DOLMEN IN A GERMAN FOREST A BURIAL-PLACE OF AN ANCIENT GERMAN CHIEF[/caption]By Jürgen Rieger
We state:
"Essentially we thank our parents and our ancestors for being, and we want to preserve their memory for coming generations".
Some may consider this to be self-evident. Does this statement possibly have a religious meaning?
I'm of the opinion that this is a fundamental aspect of our belief. In Europe Christianization and the following numerous political, economical and social alterations of the last three centuries have led to the virtual annihilations of our natural social structure. Tribe and the extended family have lost significance and shrunk to small families without the previous close ties between grandparents and grandchildren. In numerous cases not even the small family develops, since child bearing is intentionally omitted. The loss of the feeling of being related to the whole of a given society has led to the liberal, individualistic perspective of the world and one's position within it. With such a manner of perception it is only logical not to want children anymore, as these contrary to those still in an agricultural environment - are not economical assets but rather costly liabilities. This individualization leads consequently to the collapse of such social entities through extinction.
Our present government will not offer enough money for the family to compensate for the considerable financial disadvantages associated with children, so that without a new attitude of an all encompassing religious magnitude are turn to a favorable attitude towards having children will not be reached.
What was the significance of the community earlier?
The tribe was a community of the living and the dead. The ancestors belonged to the tribe as well. (The German word "Ahne" has the same root as "Hauch" (breath) or "Wind"; referring to the dead the souls - compare P.Herrmann "Deutsche Mythologie", page 6). They bestowed blessings upon the lineage of the tribe. So that they could have a continual effect a type of home was built for them; they were concealed in artificially built mounds, in which there were megalite chambers. There it was believed the relatives would live on.
We find in the sagas the story of Thorstein who during the autumn went out on a fishing voyage. During the evening a shepherd passing the tribal mound "Helgafell" sees that one side of the mound is standing open. In the interior a large fire is burning like the hall of a courtyard. Noise, laughter and the sound of drinking-horns penetrates into the night. He hears voices bidding Thorstein and his comrades welcome and invites him to take a place in the high seat across from his father Thorolf. The shepherd reports this to Thorstein's wife. The next morning the news comes that Thorstein has gone down in the stormy sea.
Likewise in the "Saga of the Voelsungen", Sigrun, the son of King Sigmund, descended into the mound of Helgis to converse with him there. Grave robbery was under the law comparable to the robbery of home. The belief that the dead live on in hills (or mounds) is in my opinion older than the concept of Valhalla, which was conceived of by the entourage of mighty kings, because they threatened to level the mounds of the ancestors.
Wilhelm Groenbech considers the belief that the dead live on until they are forgotten to be a Germanic concept (I, page 232). Jan de Vries emphatizes that "The Germanic tribal feeling reaches its peak in ancestor servitude. Here lies the primeval force from which the tribe lives on. Here streams forth in inconquerable fullness the life of all future clans" (p.48). Therefore the grave mounds on the "Erbhof" - what means a clans court of inheritance - is also a holy and strength giving center. Marriages were performed on the covering stone of the burial mounds; the Swabian dukes were married at the "Gunzenlee in the Lechfield", the burial mound of the duke Cunzo of the 6th century (v. Kienle. p. 130). In Swabia the bridal pair still visits the graves of the parents and other deceased relatives after the wedding and then they offer them barley (P. Geiger, "Deutsches Volkstum in Sitte und Brauch", 1936, p. 114). P. Herrmann believes that in the earliest times the ancestors received the most honouring during a marriage celebration.
Snorri Sturluson says: "Then we would sit on Helgafell, because advice which was obtained there was always the best" (de Vries "The spiritual World of the Germanic Peoples, 1964, p. 46). It is said that some graves in Iceland remained green during winter or at least didn't freeze entirely (Karl Weinhold, Ancient Nordic Living, 1938, p. 342). Norwegian immigrants to Iceland took soil from ancestral graves with them (v. Kienle, p.130).
