Nerthus

Nerthus was an ancient Germanic earth goddess. She was known since the time of the Roman Empire. Tacitus, the Roman historian in 1st-2nd century AD, identified Nerthus with the Roman goddess Terra Mater. Nerthus was a popular goddess since she was worshipped by seven Germanic tribes – the Reudigni, Aviones, Anglii (Angles), Varini, Eudoses, Suarines and the Huitones.

Tacitus recorded that each year there was a festival where the goddess would supposedly travel in a chariot pulled by two white heifers, escorted by a priest. No one was allowed to take up war or bear arms during the festivities. Even iron tools were locked up during the goddess' journey. It was good luck for those settlements she visited in her journey.

At the end of the festival, the priest would guide the chariot to a sacred lake, where Nerthus would bathe. Her chariot would be covered with a cloth. After the selected slaves bathed the goddess in the lake, the slaves were then drowned as sacrifices to Nerthus.

Nerthus' attributes also resembled that of her ancient Celtic counterpart, Matres or Matrone, the group of mother goddesses who were popular around the Rhine River.

Though the worship of Nerthus seemed to have ended in the 5th or 6th century, later tradition says that she was identified with Norse god, Njörd (Njord), the Vanir god of the wind and sea. Njörd was the male form of Nerthus. How Nerthus had undergone a change of sex, still baffles modern scholars.

Nerthus may well have been the unnamed sister and wife of Njörd, in the Norse myths, who became the mother of Freyr and Freyja. Though none of the Norse authors ever gave a name to Njörd's sister. Or she may well be the ancient form of Freyja herself. Since the Norse writers believed that the Vanir deities were older than the Aesir, then it's more than likely true that the Teutonic Nerthus became the Norse Freyja.