Philosophies and Beliefs

The Germans and Norse worshipped what we now know as the Norse/Germanic pantheon of Deities.  Odin (or, depending upon the dialect Woden or Wotan) was the Father of all the Gods and men.  Thor (Thunar, Donnar), also known as the Thunderer,  was considered to be a son of Odin by some, but among many tribes actually supplanted Odin as the favorite god.  Frigga (Frigg, Fricka), Odin's wife, was considered to be the Mother of all; and protectoress of children.  The goddess of the dead and the afterlife was Hel, (Holle, Hulda), and was portrayed by the Vikings as being half-dead, half alive herself.  The Vikings viewed her with considerable trepidation. The Frisian, Gallic, and German barbarians viewed her with some beneficence, more of a gentler form of death and transformation.  The Christian term "Hell" derives from her name.

Frey (Ing) and Freya (the Frowe) were not of Odin's line (a.k.a. the Aesir), but of  another line known as the Vanir.  After a War between the Aesir and Vanir, which finally ended peaceably, Frey and Freya went to Asgard (the home of the Aesir) to live.  Freya is considered to be the goddess of Love and Beauty, such as the greek Aphrodite, but is also a warrior goddess and one of great wisdom, such as the greek Pallas Athene.  Many of the tribes venerated her higher than the Aesir, calling her "the  Frowe" or "The Lady." Frey, her twin brother and consort, was the horned God of fertility.  His titles included "King of the Alfs (elves)." Both the Swedish and the English are said to be descendents of his.

The Celts and Picts, loosely related to the Germanic barbarians, held their own pantheon of deities; not as hierarchially structured as the Aesir and Vanir.  Their "Lord   and Lady" were known as Cernnunos (Herne) and Cerridwen, God and Goddess of nature, the land, and fertility.  Eventually their legends produced earthly counterparts   such as Arthur and Guinevere.  Their warrior goddess was a triple goddess known as the Morrigan.  The great mother of all was Danu, from which came the Tuatha de Danaan (Children of the Goddess Danu).  Their sun God was known as Lugh (Light), while his son was the Celtic hero Cu Chullain (Hound of Cullan).  There are similarities between their stories and the Norse Volsung Saga.  Interestingly enough, many of the   Celtic and Pictish deities were considered to be human heros at one time.  The Dagda (the High King), Cu Chuliann, Fionn MacCumhaill, the bard Taliesin; among others venerated by the Celts and Picts, all had earthly counterparts.  The Celts and Picts also  venerated the Faery Folk, known as the Sidhe (pronounced SHEE).

As far as the nomadic Goths went, they originally worshipped the same pantheon as did the Germanic/Norse barbarians, but because of their wanderings and their propensity for adopting the standards, beliefs, and practices of whatever culture within which they located, were the first barbarians to adopt Christianity as a faith (actually long before the Romans did).

Individual tribes also tended to venerate individual gods within these pantheons.  The Alamanni, for example, venerated Ziw (Tyr) above all other Gods; the Anglo-Saxons of England hailed Thor as the chief God instead of Wodan, and the ancient Swedish venerated Freyr as their champion.  Others venerated Nerthus as goddess of Earth and Njord, her consort, as God of the Sea.  Still others worshipped Njord and Skadhi as husband and wife; the kindly sea-god of summer and the harsh, cold Winter goddess of hunting and snow.  In Hans Christian Andersen's classic "The Snow Queen," much of the Skadhi legend is embodied in his personification of the Snow Queen, representative of Winter and death.

The Barbarian Cosmology

The Universe consisted of 9 separate and distinct worlds, bound together by Yggdrasil, the World Tree.  Except for Asgard and Hel, which were considered to be separate from the Earth, all of the other worlds had their realms within the Physical Plane of awareness.  These worlds are:

Asgard:   Home of the Aesir; the Sky Gods, seat of the Soul
Vanaheim:  Home of the Vanir; the Nature Gods
Alfheim:  Home of the Elves; Elemental Plane of Air, realm of the Mind
Mulspelheim:  Elemental Plane of Fire; realm of Fortune and Magic
Midgard:  Home of Mankind; the Earth, where all things are manifested
Nifelheim:  Elemental Plane of Ice; home of the Etheric being
Svartalfheim:  Home of the Dwarves, the Elemental Plane of Earth; that of the Astral
Jotunheim:  Home of the Giants, realm of the Subconscious
Hel:  Realm of the Dead, home of the ephemeral.

The ability to consciously travel among these worlds was much the practice of Seith (Sedhr) magic, known to us now as Shamanism.  Sedhr was considered to be a feminine form of magic, and was practiced mainly by women and by a few men who had mastered the craft as well.