The dead were also remembered during the course of the year. The Yule-festival not only served the sun cult, but also the death cult. Helm suggests that it was the Goth's most meaningful festival in remembrance of the death (Helm, Ancient Germanic Religious History Vol II,1, 1937 , p. 20). After the death of the leader of the house the obsequies supper in the north was sometimes held during the Yule-festival, instead of as usual 30 days after the death.
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Ancient Germanic burial, historic woodcut, c. 1880[/caption]Blood vengeance was also a part of the ancestors cult: it was considered to be the duty of the blood relatives towards the soul of the dead (Helm, p.20; Helm in Nollau: Germanic Renaissance, p.323). The clan also lost prestige if no vengeance was taken. Since there was no state which enforced law such clan would be lawless.
It was desirable to give children the name of a deceased ancestor, since it was believed that the child would hence receive increased benefit.
We are much better informed of the ancestor honouring of the Indo Germanic Romans due to the great number of written sources concerning this. The ceremonies for the dead began on noon February 13th and ended on 21th or 22nd of February. The graves were adorned with flowers and offerings and donations were brought forth. Furthermore candles were set up on the graves, and wreaths were laid on the graves on the birthday and the date of death of the deceased. Meals were especially popular at the grave site, since one could take a meal with them while thinking of the deceased. Ancestral pictures were kept in shrines in the Atrium which were opened on ceremonial occasions and occasionally adorned with laurels. The Romans took the concept of the death-mask from the Etruskians. On February 22nd the ancestors were offered salt, flour, and meat on a patella, whereby the food would be thrown into a fire before the beginning of the secund mensa. The Penates embodied in tiny effigies took part of the meal. The patella is a simple earthen vessel, which proves the antiquity of this custom. A small ration would be burned daily on a hearth or a small altar for the protecting spirits of the deceased. This meal offering is a remnant of ancient Roman ancestor veneration, perhaps ancient indogermanic, since the meal of the dead is practiced by all Indogermanic peoples (Franz Boehmer: Ahnenkult und Ahnenglaube im alten Rom, 1943). An echo of this is found among us in the folklore belief that a small bowl with food should be placed daily in a particular place at a particular time for a goblin if he should help (P. Herrmann, p. 149), and P. Herrmann believes that the father of the house among the Germanic peoples also gave the spirits of the ancestors a daily offering in the fire of the hearth (p. 473).
Offerings to the ancestors and the veneration thereof are also the foundation of customs and mores in Greece. " The clan will only die out when no more descendants preserve the memories of their ancestors by offerings to the ancestors on the home altar. The extinction of a family lineage was for the ancient Hellenians the worst possible fate. With the gods of its lineage to whom no offerings are given, with the extinguishing of the hearth flame the dead lose their "Heil" - what means "luck" - and with their name all their ancestors disappear as well" (Walther Darre, The Laws of Life of two Conceptions of Government, 1940, p. 38). Lykurgos wanted to preserve the concept of ancestors veneration for all eternity by forming heritage homes whereby the cult of honouring ancestors were given economical importance.
How far did the tribe extend among the living?
Simply presented, all relatives up to the third (old germanic) rank. Children, siblings, and parents aren't related as family in the first rank, as opposed to the Indo-Arians (Lawbook of the Manu) and Greeks where the death cult also extends to the third rank but includes the great grandparents also (Richard v. Kienle: Germanic forms of Society, 1939, p. 127). The grandparents, siblings of the parents, nephews and nieces belong to the first rank. The greatgrandparents, the siblings of the grandparents and their descendants belong to the second rank. The third rank consists greatgreatgrandparents, siblings of the greatgrandparents and their descendants and so on.
