Information AboutWoden |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT WODEN | |
| anglo-saxon mythology | |
| germanic deities | |
| death gods | |
| indo-european mythology | |
Woden was worshiped during the Migration Period , until the 7th or 8th Century , when Germanic Paganism was gradually replaced by Christianity . In Anglo-Saxon England , Woden was rationalized as a historical king, and remnants of worship were continued into modern times as Folklore , Wodan featuring prominently in both English and Continental folklore as the leader of the Wild Hunt . Wednesday , Wednesbury and Wednesfield are named after Woden. ORIGINS See Also: Wōdanaz
Odin probably rose to prominence during the Migration Period , gradually displacing Tyr as the head of the Pantheon in West and North Germanic Cultures -- though such theories are only academic speculation based on trends of worship for other Indo-European cognate deity figures related to Tyr. Outside of the Germanic branch of Indo-European cultures, Odin/Wotan/Wodan has no cognate names or religious equivalents of attested certainty, and was always considered the Germanic supreme god from recorded sources. Testimonies of the god are scattered over a wide range, both temporally and geographically. More than a millennium separates the earliest Roman accounts and archaeological evidence from the 1st Century from the Odin of the Edda and later Medieval Folklore . MIGRATION PERIOD Details of Migration Period Germanic Religion are sketchy, reconstructed from artifacts, sparse contemporary sources, and the later testimonies of medieval legends and placenames. According to Jonas Bobiensis , the 6th Century Irish missionary Saint Columbanus is reputed to have disrupted a Beer Sacrifice to Wuodan (''Deo suo Vodano nomine'') in Bregenz , Alemannia . "Wuodan" was the chief god of the Alamanni , his name appears in the runic inscription on the Nordendorf Fibula . MERSEBURG INCANTATIONS The Merseburg Incantations , apart from runic inscriptions the only surviving pagan texts in the Old High German language, were written around AD 800. One of them describes Wodan as a healer: ANGLO-SAXON TRIBES feature a depiction often identified as Woden by scholars.]] The for varied reasons, and the conversion of their respective peoples almost always inevitably followed, sometimes in the space of a few years, but more often over the course of a few generations though numerous aspects of indigenous beliefs often remained. For the Anglo-Saxons, Woden was the Psychopomp or carrier-off of the dead, but not necessarily with the exact same attributes of the Norse Odin. There do not appear to have been the concepts of Valkyries and Valhalla in the Norse sense, although there is a word for the former, ''Waelcyrge''. In addition to the roles named here, Woden was considered to be the leader of the Wild Hunt . The familial relationships are the same between Woden and the other Anglo-Saxon gods as they are for the Norse.
The Anglo-Saxon kings claimed descent from Woden. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Historia Britonum , Woden had the sons Wecta , Baeldaeg , Casere and Wihtlaeg .
TOPONYMS See Also: List of places named after Odin Anglo-Saxon literature starts at about the time of the conversion from the old religion. Though whatever stories recording his part in the lives of men and the gods are lost, Woden's name survived in the names of many settlements and geographical features throughout Germanic Europe. FURTHER READING
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