods to that mysterious presence which they see only with the eye of devotion.”
“Nevertheless, the marriage code is strict and there is no aspect of their morality that deserves higher praise. They are almost the only barbarians who are content with a single wife, except for a very few, who are not motivated by sexual appetite – it is, rather, that they are courted with numerous offers of marriage on account of their noble rank…”
“They are distinguished by a common worship of Nerthus, that is, Mother Earth, and believe that she intervenes in human affairs and rides through their peoples. There is a sacred grove on an island in the Ocean, in which there is a consecrated chariot, draped with a cloth, which the priest alone may touch. He perceives the presence of the Goddess in the innermost shrine and with great reverence escorts her in her chariot, which is drawn by female cattle. There are days of rejoicing then and the countryside celebrates the festival, wherever she deigns to visit and to accept hospitality.”
More information on the Suevi, Allemanni and Bajuvarii in an area we call Bavaria and Swabia today:
