JRR Tolkien and his Forbidden Gnosis

Macrobius

Megaphoron

For whatever interest:

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Statue of Eärendil (Lucifer) in the island of Númenor, the Atlantis of Middle-Earth. Eärendil carries the last of the Silmarils, and as he sails across the sky it becomes the Morning Star (Venus). Through their progeny, Eärendil became the ancestor of the Númenorean, and later Dúnedain, the royal bloodline of King Aragorn.

Yet at the last, in the wearing of the swift years of Middle-earth, Gondor waned, and the line of Meneldil son of Anárion failed. For the blood of the Númenóreans became much mingled with that of other men, and their power and wisdom was diminished, and their life-span was shortened, and the watch upon Mordor slumbered.
The Sillmarilion, by J.R.R. Tolkien


The firstborn and the followers​

In the Silmarillion, Tolkien describes the First Age of the world, where the creation of Arda is manifested in all its splendor. The Elves, the first beings created, are "the fairest and wisest of all beings"; wonderful creatures endowed with extraordinary beauty and divine attributes incomprehensible to mortals. We are talking about the Hyperboreans of the Primordial Gnosis, the Tuatha Dé Danann of Celtic mythology; a very ancient and superior race, "beautiful, wise and totally pure". The blood purity of the Firstborn allows them to communicate directly with the Valar, the guardians of the 'Flame Imperishable' who only welcome those who are worthy. Sometimes, the loss of this virtue will cause their misfortune. We see then how Tolkien insists that the Elvish race had the best spiritual and genetic heritage in Middle-Earth. After the Primeval Age, the Race of Men appeared, less noble and virtuous than the Elves. However, they are solar creatures, for they appear simultaneously as the great lights of the firmament.

The Elves, the "firstborn Children of Ilúvatar" in Tolkien's Legendarium, would be "the ones who fell from Venus" of the Hyperborean Wisdom, that is, from the Morning Star (Earendil-Apollo-Lucifer). The Demiurge Morgoth seeds war and disintegration among the "race of the stars", causing great calamities and producing the exodus of many of them out of Valinor, the Undying Lands, towards Middle-Earth. According to the Primordial Gnosis, the current Aryan Race is the last remnant of the Hyperboreans, semi-divine giants who were forced to migrate initially from Thule-Hyperborea, the furthest polar north, towards the southern lands of Europe, reaching Mount Elbrus and founding the kingdom of Asgard in the Caucasus. From there, the Aryan-Caucasian race would birth to the world's oldest civilizations. The ancestors of the peoples of the Peloponnese entered Europe from the Caucasus through the Greek islands in the Aegean; founding Troy and Atlantis, the main references of the Ancient Greek splendor. The first humanity had experienced beauty, glory and majesty never witnessed nor replicated. Unfortunately, they will fall into "racial sin" by mixing with "inferior men" and the mythical Golden Age would never be recovered.

Perhaps the most difficult aspect to assimilate in Tolkien’s books is the racial allegory contained in its pages. For example, the line of the kings of Númenor (Atlantis) descended not only from elves and men but also from the Maiar. After their Downfall, their blood purity gradually decayed, progressively withdrawing their gifts of wisdom, nobility, and long life. The more significant their racial mixture, the shorter their lifetime. In this aspect, Tolkien's writings coincide with the involutionist theory of Gobineau. In "Essay on the Inequality of Human Races", he predicted: "The era of plenitude, in which the Aryan-Hyperborean race lived in a state of purity, is followed by an era of progressive decline. Human history has been divided into two periods: one that has already passed and would have seen and possessed the youth, vigor, beauty and intellectual greatness of the species, and another that has begun and will know the faltering march of humanity towards total decrepitude". The current mankind, cursed by racial and social decadence, will be reduced to feebleness and diminished to a vanishing point, passing away as the shadows of the Flame of Anor.

Light and darkness in Tolkien's Legendarium​

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Nimloth, the White Tree of Númenor; symbol of the Númenóreans' strength and loyalty to the Valar. It was cut down at the instigation of Sauron during the Downfall and its wood was used to light the first flames in the fire of the new religion which worshipped Melkor.

The Ainulindalë describes the Creation of the World by Eru Ilúvatar "the first of things, quintessence pure" and the choir of his angelic offspring, the Ainur. To suppose what this music would be like, the only reference we know is the genius of Bach. The divine harmony was absolutely perfect until Melkor broke it by proposing his dissonant "music". From it emanated chaos, disorder and ugliness. Melkor is selfish, disobedient, and arrogant, always eager to disrupt and tear down what the divine have built. He embodies the destructive Satanic principle that seeks to twist and obscure all forms and meanings. Something similar is described in the Primordial Gnosis. Before time was created, there was a unique divinity, the Unknowable God, a transcendent entity completely outside and beyond the world; "the Timeless Halls." From his inextinguishable being emanated the Aeons, celestial beings that order the spiritual plane through the Music of the Spheres. One of these Aeons, Yaldabaoth, the Demiurge Jehovah-Satan, will rebel by breaking the cosmic harmony and establish our material world, a realm of duality and decay.

Like the Demiurge itself, Melkor cannot create anything on his own; it only twists and defiles something divine and pure into a corrupt shadow of its former self. For example, the Quendi who fell into the hands of Melkor were put in prison, and through the slow arts of cruelty, that is, genetic manipulation, they ended up corrupted and enslaved. Miguel Serrano writings alludes to something similar; when the Aryans began to expand throughout the world, one of those clans, the Eber, also called Habiru or Israelites, were seduced and genetically manipulated by the Demiurge. From now on, they will no longer be Aryans but at the service of the dark entity. In the glorious days of Númenor-Atlantis, the righteous kings worshipped Eru Ilúvatar at the Sacred Mountain Meneltarma. Everything changed in the dark days; the profane kings avoided it and offered burnt offerings in Melkor's temple; "Thereafter the smoke and the fire went up without ceasing" (Akallabeth). As YHWH-Baal, Melkor is also a lover of blood sacrifice and burnt offerings. The Númenorian worship of the Demiurge led to their downfall, when their island-home was covered by the sea, as a divine punishment from the Valar.

All suggest that J. R. R Tolkien's writings, whether consciously or not, are intended to represent a gateway of Gnosticism. The Created World derive from the initial polarization of Melkor-Demiurge, which breaks the primordial unity of all things to form the universe. From this act come such polar opposites as space and substance, inner life and outer form, positive and negative, and good and evil. Those are the primal forms of leitmotifs that recur throughout the history of Tolkien's Middle-Earth. In this world of duality, the brighter the Light, the deeper the Shadow. One cannot exist without the other. In the perpetual struggle against evil, humanity reveals its beauty by reaffirming an existence with meaning, virtue, and hope. Tolkien's One Ring, the ultimate symbol of evil, acts as a triggering mechanism to unleash the shadow when anyone possesses it or desires it. No one, not even a great wizard or elven can wear the One Ring without being corrupted by its seductive powers. The shadow is revealed in the desire for power, greed, selfishness, pride, and lust. The Ring is a commitment to the illusion of matter (Maya) that ends up erasing mankind from its humanity.

