Germanic culture

There is much debate over the exact period that Germanic culture became a distinct cultural group within Europe. With the first recorded annotations written by Tacitus, the Roman historian[4] most agree that the culture’s roots were present from about 1–400 AD onward.[5] The ancestors of the medieval Germanic peoples are believed to be genealogical descendants of the Nordic Bronze Age, an event that saw mass emigration from the colder regions of the north into the fertile lands of central Europe.[6] For this reason, Germanic mythology and that of the Norse pantheon having a striking resemblance resulting in several identical myths and legends.[7]

The first emergence of a linguistically distinct Germanic language is thought to be around 500 B.C., however since the only written records of the time are from Tacitus, it is difficult to establish a clear progression of the language’s trajectory. While there is no written evidence to suggest that most tribes were able to converse with each other, it is likely that they were multilingual as almost every one of the dialects has its roots within the mother (PIE) language. Until around the 5th Century AD, most dialects were diverse enough in their structure, syntax and content that any attempts at reconciling the two could not be done. By then, Germanic languages had picked up extensive amounts of Latin from their exposure to the Roman empire.[8] This signalled the transition to the varied modern Germanic languages prevalent today, with features such as its differing characters, (the umlaut) its declarative sentence structure (subject, verb, other) and its emphasis on "strong" and "weak" verbs, that make it functionally different from many other languages that are comparable around Europe.[9]

Paganism has always been the driving religious system practised within Germanic tribes. However, each tribe or group would belong to a different sect, one formed through interaction with other societies and religions, and loosely based on a Nordic/European tradition.[10] One of the largest influences upon Germanic religion has been its encounters with other cultural groups such as the Celts and Romans, who also inhabited central Europe. There is archaeological evidence to suggest that these religions / customs traded iconography and myth freely amongst themselves.[11] The afterlife within their religion was similar to the Norse, as an emphasis on dying a glorious death in battle was seen as a sacrifice given to the gods to please them. For example, deities worshipped by Germanic cultures (such as Odin, or Thor) share direct lineage with the Norse gods of the same name. While worship of these gods has waxed and waned over the years, there is proof that they did stem from a northern European origin.

Germanic religion also had many crossovers with that of the Romans. Notably their shared ritual practices, particularly the culture’s fascination with nature and their position within the world: primarily with a patriarchal worldview concerning men’s position within the religion: having men as the executors of rituals, akin to a family priest or shaman. These rituals did not occur in any ceremonial buildings, instead taking place within the home, a place of much spiritual importance to Germanic culture. While spiritual duties were traditionally carried out by men, there are historical examples of Germanic priestesses in Roman writings, women who would take the role of a religious leader and would usually be involved in the performance of executions. Their folklore has always been one that has directly reflected their physical environments: Gnomes, who lived underground: Woodland Elves who inhabited the forests, and basilisks, living in the seas.[12] Elements of these traditions have endured into the modern day, and are still told as contemporary fairy tales.[13] The transition to Christianity only began when contact with Rome reached a zenith in the 11th century and Scandinavian paganism was successfully replaced by the Christian church. Religion in modern Germanic culture is directly split between Catholicism and the EKD, a German evangelical church.

There are six countries where German is the primary language; Austria, Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland, All possessing a historical and geographical link to germanic culture. Notable people who have contributed to Modern Germanic culture include:

Philosophers: Kant, Albert Magnus, and Friedrich Nietzsche are all philosophers who have contributed heavily to the progression of modern philosophical thought and reasoning[14]

Art: German artists have been traditionally in-step with artistic movements of the time, spanning decades with artists like Albrecht Durer, Anseim Kiefer, or Georg Vasseli.[15]

Sport: As with most European countries, sport has formed an integral part of Germany’s culture, becoming an activity that tens of millions of Germans enjoy every year.[16] Above all sports, Football and Motorsports are the first and second respectively. The athletic achievements of Germans also extend into the Olympics, where they have the third-highest medal count, and have hosted the event twice.[17]

Society: German-speaking countries have traditionally held attitudes towards immigrants that have held them to be different and incompatible with their society, however post-1990s, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germanic countries have become some of the highest-ranked in the OECD for their welcoming of immigrants into their country:[18] Overall, their societies can be distinguished by a commitment to gender equality, religious freedom, and tolerant of LGBT persons.[19]

Historical

• Early Germanic culture
• Migration period art
  • Animal style
• Anglo-Saxon culture
• Elbe Germanic culture

Contemporary

• Dutch culture (disambiguation)
• English culture
• Flemish culture
• Frisian culture
• Culture of German-speaking Europe
  • Austrian culture
  • Culture of Germany
  • Swiss culture
• Scandinavian culture
  • Danish culture
  • Icelandic culture
  • Norwegian culture
  • Swedish culture

• Germanic folklore

• Waldman, Carl; Mason, Catherine (2006). Encyclopedia of European Peoples. New York: Facts on File. pp. 20–24