Mythology in the Low Countries
The
- Low Franconians
- Frisii (and later, in the same area, the Frisians)
- Tubanti
- Canninefates
- Batavians
- the decidedly more Celtic and Gallo-Roman Belgae tribes of Gallia Belgica south of the Rhine (also mainly but with many exceptions).[3]
Pre-Christian traditions
Deities
From ancient regional mythology, most names of ancient gods and goddesses in this region come from local tribal lore, particularly in the North. Many of the deities are the same as eastern Germanic Deities: Wodan is Dutch for Odin, the god of war and leader of the Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt was retold in Dutch with Wodan leading under different guises: Gait with his dogs; Derk with his dogs; Derk with his boar; the glowing horse; Henske with his dogs.).[4] Donar is Dutch for Thor, the god of thunder.
In Dutch the
- maandag (Monday) named after Máni - compared to "dies Lunae" (Luna's day)
- dinsdag (Tuesday) named after Tyr - compared to "dies Martis" (Mars' day)
- woensdag (Wednesday) after Wodan - compared to "dies Mercurii" (Mercury's day)
- donderdag (Thursday) is named after Jupiter's day)
- vrijdag (Friday) after Frîja - compared to "dies Veneris" (Venus' day).
However other ancient deities are
Finally some deities were regional or specific to one clan:
Other beings
The Dutch words
Nature spirits: The following beings may have originated as deities or supernatural beings in mythology, and later recharacterized as nature spirits during the Middle Ages; The Dutch like other Germanic people believed in elves, the Dutch words for them are elfen, elven, and alven. The moss maidens, who appear in Old Dutch and Southern Germanic folklore were known as tree spirits or wood elves, often chased in the Dutch version of the Wild Hunt. The Kabouter was the Dutch name for the kobold (gnome), a household spirit and earth spirit who usually lived underground.
Mythological heroes
The first epic heroes, kings and leaders of The Low Countries, considered mythological, in the sense of supernatural and foundational, include:
- Tuisto (Tuisco) - the mythical ancestor of all Germanic tribes.
- Mannus - ancestor of a number of Germanic tribes, son of Tuisto.
- Ing (Ingwaz, Yngvi) - founder of the Ingaevones tribe, son of Mannus.
- Istaev - founder of the Istvaeones tribe, son of Mannus.
- Mannus - ancestor of a number of Germanic tribes, son of Tuisto.
- Redbad, King of the Frisians
- Folcwald- hero of Frisian tribes.
- Finn (Frisian) - hero of Frisian tribes, Frisian lord, son of Folcwald.
- Merovech, semi-legendary founder of the Merovingian dynasty
Mythological objects
Objects considered magical or sacred in the Low Countries (7th century) included: Oak trees, springs and wooded groves had sacred and medicinal powers.
Neolithic ground axes were collected, thought to be Donar's lightning. Farmers hung these axes in their homes to protect against lightning strike, in accordance with the belief that 'lightning never strikes the same place twice'.
Missionary accounts
After the influence of Christian missionaries, the original mythologies were lessened in power, and for the most part adapted into folklore and legends, often made
The written biographies of the Christian missionaries to the Netherlands, sermonizing against pre-Christian beliefs, are coincidentally some of the earliest written accounts of the myths that existed in the region. The missionary texts written by the incoming
Willibrord
Willibrord took other mission trips on the Dutch mainland where he witnessed that the people considered clearings in woods, springs and wells sacred to their mythology and religion. Willibrord tried to erase their pagan shrines and landmarks. He built a church in a sacred heathen clearing in the forest, destroyed a sacred forest in Heiloo and renamed heathen wells as Christian wells. Many wells were renamed in his name.
