52. Gods, days of week, months.

Balder was the god of light. He was the son of Odin and Frigga. Other important gods were Ragnarok, Hoenir, Vidhavoc and Vali, all very brave gods. Odin’s battle maidens were called the Valkyries; they protected his favourite warriors and granted them victory. Odin held his court at Valhalla. This was the place where all brave warriors went when they died. Odin was usually pictured with a raven upon each shoulder. These birds were called Hugin and Munnin. They whispered into Odin’s ears all things they saw and heard in thei flights around the world. Odin had only one eye. It was thought that he had given up one of his eyes to gain more knowledge. Loki was a great godlike giant, ‘the spirit of evil’. He was always ended up doing cruel and destructive things. Loki had 3 children. They were the serpent Fenris, the wolf Midgart, and Hela, death.

Sunday	OE sunne – the sun The first day of the week was named for the sun god	OE Sunnan + OE dæхь = Sunnandeхь
Monday	OE mona – the moon Was devoted to the goddess of the moon	OE Monandeхь
Tuesday	OE Tiw – the war-god Named in honour of the Anglo-Saxon god of war (ON Tyr)	OE Tiwesdeхь
Wednesday	OE Wodan – the god of divination and the dead Was named for the chief god and the giver of wisdom (ON Odin)	OE Wednesdeхь
Thursday	OE Thunor – the storm-god Was named in honour of the ancient Germ. God of thunder	OE Thore’sdeхь
Friday	OE Fri – the fertility goddess (ON Frigda), goddess of the household and marriage, Oddin’s wife. Later became as Freya, goddess of the Earth	OE Frideхь
Saturday	OE Setern – Saturn, Jupiter’s father, the god of agriculture and sowing of seeds in Roman mythology. His feast, called the Saturnalia, began on December 17 and was a time of rejoicing and feasting.	OE Seternesdeхь

There were different versions of old Germanic names of months (eg, louprîsi in ancient Switzerland, ie, "the month of falling leaves" - November), but in general they reflect the economical activities of the Germans. Title winnemanoth (May, ie, "month grazing") was used in the Netherlands, for July (weidemaand); April was called grasmaand ( «a month of grass"). In Frisians hewimanot («hay month) already sounds like heimoanne, the Germans - Heumond, in the Netherlands - howmaen. In the early Middle Ages in many areas of Western Europe Germanic-speaking winnemanoth often interchange bisemânôt (ie, "the time when the cows like mad, galloping across the meadow"). Anglo thrimilci meant "the time when the cows three times a day, give milk". Farming has been reflected in the names brachmanoth (June - "the time of sowing after the harvest of the first harvest»), aranmanoth (July - "the month of harvest"). Months were devoted to the gods: April (eosturmanoth, ôstarmanoth) - the goddess Ostara, March (hredmanoth) - goddess Hrede etc.

Very soon, along with starogermanskimi names of months have been used in Latin (and later all regions of Europe, in Iceland, from the XIII century.), For example: February - mensis Plutonis (mensis purgatorius), April - mensis venustus or mensis novarum, May - mensis Mariae, June - mensis magnus, July - mensis fenalis, August - mensis messionum etc.