The Vanir and Wagons
“Ing seems to be remembering the cult of the Vanir which flourished before and alongside of the Aesir. The main functions of the clan of the Vanir were that of peace and plenty. The hallmark of the cult was that of the deity in the wagon.
We first get mention of this cult by Tacitus in his Germania. He mentions a certain Goddess by the name of Nerthus and it was said that in the spring and summer mouths she travels around the countryside in a wagon tended to by her priests. Whenever her cart traveled there were no wars and all weapons had to be surrendered until she left. It is interesting to note that during the male orientated Viking era that they found no problem in changing the sex of the old goddess and renaming her Niord.
In the myths Niord is said to have had two children by the names of Frey and Freya. These three gods made up the clan of the Vanir and continued the tradition of the deity in the wagon for as late as the Viking age there were various myths surrounding the fertility gods in their carts.
There is a story in the Flateyjarbok which tells us about a man named Gunnar Helming and his escapades with a priestess of Freyr. It states that when he found the priestess she was getting Freyr ready in his cart to travel around the Swedish countryside.
I find it interesting that the worship of the wagon deity had still continued in the northlands almost 1000 years after Tacitus first described it. So we can deduce that the Anglo-Saxons had preserved this lore in the Ing rune poem.”
-From Wyrd Staves: Mystery of the Futhorc by Uriah Bohrer