Wednesday. It comes from the word Woden or Óđinn, a god of Germanic mythology. He was considered to be a carrier of souls from Earth to the Otherworld. A sort of muse of poetry and music, Woden was the equivalent to Euterpe. His following was large enough to remove Tiw from king of the gods to god of combat. Despite this, he disappeared with the rise of Judeo-Christianity in Europe.
Woden was not the only one; an entire pantheon of Germanic, Anglo-Saxon, and Old Norse "pagan" gods was destroyed. Little is left on Earth to attest to their former glory. Maybe some pottery shards there or damaged texts here provide archeological evidence. Sunna, Mōna, Tiw, Woden, Ţunor, Fríge. Their powerful legacies boiled down to a single day of the week.
But what is left in heaven?
The modern concept of heaven throughout Germany and Scandinavia is based on the Christian beliefs. According to the Christian texts, there is one heaven where God resides with His host of angles. There is also a Hell where the devil and his followers are banished from feeling the joy of God's love. No one can possibly prove the existence of these places true. It is not so crazy, then, to replace this vision of split kingdoms of good and evil with the mythical Asgard. Here is where Woden rules over Valhalla and assigns the dead their abodes for eternity. Instead of winged angels, valkyries serve the gods in faithful allegiance.
Maybe the old gods are still up there, waiting to be worshipped once more. They might just be looking down on a disillusioned flock while their only connections to the new world are the weekdays. This does not necessarily make them powerless. Every single Wednesday is dedicated to Woden. Every single Wednesday, Woden's name is hailed on the tops of papers, crossed off on calenders, and spoken at some point or another from the United Kingdom to Sweden. Wednesday's are a celebration of a lost god, a lost culture, a lost perspective.
The same goes for all the other days.
It's just that none of the other Germanic gods choose where a soul gets to spend the rest of its existence.
Or give divine inspiration to those trying to write college essays.
Woden was not the only one; an entire pantheon of Germanic, Anglo-Saxon, and Old Norse "pagan" gods was destroyed. Little is left on Earth to attest to their former glory. Maybe some pottery shards there or damaged texts here provide archeological evidence. Sunna, Mōna, Tiw, Woden, Ţunor, Fríge. Their powerful legacies boiled down to a single day of the week.
But what is left in heaven?
The modern concept of heaven throughout Germany and Scandinavia is based on the Christian beliefs. According to the Christian texts, there is one heaven where God resides with His host of angles. There is also a Hell where the devil and his followers are banished from feeling the joy of God's love. No one can possibly prove the existence of these places true. It is not so crazy, then, to replace this vision of split kingdoms of good and evil with the mythical Asgard. Here is where Woden rules over Valhalla and assigns the dead their abodes for eternity. Instead of winged angels, valkyries serve the gods in faithful allegiance.
Maybe the old gods are still up there, waiting to be worshipped once more. They might just be looking down on a disillusioned flock while their only connections to the new world are the weekdays. This does not necessarily make them powerless. Every single Wednesday is dedicated to Woden. Every single Wednesday, Woden's name is hailed on the tops of papers, crossed off on calenders, and spoken at some point or another from the United Kingdom to Sweden. Wednesday's are a celebration of a lost god, a lost culture, a lost perspective.
The same goes for all the other days.
It's just that none of the other Germanic gods choose where a soul gets to spend the rest of its existence.
Or give divine inspiration to those trying to write college essays.