There is no hope without despair, nor progress without struggle; we cannot reach enlightenment without facing our shadows (not by 'touching the darkness' as the Amazon's TV series suggests). This concept is critically important in those who follow a spiritual path. It is the main reward of the Gnostic path of initiation. Beyond the labyrinthine halls and passages of the mines of Moria, filled with hidden menaces of all kinds, Gandalf and the Fellowship faced a Balrog, an ancient devil at the service of Morgoth. As the Istari faces the Demon, he declares, "I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor". The word "anor" is the Sindarin word for "Sun". Gandalf stands as a light-bearer against the ultimate corruption of fire and 'dies' in the attempt. His spirit enters the Outer Void, only to reappear later on in the tale as "Gandalf the White", a step closer to his holy form as one of the Maiar. Recalling his ordeal, he says: "Then darkness took me, and I strayed out of thought and time, and I wandered far on roads that I will not tell. Naked I was sent back—for a brief time until my task is done." Gandalf becomes a "twice born" or "illuminated one" with the sacred mission to restore the 'fire unperishable' in Middle Earth.
The fear of Death becomes enslavement. Tolkien believed that extending life indefinitely, as the One Ring does, is not a true escape from death, it is a mockery of eternal life.

Death is not a divine punishment, but a gift, given exclusively to men by the Valar, in order to make them transcend to eternity. Nimrod's Fundamentals explains that the Eye of Abraxas generates Maya (illusion): the experience of time and death, the seething darkness beneath reality. Only the Virya (warrior) who transmutes himself can escape from the Great Deceit. Transcendence (Kairos) is generally achieved on the battlefield, because it is the moment in which the spirit attempts to break free and reveals the secret of Maya. If the Warrior dies, he wins the eternity of Valhalla. During the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, the Rohirrim fulfill the Blood Pact and come to the aid of the Gondorians, besieged by the anti-races. There, Éomer cries "Death! Ride, ride to ruin and the world's ending!" after he goes berserk. He orders a reckless charge, and the Riders cry "Death!" with one voice. The scream of "Death!" goes beyond than an epic war chant, it is a direct defiance to evil, a total rebellion against the Great Deceiver.

The Elves lament the spiritual and physical corruption of Arda. They live in hope (Estel) that one day this damage will be undone and the world will be purged of all evil, restoring it to a paradise state. According to a prophecy, after the Dagor Dagorath, the Last Battle at the end of days, a Second Music of the Ainur will be sung, forming a new world, called Arda Healed. It will be the fulfillment of a perfected world that would have been were it not for the intervention of Morgoth.

The Tree and the Blood's Memory​

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Telperion & Laurelin, the Two Trees of Valinor; both spreading silver and gold light in the Undying Lands. When these are destroyed, their last fragment of light is made into the Silmarils, and a sapling too is rescued, leading to the White Tree of Númenor, the living symbol of the Kingdom of Gondor.

Tolkien believed in the possibility of ancestral memory regression. He frequently stated that he did not invent his stories but rather "recorded" or "reported" what was already there. This theme returns in his letters in which he describes an uncanny and recurring dream of a Great Green Wave, the inspiration behind the sinking and downfall of Númenor. Tolkien's son Michael had the same dream, and that made Tolkien speculate that they both accessed an ancestral racial memory about the destruction of Atlantis. Myths are not hereditary; what is acquired is the archetypal memory with which the myths are built. Unless we accept that memory does not reside in the brain but in the Higher Self and that only the inspired writer is able to contact these memories, Tolkien's profound ocean of inspiration and knowledge remains inexplicable. One mysterious visitor to the author's home is said to have asked him: "you don't really think you wrote all those stories, do you?" Tolkien's had no reply, but the question probably gave him much food for thought.

A recurring theme in Tolkien's writings, so much so that it becomes sacred, is that of the Tree archetype. No one has insisted so much on this element as Tolkien. Just like the elves, the memory of "paradise lost" is always in the minds for the Hyperborean descendants. The two trees of Valinor, Telperion and Laurelin, are equivalent to the Two Trees in the Elysian Fields, Hesperios and Eosphorios; one of them distils soma, the drink of memory, and the other ambrosia, the elixir of immortality. The Great Tree of Gondor, whose branches bear no bud, has an ancient origin in Nimloth, the great White Tree of Númenor. At the end of the Third Age, Aragorn ascends the throne of Gondor; he does so because he is a Dúnedain, the heir to the oldest and longest Númenórean royal lineage. Aragorn is king because he is the last direct descendant of the White Atlanteans; his blood is the purest to establish a link with his racial past. This fact alone makes the White Tree bloom again.

Another relationship between the Racial Akashic record can be found in the Sillmarils, three sacred jewels which contain the light of the Trees of Valinor. The jewels, whose radiance shone like the stars, are an artifice of the divine origin; they give form to the light of eternity in the world, the light of eternal life. They are analogous to the Venus Stones described in Belicena Villca, which allow the ‘reflection of the divine origin illuminating the inner life of the spirit’. They burn with an imperishable inner light from the eternal World. We are dealing with a dimension of being akin to the divine Logos, Plato's intelligible world. The Graal (Philosopher's Stone) affects those who bear something of the eternal spirit within them, due to their spiritual lineage and degree of Blood purity, that is, due to the quality of their Minne. Only those who remain pure can perceive it to a greater or lesser extent, since they had preserved in their blood the Vril, the memory of their Hyperborean ancestors.

The Oera Linda and other sources​

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In Númenor there was growing discontent about the Ban of the Valar, questioning the Gift of Men and becoming envious of the immortality of the Eldar. They were coerced by Sauron to assault the Undying Lands, which ultimately led to the island's destruction.

All the lore, mythology and original languages of Tolkiens' Middle Earth were influenced by the narratives of codexes and ancient manuscripts. Some of them are the Finnish saga Kalevala, the Elder Edda (Poetic) and the Younger Edda (Prose), Beowulf, and the Volsung Saga, later re-told in the Germanic Nibelungenlied. It is possible that Tolkien read texts as old as the Wurzburg Codex of 700 before our era. Some of those manuscripts, such as The Mabinogion, are reminiscent of Tolkien's Red Book of Westmarch (the presumed source from which the trilogy came). Also, The Book of Ballymote, which narrates the myth of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the main inspiration behind the history of the Eldar. It is also very possible that some of these ancient texts were influenced by an odd manuscript found in Holland in 1871, known as the Oera-Linda, written in Liuwert in the year 3449 after the Sinking of Atland-Helgoland (Númenor). The book reveals that historical Atlandia sank around 2193 B.C.

The Ages of Middle Earth expose a profound vision of the myth of the eternal spiritual descent of the White Race. This concept has been kept hidden in secret Aryan brotherhoods for centuries and only had come to the surface through the disguise carefully provided by authors and poets, such as Goethe, H.P. Lovecraft, Lord Dunsany, Eric Rücker Eddison, Robert E. Howard, Edgar Allan Poe, and Herman Melville, among many more. Of course, we are not only talking about a contemporary phenomenon since the great classics such as Dante, Virgil, Cervantes, Homer, etc., also provide us with a vision of a superior Primeval age starring semi-gods and heroes. It should not surprise us that so many authors so distant in time and space have come to similar conclusions on their own. There is a spiritual link that unites all these authors; they were repositories of certain mysteries inherited in the Blood's memory. Perhaps the English writer Edward Bulwer Lytton was the most explicit when referring to the subject of the Hyperborean race and the Ages of Men. Among his best-known works are: The Last Days of Pompeii and Rienzi. But it is in The coming race, where he predicts the End of Days on a corrupted Earth's infected by miscegenation, by the hands of the inhabitants of Agartha.

