Customs:


Battle customs have been used by any army in any given time and we still follow certain rituals before a battle today; soldiers wear a crucifix or carry a picture of their relatives, in WW2 Allied soldiers in France used wistles to recognize eachother, soldiers surrender by waving a white flag, soldiers salute to officers, etc.
Battle customs and rituals must have been introduced because of various reasons; to intimidate the enemy, to improve morale and discipline, for religious purposes, and to harness fear before a battle.
In the Renaissance period the use of battle customs reached it's climaxe, officers invited enemy officers to drink tea and watch the battle from a hill, the local population came to see the battle while literally holding a picnic, horns were blown, trumpets and drums began playing marching music, soldiers calmly advanced towards the enemy lines under heavy fire without running or charging, the fighting often concentrated on capturing enemy flagstandards instead of strategic goals, etc; as you can probably imagine Renaissance battles sometimes looked like a game of chess.
In earlier times opposing armies tried to intimidate eachother, especially the Celts were good in this tactic; they made their appearance on the battlefield with brightly coloured cloaths and shields, a big helmet with a plume or animal figure on it, and lots of superfluous flamboyant finery, they then started shouting, screaming, and hurling insults at the enemy, imagine a band of hundreds of furious warriors all shouting at you at the same time and you will understand why some battles were won before they actually started.

Naturally the Germans also used battle customs, their rituals can be compared to those of the Celts with the difference that they did not extensively used visual display like the Celts; the Germans were too sober and practical for that.
Offerings: before actually commencing the battle the Germans made offerings to their gods to gain their sympathy and asked them for victory, this was very important because without the aid of wargods like Wodan and Tiwaz the battle was believed to be lost at forehand.
Belief in the afterlife: Germanic warriors were known for their bravery and they were one of the most fierce warriors in history, they were not afraid to die because they believed in an afterlife; when they died they would go to a peaceful and tranquil place named Helheim where they could rest and after some time would be reborn again.
Warriors who died in battle even went to Walhalla where they would join the Einherjar; the elite army of the high god Wodan, Walhalla was also a place for celebration where lots of beer and pork were consumed under the watchful eyes of beautiful blonde Valkyries; would you be afraid of death if you had this prospect?
Some old Scandinavian tombstones bear depictions of warriors being led to Walhalla by Odin while holding their swords with the tips pointed towards the earth, in Germanic symbolism a warrior holding a sword in front of him with the blade downwards is a sign of death.
Runes: many warriors inscribed their weapons with runes, for instance with the name of a wargod like Wodan or Tiwaz, they also used single runes, many runes had a meaning and were believed to posess magical powers; the (Sowilo) and (Tiwaz) runes represented victory in battle and the (Hagalaz) rune granted it's wearer protection.
Signs: some of the uncontrollable events that occured during the battle were believed to be the work of the gods, if a raven flew over the heads of the assembled warriors it was considered an omen and the Germans often resorted to magic before the beginning of a battle and asked their seers (see: magic) what the outcome of the battle would be.
A good example of this belief in signs can be found in the Poetic Edda;

Poetic Edda, Reginsmál:

Sigurð kvað:

20.
Segðu mér Hnikarr,
alls þá hvártveggja veizt
goða heill ok guma:
hver bözt eru,
ef berjask skal,
heill at sverða svipun.

Hnikarr kvað:

21.
Mörg eru góð,
ef gumar vissi,
heill at sverða svipun;
dyggva fylgju
hygg ins dökkva vera
hrotta meiði hrafns.

22.
Þat er annat,
ef þú ert út of kominn,
ok ert á braut búinn,
tvá þú lítr
á tái standa
hróðrfúsa hali.

23.
Þat er it þriðja,
ef þú þjóta heyrir
ulf und asklimum;
heilla auðit
verðr þér af hjalmstöfum,
ef þú sér þá fyrri fara.

24.
Engr skal gumna
í gögn vega
síð skínandi
systur Mána,
þeir sigr hafa
er séa kunnu,
hjörleiks hvatir,
eða hamalt fylkja.

25.
Þat er fár mikit
ef þú fœti drepr,
þars þú at vígi veðr,
tálar dísir,
standa þér á tvær hliðar
ok vilja þik sáran sjá.

