Social Practices Identified in the Songs of Nibelungen

Social practices identified in the Songs of Nibelungen
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Religion is one of the common social organizations and it is still practiced even in the modern days. It plays important roles in shaping the society and helps in social and spiritual development. Religion helps in teaching the society about the expected morals and living a holy life. As one of the oldest religions, Christianity is practiced in many regions across the globe. The Songs of Nibelungen was developed in the era where religion was not observed as much and people’s behavior was not guarded by their spirituality. To maintain order in the society, there were traditions that were passed from one generation to the other and the society respected the traditions. Marriage was among the social traditions that were highly valued as it is evident in the marriage between Kriemhild and Siegfried. There is also the issue of trust in the society as depicted in the Songs of Nibelungen. The consequences of trusting mischievous people like Hagen leads to Siegfried. Through the Songs of Nibelungen, one understands some of the social practices during the time. This paper examines the most significant social practices during the pre-Christian era in Germany.
The lack of religion in the society does not make the people disorderly since they are guided by the traditional beliefs and values that they hold dear. There is a belief that dreams are a reflection of the reality and they are interpreted to mean different things. When Kriemhild dreams of two eagles attacking and killing a falcon, her mother interprets this to mean that she would not have a happy marriage life since her husband will be killed. To avoid such an occurrence, Kriemhild resolves to staying single without a husband for some time but she soon thinks that it was just a dream, and gets engaged to Siegfried. True to her dream, her husband is killed by Hagen but her brother Gunther is aware of the plot but does not inform her since he dislikes Siegfried. As it was evident in her dream, the two falcons who would kill her husband were Gunther and Hagen. The other traditional belief is depicted by the proof of Hagen as Siegfried’s murderer. The traditions hold that the body bleeds in the presence of its murderer. In the plot, Kriemhild was in the company of Hagen when Siegfried’s body bled, indicating that he was the murderer. When one kills an animal, they are supposed to bathe in ...