I would appreciate some discussion before I go off and make a thread structure that is poorly thought out, has historical howlers, etc. I want to make something that is helpful to others, not just a convenient structure for myself.

Its clear to me that the following subjects need to be present, some of them should be combined into one topic. I have suggested a grouping but would very much welcome improvements or complete alternative sugestions.

General discussion

Broad and comparative discussion on the general topic of Germanic religion of the period

Sources

Literary sources (Tacitus, etc - the Eddas are later, aren't they?), epigraphic sources (dedications, inscriptions - or is that all roman and thus in the German and Roman thread? Don't want to exclude any written Germanic material)

References

Books (including reviews), papers, online material, photos, upcoming exhibitions - modern material as opposed to contemporary sources.

Material evidence

Archaeology of ritual, burial customs, artefacts.

German and Roman

The influence of Germanic religion on religions of the Roman Empire (and the roman republic? was there such influence?); and the influence of Roman religious practice on Germanic religion (there was some, such as the erection of altars etc, though this seemed to be an influence only in a Roman context and not outside the Empire of after the fall of the empire). Dedications by Germanic peoples in a Roman context would go here.

per-deity threads, eg Nerthus

One per deity, created on an as-needed basis as people have material to post or questions to answer. Maybe create one (Nerthus) as an example.

There also needs to be some topic text to set the scope (mainly to clarify the historical period; Migration-period religion should be under that board, though the roots of it are appropriate here). In addition to setting the scope, it should also be motivational, historically accurate, and short ;-)

I would really like some help writing that intro (and Ahtaswintha would need to post it, anyway). There is lots of info on later Saxon and Viking religion, but I don't know how far back the roots go. Do the Aesir and the Vanir figure in this historical period or are they later?

This is from the Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition:

pre-Christian religious practices among the tribes of Western Europe, Germany, and Scandinavia. The main sources for our knowledge are the Germania of Tacitus and the Elder Edda and the Younger Edda. Although it is possible to perceive certain basic concepts that were important to the pre-Christian Germans, there was no Germanic religion common to all the Scandinavian and Teutonic peoples; neither can we know whether a ritual or legend peculiar to one Germanic tribe was common to all Germanic tribes.

Germanic religion, like most ancient religions, was polytheistic. In early times there were two groups of gods—the Aesir and the Vanir. However, after a war between the rival pantheons (which perhaps reflects a war between two rival tribes), the defeated Vanir were absorbed into the Aesir, and the gods of both were worshiped in a single pantheon.

Is it basically accurate or hopelessly wrong and anachronistic for the period? While being aimed outside the period, this advice from Arlea Æðelwyrd Hunt-Anschütz seemed pertinent also.

This page seemed useful for a general overview (its bilingual German and English) and also this page on Nerthus.