It has been asserted by some modern Heathens that the Aesir and Vanir are not tribally distinct, and so this list was made to show both critics and those who might be leaning in favor of the Vanir and Vanic ways that the Aesir and Vanir are not "all the same"; there are differences in how the Gods present Themselves as well as key elements of Their worship.     


CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VANIR GODS

-The Vanir are known for consanguineous marriage at least among Their leading ranks, such as the unions noted in the primary sources between Njord and His sister (most likely Nerthus), and Freya and Her brother.

-The Vanir are more immediately associated with animals than the Aesir.  Frey and Freya ride a boar and a sow respectively, and cats are sacred to Freya and synonymous with Her witch-cult.  Frey is also connected with the stag through the antler, and stallions were kept in His honor by Hrafnkell Freysgoði as well as His people at Thrandheim, Norway.  Sea birds are sacred to Njord, and livestock, especially the cow, is connected with Nerthus.  Freya is connected with falcons.

-For the most part, the Vanir are not involved in Ragnarok.  Njord is specifically said to go home to Vanaheim and the Vanir at that time.  Nothing is said of the Goddesses - including Freya, who is known as a battle Goddess - so we can assume the Vanir-as-a-whole are completely absent from the last stand.  While the lore of Ragnarok mentions that Frey fights in the battle, it does not mention Him dying*, and the account does explicitly mention the death of the other Gods involved (Odin, Thor, Tyr).  Frey is also the only one of the Gods to go up against a thurse that is specifically elemental (wild, destructive fire), rather than an anthropomorphized being representing some principle of chaos.

-The "magic number" of the Vanir seems to be four rather than nine: four for the ruling Vanir (Njord, Nerthus, Frey, Freya), the four dwarves Freya slept with to acquire Brisingamen, and the four oxen Gefion (likely one and the same as Freya) used to plow the Danish island of Zealand.  Four is also representative of the four seasons and four directions (especially as presented in the four angles of the diamond that is the Ing rune), and the four elements of Wiccan practice and traditional Western occultism (earth, air, fire, and water).

-The Vanir cult itself seems to have started during the late hunter-gatherer period of Europe, in the beginnings of horticulture, and began to be blended with the Aesir cult when "civilization" was coming from elsewhere.  The four most prominent Deities of the Vanir - Frey, Freya, Njord, and Nerthus - are brother/sister pairs who are noted as mating with one another, most likely in rituals to preserve fertility of the land.  Njord and Nerthus have connections with the ocean and lakes/rivers respectively, and Frey and Freya have connections with the land, Frey of meat animals and crops and Freya of fruit and flowers.  Njord, Frey, and Freya also all seem to be invested in the quality of human life and influence prosperity and love as well as familial relationships.  Nerthus seems to have investment in the Earth itself, and keeping humanity mindful of the holiness and awe of the Divine.


CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VANIR CULT

-The wain seems to be the most important symbol of the Vanic cultus.  Frey and Nerthus are both noted as having a wain that goes on a yearly procession, and Freya also has a wain pulled by cats.  The only Aesic God noted to have a wain is Thor, who is possibly the son of Nerthus (if She is the same entity as Jord), and is also married to Sif - a probable Vanir Goddess - and as such as some Vanic influence.  (While Frigga is commonly thought of as driving a wain Herself, this is 'fakelore' and cannot actually be attested to in the primary sources or early depictions of Her.)

-Another important symbol is the ship, which only Frey and Njord have connections to out of the Northern Gods.  Even when the Northlands mostly cremated their dead, many cremations involved burning ships.  Many burials were in ship-shaped stone formations known as "stone ships".

-Bodies were found in lakes and bogs throughout Northern Europe in Neolithic times.  Nerthus' victims were sacrificed in a lake, and the sacral kings of Yngling blood were usually also drowned.

-There was no cremation during the Ertebölle/Funnelbeaker culture, and the practice of inhumation in a mound was common long after the Aesir-Vanir war and blended religion, among Frey's historical devotees (re: Thorgrim in Gisla's Saga).  The practice of útiseta most often involved sitting on a burial mound, and the elves (who Frey ruled) were also noted to dwell in mounds throughout the land.

-During the Ertebölle/Funnelbeaker era and through Proto-Germanic culture, beaker shaped vessels were found in graves as well as homesteads.  The beaker may have been of significant purpose in Vanic rituals, and some beakers were found with remnants of ethenogenic herbs and alcohol mixtures in them, suggesting ritual or shamanic usage.

-Frey and Njord are the two Deities mentioned in oaths taken on the oath ring in Landnamabok.  Ullr is mentioned elsewhere as having an oath ring.  The Vanir probably initiated the custom of oathing on a circle shape in Their time (symbolic of the circle and cycles of life), which carried over into blended Aesic and Vanic religion.

-In Ynglinga Saga, Freya was said to practice seiðr, and that it was commonly practiced among the Vanir.  Following the Aesir-Vanir war, Freya taught seiðr to Odin, who was most interested in using it.  While in the modern day many who claim to be seiðr practitioners are oathed to Odin, seiðr originated as a Vanic practice and followers of the Vanir have every right to claim it as our own.

