I love to learn of the ancient Gods that we don't know so much about. Even though I don't know this God I will honour him in my next blot to Woden. He had a special place in our ancestors lives so we should at least honour that.
Rhenus Pater Vader Rijn / Vater Rhein / Rhenes ("Father Rhine", German Vater Rhein) is the personification or river God of the Rhine, called "father of nymphs and rivers" by Marcus Valerius Martialis 100AD. Because of his depiction with horns also called Rhenus bicornis, and as an allegory of the subjugated barbarian tribes called Rhenus cornibus fractis "Rhenus with broken horns" by Publius Ovidius Naso 10BC / 10AD.
There are records of Celtic and Germanic human sacrifice to river gods, and of the Rhine specifically records of a custom of submerging newly-born infants as a test of either their vitality, or as an oracle to determine if they had been conceived in wedlock.
The picture is from the Rheinschifffahrt museum in Germany They had a special exhibition on Rhine culture. Picture taken by a fan of our page. was also kind enough to recommend the 2 books depicted.