Tolkien's spiritual legacy​

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Aragorn leads the army of the West as he charges against Sauron at the Battle of the Black Gate. Tolkien's legendarium ends with a vision of the end of the world, a final battle which owes, evidently, to the Norse vision of Ragnarök.

Myths are beyond allegories; they describe eternities beyond human life, revealing ineffable truths which cannot be intellectually reasoned. Jung notes that the ultimate source of myths is archetypical, and archetypes are representations of the metaphysical. Great literature is inevitably mystical, it communicates imprints of higher realities and elevates the higher self from the mundane 'reality' to an ultimate inner experience. Tolkien confessed to his friend W. H. Auden sometimes felt that he was not so much building characters and a world out of his own imagination but rather discovering an inhabited world that already existed. In an age of materialism and skepticism, fantastic literature represents the bridge towards the transcendental and immaterial origin. Tolkien's writings, with imaginative and intellectual beauty, reveals the invisible realm long forgotten and recovers the light of the spiritual world, challenging the modern taught to distrust imagination and view romance as a kind of pathology.

Tolkien's Cultural phenomenon may be the last attempt of the archetypal myth of the Collective Unconscious of the White Race to call up its last offspring, the saplings (if they still exist) of the great White Tree. And it is that The Lord of the Rings has become one of the best-loved novels of all time. Most are blinded by the splendor and magical charm of a fabulous story but nothing more. Others, for obvious reasons, do not find any link or affinity with that order of things. Finally, the rarest are those who hear Rohan's horn calling from Mythical Hyperborea. Epic, Fantastic literature affects, above all, a certain type of reader in particular; the one who, perhaps without knowing it, possess the Blood's memory and can, at a certain moment, remember what he or she is reading.

J.R.R. Tolkien offered the vision of an ancient and majestic world when the Earth was young, and the Hyperborean ancestors dominated the world. The myths of Middle-Earth become the remnants of the Golden Age that awaken in us deep and hidden truths, making their way through the censorship and oblivion of the Modern Age. Miguel Serrano says, referring to the books of his friend Herman Hesse: "As happens with men, so also happens with books. There is a destiny for them; they are as if guided towards the beings that await them, arriving at the precise hour. They live, they die and reincarnate; they are built of pulsating matter, which seeks and makes its way through the shadows and thickets, often beyond time and beyond their authors."


Brothers shall fight and fell each other,
And sisters’ sons shall kinship stain;
Hard is it on earth, with mighty whoredom;
Axe-time, sword-time, shields are sundered,
Wind-time, wolf-time, ere the world falls;
Nor ever shall men each other spare.
The Poetic Edda

- 30 -
 

Macrobius

Megaphoron
It's really unfortunate that the New Zealand/Hollywood Narrative version of the charge of the Rohirrim didn't do the full Eddic quotation with Theoden crying

'Let's kill some Orc Whores!'


Persons seeking the Orthodox Christian understanding of 'Blood Memory' should consider this book:


or this website:

 

Lord Osmund de Ixabert

I X A B E R T.com
Every word of it is the holy truth. The prophets of our era have often been required to hide the truth in a fictional guise, just as in the past the truth was required to be hidden (and equally hidden) in history, philosophy, visionary art, music. It can be said in all sorts of guises. I've seen a few times even in things as low as children's cartoon shows and comic books intended for adolescents.

The blind aren't any less blind to the truth just because it is presented to them in the form of some true historical narrative written in the last 2,000 years, or through a logical progression of metaphysical propositions.

Nor, conversely, are the seeing any less seeing merely because the truth is presented to them in a fictional guise. They see it just as clearly in that form, too.

Fiction, I would argue, is central to the higher "logic" of the higher metaphysical discourse. For a similar reason it was that Jesus spoke primarily in parables. If I may illustrate my point by way of analogy: You can't use 2D logic and 2D premises to derive conclusions about a 3D object that operates according to a 3D logic.

Fictional, mythology, poetr, the parable, etc. are but means of bypassing our 2D logic, and operating solely by means of the 3D logic. For those minds are themselves situated in the 3D or higher plane, it is logical and self-evident. For those stuck in the 2D plane, it is illogical and absurd.​
 
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Lord Osmund de Ixabert

I X A B E R T.com
To build in the preceding paragraph above:

We live in an absurdist universe, from the point of view of anything beneath the level of God. The higher logic appeals as an absurd or whimsical logic, from the perspective of the 2D mind.

Lewis Carroll is the greatest logician to have ever lived, since he grasped the higher logic, and wrote a logical treatise through it: it is called Alice in Wonderland. I highly recommend it if you want to understand the higher logic, and the metaphysical discourse concerning the nature of that logic. It is not mythology, however, which is Tolkien's focus ; it is only a book on logic,and not what it appears.​
 

Macrobius

Megaphoron
Lewis Carroll is the greatest logician to have ever lived, since he grasped the higher logic, and wrote a logical treatise through it: it is called Alice in Wonderland. I highly recommend it if you want to understand the higher logic, and the metaphysical discourse concerning the nature of that logic. It is not mythology, however, which is Tolkien's focus ; it is only a book on logic,and not what it appears.​

He has a less well known work, which is a 'fictional' exploration of Euclid and Modern Geometry, and which you might enjoy.


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Macrobius

Megaphoron
Now about those crazy groovy Frisians... and the ancient 'TERF culture' ... Furrows for you Plow as the Greek Drama _Antigone_'s phrase has it, *wink* *wink*[1]

[1]: On TERFs and their Glebes... https://wist.info/sophocles/44568/


Groove is in the Hearth​




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[[
[Ἰσμήνη: ἀλλὰ κτενεῖς νυμφεῖα τοῦ σαυτοῦ τέκνου;
Κρέων: ἀρώσιμοι γὰρ χἀτέρων εἰσὶν γύαι.] ]]



Kierin Magenta Kirby

The hearth was in pre- and early-medieval times the holy of holies, the heart of the family. Where you would lay back and groove. Groove on the sound of the endless rains on the thatched roof, or on the sound of the sea water at your feet below. Sloshing against the grassy slopes of your house platform. A place that was warm and soulful. Filled with good spirits and minds. But how did those early Frisians manage to keep evil spirits, creatures and sickness at bay? How did they protect their yards and houses from this darkness? Well, dig this. They did it with grooves.



In this post we focus on the terp region (a terp being an artificial settlement platform). The terp culture existed in the west of Flanders, in the north of the Netherlands, in the northeast of Germany, and in the southwest of Denmark. This saltmarsh culture is as old as 2,600 years, when the first mounds were raised. After the Romans arrived at the beginning of the common era, we learn the names of these coastal dwellers. It was the territory of the Frisii or Fresones ‘Frisians’ in the west, and the Chauci more to the east living along the Wadden Sea coast.



Where exactly the border between the two tribes ran, cannot be determined anymore. According to the second-century Greek scholar Ptolemaeus, the River Ems was the border between the Phrissioi ‘Frisians’ and the Kauchoi ‘Chauci’. However, archaeological research shows closer kinship of the province Groningen with the Chauci in the east, than with the Frisians in the west (Nieuwhof 2021). Today, the River Ems is a border still. Now between Germany and the Netherlands, although the exact course of the border in the Dollart Bay is disputed between the two countries to this day.



