A summary of A.G. de Bruijn's "Geesten en goden in Oud Oldenzaal":
In 1929 the book "Geesten en goden in Oud Oldenzaal" (Ghosts and gods in Old Oldenzaal) of A.G. de Bruijn was released.
In this book de Bruijn discussed subjects he handled in the annual meetings of the "Oldenzaalsche Oudheidkamer", and some of those are very valuable for people who are interested in Dutch heathenism.
Because it is difficult to obtain as a source I have decided to describe the most important parts of the book here, so that the knowledge will be still available.
The book begins with a chapter that is dedicated to "de Groote Steen te Oldenzaal" (the Big Stone in Oldenzaal).
This stone is said to have stood on the nearby Tankenberg in earlier times, and has been brought into the city before 1642.
De Bruijn quotes the Frisian literator, antropologist, and linguistician Joost Hiddes Halbertsma (1789-1869), who had a correspondence with Jacob Grimm and believed that the stone was a sacrificial stone.
He also mentions the following:
"The big stone has always been the center of many fairy tales.
Weeling tells us that the stone was some sort of witch-stone.
On the first of May (May Day) the witches gathered there.
On exactly 12 o'clock at night they came in huge numbers and held a meal around the stone like it was a table.
They drank beer from the cavities of the stone.
After that a wild dance followed, after which the witches left through the air on broomsticks.
"But", the writer continues: "this kind of saga's have no scientifical nor historical importance."
It are this kind of stories, which are assumingly very old, that can make us understand the meaning of this stone to some extend and make it probable that this stone once played an important role in the religious thinking of the old heathen population."
The second chapter tells about the use of "toovermiddelen bij het bouwen van huizen" (magical charms for the building of houses), which tells more about the custom of burying pots under the doorstep.
De Bruijn arguments that this was intended to catch evil spirits that could do harm to the house.
He shows a lot of his relativizing ability with the next remark: "If this kind of stories are still believed in Oldenzaal, then we do not have to look down upon our brothers in the East Indian Archipel (the former Dutch colony of Indonesia), who make some sort of trap or cage for evil spirits, in which they are lured with delicacies."
According to him similar customs are also shared by the Negroetribes in Umbella-land and the Arabs (in the form of "dschinns", lampghosts).
The chapter also mentions the custom of "burying coins or leaden objects, which show prints or moulds, during the building of houses."
This long title perfectly covers the contents.
According to de Bruijn this was "a form of magic, which purpose it was to ward off evil powers."
The third chapter is titled "the slits in the churchwall at Oldenzaal".
The wall of the church in Oldenzaal has about 500 vertically placed cavities.
Similar cavities have been found in menhirs, "dolmen" (hunebeds) and even in the sfinxstatues near the old temples in Egypt.
We can only speculate about the precise function of them.
"A nice overview of the current situation of the enigma in Germany, was given by Otto Hartmann in "die Gartenglaube" from 1927 page 237.
With some predilection this writer speaks about the opinion, that the cavities could have been created by firehitting (the slits) or firerubbing (the pits) in relation to old heathen, later Christianized customs."
On the contrary Dr. Th. Windus thought that the cavities were formed because the stonepowder was thought to have had a healing function.
De Bruijn disagrees about both explanations for the cavities, and suggests that they may have functioned as housing for the spirits of the dead.
With this he refers to E. Carthailhac, who tells that "those with pits covered stones in the Northern countries were called Elvenstones and that even in this time the local population still bring sacrifices there for the souls of the dead."
The writer concludes the chapter by saying:
"The cavities in the churchwall at Oldenzaal have been made after 1480, because in this year the first stone was laid of this part of the church. (…)
This shows, that the creating, to give rest to wandering spirits, was still in use at Oldenzaal after 1480, so after the entire completion of the great church at Oldenzaal, a monument of Christian victory.
The belief in demons has not been affected by Christianity after all, but has survived almost unscathed…"
"Kunne Klaas", the title of the fourth chapter, is the name of a local equivalent of Dutch "Sinterklaas" in Oldenzaal.
Kunne Klaas was the name of a "ghostly appearing and disappearing horse" in the local dialect of the farmers of the Lutte.
According to de Bruijn the people do not mean the horse but its rider when they speak of Kunne Klaas.
Kunne Klaas is in fact the same as all the other riders of folklore; Klaas Vaak, the Wild Hunter and saint Nicolaas (Sinterklaas).
