From: evc@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Edward Van Cura)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: re: Gift of the Sea
Date: 12 Aug 92 22:22:03 GMT

Who is this Sea (God), to whom these Dutch people are sacrificing?
First of all, the Dutch (Holland, the Netherlands) people are 
Germanic in origin, and thus this Sea (God) must also be Germanic
in origin. The possibilities are AEgir, Ran, Njordhr, and Nerthus.
                         ,         ,           `
   Concerning AEgir and Ran---Kveldulf Gundarsson, in his book,
*Teutonic Magic* writes on pp. 240-241:

"AEgir (the Terrifying), also called Hler (the Shelterer) and Gymir
(the Concealing), is a god of the sea. He is probably older than Njord
and is described several times as a giant. As Ler, he is one of the
three sons of the giant Fornjot, the other two being Kari (wind) and
Loge (fire), who embody the Odhinn/Hoenir/Lodurr air/water/fire triad
on the level of elemental forces. Njord rules the bounty of the sea;
AEgir personifies the sea itself. He is less well-wishing than Njord,
though not as cruel and greedy as his wife Ran (Robber). 

AEgir and Ran take those who die in shipwrecks, and it was customary
for sailors to hide a little bit of gold about them during storms so
that Ran might welcome them well if they were drowned. AEgir's hall is
lit with shining gold, and thus gold is called AEgir's Fire. He is the
brewer of ale for the AEsir and is associated with the rune laguz. The
daughters of AEgir and Ran are the nine waves, who may also be the
mothers of Heimdallr.

Ran carries a net with which to catch the drowned. AEgir is associated
with the great cauldron in which he brews ale, which may be related to
the cauldrons of plenty in Irish legend."

   Concerning Njordhr and Nerthus on pp. 235--236:
                `
"The name "Njord" is a form of the name "Nerthus", although the one is
male and the other female; both derive from the Proto-Germanic
*Nerthuz, which might refer to either gender. The root word "ner" from
which our "north" is also derived means "under", bringing out the
hidden character of the Vanic powers. The procession of the goddess
Nerthus, described by Tacitus, has been discussed under the runes
berkano and ingwaz, the key elements being the procession of the
goddess in the wagon accompanied by the human priest, the sacred
island, and the completion of the ceremony with the human sacrifice,
the victims being sunk in the lake. Tacitus calls Nerthus 
"Mother Earth"; Njord, on the other hand, is clearly a god of wave and
wind. The description of the holy island of Nerthus and the drowning
of the viticms may indicate an original union of earth and water in
this figure, which was later divided. It is mentioned in the Eddas
that Njord got Freyr and Freyja on a nameless sister; one may suppose
that at one time or in different places Njord and Nerthus may have
been, like Freyr and Freyja, seen as twins. The bog cult of the early
Germanic people is probably related to this cult also. Large staves
minimally carved to make them either clearly female or male have been
found in bogs, as have the bodies of men who were sacrificed either by
being strangled or having their throats cut. In the Ynglinga saga,
Snorri Sturluson mentions a golden necklace which was the bridal gift
of the daughter of Audhi the Wealthy (possibly identical with the
chthonic Audh, son of Night) and which a later Ynglinga queen, Skjalf,
used to strangle her husband with. It is possible that this story is
based on the Nerthus sacrifice, being one of a long line of
mysterious deaths of the kings of the Ynglings, which have been
associated with the royal sacrifice. Certainly the necklace is one of
the oldest symbols of this earth-goddess.

Nerthus can be seen as embodying the earth, Njord, as the fertile
force of the ocean and its weal-working aspects. Like all the Vanir,
he is a god of wealth, which in this case are the treasures hidden
beneath the water's surface and the wealth of food therein. He is
called upon for fair weather, favorable winds, good fishing, and the
riches cast up by the sea. Njord is also associated with the passage
between life and death, and with the rune laguz in its fertile and
mysterious aspects. His emblems are the ship, which in some places was
drawn over the land in place of a wagon or plough, and the bare foot,
a symbol of fertility. Oaths are often sworn "by Freyr and Njord"."
                                  ,
   In a translation of Georges Dumezil's work, *Gods of the Ancient
Northmen*, Dumezil writes:

"I had the keen pleasure some years ago of coming across, in a
collection of Norwegian folklore where it had remained unnoticed, an
astonishing survival of Njord and his function in the popular beliefs
of the eighteenth century. H. Opedal conveys precious information on
the life of the inhabitants of Hardanger and especially on fishing,
where he makes the following statement:
   `The old folks always had good luck when they went fishing. One
   night the old woman Gunnhild Reinsnos (born 1746) and Johannes
   Reinsnos were fishing in the Sjosavatn on Cape Finntopp. They had
   brought a torch and were busily fishing away. The fish were biting
   well on  the fishhooks and little time passed before Gunnhild had
   enough fish to boil for the whole week. Then she wound the line 
   around her pole saying, "Thank you, Njor, for this time." ' "

  So, it would appear that the Sea (God) referred to by the Cargo
Foundation in the newspaper article is in all probability Njordhr.
                                                            `
   A note from *Teutonic Religion* p.221 concerning sacrifice:

"Alternatively, one can make animals out of bread (charging them
strongly with life-energy) and ritually slaughter and eat them,
sprinkling mead or ale from the blessing bowl. The gift of loaves
shaped like animals was used in Germany for several centuries after
the Christianization of that land, and even today in Sweden the Yule
boar survives as a pig-shaped cake."

Thorfinn Einarsson

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