Family faith  pre AD 785

Prior to A D 785 ,the date that Saxon chief Widekund was finally defeated by Charlemagne ,emperor of the Franks our Saxon forefathers practiced their own religion wherein the concept of sin was absent .Instead emphasis was placed on strength in adversity and development of string character aiming at being honorable and despising dishonor ..the good name and reputation of the clan was paramount .one respected nature ,forests and meadows streams and mountains .one met for worship in forest groves ,pronounced sacred, under the shade of a large tree ,mostly a magnificent Oak tree ,which was symbolic of the “Tree of life”  .  One worshipped there, feasted ,mourned abd celebrated there . One’s symbols of accomplishments and trophies were displayed there.  There religious festivals were observed celebrating winter “Yule “ expressing hope that soon the sun would shine strongly and fortify Mother Earth .There was a Spring festival similar to us celebrating Eater and Midsummer was celebrated as a solstice festival ,recognizing the influence of the sum on Mother Earth . The fallfestival celebrated autumn was a time for mourning and reflection and the time to make offerings to the Gods .The Norse Gods of Wodan and Thor (Donar)   were worshipped.  Representative of the mightiness of the Gods was the erection of the “Irminsul”  a large oak ;like pillar t reaching up to the skies to make contact with the divine .Legend has it that it took the army of Charlemagne three days to tear down the Irminsul of the Saxons in AD 772 at  Externsteine in the Teutoborg forest in the Lippe district of North Rhine Westphalia. With no notion of sin , fertility feasts during which young males copulated with young females;were prior to the introduction of Christianity  , part of the spring celebrations . An old English deity Ēostre is attested solely by Bede in his 8th-century work” The Reckoning of Time “ where Bede states that during “ Eostumonab “ (the equivalent of April), pagan Anglo-Saxons had held feasts in Ēostre's honour, but that this tradition had died out by his time, replaced by the Christian Paschal month, a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.