paganism. In the late Roman world a paganus was a ‘rustic’, and the word's shift to mean ‘non-Christian’ reflects a period when Christianity had spread among the upper classes and within towns, but not to the rural peasantry. Pagans need not share any common ground, but the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings recognized the same major gods and goddesses, but with slight variations in name (e.g. Woden/Odin), and although the native British had different deities these had responsibility for similar aspects of life such as warfare and fertility. The Romans had no trouble in assimilating the deities of either group with their own pantheon.

It is impossible to reconstruct fully the pagan beliefs and practices of either Celts or Germans as these were not written down. We have to rely either on the accounts of foreign observers such as Caesar or Tacitus, or on collections of legends recorded sometime after conversion to Christianity such as the Irish mythological literature or the Prose Edda of the Icelandic writer Snorri Sturluson. Occasionally parallels can be found between the written myths and archaeological evidence from periods of pagan practice; Scandinavian-influenced sculptures from Britain, for instance, appear to depict tales recorded by Snorri such as Odin's battle with the wolf Fenrir.

However, one should not envisage either Celtic or Germanic paganism as having structures or doctrines comparable to those of the Christian church. The building of temples and existence of a professional class of priests seems to have been more a feature of Celtic than Germanic practice. What may have mattered far more to the majority of people were localized guardian spirits who might be honoured at natural sites such as a spring, a grove of trees, or a hilltop. However, the need to ensure the support of deities with a wider remit for fertility or good weather would lead to some commonality of practice at key points of the agricultural and calendar year.

Christianity saw off the major pantheons of gods and goddesses without much difficulty and major festivals of the pagan year such as midwinter were replaced with appropriate Christian celebrations like Christmas. What was harder to eradicate was the attachment to local holy places, though healing springs, for instance, were sometimes absorbed into local saints' cults. What came to be described as superstitious or magical practices by which people tried to control their destinies, heal illnesses, or see into the future persisted longest of all and have faint echoes today when we touch wood or throw a coin into a wishing-well.

Barbara Yorke