Kershaw here traces the roots of the Männerbund and the social function it had in (Indo-) Germanic culture; the young men were separated from the tribe permanently or temporarily and sent out on a mission of conquest – simultaneously being taught the art of warriorship and the lore of the Ancestors: this being two aspects of the very same thing. The Ancestors are as well ‘The Army of the Dead’ and the protectors of the tribe, lead by Odin (as Herjann: leader/ruler of the Host/Heer; the warband). The young warriors became the dead warriors through cultic union, and took upon themselves the very function of ‘Protectors’ as well as their honorable yet wild and ferocious strenght – they became the ‘wolves’. As outsiders to the tribe, they were in ‘marge’, and (temporarily) ‘dead’ to the functions of the tribe as a stable unit. The tradition seems to have been that the Männerbünde spent half of the year away from the tribe, the actual timing of this depending on how the seasons fell in the geographical area of the tribe; for the most part this time was from autumn to spring.
This was Odin’s time of the year, and it was at Yule, the midwinter feast, that the dead returned. This was called the Wild Hunt, when troops of young men (briefly) returned to the village (as the ‘Ancestors’) to steal beer and sometimes food. The Hunt was seen as propitious; the ‘visit’ from the Ancestors brought blessings to the village and the tribe. If the young warriors (as Ancestors) were given due reverence all would be well, but in the case that they didn’t, they would pull the doors and roof off the house, or in the worst case reduce it to rubble. In this they were simply excercising their Ancestral right/duty. No good will come to the living if they do not venerate the Dead Warriors lead by Odin; the Fraridr (the onward/swift-rider).
In the Celtic lands, the ‘fian’ goes ‘wolfing’ during the cold seasons and return in spring. In Rome, a city founded by the wolf-suckled Romulus and Remus, the festival of Lupercalia (Wolf-festival), in spring, was the beginning of the new year. The founding of new settlements/cities was in fact an important feature of the warrior-bands/wolf-heroes. In other instances they would rustle enough cattle to be able to return to their tribe and become part of the ‘*teuta’; the community, where they now could marry and become one of the mature warriors of the tribe. In the case of a land-grab this would entail also the abduction of women and so there was no practical reason to return to the original village/tribe. Some, however, would stay on as part of the warrior bands as a life-long consecrated warriors; they were elite warriors, like e.g. the Viking berserkrs or the ‘dæmon warriors’ of the Chatti; they stayed on as wild ‘wolfs’ of the forest and removed from the social order of the village, but still part of the larger social order, both as protectors/defenders of the tribe and also having an initiatory role/function in the teaching and consecration of new young warriors.
Kershaw argues that Odin was not actually one-eyed and that the Mimir story is a later addition; the ‘one-eyedness’ referring rather to his quality of being disguised and ‘unseen’ (the same term was used for features like e.g. dark, blind or hidden). In an old dice game (found in India through Greece, Rome and the northern Indo-European area), the worst throw was the ‘one eye’, in Latin. this was called ‘canis’ or ‘canicula’, and among the Indo-Europeans it was called ‘Dog’ – in the worst case, the dice player would risk and loose everything he owned: he was ‘gone to the dogs’. In the original game (in India) there was no winner, the search was for the looser, who would then become leader of the Vratya troops (the Indian version of the Männerbünde); “into him went Rudra, he turned into Rudra, the Dog, the Leader of the Wild Host” (from ‘Bruderschaft und Würfelspiel’, Harry Falk). Rudra can be translated as ‘The Howler’. In Old Norse and modern Scandinavian languages, the pips on the dice are ‘eyes’. Kershaw writes: “I am sure that the ritual dice game to chose a leader, who is not the winner, but the looser—who becomes the dog, who becomes the mad god, who becomes Death—is Indo-European.” (p.253) -- From an earlier chapter in the book: “In the ideology of the Männerbund, Wolf and Dog “mean” the same. (...) [T]he two have the same value as ferocious fighters – Odin’s warriors are “mad as dogs or wolves”—, stand in the same relationship to Death, and are associated with the same gods.” (p. 133). “Wolf” or “dog” names were common throughout all of Indogermania, e.g. in the forms of “barker” (dog) or “barker of the forest” (wolf) – and also in the names of tribes.
[E.g. Laiamicho (“Little Barker”) of the Langobards; Cynhaval (“Like a Hound”) in early Welsh, where we also find the element Cu- in the names of king-heroes, like Cu Chulainn, and names like Conan (“Little Dog”) as well as Faelan (“Little Wolf/Howler”). In Iceland and Norway, Ulfhedinn was originally a term for a warrior and later became a personal name, earlier names from this area are Hariwulf (“Warrior Wolf”) and other names with –wulf endings, and in Old Icelandic Vidhundr (“Forest Dog”) which is similar to the Gothic hero Vidigoia and the Allemannic king Vidigabius (“Forest Barker”) – just to mention a few but interesting examples.] -
Odin’s wild band of wolfs, the Männerbünde, were honored as not only an important and indispensable part of tribal culture and throughout the Indo-European lands; Odin was the very upholder of culture itself as Ruler and Herjann of the Wild Host. - A very thoroughly written and well researched book, packed with interesting information and references.




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