Full Moon ♊️
I’m going to do something a little different, a side project if you will….
The Grove of the Corieltauvi have been indulging in photos of Lunar Pornography- yes, I’m being mischievous! The Grove has been sharing photos of last night’s full moon and the above was my effort. As Cthulhudruid was saying mars was visible, I took this as a sign of action.
The past two days in the UK, have been the coldest days so far and definitely the frostiest. Although lots of trees are now skeletal, it has been remarkable by how many are still hanging on to their leaves (here’s looking at you sycamore and horse chestnut), some are still green and I’m not talking about the evergreens!
Both days have seen a layer of white across the landscape of Nottingham, although not snow the frost has its own sparkling enchantment.
As we head towards the Midwinter Solstice, the days are significantly shorter, and the sky has wonderful shades of peach and gold fading into pale blue shifting into indigo hues. And as the sun sets, you can make out the first stars of the night.
Aerra Geola or “before Yule” is the old English term, from the Anglo-Saxon tongues, to describe the month of what we now call December.
As this year had begun with an unexpected interest in the Anglo-Saxons, the progenitors to the English, ergo my linguistic ancestors; I have been inspired to follow the full moon and their names for each of these moons, or should I say, monath “month”.
More accurately, the month in the Anglo-Saxon calendar begun on the new moon. As my phone’s camera isn’t that good on capturing the new moon phase, I’m going to go with the full moon for ease of aesthetics.
Yule takes its name from giuli, the name given to December and January. Thought to mean ‘Wheel’ it is interesting that the 25th December saw the Anglo-Saxon New Year in a festival called Modranicht or Mother’s Night. So, Yule was split into three parts: Before Yule, Yule and After Yule. If correct, this would be the month before Yule (December), Yule itself being the midwinter solstice and the month after Yule (January).
On Modranicht itself, Gale R. Owen in her book Rites and Religions of the Anglo-Saxons wrote:
…. involved the bringing in of evergreens, the burning of a Yule log and a feast centred around a boar’s head.
From this we can gather that Mother’s Night was one of the Yuletide festivals and took place a few nights after the solstice. The customs above seem almost familiar: the bringing in of evergreens (holly and Ivy?) the burning of a Yule log (most likely Yew as it’s rune Eoh describes it as “a warden of fires…. A joy in the home”). Although almost no one today centres a feast around a hogs head, this may have a few meanings: The god Freyr was said to have had the boar as his totem. But with Mother’s Night having definite female overtones, perhaps this wasn’t the case. Especially as it was Anglo-Saxon custom to sacrifice an animal and bury its head under the foundations of a building, so perhaps the hogs head was a way keeping the spirit of the house or hall or settlement appeased.
Owen, in her book hypothesises that the mothers referred to could either be Freya herself as a goddess of fertility and plenty, or it could be the Matres and Matronae (literally “The Mothers”): images of three women who were likened to the Norns, although The Mothers were often depicted carrying symbols of plenty: bread, fruit, and in some cases had children and nappies with them; possibly hinting at some association with midwifery. Themes of sacrifice involving incense, pigs and offerings of fruit also accompanied The Mothers too.
In our house, the Christmas decorations went up last Saturday including the gift of a wreath made by Devi’s mum. She made it with evergreens! Whilst decorating, Devi carried on with her own tradition of glazing her boiled hams in the oven, and although we had no Yule log, we did switch on the Christmas lights and the electric fire giving us a very comforting glow. And we did get a wreath hand made by a mother…. Not quite the festivities as described from over 1000 years ago, but very close I’d say!
To all my followers and readers I wish you all a Merry Christmas, a Merry Midwinter and a Merry Mother’s Night!
Locksley /|\
Sources: Gale R. Owen, Rites and Religions of the AngloSaxons, Barnes & Noble, New York, 1981. P. 48.
The Rune Poem- Old English Poetry Project, Camden.Rutgers.edu
Tha-Engliscan-Gesithas.org.uk
Englatheod.org
Wikipedia.org
A Wise Fool 