What religion(s) were practiced by Germanic and Eastern European peoples before conversion to Christianity?

Question

It's not easy to find much information about this, despite the fact that some of the conversions took place quite late (eg. the 1500's in Lithuania). It has been said that the reason there is so little information is because those tribes had no system of writng. Is that true? And were there not records kept by travelers from other parts of the world? Why do we know so little about this?

Answer 1

You are right about the lack of information and that it is mostly due to the fact that there were few if any written records from those tribes. It seems likely that many of the Germanic tribes followed the old pagan religion of the Celts, which was basically the worship of nature.

The Romans recorded some of the practices of "barbarian" tribes but do not appear to have enquired into the basic tenets of their religions.

Literacy was rare even among the wealthy and noble classes. The few travellers who did write about what they had seen in other lands, such as Marco Polo, were often hesitant to write about any religion in detail because of the fear of being considered heretical, or, perhaps, because it was considered impolite to ask questions about the beliefs of others (which is the way I was raised - I was taught to respect that people have their own private beliefs which they do not necessarily wish to discuss with others)

As far as Eastern Europe, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary and Bohemia all had Christian (Catholic) rulers by about 1000 AD as did Russia and most of the Balkans where the Orthodox faith took hold.

The Scandinavian countries were pretty much Christian by 1100, although it is likely that many of the people continued to worship Odin, Thor, etc. in private.

Lithuania (which at its peak encompassed much of what is now Eastern Germany, northern Poland and Belarus) was converted in the 15th century by the Teutonic knights but you are right in stating that we do not know exactly what they believed before. Perhaps, because of the earlier Viking influence in that area it is possible that they may have also worshipped Odin and Thor

Answer 2

Animist and Celtic druidism in eastern Europe (animist in Lithuania), Germanic tribes were split between druidism and Norse religion.
It is true that they did not have a written language, except for the priests who passed that knowledge on to other priests and used stone as a writing tablet. That did put a crimp on using it daily and walking around with the sayings and histories of your people in your pocket.
The Romans annihilated the druids so there was no one to understand what the writings on those stones meant. And the victors did not give a heck about writing about the religions of the vanquished, they preferred to write about themselves. If I remember my history lesson about the only thing that Caesar wrote about the druids was that the English ones did not sacrifice people.

Answer 3

Most were Pagans, but a few Jewish settlements existed in Eastern Europe before the arrival of Christianity.

Answer 4

Some also followed the older Norse religion (Odin, Thor, etc). A large number were animists similar to the Celts.

Answer 5

Have a look at : "Germanic polytheism" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_paganism

"Norse mythology" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_mythology

"Norse polytheism" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_paganism

And : "Slavic mythology" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_religion

Check the "External links" and "References" at the bottom of the articles.

Answer 6

The were Pagans I believe and I think they didn't have a written lang or somethign.