Mythology in the Low Countries  

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The folklore of the Low Countries (Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) has its roots in the mythologies of pre-Christian Gaulish (Gallo-Roman) and Germanic cultures, predating the region's Christianization by the Franks in the Early Middle Ages.

In the time of the Roman Empire and Early Middle Ages, the Low Countries resident peoples included: Germanic tribes north of the Rhine River (Low Franconians, Frisians, Tubanti, Canninefates, Batavians), as well as the decidedly more Celtic and Gallo-Roman Gaulish Belgae tribes of Gallia Belgica south of the Rhine. Old Dutch mythology can also mean the myths told in Old Dutch language specifically, however many of the myths in this language are ancient and part of larger movements across Europe, such as Roman mythology that spread through the Roman Empire, and Continental Germanic mythology.

Pre-Christian traditions of veneration of trees (particularly the oak, see Donar's oak), springs and woods native to the Low Countries have survived in Christianized guise into the Middle Ages.

Sources for the reconstruction of such pre-Christian traditions include the accounts of the Anglo-Saxon missionaries to the region, medieval and modern folklore and legend, and local toponymy.

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Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Mythology in the Low Countries" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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