Tanfana

Tanfana also known as Tamfana , was a goddess of the Istvaeones in ancient Germanic paganism.She is mentioned by Tacitus (annal. 1.51) as having a temple dedicated to her, by the Germanic tribes the Cherusci, Chatti and Marsi known as the templum Tanfanae. Tacitus also noticed the Marsi tribe worshipped her.

There is no undisputed testimony of this goddess besides the passage in Tacitus. An inscription "Tamfanae sacrum" was found in Terni, but is considered a falsification due to Pyrrhus Ligorius. Also a literary forgery is her appearance as Zamfana in the supposed Old High German lullaby.

Jacob Grimm theorized the Latin designation Tanfana suggests she was like a nymph or like a mother goddess. He notes the inscription has a similarity to the inscriptions to the goddess Nehalennia in the region of Zeeland.Tanfana could be a local variation of a number of ancient Germanic deities Perchta, Hel or Nerthus.Grimm suggests Tanfana came from the words tanfo, truncus, and may be "the name of a grove occupying the site of Eresburg." He also notes that -ana is the ending of other feminine proper names of the region, such as Hludana, Bertana, Rapana, Madana.

Bruijn

According to one scholar of Oldenzaal folklore, A.G. de Bruijn, Tanfana was a...
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