![The_Tree_of_Yggdrasil](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/The_Tree_of_Yggdrasil.jpg)
Trees hold a particular role in
Germanic paganism
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 Germ ...
and
Germanic mythology
Germanic mythology consists of the body of myths native to the Germanic peoples, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, and Continental Germanic mythology. It was a key element of Germanic paganism.
Origins
As the Germanic language ...
, both as individuals (
sacred trees
A sacred tree is a tree which is considered to be sacred, or worthy of spiritual respect or reverence. Such trees appear throughout world history in various cultures including the ancient Greek, Hindu mythology, Celtic and Germanic mythologies. ...
) and in groups (
sacred grove
Sacred groves or sacred woods are groves of trees and have special religious importance within a particular culture. Sacred groves feature in various cultures throughout the world. They were important features of the mythological landscape and ...
s). The central role of trees in Germanic religion is noted in the earliest written reports about the
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...
, with the Roman historian
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars.
The surviving portions of his t ...
stating that Germanic cult practices took place exclusively in groves rather than
temples
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
. Scholars consider that reverence for and rites performed at individual trees are derived from the mythological role of the world tree,
Yggdrasil
Yggdrasil (from Old Norse ), in Norse cosmology, is an immense and central sacred tree. Around it exists all else, including the Nine Worlds.
Yggdrasil is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'' compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional ...
;
onomastic
Onomastics (or, in older texts, onomatology) is the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. An ''orthonym'' is the proper name of the object in question, the object of onomastic study.
Onomastics can be helpful in data mining, w ...
and some historical evidence also connects individual
deities
A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...
to both groves and individual trees. After
Christianisation
Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...
, trees continue to play a significant role in the
folk belief
In folkloristics, folk belief or folk-belief is a broad genre of folklore that is often expressed in narratives, customs, rituals, foodways, proverbs, and rhymes. It also includes a wide variety of behaviors, expressions, and beliefs. Examples of ...
s of the Germanic peoples.
Terminology
The pagan Germanic peoples referred to holy places by a variety of terms and many of these terms variously referred to stones, groves, and temple structures. From
Proto-Germanic
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic branc ...
, a masculine noun, developed
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
meaning 'temple, idol',
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
'temple, idol', and
Old High German
Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050.
There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...
meaning 'holy grove, holy stone'. According to
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
Vladimir Orel
Vladimir Emmanuilovich Orël (russian: Владимир Эммануилович Орëл; 9 February 1952 – 5 August 2007) was a Russian linguist and etymologist.
Biography
At the Moscow State University he studied theoretical linguistics ( ...
, the term was borrowed from the continental
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
* or, alternately, the same non-
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
source as the Celtic source.
[Orel (2003:164).] A more general term for a sacred place was reflected in Old Norse
vé.
The Proto-Germanic masculine noun , which developed into
Old Frankish
Frankish ( reconstructed endonym: *), also known as Old Franconian or Old Frankish, was the West Germanic language spoken by the Franks from the 5th to 9th century.
After the Salian Franks settled in Roman Gaul, its speakers in Picardy an ...
('holy grove'), similarly either developed from, or is otherwise connected to,
Gaulish
Gaulish was an ancient Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium ...
,
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
and
Old Irish
Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writt ...
'holiness'.
[Orel (2003:284).]
Another Proto-Germanic masculine noun , has given rise to words with a variety of meanings in various Germanic languages, including
Anglo-Saxon , 'meadow',
Middle Low German
Middle Low German or Middle Saxon (autonym: ''Sassisch'', i.e. " Saxon", Standard High German: ', Modern Dutch: ') is a developmental stage of Low German. It developed from the Old Saxon language in the Middle Ages and has been documented i ...
, 'bush', and
Old High German
Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050.
There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...
, , 'grove, copse, bush'; it is cognate with Latin , 'sacred grove'.
[De Vries (1970:352).][Ringe (2006:90).]
