[gothic-l] Re: Goths, Eruli in the East

[einarbirg]

--- In gothic-l at y..., andreas.schwarcz at u... wrote:
> Dear Dirk,
> there is literally nothing, not a scrap of evidence, that connects 
the 
> Goths and the Eruli with the worship of Freyr. As usual, Bertil is 
> either his own source or he dug up some old or bizarre literature 
to 
> make his point. He has to do this, because he will not accept any 
> up-to-date professional literature on the Goths. There is no other 
> way, if you stick to the theory of the Scandinavian origin of the 
> Goths after thirty years of publications on the Wielbark culture 
and 
> try to make the Rus of Kiev into a Second Gothic Kingdom.
> Kind regards
>               Andreas
> 
> 
> Ao.Univ.Prof.Dr.Andreas Schwarcz
> Institut für österreichische Geschichtsforschung
> Universität Wien
> Dr.Karl Lueger-Ring 1
> A-1010 Wien
> Österreich
> Tel.0043/1/42-77/272-16
> Fax 0043/142-77/92-72

  Einar; Thanks Andreas for your response.

 Freyr is a Scandinavian deity(That is the name). Similar deities 
with other names having similar functions could have been worshipped 
by the Goths and the Heruli.
Is there anything against that theory?
Is there anything known about the pagan religious practices of the 
Heruli and the Goths? Not to my knowledge but I could easily be wrong.

The comment made by Bertil about that matter was not made by Barði 
Guðmundsson nor Lee M. Hollander but comes from a indroduction (in 
that book)written by somebody(no name) indroducing Barði and 
Hollander.                 
The connection between Freyr and Freyja you know of course all about. 
You maybe do not know that scholar Einar Pálsson does make and shows 
with numerous convincing examples the connection between Freyr/Freyja 
and Osiris/Isis. My point; Same deities with different names.

I would like to have your comments(If you have time.No obligation) on 
the following from Barðis book
and my above questions

Quote; Hróar Hálfdanarson, Hrólf kraki,King Athils, and Áli of 
Uppland most likely were real persons who lived in the sixth century. 
Four generations before that, we encounter a tribe which evidently 
had the same belief in swine as these men had. This tribe was at the 
time located on the southeastern corner of the Baltic where the 
boundary between Lithuians and Germans are now(Einar; written before 
World War II !!).The Roman historian Tacitus has this statement:

We must know turn to the righthand shore of the Suebic Sea: here it 
washes the tribes of the Æstii; their Custom and dress is Suebic, but 
their language is near British. They worship the mother of the gods: 
as an emblem of that superstition they wear figures of wild boars: 
this boar takes the place of arms or of any other protection, and 
guarantiess to the votary of the goddess a mind at rest even in the 
midst of foes. They use swords rarely,clubs freguently.Grain and 
other products of the earth they cultivate with a patience out of 
keeping with the lethargy customary to the Germans: nay, they ransack 
the sea also, and are the only people who gather in the shallows and 
on the shore itself the amber, which in their tongue the call glæsum
(glass)                                                               

Senior teacher Páll Sveinsson adds the following comment to Tacitus 
statement  about the mother of the gods and the figures of the 
swine: "In Norse mythology the boar is sacred to Freyja, and in the 
conciousness of men she frequently became identical with Frigg, 
mother of the gods"  Like skaldic culture, the belief in swine is 
firmly linked in the religion of our forefathers with the worship of 
the Vanir deities. Freyja and the sow both have the name Sýr, Frey 
and the boar, the name Vaningji. Accompanying both divinities is the 
boar Gullinbursti or Hildisvín.

Now it is generally known that in the religious life of our 
forefathers the Vanir gods Njorth,Frey, and Freyja were the 
successors of the goddess Nerthus, whom Tacitus calls ´terra mater´
(Mother Earth) and states to have been venerated by seven Germanic 
tribes. Among these are mentioned the Jutes(Evdoses) and Angles
(Anglii), who later migrated to Britain. Of the Germanic tribes both 
the Æstii(Esthonians) and those who worship Nerthus are ranged by 
Tacitus with the Suebii.
As I see it, the main feature of their religion was of the same 
nature. At least the worship of fertility and veneration of a goddess 
was characteristic of both at the time of Tacitus.

Einar; Does not archaeologi show that the people that have been 
called Goths (many different peoples/tribes etc)did indeed migrate 
from these areas Tacitus is describing?                               
And if so what does that tell us?

And the supposed to be descendants of Heruli chieftainly families as 
East Scandinavian chieftainly families migrated later on to Iceland 
and to those families a strong connection to Freyr/Freyja,swine 
worship,skaldship and east Scandinavian artifacts can be linked.      

Bless,bless Einar.






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