The ancient sacred signs of our ancestors, the symbols of our original worldview, were already opposed centuries ago: during the Christianization. Boniface issued prohibitions against the use of certain signs, and Emperor Charlemagne even instituted the death penalty for carving "demon"-repelling signs into the beams of houses.
A whole series of folk customs, which involved symbols, were declared to be superstition, witchcraft, and witch mania—a charge that all too often brought persistent practitioners to ruin and loss of life.
Thus, church and state, both fully convinced of the superiority of their ideas originating from the South and East, collaborated in the eradication of the original customs, practices, and religious assets of the Germanic North.
For they saw this North as barbaric, dark, rough, and unrefined, without its own laws, style, or order of life. They believed that this entire greater Germanic life area and whatever lay around it was inherently incapable of true culture and thought that the arrival of their soldiers and priests could only lead to an ultimate victory for these "wild areas." They were also convinced that breaking the native and original, unchristian life was a useful and beautiful, "God-pleasing" work. And so, they destroyed much.
The Ancient Symbols
It is remarkable, however, that a large number of the original sacred symbols have nevertheless been preserved to this day. Some of them have been incorporated into the church’s collection of forms, some re-emerged and were saved in early Germanic, so-called "Romanesque" art and Gothic art, while others were demonized and then Christianized. However, the meaning of the majority has been lost.
It goes without saying that the new faith could never accept these old signs positively unless they could be assimilated into Christian symbolism. In those cases, the signs were often declared to be devilish signs, satanized, like the mermaid, the serpent, and many runes.
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| Horsehead gable with crosses on top |
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| Hourglass carved on the "stiepel" of a barn door |
Tradition and Technique
How have these signs managed to survive? Partly because, although the original meaning was lost, folk belief still clung to the mysterious forms for their "new," degenerate function. But also out of persistence, out of tradition, because "grandfather did it that way too." Another significant factor is certainly that many symbols, seen purely as ornaments, were easy to create, obvious, geometrically simple forms.
Consider the six-pointed star, the diamond, the circle, the swirl, the eight-pointed star, etc. The use of a pair of compasses and a ruler naturally leads even the simplest worker—especially him—to these figures.
Moreover, as mentioned, many figures were adopted by the church and thus—carried by other sentiments—continued to live on.
Humanistic Prejudices
These are given circumstances that must be taken into account. Often, it is only through the combination of various signs that the meaning of the individual ones can be determined. Frequently, one must be familiar with the folk art of an entire region to understand the significance of the figures on a single piece of household furniture. Not seldom, the key to a certain group of representations lies hidden in some folk custom, legend, saga, or fairy tale. Sometimes, a song leads us to the right track. Therefore, the path to understanding the symbol is not so simple, although it has sometimes been thoughtlessly underestimated.
And even in scientific circles, there has been much debate about this.
As early as the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century, attempts were made to decipher the symbols of the North. But without much success, because these humanistic researchers were very learned but still completely captivated by the doctrine of "Ex Oriente Lux" ("Light from the East"). They were archaeologically more familiar with the Mediterranean, with classical cultures, than with the Germanic area, and completely ignorant of the high culture that had once flourished there—long before the beginning of our era.
They, therefore, always measured with the wrong standards and foreign moral norms. No wonder they did not get much further here.
Degenerated Science
By the 1880s, symbolism had become completely misunderstood. Even science was then absorbed in the liberal mindset and believed that the art and culture of all peoples on earth were essentially the same.
Since this science considered all people equal and did not recognize racial differences as significant, it saw nothing absurd in equating the art and symbols of Africans, Mongols, and Germanic farmers.
Thus, through "ethnopsychological research," completely foreign and lower meanings were attributed to Germanic symbols. In fact, eventually, any deeper significance of these symbols was denied, and all these "ornaments" from folk art were "explained" as a kind of innate playful primal urge, an irresistible "need to decorate." Where a deeper meaning was acknowledged, it was the well-known "warding off of demons," because this science found it impossible to view our ancestors as anything other than primitive savages who scribbled and carved "magical signs" on all their possessions, their house and yard, because they saw ghosts and devils lurking everywhere, aiming at their soul and salvation—just as the church had done centuries earlier.
However, it is difficult to explain how such a harried horde of anxiety-ridden individuals could have ever created such beautiful and serene things, as is evident in Germanic folk art seen everywhere in abundance.
This unsolvable puzzle rarely troubled the "folklorists." They preferred to search for "vegetation demons" and other shadowy creatures.