Like every important gentleman they all have a cloak and retinue.
The name Kunne Klaas can be explained as follows: the word "Kunne" is derived from "koning" (king), and "Klaas" is not related to Nicolaas, but to the word "glessum", a term that the Germans used for things that glittered or shined.
Kunne Klaas was seen as a protecting nightspirit and was connected to the moon.
This are some clear similarities with the earlier named Klaas Vaak, whose last-name means "sleep" and who similar to St. Nicolaas also entered a house via its chimney.
The king or Kunne was a commonly known person among the farmers, and they were on good terms with him.
Their worship of him was shown in several farms that were named after him as well as pieces of land.
Among others the name of the city of Kuinre (originally Kunre) is derived from Kunne.
The Kunne also had a servant, named "Klaas Boer" ("boer" means "farmer" in Dutch) who is still known today in northern Germany.
This servant had the tendency to approach the people under different names and disguises.
There have also been farms named after him.
The fifth chapter tells about the Christianization of Kunne Klaas.
Because the worship of the Kunne was deeply rooted, the preachers of the new religion equalled him to their holy saint Nicolaas instead of destroying his worship.
When the worship of st. Nicolaas became more common Kunne Klaas was forgotten.
According to de Bruijn the important position st. Nicolaas has in Russia makes it likely he had a predecessor who had similarities with Kunne Klaas.
De Bruijn also sees similarities between Kunne Klaas and the Persian god Kâla, whose name is Sanskrit for "time".
According to him light (glessum, Klaas) is in this connection the same as time because it is calculated by using the movements of skylights.
This similarity is for de Bruijn a reason to suspect an Eastern origin of Kunne Klaas.
In contradiction to the theory that later became commonly accepted de Bruijn did not associate Kunne Klaas with Wodan but with Kâla.
Nevertheless he quotes the historian Ort, according to whom Kalheupink (= kale hoogte; "bald hight" in Dutch) near Oldenzaal and the Kalenberg east of Kuinre was not associated with Kâla but with the baldheaded Wodan.
Chapter 6 deals with the goddess Tanfana.
J. van der Worp already concluded that the temple mentioned by Tacitus that was dedicated to Tanfana could not have been positioned at Oldenzaal or on the Tankenberg.
In succession of van der Worp's work de Bruijn tries to provide an answer to the question who Tanfana really was.
De Bruijn does not exclude the possibility that Tanfana was worshipped in the Dutch area of Twente, and that the name Tankenberg is connected to her.
The ending of her name, -fana, is seen with more goddesses, like the Roman Befana.
De Bruijn splits the name in the pieces Tan and Fana, and explains them as: the goddess Tan.
The diminutive form of Tan, Tanke, can explain the name of the Tankenberg.
Although there have been no temple on the Tankenberg there are clear clues that the Tankenberg used to have been a religious place.
The Big Stone (see 1st chapter) is also said to have stood there in earlier times.
This Big Stone almost certainly symbolized Tan herself, and according to legend the White Women come there every year on May the 1st to drink beer.
The moving of the stone from the Tankenberg to the city may have been an attempt to stop its worship.
On the Tankenberg is a well, which was later changed into a fountain by the Christians.
Because of this it is plausible that this well used to have played a role in the heathen religion.
Along this well lies the witte-wijvensteeg (white-women alley).
Tan has similarities with the in the province of Zeeland worshipped Nehellenia.
De Bruijn agrees with J. Wagenaar and C. Cleijn, and thinks that "goddess of the new light" is the best explanation of her name.
She would have been worshipped during the New Moon.
Just like the White Woman of Monferland she carries a little basket, but although Nehellenia was only worshipped as a solely benefacting goddess the White Woman also has some revengeful and ghostly features.
The name Monferland can be explained as Maanvrouwland ("Moonwomanland").
The name Tan can still be seen in the Dutch girlsname Tanneke, and the Dutch saying "Anneke Tanneke toverheks" ("Anneke Tanneke magic-witch").
Girls with the name Anna were teased with this because their name looked like a by the Christians hereticiced old goddess.
The Carthaginian goddess Tanit does not only look like Tan in name.
Tanit means "well" in Berber, Tan is a very old Germanic word for water (compare Tanais, the old name for the river Don).
Tanit was often depicted with a half moon, a serpent staff in her hand and a sun symbol above her head.
