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Chapter 5. The Underworld 138
For the early Teutons, life was viewed in cycles, and birth and death were a
part of one of the cycles. Another was the yearly cycle of the seasons. Agricultural
peoples are more closely attuned to the yearly progression of the seasons than is
modern man and this yearly cycle included, obviously, dealing with work as the
weather permitted but, also, with the cycle of holidays and festivals celebrated both
within the family unit (such as birthdays, rites of passage, etc.) and outside the
family unit (such as community celebrations, funerals, festivals, markets, etc.).
For the ancients, forces emanating up from the Underworld, the Land of the
Ancestors, forced changes on Midgard, but with these changes also came the sense
of continuity or “sameness.” Everything, for the ancient Germans, had a birth and
a death whereupon the cycle was started anew. Change, for them, was acceptable
because of their belief in the somewhat circular nature of time. For modern man,
there is generally a sense of “pending doom” because in modern philosophical terms
of the average man “time” is linear; therefore, the world as it is changing today
is progressing towards a chaotic end. “Society is getting worse!” the papers say.
“Pollution is out of control!” Thinking in terms of a linear flow of time is depressing
and it is no wonder that modern folk have such a difficult time accepting change.
This new generation, this Generation X, is seen by many as the-end-of-it-all. They
are violent, apathetic, they do not attempt to live within the bonds of society as
it exists; they question everything and offer no solutions. In one sense, however,
a cyclical sense, they are nothing more than the newest cycle of the Baby Boomer
generation of the 1960’s and curiously enough resemble in many ways the generations
which produced the Viking Age! Everything changes but somehow there is a
sameness running through it all.
In the ancient mind, everything moved in cycles, but the force driving the cycles
appears to have come from elsewhere. For the ancient Teutons, the force came from
the Land of the Dead which is implied in the reciprocal relationship between the
Underworld and Midgard sometimes used as illustration in Germanic folklore but
more prominent in folklore bordering the Germanic realm. The idea of ancestor
worship which is repugnant to some is not really necessary to participate in the
Underworld tradition. All that is needed is the development of a sense of acceptance
and respect for one’s own starting point and for the forces which created
that starting point, i.e., the ancestors of one’s personal lineage. Grooming the
links between the Underworld and Midgard need not be really any more elaborate
than offering an attitude of thankfulness, which, for the ancient Germanic peoples,
occurred communally during the primary festivals of the year: Winternights, Júl,
and Summernights. One does not even have to entertain any particular spiritual
belief system, or have any belief at all, for that matter, to demonstrate some sense
of gratitude.