Numbers in Germanic paganism

A few examples of these many occurrences in Norse mythology include: 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 that lasting nine days, where "supposedly nine victims were sacrificed each day".

[2] According to Gardeła, "Leaving aside the problem of the historical veracity of these two Latin accounts, as well as the lack of tangible traces of violent and large-scale sacrificial acts in the archaeological record at Uppsala and Lejre, the fact that both Adam and Thietmar consistently refer to the number nine in ritual contexts leads to the supposition that the chroniclers wove their stories around an authentic and widespread idea rooted in the Viking Age.

[8] 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.

[3] As highlighted by scholar Leszek Gardeła (National Museum of Denmark), "surviving sagas and poems reveal that certain numbers held special significance among Norse societies.