Anglo-Saxon beliefs and religion

Surprisingly little is known for certain about early Anglo-Saxon beliefs and religious practices. The Anglo-Saxons' earliest written histories, including, most famously, those incorporated in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, were generally the work of Christian monks. These had their own reasons for downplaying or ignoring the pagan traditions that pre-dated (and often continued alongside or were absorbed by) Christianity. There is also some confusion over which pagan practices were distinctively Anglo-Saxon, since the Anglo-Saxons shared many beliefs and gods with their Scandinavian cousins, the Norsemen and Vikings, as well as with the pagan Celts.

Nonetheless, it is possible to paint a general picture of Anglo-Saxon beliefs and religion – and to identify many survivals of these ancient traditions into the present day.

The supreme goddess
In contrast to the belief systems of both the Christian faith and that of the later Viking invaders, the early Anglo-Saxons believed that the main deities were female rather than male. Most important was Nerthus, the earth mother, who was responsible for the fertility of the earth and all that lives and grows on it. She survives to this day in the shape of the Harvest Queen.

Associated with Nerthus (and possibly a different aspect of the same goddess under another name) is Frija, or Frea (the Norse Frig). Similar to the Roman Venus, she had power over love, lust and friendship, as well as being the goddess of childbirth and midwifery. She was the wife of Wodan, or Woden.

The origins of Easter
Another important goddess was Eostre, goddess of the spring, dawn, new life and beginnings. She gave her name to the Christian spring festival of Easter, which was originally held on the same day as the festival of Eostre – 21 March, the spring equinox. The modern Easter symbolism of Easter eggs and the Easter bunny arise from pagan custom. The eggs symbolise fertility and rebirth. The rabbit (more properly the hare, which ancient folklore associates with laying eggs) was Eostre's sacred animal.

Wodan and other male deities
As is common in other pagan belief systems, the female goddesses of the Anglo-Saxon pantheon were at some stage superseded by male deities. Most important among these was Wodan, or Woden (Odin in Norse mythology). His importance can be measured by the fact that most Anglo-Saxon royal families claimed to be in direct line of descent from him.

Wodan was regarded as the lord of magic and leader of the 'Wild Hunt'. This consisted of a host of dead warriors riding en masse to Valhalla to join the other souls of those who died in battle. Other important male deities included Tir and Thunor (Tyr and Thor in Norse mythology).

Wild boars and New Year resolutions
Wild animals played an important role in pagan Anglo-Saxon mythology. The wild boar, in particular, was associated with warriors and both the male fertility god, Frey, and the goddess Frija. A boar's head was central to the midwinter Yule feasts that preceded the Christmas festival. Warriors sacrificed a wild boar while making vows for the coming year – the origin of New Year resolutions today.

According to the Roman writer Tacitus, describing the beliefs of one of the Suebic tribes (Germanic peoples who lived to the north and east of the Elbe basin), who would have shared much in common with the Anglo-Saxon invaders of Britain: 'They worship the Mother of the Gods. As an emblem of the rite, they bear the shapes of wild boars. This boar avails more than weapons or human protection; it guarantees that the worshipper of the goddess is without fear even when surrounded by enemies.'

Other spirits acknowledged by the Anglo-Saxons included elves, trolls (ettins) and valkyries, handmaidens of the god Wodan, who conducted the souls of the slain to Valhalla.

Festivals
The main Anglo-Saxon festivals took place at the midsummer and midwinter solstices. The latter, known as Geola, survives as the modern Yule. November was known as the 'blood month', when animals were slaughtered in preparation for the winter and great feasts and sacrifices took place in honour of the gods. The most important festival, on the midwinter solstice, was known as Modranect, or Mothers' Night, and may have been associated with the birth of the god Ing. At any rate, it was taken over wholesale by the Christian faith to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Other festivals included that of Eostre, held in April, and those held in September, which was known as Halig-monap, or 'holy month'. These survive as the modern harvest festivals, originally held in honour of Nerthus, the earth mother. One symbol of the goddess was the corn sheaf, from which we get the corn dolly, which still features in harvest celebrations today.

Priests and holy places
Tacitus wrote of the Germanic tribes that: 'They judge that gods cannot be contained inside walls nor can the greatness of the heavenly ones be represented in the likeness of any human face: they consecrate groves and woodland glades and call by the names of "gods" that mystery which they only perceive by their sense of reverence.'

This may explain why we know of no physical remains from pagan Anglo-Saxon holy places: they were not buildings but sacred groves, glades, rivers, pools and other natural features. Many of these can still be identified in the landscape today because they bear the names (or derivations of the names) of pagan gods.

As for the priests that would have served this pagan religion, we are left mainly to speculate. We know from various references that there were priests, and that they were bound by special rules such as being forbidden to bear arms, but virtually nothing is known about their rituals and other practices. The pagan Anglo-Saxon tradition was an oral one: it was passed from generation to generation by word of mouth and was never written down.

The Christian conversion
The Anglo-Saxons arrived in Britain at the end of four centuries of Roman occupation. Although many of the native Britons would still have kept to older pagan practices, Christian practices would also have been widespread – and would not entirely have been wiped out, even in the areas of heaviest Anglo-Saxon settlement.

It is a mistake, then, to regard St Augustine's mission to England in 597 AD as being made to an entirely pagan country. Indeed, the speed at which the conversion to Christianity took place suggests that the Christian faith retained strong roots in large parts of England – and not just in the west, where the British church continued to thrive and provided the base for the eventual conversion of Northumbria, Wessex, Essex and Middle Anglia. By 655, the last major pagan king, Penda of Mercia, was dead; and by 686, with Caedwalla's assumption of power on the Isle of Wight, every major royal house in England was Christian.

This didn't mean, of course, that all of the Christian rulers' subjects followed suit, although many would have deemed it wise to adopt at least the outer appearance of Christians. Pagan practices continued in many parts of the country for many centuries to come, and survived in some form even in areas where the Christian conversion was apparently complete.

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