Zistac, A Weekly Day Honoring the God Ziu

by Sean Jobst

(Source)

Surviving in modern words for Tuesday, our Germanic ancestors honored Ziu, the Sky Father, God of the Thing, of order, justice, and contracts. So we have Schwäbisch Daischdich or Zaischdich, or the Alemannic Zistac.

These have the same root as Middle High German Ziestac, Old High German Ziostag, Frisian Tiesdi, Old Norse Týrdagr, and Old English Tisdæi or Tiwesdæg. Other names, like modern German Dienstag or modern Dutch Dinxendach or Dingsdag, are based on Ziu's association with the Thing.(1)

All our terms ultimately originate from the Proto-Germanic *Tiwaz Dagaz, when our most ancient ancestors from the Steppes were most aware of Him as the Sky Father. Here is how the venerable James Hjuka Coulter, Heathen scholar and founder of the Irminen-Gesellschaft - an organization of continental Germanic Heathenry here in the United States - describes the God Ziu:

“Ziu [An Tyr] No other God or being is more renown for his sense of glory and honor than is the God of the sword. Ziu is the firm keeper of oaths, a God of triuwa [literally 'faithfulness, loyalty, truth,' corresponding to Norse troth] and the fastness of an unwavering and unrelenting trust. He is famous for his great wisdom, is unrivalled in fortitude, and as the old tales tell us, was the only God brave enough to dare to approach and bind the Wolf of Chaos - and unflinchingly sacrificed his right hand in so doing! Ziu is a God of war, most often equated with Mars in Latin chronicles. Germanen of old Sacrificed to him (and Zisa, his wife) for victory in battle, yielding the first spoils, captives, and the weaponry taken in the conflict. In keeping with his patronage over armed conflict, we find his hand in the settings of Thing, ordeal and trial-by-combat. The second day of the week originally bore the God's name: OE Tiwesdæg, OHG Ziestac (Ziu's day), as it is still preserved in the contemporary Tuesday. Today's German Dienstag still corresponds to Ziu, literally translating as Thing's day or Day of Thing.”(2)

The Brazilian proprietors of the website Alþeis Sidus: Suebo-Visigothic Heathenry, who define their mission as "Germanic Reconstructionism within South American and Iberian cultures," thus keeping alive the Heathenry which many forget is also carried within the blood and ancestry of millions of South Americans (especially across the Southern Cone and south Brazil), have this excellent description of Ziu, reconstructed as *Teiws as an intermediate position between Tiwaz and Ziu, whose perceptions evolved with the growth and expansion of our tribes(3):

“*Teiws — The origins of this deity reach back the Proto-Indo-European Ancestors of the Germanic tribes.  He was then the Sky-Father and the soul of the sky itself. He was a god of law, order and healthy development. In the Old Norse sources, he’s attested as Týr, a god of the warrior’s courage in the battlefield, the keeper of *freiþs [Frouwa, Frith] during the þings [Things] and every gathering of people. He is a protector of *uslag (ørlög), and *Teiws acts according to it, as we can see in his Norse myth, where he gives his own hand as a sacrifice to keep the course of waúrþans [Wyrd, wurt] in the way it should happen. *Teiws is also the father of *Tiwisko (Tuisto)  'a god, born of the earth' (deum terra editum), and it may be assumed that he is or was married to #Nerthus# at any moment. His son *Twisko is the father of  *Mannaz (Mannus), one of the honored legendary Ancestors of tribes near the ocean, the Ingvaeones, those in the middle, the Herminones, and the rest of Istvaeones. But, according Tacitus, Marsi, Gambrivii, Vandilii as well the Suebi could have seen themselves as descendants of *Mannaz. *Teiws is also the god of justice, one who ensures that each one reaps what they have sowed in the lays of waúrþans.”'

I like this meditation/prayer to Ziu, since it incorporates all his qualities as well as giving an honorable mention of the Goddess Zisa, whom I honored with a detailed 2019 article which I hope plays its a role in keeping Her memory alive within our Schwäbisch folk-consciousness and revive Her veneration. The prayer has this wording from the Irminen Gemeinschaft (keeping the collective “we”, which could be changed to “I” for the solitary Heathen):

 

“Ziu, husband to Zisa, Great God of bravery, one-handed god, you chained the Fenris Wolf that threatened the worlds. We can’t do that, but we can do other things, some ordinary, others heroic. Remind us of your bravery and your sacrifice. Give us the courage and strength we need to fetter our own Fenris. Keep us mindful of our duties, and help us keep our fears bound as tightly as you bound old Slaver Mouth. Thus doing, may we share in your glory by imitating you. WE GIVE YOU A MOST HEART-FELT HEIL, ZIU, as we honor the Ziu that resides in us all!”