Scandinavian placenames occur with the name of a deity compounded with , 'grove', or , 'wood'.
Attestations and archaeological record
Sacred trees and groves are widely attested among the records of the ancient Germanic peoples. Some scholars hypothesize that they even predated the development of temples (according to
Rudolf Simek
Rudolf Simek (born 21 February 1954) is an Austrian philologist and religious studies scholar who is Professor and Chair of Ancient German studies, German and Scandinavian studies, Nordic Studies at the University of Bonn. Simek specializes in G ...
, "there were sacred woods long before there were temples and altars"
[Simek (2007:310).]).
In his ''Germania'', Tacitus says that the Germanic peoples "consecrate woods and groves and they apply the name of gods to that mysterious presence which they see only with the eye of devotion",
[Birley (1999:42).] Tacitus describes the grove of the
Semnones and refers to a ''castum nemus'' ('chaste grove') in which the image of the goddess
Nerthus
In Germanic paganism, Nerthus is a goddess associated with a ceremonial wagon procession. Nerthus is attested by first century AD Roman historian Tacitus in his ethnographic work ''Germania''.
In ''Germania'', Tacitus records that a group of Germ ...
was hallowed, and other reports from the Roman period also refer to rites held by continental Germanic peoples in groves, including the sacrifices in forest clearings of survivors by the
Cherusci
The Cherusci were a Germanic tribe that inhabited parts of the plains and forests of northwestern Germany in the area of the Weser River and present-day Hanover during the first centuries BC and AD. Roman sources reported they considered themsel ...
after their victory at the
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, described as the Varian Disaster () by Ancient Rome, Roman historians, took place at modern Kalkriese in AD 9, when an alliance of Germanic peoples ambushed Roman legions and their auxiliaries, led by Publius ...
, recounted by Tacitus in his ''Annals'' based on a report by Germanicus.
[De Vries (1970:351–52).] Such groves were sometimes dedicated to a particular deity: in addition to the case of Nerthus, there was a ''silva Herculi sacra'' ('wood sacred to Hercules', an ''
interpretatio romana
''Interpretatio graeca'' (Latin, "Greek translation") or "interpretation by means of Greek odels is a discourse used to interpret or attempt to understand the mythology and religion of other cultures; a comparative methodology using ancient Gr ...
'') near the River
Weser
The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...
, and the
Semnones reportedly held their rituals in honor of the ''
regnator omnium deus
In Tacitus' work ''Germania'' from the year 98, ''regnator omnium deus'' (''god, ruler of all'') was a deity worshipped by the Semnones tribe in a sacred grove. Comparisons have been made between this reference and the poem '' Helgakviða Hundingsb ...
'' ('god the ruler of all'). The scholar of Germanic religion
Jan de Vries noted that placenames such as Frølund (Denmark), and Ullunda, Frösvi, and Mjärdevi (Sweden), in which the name of a deity is compounded with words meaning "grove" or "wood", suggest a continuation of the same practice, but are found almost exclusively in eastern Scandinavia; however, there is a ''
Caill Tomair Caill Tomair (Middle Irish 'Thor's Grove') was a Sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred grove dedicated to the North Germanic god Thor. Located near the Norse-Gaels, Norse-Gaelic city of Dublin, the grove was destroyed by ...
'' recorded near
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, an oak forest apparently sacred to
Thor
Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, an ...
.
[De Vries (1970:352–353).]
Reverence for individual trees among the Germanic peoples is a common theme in medieval Christian denunciations of backsliding into paganism.
[Simek (2007:335).][De Vries (1970:350–51).] In some cases, such as
Donar's Oak
Donar's Oak (also Thor's Oak or, via ''interpretatio romana'', Jove's Oak) was a sacred tree of the Germanic pagans located in an unclear location around what is now the region of Hesse, Germany. According to the 8th century ''Vita Bonifatii auct ...
