Our ancestors didn’t really worship these Gods, right? They were all just
“symbols,” right? 

From the Frisian Law of 785 (Lex Frisionum):

If anyone breaks into a shrine and steals sacred items from there, he shall
be taken to the sea, and on the sand, which will be covered by the flood,
his ears will be cleft, and he will be castrated and sacrified to the god,
whose temple he dishonoured.