Donar (Thor) in Dutch folklore:


Introduction
In the past, Donar (Thor) played a big part in our folklore. In our language the defamation campaign by the church, who equaled him to their Satan, lives on. Even though a lot of folkloristic elements that remind of his glory have been lost, some have still been passed on to us. We shall take a look at four of these elements: "donderdag", "donderbaard", "donderbeitels" and "donderbezem. 

Donderdag 
Donderdag is the Dutch name for Thursday. Donderdag owes its name to Donar, like dinsdag (Tuesday) to Tyr, woensdag (Wednesday) to Wodan (Odin) and vrijdag (Friday) to Frīja. The Germanic week had nine days, which is symbolized by Wodan's golden ring, from which eight new rings dripped every ninth night. The Romans, who introduced the seven day week, tended to compare native gods to their own. The Germans took over these Roman interpretations when they translated the names of the seven day week.

Donar was compared by the Romans to Jupiter, and so Roman "dies Jovis" became Germanic donderdag. Similarly, Tyr was compared to Mars (dies Martis became dinsdag), Wodan to Mercurius (Mercurii dies became woensdag) and Frīja to Venus (dies Veneriis became vrijdag). 

It is remarkable that Donar was compared to Jupiter, while in our region the Romans equaled him to Hercules. A possible explanation for this could be that it was initially the Romans who came up with an equivalent for the Germanic god Donar (Hercules), but when Germans needed to translated Roman day names, they compared Roman Jupiter to Donar. 

Donar was tremendously popular, and examples of the special significance of his day have been preserved abroad. Till the 17th century, in Germany "Donnerstag" was a resting day, and even now labor is not performed on this day in certain areas. Donnerstag is popular day to wed, which goes back to Donar's role of fertility god, blessing marriages with his hammer.

Some information about the other days has been preserved as well. Wednesday was proclaimed a day of bad luck by the church, to give the memory of Wodan a negative connotation. Friday, devoted to Wodan's wife Frīja, was also turned into a day of bad luck by the church. After the introduction of the seven day week and christianity, heathendom held out long enough to make Friday the day for weddings, in honor of the fertility goddess Frīja. Even today, Friday is a popular day to get married in the Saxon region (De Vries, 1970). 

Donderbaard
Donderbaard ("Thunderbeard") in popular speech was a term for "huislook", a form of leek which was dedicated to Donar. The flowers form the "beard". It used to be cultivated on roofs, to protect houses from lightning. The leek was used against numerous affections, including toothaches, haemorrhoids, rash, warts, sores, corns, bee stings, throat affections, burns, etc. (Ter Laan, 1949) 


Donderbeitels
Donderbeitels ("thunderchisels"), a.k.a. donderstenen ("thunderstones"), are tools from the stone age or belemnites, oblong fossils. De Germanic people that found them believed them to be chisel that were thrown to earth in form of lightning by Donar, god of thunder. It was assumed that it was these chisels that split trees when lightning struck. People used them as charms to ward off bad luck, and were worn around the neck or copied in metal, in the form of a Mjölnir (Donar's hammer) amulet. The hammer as well as the axe and chisel were considered attributes of Donar. 

The belief in the magical powers of donderbeitels lived on after the heathen period. In the province of Drenthe, a donderbeitel was placed on the threshold, and in the region Achterhoek in the roof of houses to protect them from getting struck by lightning. People used to carry donderbeitels in their pockets as a protection against lightning, and children who had seizures were rubbed over the temples (of the head) with the stones.

Plinius, van Maerlant and Rumphius all three mentioned the healing powers of donderbeitels for man and animal. They were thought to be helpful against seizures, fever, nightmares, and spells. Other cultures also have traditions of attributing special powers to fossils. (Ter Laan, 1949; De Vries, 1970) 

Donderbezem
On old farms in the region Twente, one can still find so-called donderbezems ("thunderbrooms"). People used to attach brooms to fronts of houses to protect them from donderbeitels. By doing so, the house was protected by Donar. The broom warded off lightning, and later was incorporated in the brickwork of houses, or placed in metal into the wall. There are three forms of donderbezems: a fan-shaped, a tree-shaped, and an hourglass-shaped. Some people believed the two latter forms were connected to the runes, and there is a striking similarity between the hourglass-shape and the Dagaz-rune. The fan-shaped symbol can be found everywhere in the Netherlands today. 

The broom itself was used for symbolism in several places in the Netherlands. It was supposed to ward off evil spirits, and in the province of Noord Brabant it was put against the wall or door to protect the house and its occupants, for example against burglary. The broom later became a deterrent against witches, and a symbolic welcoming gift for new neighbour's wives in the Belgian part of Limburg. (Ter Laan, 1949; Teenstra, 1941)

Literature