After the Roman Period and the Migration Age, the whole area between Sincfala, i.e. inlet the Zwin in Flanders, and the River Weser had turned into territory of the Frisians. Also, much of the Wadden Sea coast of Schleswig-Holstein was colonized by Frisians from the Early Middle Ages onward. This is the region known today as Nordfriesland. Albeit cultural Frisian, region Nordfriesland was never part of political Frisia. From the High Middle Ages onward, western Frisia had become under control of counts of Flanders and of Holland. Remaining Frisia still encompassed the area between the River Vlie and the River Weser, in other words, current provinces Friesland and Groningen in the Netherlands, and regions Ostfriesland and Land Wursten in Germany. This more or less would continue to be the status quo until the sixteenth century, when the remainder of Frisia was dissolved too.





1. Oracle rods, spinning wool, and all that




The second-century Roman historian Tacitus wrote about the religious, pagan practices of the Germanic tribes in general. For example, that the people did not depict their idols as humans, and that they worshiped their gods in open-air somewhere at a lo, an open spot in a forest (Van Renswoude 2021). Women could be fortune-tellers and could possess the gift of prophecy. Casting lots and human sacrifice was also part of Germanic rituals. White horses, living 'freely' in the woods, could warn people, and could predict future events. There is very limited information about the gods the Frisians worshiped, both the Frisii and the Frisiavones. Several names of idols and matres we do know, but basically here our knowledge ends.



Almost 200 so-called oracle rods, being used to cast lots with, have been recovered, especially in the region northwest Germany and in the north of the Netherlands. These are dated from the Roman Period into the Middle Ages. The practice of casting lots was even incorporated into the late-eighth-century Lex Frisionum. The codex Lex Frisionum is the codification of the laws of the Frisians, and was ordered by the christian, Frankish kingdom to which Frisia was subjected to then. Therefore, the heathen practice of casting lots was modified as being a sign of God to determine who was guilty when in a riot someone was killed (Hines 2021). And, are we not talking about 'it is someone's destiny' and do we not all love the lottery still? Casting lots, therefore, a pagan practice that survived Christianization. Oracle rods that have been preserved are made of silver, bronze, bone or horn. According to the same Tacitus, oracle rods were made of branches of fruit-bearing trees. It might these wooden lots did not survive the passage of time, of course.



Not only mankind was submitted to lot or destiny. Interestingly, the gods too. This make you wonder, what was lot then? Maybe it was the Fates of Greek mythology. The Fates, a trio of goddesses, determined the destiny of each and every human. One of the three goddesses was Clotho. It made wool and spun the so-called Thread of Life. Goddess Lachesis measured the length of the thread. Goddess Atropos cut the thread with its shears, meaning death. And, were it in old Germanic mythology not the three wool spinning maidens who lived next to the well Urđr, below the tree Uggdrasil? The maidens were named Urđr, Verđandi and Skuld, successively ‘what once was’, ‘what is born to be’, and ‘what will be’. Parallels with the Greel Fates are there, of course. Wool production, by the way, was a major and crucial economic activity for the Frisians, and its handicraft was protected by the Lex Frisionum mentioned above. If, for example, you would hurt a spinster, you had to face very severe punishment (check our post Haute couture from the salt marsh).



In European folklore, spinning and weaving wool was linked to the world of fairies and myths. Scottish weavers offered milk to the Highland fairy named Loireag. Then there is the Germanic winter spirit called Berchta, also known as Perchta, Frau Holle, or Mother Hulda. In this fairy tale the stepdaughter is pricked by a spinning wheel, which sets the events in motion. Also, Sleeping Beauty, or Toarnroaske or Doornroosje, is pricked by a spinning wheel. In Wales exists the fairy spinner Gwarwyn-a-Throt and in Ireland the fairy spinner Girle Guairle. Furthermore, in medieval Scandinavia a female spirit called Seidr existed, meaning 'thread'.



What were the gods of the early Frisians?



Firstly, the goddess Baduhenna. Known from the Battle of Baduhenna in AD 24. A battle just north of the modern city of Amsterdam between the Frisii 'Frisians' and the Roman Army, with on Roman side a body-count of 1,300 soldiers, again according Roman historian Tacitus. Maybe he exaggerated a bit.



Secondly, the goddess Hludana. Known from an inscription found in Xanten at the lower River Rhine in Germany. But also from an inscription found at Beetgum in province Friesland. Perhaps Hludana was worshiped by the Frisii living in the northwest of the Netherlands.



inscription Hludana, Beetgum Frisia



stone Beetgum

The inscription reads: "To the goddess Hludana, the fishing contractors, when Quintus Valerius Secundus acted as tenant, fulfilled their vow willingly and deservedly."





Thirdly, the matresFrisiavae. Known from an altar stone found in the town of Wissen, halfway between Cologne and Frankfurt. How it ended all the way up there, we have not got the foggiest idea. Certainly no Frisian territory anymore.



Fourthly, the goddess Nehalennia. Known from the hundreds of stone-altar parts found in the waters near the settlements of Domburg and Colijnsplaat, both in province Zeeland in the southwest of the Netherlands. This used to be the territory of the Frisiavones, the so-called Romanized Frisians (IJssennagger 2017). The part -avo means ‘belonging to/descending from’, so the people belonging to/descending from the Frisians (Neumann 2008). Not only Frisians, but 'foreign' skippers and traders traveling to Britannia from Trier, Cologne, Nijmegen etc, made offerings too to Nehalennia for a safe passage sailing the English Channel from Domburg and Colijnsplaat to Britannia. Read also our post Island the Walcheren: once Sodom and Gomorrah of the North Sea to find more about Nehalennia.



Lastly, fifthly, we mention the gods worshiped by Frisians known from votive inscriptions found all the way in northern Britain. These gods were not worshiped by your average Frisian. They were mercenaries in the Roman Army fighting in Britannia, and who were deployed at Hadrian’s Wall. The goddesses they worshiped were the two Alaisiagae, named Baudihillia and Friagabis. Read our post Frisian mercenaries in the Roman Army to read more in depth about these soldiers of fortune. Casually, these mercenaries also erected a pillar dedicated to the god of the thing. The thing being the Germanic assembly, also known as ting, ding or þing. The inscription of the Frisians is the oldest attestation of the name thing. Check our post The Thing is... to learn more about these soldiers with a democratic nature.



Of all the gods mentioned above, we do not suggest these were specific Frisian gods. We merely explained these were Germanic-Celtic gods worshiped (too) by the Frisians. And not even that conclusion is definitive.



The picture of these ‘Frisian’ gods is that it were deities, goddesses, women. This fits nicely with what we know from other native Germanic-Celtic gods during the Roman Period, namely that they were all feminine too. It is also consistent with what Tacitus wrote about the specific powers attributed to women, mentioned above.



mask of Boerdam Middelstum Frisia



mask of Boerdam, near Middelstum, ca 500 BC

On some of these rituals we know that they were still practiced by the Frisian people in the Early Middle Ages. It was the seventh-century Saint Wulfram of Fontenelle, Archbishop of Sens, who pleaded with the heathen king Radbod of Frisia not to perform human sacrifices. A king described as the Enemy of Christ and as homo omni fera crudelior et omni lapide durior meaning: a human being more savage than any wild beast and harder than any stone. The killing could be executed either by hanging, or by tying someone up at a pole in the sea during ebb tide to let him or her drown slowly, after being castrated too. The latter practice is also documented in the already mentioned Lex Frisionum, where tying up someone to a pole to be drowned by the rising sea, was a punishment for sacrilege of temples, and therefore not a sacrifice per se but also a punishment.