The old germanic clan constitution - unlike many other tribal constitutions who traced their ancestry only through the mother's site or only through the father's site - traced their ancestry through an entirity of relatives within quite a large sphere. The total number of these relatives were called "The Tribe". All members were among themselves "sip" according to frisian judical sources.They were described with the word "friend" ("friund"). Those outside the third relationship rank were designated as "strangers". Inheritance was within the tribal circle. All tribal members were obligated to practice vengeance against other tribes for injuries or killings of their members, and received as compensation - if they settled peacefully - a certain quantity of money. The tribal members were obligated to take oaths before courts, attended to the burials of relatives, and helped relatives in need. We must realize that the megalith graves in which far over a hundred burials took place are tribal graves.
Christianization could only succeed through the demolition of the tribal constitution. In the "Sachsenkapitularien" i.e. "Laws for the Saxons" burying family members in the old tribal graves was punishable by death, and thus they had to turn to the christian cemetery. Furthermore it was punishable by death to carry out certain customs on the graves even Bonifatius forbid offerings for the dead or near by the graves (P. Herrmann, p. 344). From church guidelines for atonement we know that there were symbols presumably made from wood which were associated with the ancestors creed. In the Museum of Berlin there is a clay figure from the 4th or 5th century with the runic inscription "fulgia" i.e. "following spirit" or "tribal spirit" (P.Herrmann, p.48). The church attempted to eliminate all of this, frequently with success. Dismanteling tribal thinking enabled Christianity to spread and create a new link to Christ instead of the ancestors. The ancestors were the saints, and therefore "Indiculus Nr. 25" forbid declaring at random the deceased to saints. This belief was still strong during the transition period as is shown by the story of the Frizians chief Radbod who while he stood before his impending baptism asked whether his ancestors had departed to heaven, to hence he'd go to after his baptism. After it was explained to him that his ancestors being unbaptized obviously went to hell, he withdrew his foot from the batismal basin and declared that he wished to join his ancestors after death regardless of how things were there.
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Saint Boniface fell for the axe of the Frisian warriors[/caption]The tribe lost further importance - independently from christian attacks, due to the increasing number of functions that the state was taking over from it. The original significance can still be inferred from the old Frisian juducal sources. It was preserved in the "Dithmarsch clan state" until the late medieval ages. Similarly it was preserved even longer in the Scottish clan system. The individualization and urbanization as well as the dissolution of the original settlements of the tribe have during the last century apart from a brief renaissance in the 30's let to a decline of tribal thinking.
Our people have for the large part lost consciousness of the social significance of tribal concepts.
A new consciousness can arise from the simply realization that we wouldn't exist if it weren't for the will of many men and women to have children. To them our veneration is due for their accomplishments, and their struggle for the survival of their descendants. Dead are only those who are forgotten. As long as we remember our ancestors they live on. That has the immediate effect of motivating us to emulate them. Through ancestors worship the ancestral influence is amplified. Genetically their influence has been transferred directly to us, regardless of any ancestor worship. The marxist theory that man is a product of his environment has long since been refuted. The studies of twins show that not only intelligence, but also inborn abilities such as technical, handicraft and musical talents, as well as character traits are heavily influenced by genetic inheritance.
The natural basis of my being are my forefathers.
The natural continuation of my being are my descendants.
Goethe's "William Meister" teaches his students three principals of respect:
* Respect before that which is above us.
* Respect for that which is in us.
* Respect for that which is under us.
To establish natural harmony it is important to teach two of these points differently so that the admonition would read:
* Respect for that which was before us.
* Respect for that which is in us.
* Respect for that which comes after us.
Respect for or - better - saying "yes" (Nietzsche's great Yes) to our ancestors, to our own personality and to our descendants. We cannot feel an "above us" respect for a "God", but rather possibly towards exemplary figures of the present and in history as well as the laws of nature. Ancestor veneration is thus not only directed towards the past, but relates to the future as well. We follow the example of our forefathers when we see their behavior and personalities as precedents to be emulated and finally in that we bring descendants like them into the world. Only so is ancestor veneration continued, and so the way to immortality. There is a continued life in 1) the memories of friends and relatives, 2) a lasting fame ( when one has brought forth great deeds for the race as for instance Armin),and 3) through children. Through 1 and 2 life may be extended by decades, centuries or even millenniums, through descendants however for all eternity.