(according to legend, felled by Christian missionary
Saint Boniface
Boniface, OSB ( la, Bonifatius; 675 – 5 June 754) was an English Benedictines, Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the eighth century. He organised significant ...
), these were associated with particular gods, and the association of individual trees with saints can be seen as a continuation of the tradition into modern times.
[
The '']Landnámabók
(, "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to , is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement () of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE.
is divided into five parts and over ...
'', which describes the settlement of Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
and dates from the 13th century, tells of a skáld by the name of Þórir snepill Ketilsson who, after his crew encountered and fended off raiding vikings, arrived in Iceland and founded a sacred grove there:
:...Thorir took possession of all of the whole of Fnjoskadale, as far as Odeila. He made his home at Lund ld Norse 'grove' and held the grove sacred.[Hermann Pálsson (2006 ]972
Year 972 ( CMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Spring – Emperor John I Tzimiskes divides the Bulgarian territories, recent ...
103).
Sacred trees and groves leave few archaeological traces, but two such sites may have been identified, both in Sweden. A mouldering birch
A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...
stump surrounded by animal bones, especially from brown bear and pig, was discovered under the church on Frösön
Frösön (, ; " Frey's island"), (Old no, Frøys øy) is the largest island in the lake Storsjön, located west of the city Östersund in Jämtland, Sweden. During most of recorded history Frösön was the regional centre of Jämtland, and it is t ...
in Jämtland in 1984. The finds have been carbon dated to the late Viking Age. Possible burnt offerings have been found on a hill at Lunda near Strängnäs
Strängnäs is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Strängnäs Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 15,363 inhabitants in 2020. It is located by Lake Mälaren and is the episcopal see of the Diocese of Strängnäs, one of t ...
in Södermanland
Södermanland ( or ), locally Sörmland, sometimes referred to under its Latin form ''Sudermannia'' or ''Sudermania'', is a historical province or ''landskap'' on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västman ...
; the archeologist Gunnar Andersson has argued that the combination of the finds and the placename—which can mean "the grove"—point to this being the remnants of a sacrificial grove.[Andersson (2006:195-199).] Scholars have proposed that publicly revered trees such as that at the temple in Uppsala were regarded as counterparts to the mythic world tree Yggdrasil.[
]
Notable examples
The present section divides particularly notable examples into texts discussing the religious activities of the ancient Germanic peoples involving trees and groves (''Germanic paganism'') and their appearance in the myths of the Germanic peoples, particularly the North Germanic peoples
North Germanic peoples, commonly called Scandinavians, Nordic peoples and in a medieval context Norsemen, were a Germanic peoples, Germanic linguistic group originating from the Scandinavian Peninsula. They are identified by their cultural simila ...
(''Germanic mythology'').
Germanic paganism
Sacred trees and groves are mentioned throughout the history of the ancient Germanic peoples, from their earliest attestations among Roman scribes to references made by medieval Christian monks. Notable examples of sacred trees and groves in the historical record among the ancient Germanic peoples include the following:
Germanic mythology
In Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...
, the northernmost extension of Germanic mythology
Germanic mythology consists of the body of myths native to the Germanic peoples, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, and Continental Germanic mythology. It was a key element of Germanic paganism.
Origins
As the Germanic language ...
, several sacred trees are mentioned. The most prominent of these trees is the holy tree central to the cosmos, Yggdrasil
Yggdrasil (from Old Norse ), in Norse cosmology, is an immense and central sacred tree. Around it exists all else, including the Nine Worlds.
Yggdrasil is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'' compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional ...
