TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY. - Centrostudirpinia.it

THUNAR. 191
the logs to express contempt ? In Switzerland the well-known
throwing of stones on the water is called Heiden werfen, heathen-
pelting ; otherwise : den Herrgott losen, vater und mutter losen,
? releasing, ransoming Tobler 174a (see Suppl).
I do not pretend to think it at all established, that this Jupiter
can be traced back to the Thunar of the Old Saxons. The custom is
only vouched for by protocols of the last century, and clear evidence
of it before that time is not forthcoming; but even Letzner s account,
differing as it does, suggests a very primitive practice of the people,
which is worth noting, even if Jupiter has nothing to do with it.
The definite date laetare reminds one of the custom universal in
Germany of driving out Death/ of which I shall treat hereafter,
and in which Death is likewise set up to be pelted. Did the
skittle represent the sacred hammer ?
An unmistakable relic of the worship paid to the thunder-god
is the special observance of Thursday, which was not extinct
among the people till quite recent times. It is spoken of in quite
early documents of the Mid. Ages
observet/ Aberglaube p. xxx. de feriis quae
: nullus diem Jovis in otio
faciunt Jovi vel
Mercurio, p. xxxii. quintam feriam in honorem Jovis honorasti,
p. xxxvii. On Thursday evening one must neither spin nor hew ;
Superst., Swed. 55. 110. and Germ. 517. 703. The Esthonians
think Thursday holier than Sunday. 1 What punishment overtook
the transgressor, may be gathered from another superstition, which,
it is true, substituted the hallowed day of Christ for that of Donar :
He that shall work on Trinity Sunday (the next after Pentecost),
or shall wear anything sewed or knitted (on that day), shall be
stricken by thunder ;
Scheffer s Haltaus, p. 225 (see Suppl.).
If Jupiter had these honours paid him in the 8th century, if
the Capitulare of 743 thought it needful expressly to enjoin an ec
forsacho Thunare and much that related to his service remained
urieradicated a long time after ; it cannot well be doubted, that at
a still earlier time he was held by our forefathers to be a real god,
and one of their greatest.
If we compare him with Wuotan, though
the latter is more
intellectual and elevated, Donar has the advantage of a sturdy
material strength, which was the very thing to recommend him to
1 Etwas iiber die Ehsten, pp. 13-4.