It would seem like this question should have an easy and commonly known answer, but somehow I have managed to confuse myself on even the simplest things. So ! Here is my idiotic question :
What type of Paganism did the area we now call Germany practice ? The web says Germanic Paganism which I should probably accept as an answer (because Germany is even in the name) but I have managed to even confuse that answer. Here are my reasons :
I am no historian, but I am pretty sure Germany was not one Germany in the beginning - so I do notknow if all parts of modern day Germany are included. To further confuse me, it seems like the web mentions that (parts?) of Scandinavia practiced Germanic Paganism more than it mentions Germans doing so. This leads me to think that even if Germans practiced Germanic Paganism, it would be more likely the northern areas than the southern. And, my roots come from the southern part of Germany, so if the northern part of Germany is what they mean by who is practicing Germanic Paganism it does nothelp me figure out my heritage (although it is still welcome information!).
Germanic Paganism, which I have only skimmed on Wikipedia (not the best course of action), seems to have a lot in common with Norse Paganism. Why is this? If they do not differ so much in gods (do they?), what practices do they differ in? Is Norse and Germanic basically different branches of the same tree, kind of like Catholic and Protestant are both Christian? I am very uninformed on the relationship between these two, or even the religions themselves, and I have no idea about social politics, so Im sorry if I managed to bring up an identity issue that these two groups might have. (?)
And a follow up question: what did modern day Switzerland and Austria practice in the past ? They are also Germanic if I am not mistaken, but to my understanding, Germanic people does not necessarily mean they practiced Germanic Paganism.
Thank you very much for the time to read (and possibly respond) to my very beginner question: it probably qualifies as spoon feeding, and for that I apologize.