By the way, Saint Wulfram is also known from the famous failed baptism of king Radbod. For this piece of history read our post Finally, king Redbad made his point in the European Commission – via Facebook.



And, as explained above, besides human sacrifice, the pagan practice of casting lots survived Christianization as well and was practiced in the Early Middle Ages too.



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mask of Boerdam by Kelvin Wilson

The image above of the Boerdam mask, is easily associated with pagan rituals. However, when a school class asked the professor why it was not just made for fun, he not really had any arguments against it (Nijdam 2021).





2. What about those grooves?




Not any different from today, for terp dwellers too it was important that their land, farmyards and houses were free from evil spirits and souls, and from infectious diseases and sickness. The concept they used might have been a barrier model. Similar as the innovative models still being used by policymakers on security, defense and migration. Or like the force fields in '80s science fiction movies or video games. The old Frisians too drew imaginary circles, with the hearth of the house annex farmstead being the center.



It fits very well with the physical, radial lay-out of a terp village. An artificial, circular mound on the flat and treeless tidal marshlands. The, first, outer ring were the salt marshes bordering the sea. The surrounding land started with soft mud, and toward the terp settlement it gradually became more solid and suitable for cattle to graze and even crops to grow. Often, the more inland marshlands were protected with low dikes, so-called summer dikes, which offered protection against regular, daily flooding. Spring tides and storm floods kept inundating the marshlands. Think of ten to twenty times yearly.



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Knudtswarft 'Knudt's terp' at Hallig Gröde, Nordfriesland by Wilhelm Dreesen (1895)

The next, second ring were the flanks or slopes of the terp itself, which were used for cultivating growing crops, cutting grass sods for construction, and for crafts like weaving, blacksmithing, clay pottery production, and alike. The inner circle or third ring, was the terp village with houses and sweet water wells. Wells often contained deposits too, like spoke wheels, horse heads etc. Probably, also with a ritual meaning. An interesting artifact has been found in a dung pit in the terp of village Wartena in province Friesland, namely a wooden phallus. It is dated the Roman period.



When it comes to ward off evil spirits, souls, sicknesses and death, the hearth was the center. The hearth itself was protected as well, testifying frequent deposits found underneath it. Sometimes pieces of wooden wheels were excavated. If interested why wheels were buried and sacred, read our post Celtic-Frisian heritage: there's no dealing with the Wheel of Fortune. Remember from that blogpost, do not mess with wheels when you are in Frisia!





From the already radiant patron of the salt-marsh landscape, now let's turn to the circular barrier model of defense. We go through the four force fields from the inside out.



first line of defense



The first ring was the house, its walls and its doors. Underneath the poles supporting the roof and door frames, deposits were placed. These could be, for example, animal bones, terra sigillata and small pots with, perhaps, food offerings placed in it. Other deposits found during excavations of terps, are locks of hair. These locks might also have been part of rites of passage, for example a boy turning into a man or warrior, or a girl turning into a woman, and therefore not part of the energy giving rituals for the force field. Also, often at the base of the walls of the house, skulls of cows, horses and dogs were placed (see image below).



excavation Ezinge



home wall protected with bones, excavations terp Ezinge, province Groningen - Iron Age

second line of defense



The second imaginary circle was created immediately around the house. Indeed, this was done by digging grooves, or furrows. Besides, these ditches probably functioned as little channels to collect water. Rainwater fell from the roof into these grooves and led into central sweetwater wells. The same grooves also functioned as protection against evil spirits. Collecting rainwater was vital for the terp dwellers, since sweetwater was often scarce on the salt marshes. The Roman Pliny the Elder wrote already in the first century about these water pits, read our post Shipwrecked people of the salt marshes.



third line of defense



Then, the third circle. This was the farmyard itself. The force field of the yard was energized with all kinds of deposits, mainly placed in pits. It could be clay pots, again with possible food offerings inside, animal bones and potsherds. Complete skeletons of horses and, regularly, of big dogs have been found too. For more about these fearsome war dogs, read our post How to bury your mother-in-law.



fourth line of defense



The final, fourth, circle was made by another round of grooves, furrows and ditches. These bordered the yard. Again, in these ditches deposits were placed. This could be in-tact (miniature) pots, pottery, potsherds and animal bones. Not always, but pots and pottery also were smashed when deposited. Sometimes even bronze Roman statuettes and brooches were placed in the grooves. If the ditches were filled, e.g. because of a terp enlargement, again ritual deposits were being made. Why disband a good protective force field, after it was sealed off? Or was it a way to say 'thanks' for all the protective work done the years before? Some archaeologists argue that deposits were being made when a groove or ditch was dug in new land as a means of compensation for the goddesses and spirits for the infringement of 'their' lands (Tuin 2015).



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deposits in water by S.J. Goetze

But not only bones and skulls of animals were used…



Archaeological excavations in the terp region identified human bones and skulls literally lying all over the place. These bones were used to strengthen the protective power of the circle. Albeit the dead normally were not buried in the terp mound itself, and excarnation above ground was the common funeral practice during the Roman Period (Nieuwhof 2015), occasionally complete inhumations, both adults and infants, were found under the floor of the house, or on the yard. Mostly within a radius of ten to twenty meters. Mandible, femur, tibia, vertebra and skull fragments, all have been found in pits, grooves and ditches.



Do not be too alarmed. Ritual use of human bone is very comparable with the relics of Catholic saints of today. These relics still serve as an intermediary between heaven and earth (Van Eijnatten & Van Lieburg 2006), and as a protection against evil and sickness. Bones of saints are still being carried around during processions, are immured in church walls, and are entombed in holy altars.



Human skull bone was even worked. Polished and a hole was perforated into it, so it could be used as an amulet. These human amulets and cups have been found in the terps of Arum-Baarderburen, Marrum-De Beer, Stiens-Kramer, Hempens-Glins, Ezinge, and of Wierhuizen. Your deceased mother or grandma always close around your neck. Maybe making it difficult for you to breathe freely still. The worked skull pieces might even have been used as cups. Or, another possibility, were it former enemies hanging around their necks? If you think all this is just too weird again, think of the millions of people who perform the holy rite of the Eucharist today, and who then consume the blood and flesh of Christ.



Also, read our post mentioned earlier How to bury your mother-in-law to learn more about the pagan excarnation practices at the salt marshes, including the role the big Frisian hell hounds had in releasing the soul from the flesh.



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cups and amulets made of polished human skull, terp region Frisia - Iron Age / Roman Period​






Many of the practices above date from the Roman Period, the Iron Age. But some of the rites and rituals probably survived well into the Early Middle Ages. By then, the Frisians had become your average, classic Germanic tribe. No longer the feminine gods, but the well-known testosterone gods Donar (Thor), Wodan (Odin), and the typical Frisian god Foseti. The latter probably worshiped at the Frisian red island Heligoland high at the North Sea. But Germanic goddesses existed too, of which Freyja was the most important in the region. One of the pre-medieval superstitious practices that had survived, is digging grooves or furrows.



Proof of the pagan practice of digging grooves in the Early Middle Ages, is archived in the devotional Vatican. It is the Codex Palatinus Latinus 577. A book that contains the Indiculus superstitionum et paganiarum ‘Small index of superstitious and pagan practices’, and also includes the fascinating Baptismal Vow of Utrecht. The Baptismal Vow was written in the year 742 or 743, opinions differ, and probably was used by Saint Boniface to Christianize the unruly Saxons and the Frisians in the eighth century.