26.
Kembðr ok þveginn
skal kœnna hverr
ok at morgni mettr,
því at ósýnt er,
hvar at aftni kemr;
ilt er fyr heill at hrapa.
 Sigurð said:

20.
Tell me that, Hnikarr
of everything that you know,
good signs for gods and men:
Which holy signs are best
if there is battle
for the swinging of swords?

Hnikarr said:

21.
Many, if warriors know them,
are good holy signs
for the swinging of swords!
A true following
for the sword-tree, I think,
is the dark one of the raven.

22.
That is a second,
if you have come out
and are ready to go forth:
when you see,
standing on the path,
two fame-greedy warriors.

23.
That is a third,
if you hear the howling
of a wolf under ash-branches:
good will be to you
when you come among helmet-staves,
if you see them faring first.

24.
Never shall warriors
battle in the direction against
the moon's shining sister:
they have victory
who can see,
brave in blade-play,
when they draw up
battle-wedges.

25.
That is a greatly ill sign
if your foot stumbles
when you wend towards battle:
betraying disir
stand at your two sides
and will see you wounded.

26.
Every keen man
should be combed and cleaned
and eat in the morning,
for it is unknown
where he will come in the evening;
it is ill to hurry past good.

Banners, standards, and field signs: some Viking armies carried a Raven banner, this was some sort of flag with a depiction of a raven on it; animals like wolves and ravens were associated with war and death because they often scavenged the battlefield to eat the corpses, the raven banner was not a national flag or a universal "Viking flag" but was probably more something that represented a an important sibbe (clan/family) or a Viking leader.
The Scandinavians had a legend which said that if the raven on the banner would start to move and flutter around the victory was assured.
The use of banners and field signs was not limited to the Vikings alone though; Julius Caesar's 1st century work "Commentarii de bello Gallico" mentions that the Usipetes and Tencteri used field signs during a battle with the Romans, but unfortunately no details are given.
Women: like a football team brings along it's fans before an important match, the Germans often brought their wives and families.
Everybody who ever played a sport knows that the presence of women cheering for your team has a great effect on morale, it's one of the mysteries of human nature.
Germanic armies often won a battle because of the support of their women, a warrior's morale greatly increased when his wife and children were standing in the distance cheering and encouraging him, another positive factor was that the warriors were constantly reminded to what they were fighting for; their freedom and family, this values were very important to the Germans and the idea that the enemy could enslave their women and children in the case of a defeat was unbearable and made them even more determined to win; the human emotion is a greatly underestimated factor in warfare.
Shield colours: when an army surrenders they show a white flag as a sign of their submission, this sign is used throughout the world and was invented by the Vikings; when they came in peace they raised a white shield and when they had hostile intentions they raised a red one.
Intimidation: before a battle the warriors brought themselves into a frenzy; their furious behaviour and screaming lowered their fear and intimidated the enemy, another way of scaring the enemy was the "Barditus", this was some sort of warcry that was made by holding a shield in front of your mouth and screaming in it's hollow side for better acoustics, this made a loud echoeing sound that must have sounded terrifying to the enemy.
Some warriors also coloured their hair to look more impressive, when the Batavians attacked the Roman army near the river Rhine they had coloured their hair firery red and wore it loose on their heads so that it would flutter around their head which gave them an extra fearsome appearance, they are also believed to have used bleach or lime to make their hair extra blond or even white and then combed it backwards over their heads.
Other Roman accounts tell us that they sometimes bit their shields out of agression and blew horns to intimidate the enemy even more, the "shieldbiting" is probably exaggerated but the Germans did use horns and archeological evidence supports this, just like the Celtic Carynx the Germanic horn was probably used to instill fear upon the enemy and signal the attack.
The Germans perfectly understood the influence human emotions could have on a battle and used lots of tactics that we would now call "psychological warfare", a frightened enemy was easier to defeat and often took the wrong decisions in a battle; in the Netherlands we have a saying that says: "fear is a bad adviser".
Spearthrowing: before the start of a battle a spear was thrown over the battlefield that was dedicated to a wargod like Wodan or Tiwaz to receive their blessing, this spears were often beautifully decorated and inscribed with runes.
The spear was often thrown over the heads of the enemy to dedicate them to the god Wodan, the souls of all the enemies who died in that battle would then become his property.
