Sunday, December 25, 2011

Mother's Night

I have already written a bit about Yule which was, more or less a month or season in the Icelandic calender. There were some mid-winter sacrifices made to some female deities called the 'disarblot'. There is little information about what or who the 'disir' are but the Venerable Bede wrote a small chapter on the months of the Angles in his book De Temporum Ratione, it is a book about time and calendars.
In Chapter 15, he wrote that November was 'Blod-monath' and December, as well as January, was 'Guili' (the g is pronounced as a 'y'). He also mentioned that the night of Christmas, December 25th, was called Modranicht, or 'Mother's Night', Bede suspected it was called this due to some ceremonies on that night. It was also the beginning of the new year. It is a shame he did not say more about these winter celebrations. We can only speculate what went on.

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6 comments:

  1. KristinDecember 26, 2011 at 11:16 AM

    If the spring sexual festivals were as common as historians say they were, then the women who got pregnant around the spring equinox would give birth around the winter solstice. Don't know if that has anything to do with it or not. Just a thought. :))

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  2. The Red WitchDecember 26, 2011 at 11:52 AM

    That is a good point Kristin, thanks. Because the hag of winter is not usually tied to motherhood so it can't be her.

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  3. AnachronistDecember 27, 2011 at 7:03 AM

    A great thinking, Kristin - I bet prospective mothers wanted to ensure a speedy and safe delivery so they made those sacrifices. It also
    fits well the later Christian beliefs that Jesus Christ was born that night.Some sources say that this is the night that the Goddess awakens from her rest to discover that she is pregnant with the Sun God.

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  4. TracyDecember 29, 2011 at 6:57 AM

    then the women who got pregnant around the spring equinox would give birth around the winter solstice.
    Interesting thought, Kristin - umm, my daughter was born on the Winter Solstice.

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  5. The Red WitchDecember 29, 2011 at 4:44 PM

    Witchy woman. ;-)

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  6. TracyJanuary 7, 2012 at 6:01 AM

    LOL! Nah, It's just I always feel extremely er fertile in the Spring.

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