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Christianity brought fundamental conflict with Nerthus worship. The new religion claimed earth was dead matter created by transcendent God, that the land itself had no consciousness or will, that proper relationship was vertical (humans to God) rather than horizontal (humans to earth).
The Church condemned Nerthus worship as devil-worship, her festivals as pagan abominations, the offerings as waste of resources that should go to Christian institutions. The sacred groves were cut, the springs declared ordinary water, the entire system of earth-relationship dismissed as superstition.
But the understanding persisted beneath Christian overlay. Farmers continued leaving portions of harvest in fields, continued avoiding certain sacred spots, continued practices that made no sense in Christian framework but that worked in maintaining agricultural productivity. The name Nerthus might be forgotten or replaced with Virgin Mary, but the essential relationship—humans acknowledging dependence on conscious earth, maintaining cooperation through offerings and respect—continued in disguised form.
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