As Prof. Friedrich Solger ("The Interpersonal Life", 1959 p.78) rightly says: "Life has continuity and meaning only in a transcendent impersonal sense and this exists only as long as (children are born) inherited further". He continues: "The Scientist sees in heredity a great means which enables life, in continual renewal to reach beyond the life span of the individual and to assert itself as a process which continually fights for existence. In this perspective he feels himself elevated to a co-combatant but also burdened by the shared responsibility for this heritage the non-injury thereof being the prize of the struggle. He sees the sense of his individual existence as being in the service of this impersonal transcendent life, comparable to the leafs who's function is to contribute to the life of the tree. On the spiritual level we may waven in the choice of our viewpoint and our companions. In physical reality we know we are placed on the front of an inherited life force, from which we cannot relinquish our ties without rejecting our civil rights in a greatly seen life (F. Solger, "Community and Responsibility for Living", 1972, p. 10). "Thus the concern here is the preservation and strengthening of our impersonal transcending life" (F. Solger 1959, p.91).
Ancestors awareness is being promoted by the latest realizations of genetics. We're learning to recognize which physical, mental or spiritual traits are from which ancestor. Here we will discover that not all ancestors contributed equally to our genetic inheritance, rather one more and the other less. Some may even appear to us as externally or innerly strange. The ancestor worship will certainly be connected to those ancestors which resemble us, who we can accept as an example and a call to obligations. The character or particulness of an individual is identidiable when one examines his family history, his family tree. Ancestor research is therefore a way to self recognition. This also brings us to turn to our ancestors.
We require ancestor awareness, because it represents a connection to the eternal, a mental and spiritual source of strength. We have to consider what can be done in order to awaken a genuine partaking of ancestor worship and tribal thinking, and how we can stabilize this ancestor worship.
This begins by setting up a family tree. Since it was a duty in the "Third Reich" to make a register of ancestors such corresponding documents are available for many families. The youth should ask their elders about this and obtain a listing of their close relatives We should further attempt to question older relatives in our family what they can tell about our ancestors. This should be put down in a book a tribal chronical and passed on and continued. Through this the names of the ancestors would gain life beyond the described occupations and dates of birth, marriage, and death. This practical caring for ancestors has been practiced by Germans for decades who often with great sacrifice were pioneers of tribal thinking and through their own research have little by little expanded this realm. To the point of becoming a regular scientific helpful discipline.
Further it is the custom even today in many families to name a child after an ancestor who resembles him - if this is not given as a first name then as a middle or third name the names of the two grandfathers or grandmothers will be chosen and for further children the names of other ancestors from both sides are given. A family plaque that every citizen can have created if none is already available can awaken one's awareness of his ancestors. A family scale that is always handed down to the child with offspring forms a bridge from the past to the future.
If one possesses private property and the legal possibility exists one should seek permission to have family members buried on ones own property. In some states one is given this possibility whereby cemetarial burial laws are interrupted. Family graves should be kept and expanded in time and naturally cared for. The oldest of the clan is responsible for the family grave.
In preserving the inheritance items of remembrance which our ancestors owned for example documents, medals, letters with important statements even objects and pictures are out in a shrine which hence becomes the ancestral shrine. On the top of the shrine the photographs of the nearest ancestors may be set up or a family tree may be on the wall behind the shrine.
This place will soon become a center for custom, which corresponds to the tradition which will be found step by step. Thus the reawakened awareness of the holiness of the ancestors will take form, which will do justice to the mythical thinking of the clan. The concluding point is the clear realization that we're for the large part determined by our genetic composition which is passed down by our ancestors. For that which we can create out of our genetic inherited strength we thank our ancestors. This thought only becomes obligating by many when it's firmly impressed. Through certain customs this realm of thought is elevated slowly into the mythical and receives thereby a sanctification which is especially impressive for children who experience this. They find appearances in the photographs which reassemble themselves and develop pride for the accomplishments of the ancestors and consider themselves obligated to prove themselves worthy of these accomplishments and strive to follow the examples set for them.
