56. Paganism vs Christianity in og ethnic communities.

Germanic paganism refers to the theology and religious practices of the Germanic peoples of north-western Europe from the Iron Age up until their Christianization during the medieval. It has been described as being "a system of interlocking and closely related religious worldviews and practices rather than as one indivisible religion" and consisted of "individual worshippers, family traditions and regional cults".

Germanic paganism took various different forms in each different area of the Germanic world. The best documented version was that of 10th and 11th century Norse paganism, although other information can be found from Anglo-Saxon and Continental Germanic sources. Scattered references are also found in the earliest writings of other Germanic peoples and Roman descriptions. The information can be supplied by archaeological finds and remains of pre-Christian beliefs in later folklore.

Germanic paganism was polytheistic, revolving around the veneration of various deities. Some deities were worshipped widely across the Germanic lands, but under different names. Other deities were simply local to a specific locality, and are mentioned in both Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic texts, in the latter of which they are described as being "the land spirits that live in this land".

• Teiwaz, god of war, "Germanic Mars", Norse Tyr, Old English Tiw, Old High German Ziu, continues Indo-European Dyeus.

• Wōdanaz, "lord of poetic/mantic inspiration", "Germanic Mercury", Norse Óðinn (Odin), Old English Woden, Old High German Wuotan.

• Frijjō, wife of Wodanaz, Norse Frigg. "wife", c.f. Sanskrit priyā "mistress, wife". Probably also addressed as Frawjō "lady" (Norse Freya).

• Fraujaz. "lord", c.f. Norse Freyr

• Þunraz, "thunder", "Germanic Jupiter", Norse Þórr (Thor), West Germanic Donar, Old English Thunor.

• possibly Austrō, goddess of dawn and springime.

Heavenly bodies may have been deified, including Sowilo the Sun, Mænon the Moon, and perhaps Auziwandilaz the evening star.

At their sacred sites, Germanic pagans widely practiced ritual sacrifice to their deities. This was often in the form of a blood sacrifice such as that of an animal, but also sometimes that of a human being.

The Germanic people underwent gradual Christianization in the course of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. By the 8th century, England and the Frankish Empire were (officially) Christian, and by AD 1100 Germanic paganism had also ceased to have political influence in Scandinavia.

In the 4th century, the early process of Christianization of the various Germanic people was partly facilitated by the prestige of the Christian Roman Empire amongst European pagans. Until the decline of the Roman Empire, the Germanic tribes who had migrated there (with the exceptions of the Saxons, Franks, and Lombards, see below) had converted to Christianity.^[1] Many of them, notably the Goths and Vandals, adopted Arianism instead of the Trinitarian beliefs that came to dominate the Roman Imperial Church.^[1] The gradual rise of Germanic Christianity was, at times, voluntary, particularly amongst groups associated with the Roman Empire. From the 6th century, Germanic tribes were converted (and re-converted) by missionaries of the Roman Catholic Church.

Many Goths converted to Christianity as individuals outside the Roman Empire. Most members of other tribes converted to Christianity when their respective tribes settled within the Empire, and most Franks and Anglo-Saxons converted a few generations later. During the later centuries following the Fall of Rome, as the Roman Church gradually split between the dioceses loyal to the Patriarch of Rome in the West and those loyal to the other Patriarchs in the East, most of the Germanic peoples (excepting the Crimean Goths and a few other eastern groups) would gradually become strongly allied with the Western Church, particularly as a result of the reign of Charlemagne.

Unlike the history of Christianity in the Roman Empire, conversion of the Germanic tribes in general took place "top to bottom", in the sense that missionaries aimed at converting Germanic nobility first, which would then impose their new faith on the general population: This is connected with the sacral position of the king in Germanic paganism: the king is charged with interacting with the divine on behalf of his people, so that the general population saw nothing wrong with their kings choosing their preferred mode of worship.

Consequently, Christianity had to be made palatable to these Migration Age warlords as a heroic religion of conquerors, a rather straightforward task, considering the military splendour of the Roman Empire.

Thus early Germanic Christianity was presented as an alternative to native Germanic paganism and elements were syncretized, for examples parallels between Woden and Christ. A fine illustration of these tendencies is the Anglo-Saxon poem Dream of the Rood, where Jesus is cast in the heroic model of a Germanic warrior, who faces his death unflinchingly and even eagerly. The Cross, speaking as if it were a member of Christ's band of retainers, accepts its fate as it watches its Creator die, and then explains that Christ's death was not a defeat but a victory. This is in direct correspondence to the Germanic pagan ideals of fealty to one's lord.

57. = 50.