Mother Night

Dating back to the Iron Age, Modraniht or Mother’s Night, is celebrated on what is now Christmas Eve. This was a time to honor our foremothers and the Divine feminine.

Mother Night is the fifth of 12 nights of Yuletide. In the Norse and Germanic traditions, is a time for honoring female ancestors and celebrating with family.

It was a time to remember the mothers who had passed on, and as the dark nights reached their end and the new light was about to be born it was the moment of contact between endings and new beginnings, which is what modern culture does on New Year’s Eve and with New Year’s resolutions.

Offerings and sacrifices were made to female spirits and ancestors. Some appropriate offerings include a portion of a meal, butter, honey or mead left out in gratitude. These offerings can either then be eaten or brought outside and offered to the animals for their sustenance.

If you want to celebrate Mother’s Night this year, here are some ways you might honor your female ancestors and your winter goddess of choice. Whether you prefer La Befana, Skadi, Holle, or the Matrika, here are some ways to observe the mystery of this night:

• At sundown, turn on every light in the house and light every candle to bring in and preserve the light for the coming dark time.
• Sweep everywhere, in every corner, saying a prayer for blessing and protection
• Drink eggnog and wassail
• Eat rich foods
• Spend time with family and friends to set the tone of wealth, plenty, and harmony for the coming year
• Before bed, make cream porridge, and set a bowl of it on the hearth or stove for the house spirits and another outside for the spirits of the land
• Hang a boat made of birch bark and filled with a meal including fatty gravy on a tree behind your house

And so we remember the Goddess and our mothers, without whom we would not be.

Blessings of the Season!