The Barbarian Soul

To the Barbarians, the Being was comprised of several parts; each interrelated, but which could be separated and sent forth away from the physical being.  These parts of the entire being are:

The Lich:  the physical body, which is ephemeral,
Hamingja:  fortune, luck, or what is known as "mana"; magical power
Fylgia:  the Fetch; the etheric double, later known as the "Ghost",
Orlog:  one's destiny or Fate, as determined by the Norns,
Minni:  Memory, or the Subconscious, Instinctive Mind,
Modig: The Mood, or the Astral (feeling) body,
Hugr: The Higher Mind; capable of thought, idea, and reason; the Mental body
Manig: The Will; a combination of Earthly Strength and Soul-Force
Hamr: The Soul; that which endures lifetime to lifetime.

Each of the portions of the Being was associated with one of the Nine Worlds.  The Lich was of Hel's realm; the Haminja was of Mulspelheim (Fire), the Fylgia was of Nifelheim (Ice), Orlog was of Midgard (the Earth itself), Minni was of Svartalfheim (the underground Dwarven realm), Modig was of  Jotunheim (realm of the frost Giants), Hugr was of Alfheim (the Elven realm), Manig was of Vanaheim (the realm of the Vanir Gods)and Hamr was of Asgard, realm of the Aesir.

A tenth attribute of the being, that of the Aldr, was the "Life-Age", and pertained mainly to the Soul's Age as measured by its experiences through its various incarnations on Earth.

Mention, too, must be made of Wyrd; that aspect of the Soul that counteracted Orlog and could rewrite it; known to us as "chance" and "Free Will."

 The Barbarian Attitude Towards Death

In a largely war-based society such as the Norse, Celts, and Teutons lived, death was viewed as an inevitable, yet not calamitous, portion of Life.  In particular, the Norse (later, the Vikings), believed that to expiate yourself in death on the field of battle assured that you would have a place in Walhalla, the Norse paradise; where there would be feasting, gaming, and battle on a daily basis.  Those who died of sickness or old age were relegated to the shadowy realms of Hel, ruled by the Goddess of Death of the same name.  The concept of Valhalla and Hel tends to be a more recent one (only 1000-1100 years old) and seems to have been influenced by Christian philosophy of Heaven and Hell.  The barbarian peoples before 400 C.E. believed that after death, the intelligence and soul would be reborn back into their family's lineage, thus indicating a strong belief in reincarnation (along blood lines).  The Celtic philosophy is very similar, although some of the Celts (in particular, the Druids), believed in the ability to return as plants or animals rather than as humans and in a particular blood line.  Other barbarian tribes who did not believe in reincarnation, believed that the intelligence and "soul" continued on Earth, only in a separate but parallel dimension, accessible through their burial site, or howe.

Burial practices among the barbarians ranged from cremation to actual burial  (without embalming, of which technology the barbarians were ignorant).  Cremation was an elaborate ceremony, reserved mainly for drightens (warlords), kings, and true  heroes (think Sigurd, Beowulf, and Cu Chullain). The body was prepared for burial by adorning it in the richest of garments, furs, torcs, armbands, and other jewelry.  The weapons, shields, and drinking horn(s) or goblets of the hero were also placed with the body, in the belief that the hero would require them in the Otherworld; be it Walhalla or Tir Na nOg (among others).  The body would then be placed upon an outdoor bier, which would be ignited.  During the funeral service, sumbels (toasting ceremonies) would be drunk in honor of the dead one; both laughter and tears were welcomed.  Stories would be told of his/her battle prowess and other legends of his/her feats.  At the end, the ashes of the hero would be gathered and either scattered over the water  (for a sea-faring people) or placed in an appropriate burial chamber (such as a howe).

There is no historic evidence to suggest that the Vikings or the barbarians ever engaged in sea cremations (where the bier was placed afloat on a boat and then ignited as the boat sailed into the sea).  Although such a practice could have been possible, it was highly unlikely that it was widely used; and it seems to be more of a dramatic theatrical modern supposition upon Viking culture equalling that of placing horns on their helmets.  It works for Hollywood, but not for historical fact.

Other barbarians, especially the ones espousing Christianity, employed burial without  cremation for the honorable disposition of the lich (corpse).  Even those who were  non-Christian often used this type of burial for the remains of those who were  non-noble or had not died upon the field of battle or while performing a heroic feat.  The body would be adorned similarly to that of the hero; in their best and finest garments, jewelry, and possessions, and placed within a howe; a burial chamber of a mound.  The lich would pass to the Otherworld and, according to barbarian belief, continue their life and affairs within the burial mound, retaining their intelligence and even some of the personality of their former existence.  It was believed that if one visited the howe of one's ancestors, one's fate could be revealed by communing with  them.  This was not a form of necromancy; rather, it was similar to divination or  meditation.  It was also believed that if one sat upon a burial howe for an entire night without going insane, one would be gifted with bardic talent; the ability to compose and perform sagas and poetic songs.