thumb|200px|The [[Stentoften Stone, bearing a runic inscription that likely describes a blót of nine he-goats and nine male horses bringing fertility to the land.]]
The numbers three, nine, and other multiples of three are significant numbers in Germanic paganism. Both numbers (and multiples thereof) appear throughout surviving attestations of ancient Germanic folklore, in both mythology and Germanic paganism. Along with the number 27, both numbers also figure into the lunar Germanic calendar.
- Nine Herbs Charm: A charm focused on nine plants, using the number nine extensively and featuring the Old English extension of the Germanic god Odin.
North Germanic
The North Germanic record frequently mentions the numbers three, nine, and multiples of three. A few examples of these many occurrences in Norse mythology include:
- Odin's self-sacrifice where he hangs for nine nights on a "windy tree" (Hávamál)
Exterior to texts on mythology, accounts of Temple of Uppsala by Adam of Bremen in what is today Sweden and of Lejre in today's Denmark by Thietmar of Merseburg purport that pagan sacrificial feasts occurred at these locations lasting nine days, where "supposedly nine victims were sacrificed each day".
Ibn Fadlān's eyewitness account of the Viking Age Scandinavian Rus' in the first half of the 10th century on the Volga river mentions that the deceased Rus' leader's body was ritually left in a chamber for nine days before being set ablaze on a burning ship with a variety of goods and the body of a female slave.
Archaeology
A variety of objects found in the Germanic cultural sphere have been interpreted by scholars as reflecting a particular focus on the number nine. These include:
- Miniatures with nine studs found in a square or circular pattern.
- The valknut: According to scholar Leszek Gardeła, "Probably the most vivid manifestation of the number nine motif in the material culture of the Viking Age comes in the form of the so-called valknútr, a symbol carved in wood, metal and stone which usually takes the form of three inter-locking triangles (giving a total of nine triangle points)."
Scholars Mindy MacLeod and Bernard Mees note that, "the number nine plays a significant role in Germanic folklore: charms frequently contain nine ingredients or specify a ritual to be performed nine times". The two highlight the instruction in the Old English Æcerbot for the speaker to "turn to the east and bow nine times", the Nine Herbs Charm, and a variety of other items as examples.
See also
- Numerology
- Rök Stone