Tīw's Day

Tiw is old English for the Norse God Tyr, who, rumour has it was 'Top of the Pantheon' originally, but ended up as Odin's son sometime during the migration period : when Germanic tribes moved in waves out to older Celtic peoples lands right up to the Christian roman era, and after into Anglo Saxon and Viking settlements... That's pretty vague, covering about 2000 years...but this isnt an anthropology blog.

Tiw/Tyr/Tiwaz[norse rune name]/Tius[Latin] would have existed across Celtic terrirories culture through gradual mergings with Germanic peoples producing subtle differences in character between what the Celts, earlier Germanic, and then AngloSaxon and Norsemen peoples attributed him, and lived through him.

God of the Hanged or Justice. One armed. Long hair, holding a sceptre in his left hand, and with a wolf biting his right. 

That coincides with the western religious tradition of sceptre, staff or wand holding, reminiscent of Egypt (Again!), kabbalah and tarot.

He existed before the Romans and after the Romans.

I thought this guy explains some deeper cultural mixes to illustrate the complexities of the cauldron mix.

http://orvillejenkins.com/peoples/germanicceltic.html 

So We know of Odin..

One of Norse Odin's chief qualities was aligned with war, whereas Timeless Tiw was more single combat and sky... may be this suited the times more.

[Norse Odin is similar to older Celtic/Germnaic Woden - claiming Woden as an ancestor had by the 8th century become an essential way of establishing royal authority - Anglosaxons and Vikings obviously took him seriously]

I read once that Odin's one-eye imagary was not 'cause he lorst it in a fight - but was used to depict him more like a crazed warrior squinting in battle as he charges sword in hand.

However, Odin was also represented as a Masculine-Feminine combo (aren't we all) ...when to show compassion (F) and when to unflinchingly deliver justice (M) is the mark of a wise warrior I suppose..

And if he was not dual, then Freya/Frigga acts as balance to Odin.

 

If I am mentioning Odin as well as Tyr, then I should also mention Fenrir - Star of Tuesday's Tale.

Fenrir, father of the Wolves. ..son of Bad boy Loki.

From stories finally compiled,with gaps filled, in C13 Prose Edda (Norwegian) the God's had knowledge of prophecies foretelling great strife from Fenrir and his rapid growth, so they bound him, and as a result Fenrir bit off the right hand of the god Tyr..

Fenrir is foretold to kill Odin during the events of Ragnarok, but after this fateful event was then killed by another of Odin's sons.

This seems to take us full circle to the idea that Tyr was once honoured like Odin and brave in combat.

A Handy Linkage bit of  to Days of the Week.

As with our months, the origins are from the Vikings and Romans.

MONDAY - from the Romans, meaning "moon's day."

TUESDAY - from the German meaning "Tyr's Day" -  Viking mythology and the Germanic god of war and the sky.

WEDNESDAY- From Viking meaning "Woden's Day or Odin's Day ."

THURSDAY- From Viking meaning "Thor's Day."

FRIDAY- From "Frey's Day. " Frey was a male viking/Norse God, famed in Ragnorok tale, or refers to Freya/ Frigg's day - she was the wife of Odin, the Queen of the heavens and the goddess of love and the household.

SATURDAY- From Roman meaning "Saturn's Day." He is the father of Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Ceres and Juno.

SUNDAY-From the Romans - meaning "Sun's Day."

So Odin, Thor, Freya and Tiw make up quite a big part of our week in current parlance. Moon and Sun get one each, and Saturn. Old Father Time.

The major periods of the moon are seven days, 1/4 month, long. 

This seven-day period was later regularized and disassociated from the lunar month to become our seven-day week. 

The Greeks named the days week after the sun, the moon and the five known planets, which were in turn named after the gods Ares, Hermes, Zeus, Aphrodite, and Cronus. The Greeks called the days of the week the Theon hemerai "days of the Gods". 
The Romans substituted their equivalent gods for the Greek gods. And the Germanic tradition lives on as above.

What Yellowhammer enjoys with Pantheons, Polytheism and Animism in general is that there's something for everyone, stories to learn from, and link you into the weaves of time....