The Essence of Symbols
Only very recently has a clearer understanding emerged about the essence of folk art and its symbols. In fact, it was not until 1925 that Karl von Spiess published his work, "Bauernkunst ihre Art, ihr Sinn" ("Peasant Art: Its Nature, Its Meaning"), in which he realized that the so-called "ornament" in Germanic folk art is not merely decoration, but has symbolic meaning. Moreover, these symbols are expressions of an original, nature- and soil-bound peasant worldview that dates back to pre-Christian times.
Thus, it was finally understood that there is nothing meaningless in this "primitive" art.
In folk art, the things depicted are always more symbolic than realistic: the representations stem more from emotional life than from what is observed, and are created more from inner experience than through intellectual imitation of nature.
After von Spiess established the uniquely Nordic symbolic character of many motifs in folk art, using the traditions of the Nordic race to arrive at a preliminary interpretation, Konrad Hahm in 1928, in his work "Deutsche Volkskunst" ("German Folk Art"), drew attention to the nature-connectedness of the creators of this art.
He demonstrated the symbols of the peasant year cycle, the festivals, and the milestones in peasant life, showing how birth, marriage, fertility, and death are recurring motifs in this art.
The customs and traditions of rural life were thus highlighted for their importance to the symbols in folk art, and much excellent work has been done in this area, especially by laypeople.
The role these symbols play in the annual festivals was illustrated by Hans Strobel in his beautiful book "Bauernbrauch im Jahreslauf" ("Peasant Customs Throughout the Year").
The essence of folk art and the origin of its symbolic content originated so long ago that it is more generally prehistorically Nordic rather than historically Germanic. In other words, the roots of folk art reach back to the great flourishing period of Indo-Germanic culture.
The fact that this folk art continued to be produced well into the 19th century can be explained by the fact that, despite 1,000 years of feudal servitude, despite the social rise of the liberal bourgeoisie and the dominance of the capitalist production system, the Germanic farmer, due to his connection to the soil and nature, remained the bearer of a completely distinct worldview and way of life.
In folk art, this worldview is expressed through symbolic representations of the course and influence of the sun, the eternal movement in creation, the drama of the sun's death and the resurrection of the light, the fertility of Mother Earth—in short, everything that constitutes the well-being of his kin and the meaning of his life for the nature- and soil-bound farmer.
This positive worldview, which fully accepts life and labor, is also reflected in countless ways in Dutch folk art.
The Northern Cradle
While Spiess and Hahm made us understand folk art as a peasant art of deep connection to nature and the soil, Hermann Wirth carried out pioneering work in symbolism with his highly controversial works: "Aufgang der Menschheit" ("The Rise of Mankind") and "Die heilige Urschrift der Menschheit" ("The Sacred Original Script of Mankind"). Hermann Wirth stirred up a tremendous amount of controversy and was attacked and reviled with more than ordinary fury. Parts of his work have proven untenable, and some of his conclusions and assertions have remained unprovable or have been refuted. Certainly, we do not wish to equate our insights with those of Wirth.
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Nevertheless, after all the criticism, an enormous pioneering effort remains, along with a collection of materials of astonishing scope, which, however, must be handled very cautiously.
It is certain that in a distant past there must have been a singular primordial culture in which simple signs symbolized the solar cycle and simultaneously expressed a religious experience of time and space and an awareness of a moral world order. This unity of cosmic and inner life must have been experienced in a strong Northern cultural area because the solar cycle symbols are also symbols of firm belief in an infinite rebirth and resurrection. This assurance of salvation, most sublimely expressed in the solar cycle of the divine year, this "Stirb und Werde" ("Die and Become") as a guiding principle for life, can only be meaningfully expressed in a sun symbolism if the sun (the "Sun Hero") itself dies, sets, and rises again. This is only strikingly the case near the polar circle.
This northern cradle is confirmed by the traditions of all Northern races, for example, by the ancient legends of Persian and Hindu literature. In these, the year is divided into one day and one night. The resurrection idea of being born, blooming, withering, dying, decaying, and rising again in an eternal cycle is found in the solar symbols of the North: the ringed sun and the wheel cross.
The Northern man saw in the quartered sun wheel both the cycle of the seasons—winter solstice, spring equinox, summer solstice, and autumn equinox—and the daily cycle: midnight, sunrise, noon, and sunset or night, morning, day, evening and winter, spring, summer, autumn or child, youth, man, and elder.
The Runic Calendar
The Northern division of the year into a dark and a light half also carried strong symbolic significance. The year, divided into two parts by the two solstices—split along the North-South axis—symbolizes both the rise and fall in nature and in human life.