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early-medieval so-caled Stabidole, Heiloo in province Noord Holland



A relatively obscure idol appears in the vow, namely the god Saxnot. Maybe worshiped by Frisians too, for the Frisians are by and large of Saxon origin (check out our post Have a Frisians Cocktail for more about their origin). The Baptismal Vow of Utrecht is also curious, since it is not written in Latin but in an odd mixture of Old Saxon, Old Frisian and Old Low Franconian. We can compare it with the fusion languages of Papiamento and Patois of today. Picture how the Anglo-Saxon bishop Boniface baptized pagan Saxons and Frisians reciting this creole vow with, of course, a solemn expression on his face:



Forsachistu diobolæ? Et respondeat: ec forsacho diabolæ.

End allum diobolgeldæ? Respondeat: end ec forsacho allum diobolgeldæ.

End allum dioboles uuercum? Respondeat: end ec forsacho allum dioboles uuercum

and uuordum thunær ende woden ende saxnote ende allum them unholdum the hira genotas sint.

Gelobistu in got alamehtigan fadær? Ec gelobo in got alamehtigan fadær.

Gelobistu in crist godes suno? Ec gelobo in crist gotes suno.


Gelobistu in halogen gast? Ec gelobo in halogan gast.



Do you forsake the Devil? And the answer must be: I renounce the Devil.

And all Devil’s money [sacrifices to the devil]? The answer must be: And I forsake Devil's money.

And all Devil’s work? The answer must be: And I forsake all Devil’s works

and words Donar and Wodan and Saxnot and all demons who are their followers.

Do you believe in God the Almighty Father? I believe in God the Almighty Father.

Do you believe in Christ, God's Son? I believe in Christ, God's Son.

Do you believe in the Holy Spirit? I believe in the Holy Spirit.





3. The indiculus 'index' itself




This index is without the book and that has been lost. So, this occasion we must judge the book by its cover. The index is written in Latin language, although it contains a few Germanic words that they probably could not translate back then. These are the words nimida (i.e. the sanctuary in the forest, and maybe the same spot Tacitus identified), nodfyr (translated as 'holy fire', and considered the oldest Low Franconian/Old Dutch word survived) and yrias (a kind of run).



In total thirty rituals and pagan practices are listed in the Indiculus.

  1. de sacrilegio ad sepulchra mortuorum ‘of sacrilege at the graves of the dead’
  2. de sacrilegio super defunctos i.e. dadsisas ‘of sacrilege to the dead, i.e. the death feast’
  3. de spurcalibus in Februario ‘of swinish feasts in February’
  4. de casulis i.e. fanis ‘of small buildings, i.e. shrines’
  5. de sacrilegiis per ecclesias ‘of sacrilege in churches’
  6. de sacris silvarum, quae nimidas vocant ‘of sanctuaries in woods they call nimidas’
  7. de his, quae faciunt super petras ‘of those things they do upon the rocks’
  8. de sacris Mercurii vel Iovis ‘of the sanctuaries of Mercury and Jupiter’
  9. de sacrificio, quod fit alicui sanctorum ‘of the sacrificial service for some saints’
  10. de philacteriis et ligaturis ‘of amulets and knots’
  11. de fontibus sacrificiorum ‘of fountains of sacrifices’
  12. de incantationibus ‘of incantations’
  13. de auguriis vel avium vel equorum vel bovum stercora vel sternutationes ‘of auguries from manure from birds, horses or cattle and sneezing’
  14. de divinis vel sortilegis ‘of diviners or sorcerers’
  15. de igne fricato de ligno i.e. nodfyr ‘of the fire made from the friction of wood, i.e. nodfyr’
  16. de cerebro animalium ‘of the brain of animals’
  17. de observatione pagana in foco vel in inchoatione rei alicuius ‘of the observance of the pagans on the hearth, or at the start of any business’
  18. de incertis locis, que (quae) colunt pro sanctis ‘of undetermined places they worship as sanctuary’
  19. de petendo, quod boni vocant sanctae Mariae ‘of bed-straw which good people call Saint Mary’
  20. de feriis, quae faciunt Iovi vel Mercurio ‘of feasts they hold for Jupiter or Mercury’
  21. de lunae defectione, quod dicunt vince luna ‘of the lunar eclipse they call vince luna’
  22. de tempestatibus et cornibus et cocleis ‘of creating storms and horns and snail shells’
  23. de sulcis circa villas ‘of grooves encircling houses’
  24. de pagano cursu, quem yrias nominant, scisis pannis vel calciamentis ‘of the pagan race they call yrias, with torn clothes and shoes’
  25. de eo, quod sibi sanctos fingunt quoslibet mortuos ‘of this, what they describe as a holy death’
  26. de simulacro de consparsa farina ‘of the idol made of dough’
  27. de simulacris de pannis factis ‘of idols made from torn clothes’
  28. de simulacro, quod per campos portant ‘of the idol carried through fields’
  29. de ligneis pedibus vel manibus pagano ritu ‘of wooden feet and hands in a pagan rite’
  30. de eo, quod credunt, quia femine(ae) lunam comende(n)t, quod possint corda hominum tollere iuxta paganos ‘of this, which they believe, that women command the moon, so they can take out people’s heart according to the pagans’



Practice number 23 is the one about grooves or ditches, often translated as furrows. Since the Indiculus is very general, it is difficult or impossible to really understand what the superstitious rituals actually did look like, and what their purpose was. Nevertheless, it gives us a rare insight into some of the pre-Christian practices of the Saxons and the Frisians in the Early Middle Ages.



Although not in the terp region, the practice of grooves in ritual practices has been found in a clay mound at present-day town of Katwijk in province Zuid Holland as well. This terp was actually a burial ground, more or less during the Roman Period. Here, circular grooves encircling cremation graves have been excavated. The cemetery of the village of Oosterbeintum in province Friesland also has circular ditches. From other burial grounds from the Iron Age in the Netherlands we know that these grounds were considered transitional places between earth and the world of spirits. The burial grounds were often encircled by furrows. More in general, Late Bronze Age interments, often in an urn, where placed in a pit surrounded by a circular or oblong ring-ditch (Waterbolk 1977).



The (religious) practice or ritual of making grooves did not stop in the Middle Ages. Churches in Westphalia, Germany and in the Netherlands have grooves scratched into stones on the exterior of ca. 25 cm long and 5 to 6 cm wide and deep. This practice continued well into the twentieth century. You can find them for example at the southern door of the church of the village of Loppersum, on the sarcophagus in the church of the village of Termunten, in the Saint Boniface church in the village of Wehe-Den Hoorn, and on a tomb lid at the former cloister in the village of Ter Apel. All these examples are found in province Groningen. Also, the teeny tiny terp village of Jannum in province Friesland has lids of sarcophagus and altar stones with grooves. But in many more places in the Netherlands grooves can be found, like the churches in the towns of Aardenburg, Goes, Naarden, Kortgene and Rhoon.



Mostly these grooves are made in sandstone and the gravel that came of it was often dissolved in water and used to cure illnesses. By the way, not only gravel was used, but pulverized human bone as well. This latter practice was documented by historian Gregory of Tours in the sixth century.





