Wotan was a nature god as were most ancient gods. Wotan was present everywhere and always in disguise. On his travels throughout the world he wore a big blue coat, which either is or represents the sky. He was present in water and all natural places were held sacred.
The Catholic church turned all Germanic nature gods into anti-gods. Papal propaganda and the zeal of monks to eradicate "heathenism" turned the Germanic god Wotan into a wild warring beast, Freya or Frigg into a witch, the Prussian god Deiw into Deiwel-Teufel, or devil.
Other names were Wodan, Wuotan and Gwodan (Old High German). Despite persecutions by Catholic church, the memory of Wotan persisted in legends and customs. In 1900 the concept of Woden was still current in Mecklenburg. Almost all German Gaue (Latin, pagi) had mountains and other places named after him under such generic names as Wodenesberg, Wuodenesberg, Godesberg and Gudensberg, Wodensholt etc.
For more information on Wotan , or Odin as he is called in Nordic languages see wikipedia : Odin
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