The serpents are symbols for the orbits of the Sun and Moon through the sky.
The snakes have a lionshead and an eagleshead, symbol for constellations.
This depiction looks much like the stamp found near the Dutch city of Ommen, which dates from 1336.
On this stamp is a woman with in her hand a fir-tree ("Denneboom" or, as in older Dutch; "den Tanne", alluding to Tan).
To the upper left of her is a Sun symbol, and she is flanked by a catlike creature and a bird.
The stamp symbolizes the marriage of the moongoddess Tan with the sun, and after the marriage she changed from a moongoddess into a mothergoddess.
The stamp completely originates from pre-Christian times, and the current city-weapon (heraldic sign) of Ommen is according to de Bruijn "a caricature and evidence of the disgraceful ignorance in our country about this subject."
The Christians equalled Tan with the Irish saint Brigida.
The old heathen customs lived on in her worship, like the burning of an eternal flame.
The Irish church prohibited this custom in 1200.
In Noorbeek in the Dutch province of Limburg people still have the custom of raising a fir-tree in front of a chapel that has been dedicated to Brigida in the beginning of February during New Moon.
Tan also has a linguistical similarity with the old word for stone, "stan".
This is the symbol for the Earth, source of new life.
The cavities of the stone are also resting places for the souls of the dead.
In the seventh and last chapter old symbols from the area around Oldenzaal are mentioned.
The chapter begins with a common introductionary part about Germanic symbolicism.
De Bruijn explicitly mentions sceatta's, small thick silver coins that have been found on the beach of Domburg.
These can be compared to Etrurian, Roman and Greek coins.
De Gauls also knew decorated coins, which have not been stamped under Roman influence.
The sceatta's are related to these.
The average type of Sceatta has on one side an archlike figure that is accompanied by rays.
This reflects the light, or a lighting sky.
Under this arch are symbols for the different positions of the Moon.
The arch sometimes depicts an animal (the boar of the god Freyr) or the skull of Ymir.
On the other side is a square, with in the middle a Sun symbol, like a ring (sometimes with a dot in it) or a swastika.
Around the Sun symbol are mostly four simple symbols.
The cross, which was already a holy symbol before the arrival of Christianity, is besides a symbol for the Sun also a sign of the two solstices and two equinoxes of the year.
The cross can also have eight feet.
A star, wheel or cross with eight feet depicts the Sun in her full power.
Sleipnir, the horse of Wodan in his role as Sungod, has eight legs.
The number of the Moon is three, because of her three (optical) positions.
The Moon is among other ways depicted by triangles, moon-crescents (sometimes with dots in it) and the threelegged swastika (trefot).
The sixpointed wheel, cross or star also depicts the Moon in her full power; Full Moon.
The Moonsymbolicism is more complex than the Sunsymbolicism.
Moonsymbolicism can be found in the city-weapons of among others Oldenzaal, Wassenaar and Vollenhove (a city where the Full Moon was worshipped), Sunsymbolicism can be found in the city-weapon of Ootmarsum.
After the initiating part de Bruijn makes a connection with the signs that are sometimes depicted on the front of a house.
This decorations are typical for the Netherlands and the Low German coastal areas.
Around Bremen and Hannover they have the form of columns, and thus points to the Irminsul. ("Great-Column", a pillar that was worshipped by the Saxons)
In the Netherlands and especially in the area of Twente the frontsigns of houses have more the form of a (pre-Christian) cross.
In the Moonsymbolicism on frontsigns the symbols ^ and + depict the increasing Moon, O or the symbol of a chalice the Full Moon and __ the waining Moon.
At first sight many frontsigns have a Christian background, but are in fact heathen.
De Bruijn adds: "It is sure that the ideas of the people have been changed a lot, which has changed the symbol, or the explanation of it, both of course in agreement with the more and more everything influencing Christian ideas.
This is why the explanation of frontsigns is very dependant upon the point of view of the viewer, but he has to know, that almost all Christian symbols have been taken over from pre-Christian times."
Also the symbols that were used to decorate the doorposts, are of heathen origin.
The X symbols that have been found, are according to de Bruijn undoubtfully referations to Wodan.
Bruijn, A.G. de, Geesten en goden uit oud Oldenzaal, 1929, Oldenzaal: Electr. drukkerij J. Verhaag
This depiction looks much like the stamp found near the Dutch city of Ommen, which dates from 1336.