Which practices existed or stil exist with us in connection with ancestor worship?
We know that on the megalith graves wax candles were burned - a custom which has been well preserved in catholic Germany whereby on certain days lights are set on the graves of the deceased. Some old families still light candles on memorial days before pictures of their forefathers. In the 11th century Burchard von Worms criticized the practice of setting the table in one's home in accordance with the pagan custom on the evening of New Year's Eve (P. Herrmann, p.459). In various parts of Germany as well as among the Germans in the Baltic states up through to this century food and drinks were set aside for the ancestors on Christmas, sometimes the meals were served together sometimes separately at night or in a separate room.
Sometimes food was burned or sacrificed in the fire of the hearths since the hearthfire was the center of the ancestors cult. Hollow stones in the megalithic graves contained food for the ancestors, and in the karolingish church statutes every bishop is assigned to ask around if anyone sangs or drank over a corpse or likewise was joyous over his death. Bishop Burchard von Worms endeavored to halt offerings given on the graves of the dead in certain regions as early as the year 1000. In Sweden yule straw was spread on the floor and the family slept on this for the 12 holy nights in order to leave their beds to their deceased ancestors. Especially in this period family tales were told - today one can see the old photo albums or show the cine films in which the deceased family members appear. During a convention I visited the megalite tomb of Visbeck and in a nearby hotel a marriage was being celebrated. The bridal pair went alone to the megalite tomb. I was told that it's a local custom that newly weds go to the megalite tomb. This is based on the time when marriages were performed an top of the grave itself in the immediate proximity of the ancestors, who belonged to the clan and wished to be present when the tribe continued itself with a union. In Dithmarsh the bride is lead to the ancestors in the cemetary (S. Hunke: "Death, what is Your meaning, p.51). I have already indicated the parallel to Swabia. In the house the hearth was the sanctuary of the ancestors, and it was circled three times by newly weds.
However is the preservation of handed down customs, perhaps even the reawakening of lost customs at all possible? Is it not only a romantic pastime?
Well, how far one will go with the performance of customs is left to him. We can't predict with certainty in which way one's own genuine traditions will develop in this realm. The example of China shows that this had a considerable, practical benefit. During times of Confucius (551 B.C. - 479 B.C.) Chinese culture was on the decline. The warlords were constantly battling each other and a moral low point was reached and customs fell into deterioration.
Which solution did Confucius show?
He dealt with religious and supernatural teachings as little as possible and worked ambitiously for the development of a national political morality and the preservation and maintaining of the old traditions. The customs or rites extend from official sacrifices of the king to the rules of conduct for daily activities, whereby it's noteworthy that the entire scale of rites from the great royal offerings to the ancestors down to the straightening of one's mattress, and from the details of one's clothing to behavior at home and in the courtyard were given his undivided attention. A commentator declared - Confucius placed such great value in the rites because he knew what a great value they contained, because he knew of their great regulating power - which however they only had when they were taken seriously, and originated from an inner need (Ernst Schwarz "Conversations of Master Kung", dtv 1985, p.30), and another commentator states Confucius spoke reluctantly about questions which had no practical consequences (Pierre Do-Dinh: "Confucius", rororo-Bildmonografien, 1960, p. 104). His students expressed this in a concise phrase. "That which the master didn't wish to discuss were unusual occurrences, mystical powers, lawlessness and gods" (Lun Yu, book VII, p.20). Hans O.H. Stange concludes: "Thus Confucius doesn't consider questions concerning physics or the philosophy of nature. His teaching is restricted to practical wisdom of this world. Regarding the supernatural he remained cautions, skeptical and reserved, although he was filled with a deep religious humbleness. Providence is not seen as a personal anthropomorphic entity but rather an impersonal force in which the moral relation to change in all things finds it's expression. Among the remaining teachings and customs of religion only ancestor worship is essential for him."