-The Vanir cult seems dependent on priesthood, which carried into blended Vanic and Aesic religion.  Frey and Nerthus are noted as having a priestess and a priest respectively, who is in intense communion with the God and performs Their yearly procession to bless the Land and its people.  Frey and Njord are mentioned in Ynglinga Saga as being the priests of the Gods following the Aesir-Vanir war.  The question is, what were they sacrificing, and who were they sacrificing to?  I believe at least part of this is collecting the offerings given from man to Gods, and in return blessing men.  But from a Vanic perspective, They are also giving of Their inherent sacral/hallowing nature to the Aesir, in frith.



CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AESIR GODS

-The Aesir are known for exogamous marriage: Odin and Frigga are not brother and sister, Baldur and Nanna are not brother and sister.  In Ynglinga Saga, Odin made the brother-sister relations of the Vanir illegal at least in Asgard.

-The Aesir are typified by Their tools.  The Vanir also have tools/weapons - notably Freya's Brisingamen, Njord's axe and Frey's sword/antler - but They are not known immediately by these tools as the Aesir are known by Theirs:
    ----Asa-Thor's hammer, which functions by dispersing lightning rather like a policeman's taser.  (The hammer was later worn by Heathens during the conversion era to differentiate themselves from Christians who wore crosses, and the hammer can be seen as a symbol of the Aesic cult par excellence.)
    ----Odin's ring Draupnir, which makes nine more like itself every ninth night, and as such would put Him as a "ring-giver", as many ancient Germanic kings were called.  Odin also has a spear called Gungnir, which would be an easy weapon for a layman to craft and use, effective for quick and painful killing of foes, and creating horrific injuries for ordeal purposes.  A spear was also more efficient to throw over the head of the opposing army - a practice of the Vikings as a way of Odin claiming foes and war-dead - than a sword, axe, or something else.
    ----Frigga's distaff.  While Holda and Frigga are both spinners, Holda is a solitary and does it for the comfort of Her own cottage, whereas Frigga has a great hall and clothes many and probably makes tapestries as well.
    ----Heimdall's horn, which He uses as an alert and an alarm.

-The number of the sacred Aesir mysteries is nine: Odin hanging on Yggdrasil for nine days, and having a ring that produces nine more of itself every ninth night.  It is noted that while nine nights is the time Frey waited to marry Gerda, and the time Njord and Skadhi stayed in each other's homes, this was not until after Frey and Njord came to live among the Aesir.

-While the Vanir guard the fertility of the Earth, the Aesir seem to be in charge of its progress.  Thor is, again, something of a divine policeman.  Frigga is a hostess and a politician in Her own right.  Heimdall is a warder or "security guard" if you will.  Bragi is a God of poetry and song.  Odin is a God of higher learning and "knowledge as power" through ruling society.  Loki, though of Jotun blood, is often counted among the Aesir and can be seen as a figure of chaos which sometimes helps the natural order, sometimes does not.

-The four primary Gods of the Aesir - Odin, Tyr, Thor, and Heimdall - all fight at Ragnarok.  They all fight against beings associated with some aspect of chaos, as opposed to Frey fighting the elemental Surt.  They are also all killed, whereas Frey is not.


CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AESIR CULT

-Sacrifices made to Odin were usually hanged (often criminals; see also "the nine nines" mentioned by Adam of Bremen), or slain opponents in battle (the blood-eagle was common).  Odin Himself hung on a tree during His Yggdrasil ordeal, literally dying and reborn to gain power.  We have no evidence of runes prior to 200 CE in the Northlands, so we can assume this was done after the Aesir-Vanir war, and when Aesic and Vanic religion were blended in the Northlands.

-The practice of cremation began in the Northlands during the Corded Ware/Battle Axe culture, the time when we see people coming from elsewhere and most likely bringing the Aesir Gods with them.  In fact, it is an explicitly Aesic practice, noted in Ynglinga Saga:

Thus he (Odin) established by law that all dead men should be burned, and their belongings laid with them upon the pile, and the ashes be cast into the sea or buried in the earth. Thus, said he, every one will come to Valhalla with the riches he had with him upon the pile; and he would also enjoy whatever he himself had buried in the earth. For men of consequence a mound should be raised to their memory, and for all other warriors who had been distinguished for manhood a standing stone; which custom remained long after Odin's time.

-Rune magic was a practice known to Odin as well as to Rig-Heimdall who gave the runes to humanity.  While Odin gave the runes to all tribes to use, it originated with the Aesir and is much more Theirs.  In addition, rune magic was often accompanied by something called galdor.  Unlike what you will read in most Neo-Pagan texts about runes, galdor most likely did not involve singing the names of runes themselves, but rather a verse of poetry that served as a charm.  Odin and Bragi are both noted as Gods of poetry and inspiration, and it seems that weaving words together effectively was seen as magical.

-There are a few characters in the primary sources called Thorsgoði, but not any called Odinsgoði.  There was note of sacrifice made to Odin at temples, and historic worshippers of Odin who were kings, but we can assume that Odin and Tyr lacked an organized priesthood the way that the Vanir and Thor did.  The Aesir cult is notable for lack of priestly figures, who are consorts of the Gods or at least carry Their presence and luck with Them to bless the people directly.



In no way is this article saying one tribe is better than the other, but rather I hope to give some food for thought.