Furthermore, the character of the runes has become clearer with the understanding that these signs were originally symbolic calendar markers. They originated in the North and spread over a large part of the earth, only later becoming writing symbols or degenerating into magical signs. The runes were not only symbols for the course of the sun through the year and day but also for the cycle of all matter and life according to the worldview of "Stirb und Werde" ("Die and Become").
The 16-character alphabet is corresponding to an eightfold division of the year, with various symbols like the eight-spoked sun wheel testifying to this alongside the 16-part rune series. Charlemagne introduced the southern 24-hour day, but the free sailors maintained the eightfold division, as seen in the wind rose, for example.
New Roads
In Germany, a few years ago, a "Teaching Institute for Script and Symbol Research" was established with the task of providing documentation for symbol research and then proceeding to systematic processing and interpretation. Karl Theodor Weigel was entrusted with its leadership.
Weigel began by coordinating data from anthropology, folklore, and prehistory, integrating them into his symbol research. His initial work, "Lebendige Vorzeit rechts und links der Landstrasse," ("Living Prehistory on Both Sides of the Road") examines the general occurrence of symbols. Following this, in "Runen und Sinnbilder," ("Runes and Symbols") he presented evidence for the prehistoric origins of symbols, building on the work of figures like Wirth. Subsequently, he published three city descriptions: "Goslar," "Quedlinburg," and "Nürnberg," which demonstrate the faithful transmission of traditions by Germanic farmers and craftsmen. Later, "Germanisches Glaubensgut in Runen und Sinnbilder" ("Germanic Beliefs in Runes and Symbols") was published, containing excellent source material for combating what Weigel terms the "Demon Myth."
Eternally Living Symbols
Years ago, in continuation of this great developmental path of symbol research, efforts were also initiated in the Netherlands to compile comprehensive documentation in this field.
One of those who exerted much effort in this regard was Mr. W. F. van Heemskerck-Düker. Recently, in collaboration with Mr. H. J. van Houten, he published the picture book "Symbols in the Netherlands" with the publisher Hammer. Building on this longstanding work, the Folkish Working Community was now able to proceed, in cooperation with the Department of Public Information, with the major exhibition 'Eternal Living Signs' at the Municipal Museum in The Hague — a vast and impressive display of folk symbols spanning no less than 24 rooms!
What is the purpose of this exhibition? This becomes immediately clear from the central motto, which calls out to us in large letters:
WHAT ONCE WAS KNOWN, AWAKENS!
And so it is. In the symbols of our people, we possess a precious creed, a testimony that, misunderstood over the course of centuries, has been carried forth in ever-weakening tradition, but is now being rescued by the awakening of the folk from the grasp of rationalism and foreign influences. Not to revive ancient pagan thoughts in a burlesque manner, but to reflect on the timeless, eternal values that these symbols also express for the present. Thus, these Dutch symbols have finally been restored to honor as the records of what our ancestors understood and felt of the mythical Eternal; they depict the most beautiful that can blossom from our own souls—the original Germanic worldview!
This exhibition is intended for our entire people, but particularly for those already becoming aware of their essence. These compatriots can see here how unnamed workers used their patience and skill to create something beautiful and meaningful. The distinctive practical character and unique beauty of folk art partly lie in simple tools, limited choices of dyes (each carefully tested), and the fact that money played no role, even if winter evenings were spent on a single piece for years. Moreover, joy in labor and love often motivated the work.
These conditions were destroyed by capitalist economy, thereby killing folk art. The farmer was removed from his isolation by radio and transportation technology, and there is no scenario where money does not play a role—whether someone, somewhere, practices a branch of folk art in complete solitude.
Therefore, we hope that the ever-searching "designers" of interior design and furniture factories will not plunder this folk treasure too much to fill their sketchbooks with sun birds, runes, and wheel crosses.
Some of these symbols may well rise again with contemporary meanings and a strong, militant content, as some already have: think only of the Odal, Yr, and Man runes, the swastika, and so many other ancient symbols.
One may be for or against these symbols—but—they are not the appropriate figures to serve as bed covers, sofa cushions, or sideboard decorations in a bourgeois living room. They do not belong on tobacco jars or fruit bowls, on bookends or bedside lamps, any more than one should reduce a Twente clothes chest to a bar cabinet or a wagon block to a hearth bench. Therefore, I hope that artisans will exercise restraint and that unsuspecting compatriots will not become complicit in the creation of a pitiful "Germanic kitsch" through foolish purchases.
Just as our ancestors did not live off the achievements of the past, neither should we. We must know, understand, and honor them—but we must not exploit them. We must be strong and imprint our own formative will of today on our own time—that is life. This too is a message of the eternal living symbols—just as our ancestors did.
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