Chinese Medicine - Only recently the Chinese government legalized rhino and tiger bone for medical purposes. If people still believe in the medicinal remedy of bone, would it not be better if they return to the old practices, and use human bone again or the gravel of holy stones again?





Stones as such, besides grooves carved into it, were in the landscape of Frisia a scarcity. Perhaps that contributed to the often spiritual or religious meaning of stones as well. Think of the stone Archbishop Rimbert of Bremen prayed upon to ask for God's help for the Frisians to defeat the Vikings near the town of Norden in Ostfriesland. Read our post A Theelacht: what a great idea! to learn more about this miracle, because it succeeded. The stone can be found at the Liudger Church of Norden. But also think of the Devil's stone at the village of Godlinze, the stone at the village of Holwierde, the stone at Westerklief at the former island of Wieringen, and the stones on the graveyard of the village of Rinsumageest. All rocks shrouded with stories. Lastly, stones frequently appear in sagas too. Like in the East-Frisian sagas of Der Blutstein in Stapelmoor, Der Marienstein in Stapelmoor, Der Hilgenstein, Die Steine von Osteel, and Der Vosskutt in Burhafe, and Der Drachenstein bei Donnern near Bremerhaven.






4. Conclusion​




After reading all of the above, from human skull cups and amulets hanging around necks, to inhumations under house floors, bones placed in grooves, the Indicules, and mystical stones, we leave it now to the reader's own imagination what the world and people looked like from the Roman period to the Early Middle Ages. Knowing, of course, (a) lot had changed between these two eras.



Baby, just sing about the groove (Sing it)









Note - The Roman gods (as mentioned in the pagan practices number 8 and 20 of the indiculus) Jupiter and Mercury were replaced in the Germanic religion by respectively Donar/Thor and Wodan/Odin. After Christianization, these gods were replaced by respectively the apostle Saint Peter and the archangel Michael.






Suggested music​


Deee-Lite, Groove Is in the Heart (1990)




Further reading​


Coulthard, S., A Short History of the World According to Sheep (2020)

Eijnatten, van J. & Lieburg, van F., Nederlandse religiegeschiedenis (2006)

Fernández-Götz, M. & Roymans, N., The Politics of Identity: Late Iron Age Sanctuaries in the Rhineland (2015)

Fontijn, D., Economies of Destruction. How the systematic destruction of valuables created value in Bronze Age Europe c. 2300-500 BC (2020)

Groenewoudt, B., Beek, van R. & Groothedde, M., Christianisation and the Afterlife of Pagan Open-Air Cult Sites. Evidence from the Northern Frankish Frontier (2016)

Hines, J., Religion and conversion amongst the Frisians (2021)

Hunink, V., Tacitus. In moerassen & donkere wouden. De Romeinen in Germanië (2015)

In Pago Wirense, Legends and Folklore on Wieringen (website)

Knol, E., et al, The medieval cemetery of Oosterbeintum (Friesland) (1996)

Laan, van der J., De bijzondere houten voorwerpen uit de opgravingen in Ezinge (2016)

Lendering, J., Hludana. Livius.org (2004)

Mees, K., Burial, Landscape and Identity in Early Medieval Wessex (2019)

Neumann, G., Namenstudien zum Altgermanischen (2008)

Nicolay, J., Het kweldergebied als cultuurlandschap: een model (2015)

Nieuwhof, A., Dagelijks leven op terpen en wierden (2018)

Nieuwhof, A., Eight human skulls in a dung heap and more. Ritual practice in the terp region of the northern Netherlands 600 BC – AD 300 (2015)

Nieuwhof, A., Graven en botten. Menselijke resten in Ezinge (2014)

Nieuwhof, A., The Frisians and their Pottery: Social Relations before and after the Fourth Century AD (2021)

Oneindig Noord-Holland, Een idool van hout (2012)

Prummel, W. & Hullegie, A.G.J., Bewerkte voorhoofdsbeenderen van pasgeboren kalveren uit drie terpen (2016)

Renswoude, van O., De weg naar een nieuwe ee (2021)

Renswoude, van O., Hof, harg en hal: het heten van heiligdommen (2021)

Renswoude, van O., Hoge ouderdom op de Veluwe (2021)

Renswoude, van O., Woen bij de Friezen (2021)

Saupe, H.A., Der Indiculus Superstitionum Et Paganiarum. Ein Verzeichnis Heidnischer Und Aberglaubischer Gebrauche Und Meinungen Aus Der Zeit Karls Grossen (1891)

Schuyf, J., Heidense heiligdommen. Zichtbare sporen van een verloren verleden (2019)

Siefkes, W., Ostfriesische Sagen und sagenhafte Geschichten (1963)

Tuin, B., Rondslingerend menselijk bot? (2015)

Tuuk, van der L., De Friezen. De vroegste geschiedenis van het Nederlandse kustgebied (2013)

Visser, A., Scheppers van aarde (2016)

Waterbolk, H.T., Walled enclosures of the Iron Age in the North of the Netherlands (1977)




- 30 -
 

Macrobius

Megaphoron
Related: How to bury your mother in law

 

Macrobius

Megaphoron
Your mother-in-law was probably chasing your tail during life. When she dies, do not think you are free at last. Looking for advice how you make sure she does not haunt you anymore when she is dead? Then this post is something for you.

Here is a more than two-thousand-years-old suggestion in case you do not want any interference from her after her death. This advice comes from the terp region (‘terp’ being an artificial settlement mound) of region Ostfriesland in Germany and the provinces Friesland and Groningen in the Netherlands. After reading this post, you will tramp the soil carefully when you hike the Frisia Coast Trail. For sure, you will.

First of all, cremation is not an option. Only three cremations have been found on the salt-marsh area of the Netherlands. Common practice for the ancient people (i.e. Late Iron Age) of the north on the Wadden Sea coast was to leave the body somewhere on the tidal marshlands for scavengers. Mainly to be eaten by their own, many and very big dogs.

Dogs acted as the intermediary between the present and the after world. The ancient salt-marsh funeral rites are in a way similar to those of the Tibetans today, where vultures fulfill this role of releasing the spirit from the body. Just like the Tibetans, the Frisians of northern Germany and the Netherlands had (nearly) no wood to cremate bodies in the old days. The flat and barren tidal marshlands were too salt for trees. Nearly no sweet water, and regularly flooded by the sea. They had to find other ways to release the spirit from the flesh. Perhaps this is the shared reason behind these comparable rituals.

The Hounds of HellMany remains of buried dogs have been found in the terp soils, indicating these animals had a special place within the community. The size of the dogs was significant. The dog burials at Hogebeintum and Oosterbeintum were dogs that stood 70 centimeters at the withers (see categories 2 and 3 below). The modern dog which comes closest, is the Irish wolfhound. That dog is about 80 centimeters high. Not comparable with the much smaller typical Frisian dog breeds of today, the Frisian wetterhoun ‘water hound’ with its curly coat (see image below), and the (rare) Stabyhoun. Maybe their eyes give away some of their ancestors.
The fact that the big dogs were buried on their own, and therefore not placed together in a grave of a human, is very exceptional when compared to other cultures. The late eighth-century law codex Lex Frisionum distinguished no less than five types of dogs and the corresponding tariffs to be paid when the animals were killed. The five categories of dogs were: (1) lap dog or barmbraccus ‘hunting dog’, fine 4 solidi; (2) those that kill wolves, fine 3 solidi; (3) those that can wound wolves, fine 2 solidi; (4) those that guard the cattle, fine 1 solidus, and; (5) that which does nothing but just hangs around in the hall or on the farm, fine 1 tremissis. It is thought that the big dogs might also have played a role in warfare as battledogs.
The dog has the wolf as its origin. The wolf fulfilled an important role in European societies. It was praised for its strength and ferocity, explaining why many Germanic names have the element wolf in them. At the same time, the wolf was feared and associated with darkness and the Devil. See our post Who’s afraid of Voracious Woolf?