In 714, the Frisian
Bonifatius
In 719 Rome appointed Bonifatius to convert "the savage people of Germania". Bonifatius joined Willibrord in Utrecht to receive a three-year missionary training, then in 721 travelled east of the Netherlands into Hesse, Germany. Bonifatius undertook a final preaching mission in Friesland in June 753 when he was attacked and killed by a group of Frisians with unknown (legend says resentful) intentions.[9]
Saint Eligius
One of the best glimpses of late
"I denounce and contest, that you shall observe no sacrilegious pagan customs. For no cause or infirmity should you consult magicians, diviners, sorcerers or incantators. ..Do not observe
Jove's day in idleness. ... No Christian should make or render any devotion to the gods of the trivium, where three roads meet, to the fanes or the rocks, or springs or groves or corners. None should presume to hang any phylacteries from the neck of man nor beast. ..None should presume to make lustrations or incantations with herbs, or to pass cattle through a hollow tree or ditch ... No woman should presume to hang amber from her neck or call upon Minerva or other ill-starred beings in their weaving or dyeing. .. None should call the sun or moon lord or swear by them. .. No one should tell fate or fortune or horoscopes by them as those do who believe that a person must be what he was born to be."[10]
Procopius
Procopius in the 540s records a belief and/or funerary rite observed at the mouths of the Rhine involving the passage of the dead to the island of Brittia (Great Britain).
Folklore
In 1918, William Elliot Griffis wrote down and translated Dutch folk tales, and published the book, Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks. Among them, the story of The Legend of the Wooden Shoe, clearly begins with fragments of Druidic mythology in the ancient Netherlands retold for children:
"In years long gone, too many for the almanac to tell of, or for clocks and watches to measure, millions of good
Katharine...."[11]
The story outlines the following traditional beliefs in Holland:
"Under its branches, near the trunk, people laid their sick, hoping for help from the gods. Beneath the oak boughs. ..wives joined hand in hand around its girth, hoping to have beautiful children. Up among its leafy branches the new babies lay, before they were found in the cradle by the other children. To make a young child grow up to be strong and healthy, mothers drew them through a split sapling or young tree. Even more wonderful, as medicine for the country itself, the oak had power to heal. The new land sometimes suffered from disease called the val [or fall]. When sick with the val, the ground sunk. Then people, houses, churches, barns and cattle all went down, out of sight, and were lost forever, in a flood of water."[11]
In this legend, the Kabouter and the elves show mankind how to turn the trees into piles to drive into them upside down into the ground and thus to make the land firm to build on, later how to make wooden shoes. Note that historically, Dutch land was low and prone to flooding, hence the land would sometimes flood and wipe out towns and villages, and the flooding was worse when forests were cut down to make way for agricultural and pastoral lands.
Landmarks and toponymy
Many regional legends exist in the Low Countries about the origins of natural landmarks such as hills, bodies of water, springs, wells, forests and the sea, that attribute creation to the ancient gods. Other legends tell where different witte wieven lived on as spirits in the Middle Ages, which are probably recharacterized stories of sacred sites. Many nice examples were collected in the book Veluwsche Sagen by Gustaaf van de Wall Perné (1877-1911). The Veluwsche Sagen was a historically researched collection of Dutch "sagas" from the legends and folk almanacs in the province of Gelderland:
The creation of the
Perné notes that Donar was worshipped at the Godenmeer (lake of the Gods), although the translator thinks that the lake Godenmeer may be a Christian version of Wodenmeer, a lake originally dedicated to Wodan.[13]
Monuments
An ancient stone altar dating from around the 2nd century CE found at
Another ancient stone altar has also been found in Ubbergen, on the Hengstberg (Stallion-hill). It has the following inscription: "Mercurius Friausius (or Eriasus)". Mercurius is Latin for the Roman god Mercury, the Roman equivalent of Wodan. Friausius is suggested to refer to his wife Frigg.[16]
In the now flooded sites of
In Empel there is the remains of a temple to Hercules Magusanus. This was the Romans' Latin name for the supreme god of the Batavians, Donar. Stone votives and broken weapons as symbolic offerings are at the location.[18]
List of toponyms
Holland: This place name derives from the words Holt Land which means "Land of Many Trees", "Forest Land." According to the tradition (The Legend of the Wooden Shoe), the trees were filled with good spirits, and kept the land firm otherwise it would melt or disappear under water and floods.[11]
Eyck names: The popular Dutch names, Eyck and Van Eyck, mean "oak" and "of the oak", respectively. Oak trees were venerated in Druidic religion and mythology.[11]
Many other place names in Netherlands have ancient mythological meanings, some named after Pre-Christian deities or reflecting other myths of the ancient people:[19]
- Donderbergen - translates to "Donar's hills" or "Thunder hills", once dedicated to Donar (located in Dieren).