. Prominent trees mentioned in Germanic mythology include the following:
Post-Christianisation
After the nominal Christianisation of Anglo-Saxons and Saxons in the 7th and 8th centuries, many Heathen practices centered on trees such as worship and giving of gifts were made punishable crimes.[Meaney AL (2004) ‘And we forbeodað eornostlice ælcne hæðenscipe’: Wulfstan and Late Anglo-Saxon and Norse ‘Heathenism’. In Studies in the Early Middle Ages pp 461–500. Available at: https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.3.3720 ccessed May 28, 2021/ref> Despite this, 11th century accounts describe the continuation of ]votive offering
A votive offering or votive deposit is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally ...
deposition at trees in England and worship in groves in Saxony. English Penitential laws made in the 11th century explicitly forbid the use of a ''friðplott'' or ''friðgeard'' - a peaceful area around stones, trees or springs.
In later folklore, offerings are made to tree spirits such as Askafroa The Askafroa ( sv, wife of the ash tree) also known as the Danish Askefrue and German Eschenfrau, is a type of legendary creature in Scandinavian and German folklore, similar to the Greek Hamadryads. The Askafroa is the guardian of the ash tree. Th ...
in Scandinavia and Germany, and the Women of One Tree Hill in England. In the latter case, gifts to the trees are explicitly linked with a returned gift of increased land fertility. There exists also a Scandinavian folk tradition of farmers making small offerings to a "warden tree", regarded as exercising a protective function over the family and land.[
]
See also
* , wooden cult images created by the Germanic peoples
* Ask and Embla
In Norse mythology, Ask and Embla ( non, Askr ok Embla )—male and female respectively—were the first two humans, created by the gods. The pair are attested in both the '' Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional ...
, the first human beings in Norse mythology, created from trees and whose names may mean "ash" and "elm"
* ''Dream of the Rood
''The'' ''Dream of the Rood'' is one of the Christian poems in the corpus of Old English literature and an example of the genre of dream poetry. Like most Old English poetry, it is written in alliterative verse. ''Rood'' is from the Old Englis ...
'', an Old English poem describing the crucifixion of Jesus from the point of view of a sentient tree
* Ilmr
Ilmr (Old Norse: ) is a figure in Norse mythology who is listed as a goddess and who occurs in skaldic kennings. Her associations and original nature are unknown.
Ilmr is attested at two points in the so-called '' Nafnaþulur'' appended to the ' ...
, an Old Norse goddess whose name may mean 'elm'
Notes
References
* Andersson, Gunnar. 2006.
Among trees, bones, and stones: The sacred grove at Lunda
in Andrén, Anders, Kristina Jennbert, and Catharina Raudvere. ''Old Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives: Origins, Changes, and Interactions''. Nordic Academic Press.
* Birley, A. R. 1999. Trans. Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars.
The surviving portions of his t ...
, ''Germania
Germania ( ; ), also called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman province of the same name, was a large historical region in north- ...
''. Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
.
* Hermann Pálsson. 2006 972
Year 972 ( CMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Spring – Emperor John I Tzimiskes divides the Bulgarian territories, recent ...
''Landnámabók: The Book of Settlements''. University of Manitoba Press.
* Magnell, Ola; Iregren, Elisabeth. 2010.
Veitstu Hvé Blóta Skal : The Old Norse Blót in the Light of Osteological Remains from Frösö Church, Jämtland, Sweden
. ''Current Swedish Archaeology''. 18. Nordic Academic Press.
* Orel, Vladimir. 2003. ''A Handbook of Germanic Etymology''. Brill.
* Ringe, Donald. 2006. ''From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic: A Linguistic History of English'', 1. Oxford University Press.
* Simek, Rudolf. 2007. Translated by Angela Hall. ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology''. D.S. Brewer.
* De Vries, Jan. 1970. ''Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte''. Vol. 1. Grundriss der germanischen Philologie 12/I. 3rd ed (repr. 2nd ed 956. De Gruyter. .
Further reading
* Palm, Thede (1948). ''Trädkult: Studier i germansk religionshistoria''. Skrifter utgivna av Vetenskaps-societeten i Lund, 33. Gleerup. .
{{Germanic peoples
Trees in Germanic paganism
Trees in Germanic mythology
Sacred groves