When worshipping Fenrir its good to look at his translated name (Old Norse 'fen-dweller') and the nature of the fens today. How gods are part of lifes ecology. Not as rulers but co existence or as rådare spirits who advises us on different elements they exist within
(Lead photo because hill and green buts looks like sleeping dog)
This is marshland or wetlands. These places can be fresh or salt water across Europe and other countries. Theres diverse types of wetlands and some have tides and islands.
It can be an area that is source of peat which was used as important fuel for the hearth fires in the past. So people could survive daily life.
From what i read, fens in England at least were settlements, secret islands, places to hide, outlaws and safe havens for avoiding people raiding, it had unique communities and sacred sites like monasteries over the centuries.
In the Fen country, it was the custom that whoever carried a split goose-feather was entitled to the help and protection of Fenmen in times of trouble. (16th-17th century)
Sadly most the big fens were drained out much of people living there lost their rural fen based culture. As they were only people who knew how to navigate the tricky marshlands and how to hunt, fish and forage there.
Fens support a rich variety of wildlife. Some fens can contain up to 550 species of plants; large numbers of dragonflies, and several thousand insect species and aquatic beetles. Many bird species live in fens including snipe, woodcock, curlew, and Cetti’s warbler. Look out for water voles and grass snakes too.
With a high peat content and water table, fens are highly diverse habitats, supporting many endangered plant and animal species.
Some examples of rare fen plant species are Slender Green Feather Moss (Hamatocaulis vernicosus), Crested Buckler-fern (Dryopteris cristata) and Fen Orchid (Liparis loeselii). Fens are home to a very special invertebrate community, with astonishing diversity in groups like, beetles, dragonflies, molluscs, moths and soldierflies. Among the vertebrate visitors of fens, we can find Water Vole, Bittern and several species of newts.
The draining of the Levels was a disaster for biodiversity. This area was once home to a dazzling array of wildlife. Beavers and salmon bustled in the waterways, while lynx and wild horses roamed on dry land, among many hundreds of other species. "The Levels once had huge populations of eels, wild boar, tree frogs, you name it,"
Look out for several orchid species, including early and southern marsh-orchids, common spotted-orchid and marsh helleborine – some sites also support the rare narrow-leaved marsh orchid or fen orchid. The small and delicate white flowers of grass-of-Parnassus can be found along mown rides or in small-sedge fens. In the Norfolk and Suffolk broads, look out for very tall nettles that are stingless and scarce species such as cowbane and greater water-parsnip. Also in the Broads, look for the spectacular swallowtail butterfly laying its eggs on tall, prominent milk-parsley plants and the Norfolk hawker dragonfly hunting over reed-fringed, unpolluted, freshwater ditches.
I’ve walked on bogs and wetlands and one false step and your leg goes into absolutely icey cold water. If you know wetland plants you know to be careful where you step. Some bugs in these places bite and swarm too.
Ancient people built walkways through these places
Eating bittern eggs was just one way in which the Neolithic inhabitants of this region survived in what was then – 6,000 years ago – a very different place. They lived on the islands and hills of the Levels and built wooden walkways to travel between settlements across the wetlands. One of them, the Sweet Track, was built in 3806 BCE and was found in 1973 perfectly intact in the peat, which is acidic and extremely low in oxygen, meaning it can preserve items for thousands of years.
Read over how landscape, wildlife and history and how it shapes deities like Fenrir as part of wetlands ecology.
Protective? Hidden dangers? Sustaining life? Freedom? Vulnerability? Safety? Loyalty? Temperamental? Water? Earth? Fire? Wind? Diversity? Preservation? Peaceful?
