This is my first post since Covid! I feel like I've just come
out of a coma.
Have a blessed Yule!
From Maryte Danute 1
The Baltic bit is a bit wrong. Saule dies during the solstice and it is through our songs she is
reborn.
The Lithuanian word for December, Gruodis, means death as that is
when the sun dies.
THE DEER MOTHER * Written by Freyja Mae Lomas
In a time long before Santa flew across our skies, it was the female
reindeer who drew the sleigh of the sun goddess at Winter Solstice. Today it is
not Rudolph that adorns our Christmas cards and Yule decorations but the deer
mother’s beloved image. Because unlike the male reindeer who sheds his antlers
in winter, it is the doe who retains her antlers, and it is she who leads the
herds in winter. 18 The Northern tribes in the Neolithic era depended on
reindeer to survive, the earth was much colder then and the reindeer more
widespread, the female reindeer was especially venerated by the northern people.
She was the “life-giving mother”, the leader of the herds upon which they
depended for survival, and they followed the reindeer migrations for milk, food,
clothing, and shelter. 19 Through the lands of Scandinavia, Russia, Siberia,
Britain and across the land bridge of the Bering Strait, the deer mother was
revered as a spiritual figure associated with fertility, motherhood,
regeneration, and the rebirth of the sun. Her antlers adorned shrines and
altars, buried in ceremonial graves, and were worn as shamanic headdresses. Her
image was etched in stone, woven into ceremonial cloth and clothing, cast in
jewelry, and painted on drums. And across the northern world, it was the Deer
Mother who took flight from the darkness that engulfed the northern lands to
bring light and life to the new. 20 The red and white colors of Yule are thought
to descend from Siberian legends. Folktales tell how shamans, dressed in red
suits with white spots, would collect the Amanita Mushroom (the archetypal red
and white mushroom) in large sacks, then dry them over a fire and deliver them
via his reindeer sledge to the community as gifts at the winter solstice. The
extra spring in the steps of the reindeer due to them feasting on these
mushrooms is the reason the reindeer are said to have taken flight. 21 While
many historians observe the link between Santa’s garb and the red and white
amanita mushroom ingesting shaman, few mention that it was the female shamans of
Siberia who originally wore red and white costumes trimmed with fur, horned
headdresses or felt red hats. The traditional ceremonial clothing worn by the
Sami women healers of parts of Sápmi (Lapland), were green and white with a red
peaked hat, curled toed boots, reindeer mittens, fur lining and trim. Sound
familiar? 22 The Reindeer was a sacred animal to our ancient ancestors of
Northern Europe. The doe was seen as the giver of light and life and is linked
to many ancient goddesses of these areas. 23 Beiwe is a Sun Goddess of the Sàmi,
the indigenous people of whom the Northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland,
Russia, and most of the Kola Peninsula call home. The Sàmi are reindeer herders
who rely on the reindeer for their survival. In Sàmi folklore, Beiwe nourishes
them and their herds and helps her people maintain mental health during the
difficult months of darkness. In their stories of her, she flies through the
heavens on the Winter Solstice with her daughter, Beaivi-nieida (sun maiden) in
a ring of reindeer antlers flinging fertility and life back onto the land. At
the Winter Solstice, warm butter (a symbol of the sun) is smeared on doorposts
as a sacrifice to Beaivi so that she could gain strength and fly higher and
higher into the sky. 24 Rozhanitza, the Slavic Winter Goddess is associated with
reindeer and the Winter Solstice. She is depicted as a horned Goddess with
reindeer antlers. Folk art of red and white embroideries were made of her for
solstice celebrations. On her feast day, December 26, cookies made in the shape
of deer were given and eaten for good luck. 25 Saule, the Lithuanian and Latvian
goddess of light and the sun, took to the skies on the Winter Solstice in a
sleigh pulled by antlered reindeer. She journeyed with the aid of her smith, who
forged a golden cup in which to catch her tears which then transformed into
amber. During her flight through the heavens, she threw these pebbles of amber,
like little bits of sun to the world of humans below. She was a spinning Goddess
who used her skill to spin the rays of sunlight onto the world. 26 Horned
Goddesses are found in the Celtic world also. Ellen of the Ways, in her most
ancient form, was the Guardian of the Leys, the ancient track ways. As a Horned
Goddess, she led the way on the migratory tracks of the reindeer. 27 Esther
Jacobson in her book, The Deer Goddess of Ancient Siberia, concludes that the
deer images found throughout the early nomadic and semi nomadic cultures of the
vast steppe and mountainous regions of Eastern Europe and Asia are evidence of a
Deer Mother as the source of life and death. 28 "We can learn from the wisdom of
the past, a time when humans understood more clearly our tiny part in the cosmic
web of life. and the necessity of honoring the earth and all its life. At this
time when the shadow side of human nature once again seeks dominance through
naked self-interest and the promotion of fear and hatred of others, let us
remember and honor the ancient’s belief in the Reindeer Goddess, the Sun Goddess
and the Mother’s Night when She both flies high in the sky and dives deep into
the earth to nourish and promise a renewal of life in the coming spring. Though
it may be dark now, the light will return”.
