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Around the world, German has approximately 100 million native speakers and also about 80 million non-native speakers. [5] German is the main language of about 90 million people (18%) in the EU. 67% of German citizens claim to be able to communicate in at least one foreign language, 27% in at least two languages other than their first. [1]
Ancient Germanic paganism was a polytheistic religion practised in prehistoric Germany and Scandinavia, as well as Roman territories of Germania by the first century AD. It had a pantheon of deities that included Donar/Thunar, Wuotan/Wodan, Frouwa/Frua, Balder/Phol/Baldag, and others shared with northern Germanic paganism. [13]
Germanic culture is a term referring to the culture of Germanic peoples, and can be used to refer to a range of time periods and nationalities, but is most commonly used in either a historical or contemporary context to denote groups that derive from the Proto-Germanic language, which is generally thought to have emerged as a distinct language after 500 BC.
Early Germanic culture was the culture of the early Germanic peoples. The Germanic culture started to exist in the Jastorf culture located along the central part of the Elbe River in central Germany. From there it spread north to the ocean, east to the Vistula River, west to the Rhine River, and south to the Danube River.
Magic is an element of religion that intends to influence the world with the help of the otherworldly by using particular rituals, means, or words. [373] [374] Sources on pre-Christian magic among the Germanic peoples are either textual descriptions or archaeological finds of objects. [375]
Pope Pius IX (c. 1878). The philosophic influences of The Enlightenment, Scientific realism, Positivism, Materialism, nationalism, secularism, and Liberalism impinged upon and ended the intellectual and political roles of religion and the Catholic Church, which then was the established church of Europe, excluding Scandinavia, Russia, the Netherlands, Great Britain, and, crucially, Prussia.
A Germanic king was not only a political ruler, but also held the highest religious office for his people. [29] He was seen as of divine descent, was the leader of the religious cult and was responsible for the fertility of the land and military victory. Accordingly, the conversion of their leader had a strong impact on his people.
In East Francia on the other hand, the nucleus of what was to become the kingdom of Germany and ultimately German-speaking Europe, the syncretism was less pronounced since only its southernmost portion had ever been part of the Roman Empire, as Germania Superior: all territories on the right hand side of the Rhine remain Germanic-speaking.