Next to the presentation of moral concepts, whereby love of parents and ancestors plays a central role, his concern is the restoration of the old customs. In the hall of the ancestors at least five generations are venerated. The stone plaques of relatives which no longer receive direct offering are placed in shrines. The offerings to the forefathers can only be brought forth by a son, who doesn't have any physical handicaps and wasn't born out of wedlock. The souls of the deceased really die only when they've been forgotten in this world, therefore offerings and customs are important. The first born son was responsible for ancestor worship. The altar in the ancestors hall is built out of a wall on which pictures of the ancestors are hanging. The head of the family invites the spirits of the forefathers to enjoy the living essence of the offerings. After the ceremony in which incense also plays a role, the food and drink having become fortune bringing is eaten by the family members. Although a child's respect is a central concept in Confusious' thinking, according to Mong Si the youth is released from this obligation should the parents endeavor to prevent a son from marrying. Through a son's childlessness the ancestral offernigs are brought to a standstill. The child's piety is hence expanded from the parents to all the ancestors.
Hazelnut bushes and chestnuts were planted by the temple of the ancestors, because that fruits were offered to the ancestors as gifts. The soul of the ancestors was honored in spring and fall, it takes part in a successfull hunt and fasts by a failed harvest. After a certain number of generations the plaque of an ancestor is taken from it's particular offering place and placed with the plaques of even older ancestors in a stone case, which is kept in the room honoring the oldest ancestors. They will no longer be provided with food.
Feasts in the realm of the ancestor cult are also celebrated with more distant relatives, whereby all participants give a contribution to the cult director, who distributes the food according to set rule. The first born son of the family brings forth the offerings. On the next higher step the oldest uncle directs the cult ceremony for the descendants of a common grandfather. Beyond this there is the group related to a greatgrandfather and beyond this is the group of descendants from a common greatgreatgrandfather. These four types of cults can come together with similar communities to celebrate an even older ancestor (Marcel Granet: "The Chinese Civilisation", 1968, p. 176 etc.). A cult ruler had to have a wife. Should his wife die, then he must remarry, if he's under 70, or step down if he's over 70 years old. The Chinese thus came to a form of ancestor worship which raised the physical sphere of the truly living memories, and is hence bonded with the most inner reality of the clan. By bringing offerings to their ancestors the Chinese felt like links in an eternal chain. With his food and drink offerings he's not honoring death, but rather does so because he knews he will continue to live only as long as he gives his life further. The Chinese are by no means homogenious - in China there are many different peoples with different languages. The unity of this kingdom is next to the writing - which can be read in all languages, and is even used by the Japanese for ceremonial purposes - based in particular on Confusianism. Herewith the feudal state which characterized the Germanic peoples survived in China until the 30's and 40's. China was strong enough by virtue of Confusianism, and the power of literature, that is education to overcome those mental forces, which struck down our naturally developed, old traditional organisation forms. Through this China became the most ethnically wealthy nation in the world. In the realisation of the meaning of Confusianism it's continually preserved in Taiwan and in Japan despite the receptiveness for modern technology and modern life styles. In many families that still applies what F. Eckes, one of the foremost experts of China wrote in 1919: "In China the continual development is never completely broken off, and the link between China of today and that of prehistorc times is never ruptured. Consequently the family and clan life of earlier periods has maintained itself virtually unweakened.
The Chinese are therefor up to now not individuals, but rather a part of the social unity to which he belongs. Thus he lives for his family, his clan, his social class, for himself he can only live however insofar as his interests can be united with those of the whole." And he continues, "The preservation and continuation of the family is the primary duty of the Chinese, and their constant wish is hence to have numerous descendants, above all male descendants. Then only a son can continue, protect, preserve and represent the family, only a son can according to the ancient belief bring offerings to the ancestors, and be responsible for the nourishment of the departed generations."