 

And translated into Schwäbisch (I used this translation service):

 “Ziu, de Zisa sei Ma, de g’randig Mutig, de oihandig Gott, du hasch de Fenris-Wolf, wo d'Welt hätt wolle fresse, festgleit. Mir känn des net so recht, aber mir känn anderi Sach' mache, mal ganz normal und mal richtig heldenhaft. Erinnert uns an deins Mut und des, was du geopfert hasch. Gib uns d'Kraft und d'Stärke, damit mir unsre eigne Fenris bändiga känn. Hilf uns, dass mir unsre Pflichte net vergesse und unsre Ängst so fest im Griff bhalte, wie du den alte Slaver Mouth festgleit hasch. Wenn mir des schaffet, känn mir an deim Ruhm teilhaffa, indem mir dir nachmache. MIR SAGA DIR A RIESI-HERZLICHES HEIL, ZIU, wenn mir de Ziu ehren, der in uns all'em drin steckt!”

 

And translated into modern standard Deutsch:

 “Ziu, Gemahl der Zisa, großer Gott der Tapferkeit, einhändiger Gott: Du hast den Fenriswolf in Ketten gelegt, der die Welten bedrohte. Wir vermögen dies nicht zu tun; doch können wir anderes vollbringen – manches alltäglich, anderes heldenhaft. Erinnere uns an deine Tapferkeit und dein Opfer. Verleih uns den Mut und die Kraft, die wir benötigen, um unseren eigenen Fenris zu fesseln. Halte uns unserer Pflichten eingedenk und hilf uns, unsere Ängste ebenso fest in Banden zu legen, wie du einst den alten Slaver Mouth fesseltest. Auf diese Weise mögen wir an deinem Ruhm teilhaben, indem wir dir nacheifern. WIR ENTBIEGEN DIR EIN TIEF EMPFUNDENES HEIL, ZIU – indem wir jenen Ziu ehren, der in uns allen innewohnt!”

 

Hail Ziu! Hail Ziu! Hail Ziu! 

Notes:

(1) Rudolf Simek, Dictionary of Northern Mythology, trans. Angela Hall, D.S. Brewer, 2007, pp. 334-336.

(2) James Hjuka Coulter, Germanic Heathenry: A Practical Guide, 1st Books Library, 2003, pp. 85-86.

(3) I especially like their description because it emphasizes Ziu as the Sky Father, so with certain cosmic, primordial symbolisms reconciling with two other spiritual thought-streams. One is the worldwide recognition of our world as emerging from the union of Sky Father and Earth Mother, innate across world mythologies and folklore so as to point to a deeper esoteric truth. The interplay between the two are expressed throughout mythology and folklore. 

Second is the related description of the Aeon Thelete in the Gnostic Nag Hamadi, which speaks of the Anthropos (human species) emerging from an "experiment" by the Aeons Thelete (“will, desire”) - who seems to correspond to the Sky Father - and Sophia (“wisdom”), the latter whose plunge from the Galactic Center literally morphed into Earth. Will, desire, wisdom are all parts of the "raw material" and potentiality of the Spirit and Consciousness imbuing everything. I embrace this Sophianic Narrative as distilled and explained in the writings of John Lamb Lash, fully compatible with our own Folk Faith and Indigenous Mythos. For its the primal Myth of the emergence of Earth and our human species. It speaks to this universal (but not 'universalist') myth-theme of the Sky Father and Earth Mother. 

The Germanic origin myth, as expressed in an important Germania passage, then picks up the specific origin myth of the Germanic peoples as autochtonous - just as the origin myths of other ethnic groups worldwide speak to their own emergence from the Earth. These origin myths can thus be seen as “sequels”, continuing the one primordial Sophianic Myth, which also speak of what scientists have termed Panspermia - cosmic material “seeded” into the various biospheres (so that we each are truly Indigenous and autochtonous). We each have the myth-theme of the Sky Father and Earth Mother, but while containing the same core elements the distinctions exist because of how we each interface with them.