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a Frisian wetterhoun
Little more concerning cremation. Especially oak is needed if you want to have any success with burning a human body fully. About 200 to 300 kilograms you need to fully burn a human body (Nieuwhof 2020). That is a lot. Dried peat and dried cow dung, what used to be the standard fuel on the tidal marshlands, does not do the job properly. For a cremation it does not generate enough heat. Failed ancient experiments, maybe trying to imitate Roman rituals as has been suggested by archaeologists, in present-day province Groningen have been traced by archaeologists.

Since oak had to come from far away inland, this was too much of a hassle. Thus, cremation was only reserved for special occasions or for special persons. One such an exception was the cremation of Prince Hnaef of the Hocings (a Danish people) around the year 450. Hnaef was killed at the mouth of the river Rhine in Frisia and burned on a pyre, as described in the Old English epic poem Beowulf. Want to know more about this funeral, read our post Tolkien pleaded in favor of king Finn.

Because cremation was not a real option, and leaving the body somewhere on the salt marshes does not give you all the guarantees you need when it comes to your mother-in-law, something else is needed. Therefore, what you want to do is to bury her body. Where you do this is not relevant. What is important, is to bury some limbs of the body separated from the body or, alternatively, to tie limbs together. It is harsh, but it works like a charm.

If you decide to tie her together, then there are several options. Fixing arms ensures she no longer can interfere in matters after her death, like raising her finger for not doing the dishes. If you want to have even more certainty, fix her legs as well. Then, at least you can outrun her. Do you want to have absolute certainty she no longer interferes with matters of the living, then bury one or more limbs separately.

The least invasive yet very effective option of the latter is to separate a foot from the body, and bury it a meter or so beside the grave (see picture below). Note that she must not be able to reach her foot with her arms to prevent her from reconnecting it to her body. This way she stays where she is buried and you can relax.

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grave with foot amputated
A last additional measure you can apply on top of the previous ones, is to dig a ditch around your house and property. The water in the grooves separates the scary outer world from your inner world. To strengthen the force of the ditch drop some human bones of ‘good and jolly’ ancestors in the ditch. A newborn lamb tied to a clay sod will help to strengthen the ditch’ protective shield too. Circular trenches were also dug at early-medieval cremation or burial fields in the wider region. Maybe to keep the spirits ‘inside’. If you are keen on making ditches or grooves yourself, check our post Groove is in the hearth before.

Finally, have some well deserved peace!

Epilogue

Funerals in the north of the Netherlands (i.e. former Frisia) until very recently contained some old, pre-christian rituals. These were first of all processions with the deceased following the path encircling the graveyard. Often three times making the full round with the coffin. Its origin might be a rite de passage, a transition of the deceased from the world of the living to the world of the dead. But it was possibly also a way to trick the deceased not to be able to find her or his way back to the world of the living. In Zaandam, province Noord Holland, the most innovative church has been designed to trick the Devil. When a the body of a deceased is carried into the church, normally the Devil does not dare to enter. So it waits in front of the church for the procession to come out again. But the Westerzijdekerk of Zaandam has a back exit, especially for the dead. That way the Devil is fooled and the soul safe.

Furthermore, the graveyard itself. To this very day, these are often surrounded by a ditch, hedges and a fence. Besides that, at the entrance fence a ‘cattle-grid’ was placed on the path. All these measures make it impossible for the dead to check out from the hereafter. At the same time, these things prevent the Man of Wealth and Taste from entering the graveyard. The cattle-grid made it impossible for the Devil to cross since, as we all know of course, it has the slim legs of a goat.

All these defensive measures were sometimes supplemented with a rotating fence called a kjirrewirre in Mid-Frisian language. These rotating fences/crosses revolve counterclockwise, something the Devil is apparently unable to do. It can only pass objects clockwise. Lastly, the procession entered through the church door on the northern side, the side of darkness, of evil and the devil, and left the church through the southern door, the side of sun and Christianity. Of all these practices, examples can still be found in the north of the Netherlands.

Finally, a bit of morbid practice which, as far as we know, is not being practiced anymore, is the following. Children who died before they were baptized, could not be buried in the consecrated ground of a Catholic graveyard. Therefore, these infants were buried next the graveyard. To make sure their body or spirit also stayed put, a stake was driven through the child’s body into the soil. Later, when this practice somehow was not appreciated that much anymore, these infants were placed in pots, and placed next to the church exterior wall. Although not buried in the sacred soil, at least within the protection of the graveyard and church. At the old churches of Harich, Oudemirdum and of Tjerkgaast, twelfth- and thirteenth-century remains of these pots with little children bones have been found.

If interested in more old and obscure rituals and practices, you should read also our post Groove is in the Hearth.


Note 1 – Main source on the burial practices at the salt marshes in the Late Iron Age: Nieuwhof, A., Eight human skulls in a dung heap and more. Ritual practices in the terp region of northern Netherlands (2015).

Note 2 – In region Ostfriesland several sagas exist about black hounds appearing as ghosts or being the devil (Siefkes 1963). Take for example the sagas: Die beiden Pudel, Der Pudel vom Diekhof, Der schwarze Hund von Oldehafe, Der Höllenhund bei Esens, Der schwarze Hund von Uphusen, Der Höllenhund bei Loga, Der Hund bei Strackholt.

Suggested music​

Further reading​

  • Buhrs, E., Old Companions, Noble Steeds: Why Dogs and Horses were Buried at an Early Medieval Settlement Along the Old Rhine. A Zooarchaeological analysis and literary review (2013)
  • Dijkstra, M.F.P., Rondom de mondingen van Rijn en Maas. Landschap en bewoning tussen de 3de en de 9de eeuw in Zuid-Holland, in het bijzonder de Oude Rijnstreek (2011)
  • Guðmundsdóttir, L., Wood procurement in Norse Greenland (11th to 15th c. AD) (2021)
  • Knol, E., For Daily Use and Special Moments: Material Culture in Frisia, AD 400-1000 (2021)
  • Nieuwhof, A., Ezinge Revisited. The Ancient Roots of a Terp Settlement. Volume I: Excavation – Environment and Economy – Catalogue of Plans and Finds (2020)
  • Nijdam, H., Law and Political Organization of the Early Medieval Frisians (c. 600-800) (2021)
  • Siefkes, W., Ostfriesische Sagen und sagenhafte Geschichte (1963)
  • Toebosch, T., Geen begrafenis, nee, laat de hond knagen aan de overledene. Ontvlezing was in Friesland een populair alternatief voor begraven of cremeren, zegt promovenda Annet Nieuwhof (2015)
  • Unknown, Indiculus superstitionum et paganiarum (eighth century)
  • Schuyf, J., Heidense heiligdommen. Zichtbare sporen van een verloren verleden (2019)
  • Williams, H., Material culture as memory: combs and cremation in early medieval Britain (2003).
 
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