The Chinese therefore know no church as we know it, since the object of their religiousness is not a God, but rather their own family. Through the belief that life in the hereafter is dependant on the customs and through of their descendants renders the bringing of healthy descendants into the world a duty essential for one's own soul. The grouwth of the clan is hence programmed. On the other hand with a deterioration of the sense of family a destruction of the belief in eternity is threadened, whereby an "after me the great flood mentiality" emerges.
The result of clan-thinking is that there were 60 extended families of Confusious lineage in 1940 with over 30,000 members, and Confusious' grave is cared for by a descendant of the 77th generation. The meaning of Confusianism is even recognized on the communist mainland of China after it was initially attacked as being reactionary. Among typical Chinese these concepts still have much effect as seen in the present state's campaign towards a one child family and how the Chinese only accept this when the first child was a son (whereby they don't seem to realize that it'll be difficult for this son to find a wife in 30 or 40 years, to continue the lineages).
Regardless of how the development in China continues one can draw a lesson from the example of China: Confusious brought principles to a people which underwent an erosion of values as we today are experiencing, and this lead to a growth and prosperity which extends into the modern age. He demonstrated that a renaissance of customs can be initiated among a people on the same cultural level as the modern European. The awakening of feelings that one owes reverence to their ancestors and therefore their memory must be preserved with care, and mustn't be restricted to a purely functional practice. Clan-thinking must be removed from the daily mundance and to some extend elevated to a sacred realm. The church despite it's strict prohibitions wasn't able to eliminate ancestor worship among the Germanic peoples and it had to permit some of these customs. Only the industrialization, technicalisation, decline of farming und the urbanization lead to a decline in the last remnants of ancestor worship in the modern age.
Among todays younger generation there's a recognition of the natural basis of our life. This tendency could certainly - if taken up consequently - lead to a preservation and even a reawakening of old customs.
In closing I wish to make one critical observation concerning clan-thinking. As is shown in the example of China a danger lies in consequently applied clan-thinking, in that the overall unity, the nation may not be seen as significant, and only the development of one's tribe is of concern. Thus China was despite the great number in population was for centuries a very weak state in foreign affairs. Here is a danger. When we observe ancestor worship in particular by our forefathers, this leads unavoidably to a view of our own race, in which ancestor worship reaches it's climax in the veneration of some in mythical prehistorical pair who started the Family lineage. With this however ties are not made with a large number of members of our race, and thus no ties are made to a greater whole.
Hence we again touch upon that which was self evident for our ancestors. According to Jordanes the Goths worshipped half God ancestors "anses", "semidei" (Semi-gods) and traced their tribal lineage back to a Prime ancestor "Gaut" who was revered as a God, likewise the Wandillier went back to their Prime ancestor "Vandill" (Helm, II, p.20), the Saxons revered "Saxnot". The old royal families of the Anglo-Saxons, Goths, Langobardes and Swedes attributed their origins to divine ancestors namely Odin or Frey. For the Norwegians Thor. For all Germanic peoples (Teutons) Tacitus claimed that they with all their tribes originated from "Mannus". Here too the common origins is emphatized.
If we feel obligated to our ancestors who considered the same things to be right or wrong like we do, and which were of the same character as ourselves, so it is only natural that we feel related and obligated towards our contemporaries of the same race. The obligation towards our ancestors expresses itself in our having to show ourselves worthy of their great deeds and like them extend their family lineage through children. Our obligation towards the race is to maintain peace with those of our race and help them if necessary.
Like Friedrich Solger (1959, p.91) I believe that we in our beliefs shouldn't attempt to solve the mysteries which are beyond our comprehension, but rather gain clarity over that which we have to hold in reverence. The realisation of this should serve the implication thereof.
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