In the early centuries CE the Imperial Romans occupy almost every part of Europe except Germania, though they keep trying. They also trade with German tribes. Captives on either side bring further insights and influences of culture and cosmology.
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The Roman Sol is male, corresponding to Greek Helios. His sisters are Luna the Moon and Aurora the Dawn. Likewise, in many cultures the Sun is male. He's a Yang energy, brilliant and glorious, the bringer of light and life; at the same time, a destroyer.
The French word for the male sun, soleil, comes from the Latin solis or sun. Also from Latin come the Spanish and Portuguese sol and today's Italian sole.
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In Rome of the 1st to 4th centuries, sun Sol has his own belief systems, initially borrowed from the Persian, but distinctly Roman. The Roman feast of Sol Invictus, the Invincible Sun or Unconquered Sun, falls on December 25.
The Roman version of the Mithras festival includes the Cult of the Bull and bull sacrifice. In the times of antiquity the worship of Mithras the Sun God spreads throughout the Empire.
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In Norse lore the female deity Sol appears in the the Eddas by Icelandic poet historian Snorri Sturluson (1179 - 1241 CE). The Norse are Germanic people from Baltic and North Sea regions.
Migrating north, they settle the lower regions of Scandinavia. By 800 CE they have expanded and grown into the infamous Viking culture, ending c. 1050 CE with the spread of Christianity in Scandinavia.
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Early Europeans are pantheistic, worshipping multiple gods. In nature belief systems everything contains a spirit, or is itself a spirit. It can be benevolent or destructive and often a little of each.
In nature worship, every living thing including celestial bodies like the Moon and Sun can interact and communicate with humans. It's not necessary to build a complex external mythology. All life is spiritual.
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Sun nature worship may involve homage to the Sun Goddess as a separate entity, or to the Sun herself as the blazing eye in the sky. To look her in the eye too long is to show arrogance, which angers the Gods. She can blind a person.
Prayers, sacrifices, songs, parades, festivals and incantations call for the kindness of the living-giving deity. If she draws too near the earth in her chariot or heavenly manifestation she burns the land dry and barren.
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If she moves too far away, the land freezes as if in the grip of Hahhima, the horrible Hittite Frost Demon. And if she stays too long beneath the earth, evil spirits roam free and the people will starve and die.
Light of the Sun has the power to defeat evil. The German Undead lose their powers when the sun comes up, much like the Western vampire. Sunshine chases the demons of darkness away.
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The Sun Goddess
Female Sun deities exist throughout the world including in Japan, Vietnam, China and other Eastern countries. Sun goddesses appear in Australian aboriginal lore, Inuit myth of Canada, Baltic and Germanic traditions of Europe.
The Sun Goddess is found among the Berbers, the Finnish and the culture of the Sámi people, the reindeer herders of northern Scandinavia. In the ancient near East they include Hepat, Sun Goddess of Aleppo, and the Sun Goddess of Arinna.
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The Sun embodies nurturing qualities attributed to the female and the fierce light of the warrior. The Sun is the Goddess; she is a creator spirit, the benevolent patron of growth, healing and life.
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