- Elst - name is derivative of the word "Heliste", which means sanctuary.
- Godenmeer - translates "God's lake" or "Woden's lake" (see legend of the Uddelermeer, Uddeler- and Bleeke Lake).
- Godsberg/Godensbergen - translates "God's hill"/"Gods' hills", once dedicated to Wodan (hills located in Hattem and Ruurlo).
- Helsbergen - translates "Hel's hills", once dedicated to Hel (in Rheden).
- Heilige Berg - translates "Holy Hill" (in Roekel).
- Hemelse bergen - translates "Heavenly hills", once dedicated to Heimdal (in Arnhem, Nunspeet, Oosterbeek).
- Hennendal - translates "Valley of the Dead" (near Hummelo).
- Holland - translates "Land of Hel", land of the Germanic goddess Hel or Holle.
- Manebergen - translates "Moon hills", once a sacrificial place for the Moon.
- Materberg - translates "mother-goddess hills".
- Paasbergen - translates "Easter hills", once dedicated to spring, ).
- Magusanuswas the Roman name of Donar. Nijmegen was the heart of the Batavian cult of the god Donar. Nijmegen had two temples dedicated to Donar.
- Poppestien - translates "baby stone" is a big flat stone. According to legend, it delivered babies (in Bergum).
- Willibrordsdobbe - the name of a natural well on the island, named after Willibrord, but seen by the locals as a holy well. Note according to history, Willibrord renamed the sacred pagan wells in his own name (on the island of Ameland).
- Wittewievenbult - translates "White Women hill". Local legend holds that some witte wieven appear on Christmas Eve every year and dance on this hill (near the village of Eefde).
- Wittewijvenkuil - translates "White Woman Pit", is a pit between two hills near the village. Local legend holds that three witte wieven lived there (near the village of Barchem).
- Wodansbergen - translates "Wodan's hills", once dedicated to Wodan.
- Woensdrecht - town named after Wodan.
- Woensel - former town, now city district in Eindhoven, named after Wodan: either Wodan's sale (hall) or Wodan's loo (forest).
- Woezik - translates "Wodan's oak". Several Wodans-oaks were known (in Wolfheze).
- Wrangebult - translates "Thorn-hedge-hill". A "wrange" was a plaited hedge of thorns which was sometimes created around a holy place. Local legend holds it was a heathen sacrificial hill (in Hummelo).
- Zonnebergen - translates "Sun hills", once a sacrificial place for the Sun (hills with this name located in Gorssel, Oosterbeek, Vorden, Wageningen).
See also
- Gallia Belgica
- Nordwestblock
- Salian Frankish Mythology
Notes
- ^ Meijer, 1971.
- ^ per Tacitus (1st century CE) and Caesar (1st century BCE), and Willibrord (658 – 739).
- ^ Tacitus (1st century CE) and Caesar(1st century BCE) noted Celtic culture; Saint Eligius (588 to 660) noted both Celtic and Gallo-Roman deities.
- ^ Bissette, Elizabeth. Ghost Riders in the Sky. 2007
- ^ Reginheim, Donar (Thor) in Dutch Folklore, 2002.
- ^ Lendering, 2006.
- ^ Reginheim "Witte wieven", 2007.
- ^ Skemer 2006:24.
- ^ a b Reginheim, 2002.
- ^ McNamara's translation of the Vita Eligii.
- ^ a b c d Griffis, 1918 in Legend of the Wooden Shoe.
- ^ Perné, "The Veluwsche Sagen - Saga 2", as translated by Reginheim.
- ^ Reginheim, "The Veluwsche Sagen", 2002.
- ^ Reginheim, Forgotten Gods. 2003
- ^ Religiöse Kulte im römischen Köln: Vagdavercustis Archived 2005-12-02 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Reginheim, "Map of Heathen Sanctuaries", 2002
- ^ Green, Miranda (1998). Animals in Celtic Life and Myth. London, UK: Routledge, 1998. p 200-201.
- ^ "Empel, The sanctuary of Magusanus..." [1]. File retrieved 10-02-07.
- ^ Reginheim, "Map of Heathen Sanctuaries," "Heathen Sanctuaries" and "Heathen History of Achterhoek": 2002.