The god Uller Duels: before a battle started duels were fought between the best warriors both sides had to offer, a warrior challenged another warrior from the opposing force and when he accepted they started fighting, nobody interfered in the duel, whether the loser belonged to their side or not.
A duel was called a "one-fight" (Old Swedish: einvighe, Old Norse: einvigi, Old High German: einwic, Anglo-Saxon: artwig, Proto-Germanic: ainawigan) and was fought with no rules, the two enemies simply fought to the death and the strongest one survived, before a duel the god Uller was called upon for help, he was the patron god of duels and the god of winter, ski-ing and hunting, a duel could take place on the battlefield but also between rivals who belonged to the same side.
A later type of duel was the Scandinavian Hólmgang, which was not fought on the battlefield but between persons who had a conflict with eachother, it differed from the normal duel because rules were used, Hólmganga took place in a Hólmhring, though the word "hring" is a bit misleading since it had a square form and looked much like a boxing-arena, the two opponents fought with a sword and the fight was observed by a "referee", the goal of the Hólmgang was to defeat the enemy, not killing him; one of the rules was that the fight had to be ended when the first drop of blood fell on the ground.
Animal powers: ancient peoples believed that the strengths of an animal could be "taken over" by consuming its heart or wearing it's skin; this belief is also shown in Germanic mythology where the godess Freya flies by using a cloak of feathers.
Wolfwarrior on the swordsheath of Gutenstein Some warriors wore animal hides or symbols dedicated to a certain animal to gain its strenght, this is where the Berserker myth comes from; many people believe that Germanic warriors fought like wild brainless animals and that they all wore animal skins, however; this is not true because the "animal warriors" were only a small group of warriors.
The word "Berserkr" comes from Old Norse and means "bear-hide", though another translation is "bare-skinned".
The Berserkr was a warrior who dedicated himself to the bear, he wore a bear hide and believed that this granted him the strenght and skills of a bear, another type of "animal warriors" were the Ulfheiðr or Ulfhedinn ("Wolf-hides" in Old Norse) who believed they had the power of a wolf, they wore wolf skins and/or the "Wolfsangel", the symbol of the wolf (see: symbols)
The text Helgakviða Hundingsbana in the Poetic Edda gives some interesting examples of "animal warriors", they tell the story of a hero named Helgi Hundingsbana ("Dogs-bane") who is a warrior dedicated to the wolf, the other warriors in his family are "sons of the wolf" too and they fight against the Hundingssonar ("sons of the hound") who are dedicated to the dog.
The Völsunga saga also mentions two men (Sigmund and Sinfjötli) who change into wolves and attack humans, and there is also a Belgian folktale about a werewolf-like creature called "Kludde" that can change into various forms to harass humans.
Animal powers could also be gifted by the Fulgjo (personal guiding spirit) that could unchain the "animal inside", this may have also had a connection to the god Wodan, whose name means "Raging One", the Germans believed that some warriors did not only posess the powers of an animal, but could also change into one, this is probably where the werewolf myth is derived from; "werewolf" (English), "varulf" (Swedish), "weerwolf" (Dutch), or "werwulf" (German) are derived from Proto-Germanic "werawulfaz", which means "man-wolf".
Animal warriors were known for their battle-frenzy; they could enrage themselves during a battle and instill fear upon their enemies by doing so, in modern English the saying "going berserk" is derived from this.
This battle-frenzy inspired the Roman writer Lucanus in his "Furor Teutonicus" (Teutonic fury) theory, this theory claims that Germanic peoples have an inborn tendency for agression and in later times this theory has often been used for propaganda means, especially against Germany during both world wars.
Intoxication: beer and ale were popular among warriors who had to enter the battlefield and many warriors got drunk before a battle for some extra courage, wounds were also less painful in such a state and it is even believed that alcohol was used as an anaesthetic in ancient times, one of the most common words in runic inscriptions is "alu", which means "ale", though the word is also believed to have had other meanings, for instance a battlecry or magical charm.
Drugs were also known to our ancestors, though they are believed to have mainly been used for religious purposes, in Scandinavia (and probably in the rest of Germania too) they were also used for battle purposes, the most famous example are the Hamran; this warriors were dressed in fur and ate psylocybine mushrooms before a battle which caused them to enter a state of frenzy, the Danes were also known to make potions from the urine of a person who had eaten these mushrooms.