References
- Encyclopedia Mythica.
- Griffis, William Elliot. Dutch Fairy Tales For Young Folks. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1918. (English). Available online by SurLaLane Fairy Tales. File retrieved 2-24-2007.
- Lendering, Jona. Nehalennia, July 2006. File retrieved 9-21-2007.
- McNamara, Jo Ann, translator. Vita Eligii (The Life of St. Eligius), in English. Available online by Northvegr Foundation, copyright 2005. File retrieved 2-24-2007.
- Meijer, Reinder. Literature of the Low Countries: A Short History of Dutch Literature in the Netherlands and Belgium. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1971.
- Magusanus, Joris. Donar (Thor) in Dutch folklore. English translation by Ansuharijaz. Online: Reginheim, 2002. File retrieved 06-02-2007.
- Magusanus, Joris. Willibrord and Bonifatius, noting the primary sources were the Vita Willibrordi by Alcuin, and Vita Bonifatii by Willibrord. English translation by Ansuharijaz. Online: Reginheim, 2002. File retrieved 2-24-2007.
- Grimsma, Boppo. Dutch Legends Friesland: Heathen Sanctuaries. English translation by Ansuharijaz. Online: Reginheim, 2002. File retrieved 2-24-2007.
- Ansuharijaz. Heathen History of the Achterhoek. Online: Reginheim, 2002. File retrieved 2-24-2007.
- Magusanus, Joris. Map of Heathen Sanctuaries" and "Veluwsche Sagen". English translation by Ansuharijaz. Online: Reginheim, 2002. File retrieved 2-24-2007.
- Ansuharijaz. Forgotten Gods. Online: Reginheim, 2003. Files retrieved 2-24-2007.
- Ansuharijaz. Witte wieven. English translation by Ansuharijaz. Online: Reginheim, 2002. File retrieved 03-08-2007.
- Skemer, Don C. Binding Words Textual Amulets in the Middle Ages. PA: ISBN 0-271-02722-3.
- Thistelton-Dyer, T.F. The Folk-lore of Plants, 1889. Available online by Project Gutenberg. (moss people) File retrieved 3-05-07.
Further reading
- Bos, J. M., Archeologie van Friesland, Stichting Matrijs, Utrecht, 1995
- Bruijn, A.G. Geesten en Goden in Oud Oldenzaal (Ghosts and gods in Old Oldenzaal). 1929. Oldenzaal: Electr. drukkerij J. Verhaag. (In Dutch)
- Derolez, R.L.M., De Godsdienst der Germanen, Roermond, 1959
- Dykstra, W., Uit Friesland's Volksleven, Van Vroeger en Later, tweede deel, 1895
- Halbertsma, H., Het heidendom waar Luidger onder de Friezen mee te maken kreeg, in: Sierksma, Kl. (red.), Liudger 742-809, Muiderberg 1984
- Halbertsma, Herrius (2000). Frieslands oudheid: het rijk van de Friese koningen, opkomst en ondergang (in Dutch and English) (New ed.). Utrecht: Matrijs. ISBN 9789053451670.
- Laan, K. ter: Folkloristisch woordenboek van Nederland en Vlaams België, 1949, Den Haag: G.B. van Goor zonen's uitgeversmij N.V.
- Schuyf, J., Heidens Nederland, Zichtbare overblijfselen van een niet-christelijk verleden, Stichting Matrijs, Utrecht, 1995
- Teenstra, A. (red.): Nederlandse volkskunst, 1941, Amsterdam: N.V. uitgevers-maatschappij Elsevier.
- van de Walle Perné, Gustaaf (1877-1911). Veluwsche sagen. (Arnhem: Gysbers and van Loon) (In Dutch)
- van der Molen, S.J. Ta in "Fryske Mythology", yn De Frije Fries, diel 53 (1973).
- Vries, J. de, Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, band II, Berlin, 1957.
- Vries, J. de: Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, 1970: Berlijn: Walter de Gruyter & Co.
- de Weerd, Henk. Gooise legenden. 1960. (uitgeverij C. de Boer jr., Hilversum)
External links
- Vita Eligii (The Life of St. Eligius), in English - full version