Mōdraniht / Night of the Mothers

 

Tonight I want to take this opportunity to celebrate the female side of Old Yule,Mothers night, specifically. the Germanic holiday of Mōdraniht. a sacred fertility festival, held on what is now known as Christmas Eve and is closely associated with the Germanic matron cult. A north west European tradition attributing power to women, the Matres  (Latin for “mothers”) and Matronae (Latin for “matrons”), which would have included figures like Eostre, goddess of birth, Hel, goddess of death and Frigg the goddess of love. Along with other sister deities such as the Gaulish goddess Epona, the Welsh goddess Rhiannon and the Irish tutelary goddess Macha. 

Sisters in spirit to Suleviae, a goddess worshipped in Gaul, Britain and Galicia, the Disir, protectors of the Norse Clans, the Valkyries and the Norns of Scandinavian legend and  the Saxon Sigewif and waelcyrian, brave shield maidens so often mentioned in old tales like the Hervarar Saga,  Egil’s Saga and the Gesta Danorum.

Celebrations and feasting that  pre-date the Christian overlay by millennia, originating as far back as the Stone and Bronze Ages. These still live on today in the folk festivities like  Jul in Sweden and Denmark, Jol in Norway, Iceland and the Faroe Islands,  Joulu in Finland, Joelfest in Friesia in Holland, and the Joulud in Estonia.

Mōdraniht (anglo-saxon) is literally translated as Mothers Night, or Night of the Mothers.We don't know a lot about this celebration because it would have been suppressed after conversion to Christianity. We do know that it was a time to celebrate motherhood and probably other female ancestors. This celebration of the feminine may be related to the age old correlation between the fertility of women with fertility of crops, and with rebirth of new life. The Winter Solstice, after all, celebrated the rebirth of the Sun and lengthening of days.

Many people already know that the Twelve Days of Christmas comes from the fact that Yule was not just a one day celebration, but rather a  twelve day celebration of the return of the sun and its triumph over darkness.The yule log is a symbol of this manifestation.

Even if you lived where you wouldn’t see the sun above the horizon, the winter solstice marked the last day of the year where the darkness was at its longest. After winter solstice, you could guarantee the days would start growing longer again.

Just as it is in other indigenous religions, ancestor veneration was a very important aspect of Germanic spirituality. Both male and female ancestors were honored. But, it seems that female ancestors played an important role as guardians of the family line.

Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that women were often the ones home guarding the homestead while men were off at war, raiding, or trading. We do know that like the Celts, Germanic women were often trained to wield a sword. Although women on the battlefield was not as common as men, it was not uncommon either. There are accounts of female bravery in battle, and it is known that certain battle tactics were designed specifically for the shield maidens. So, it might be that the women who tended the homestead were seen as strong protectresses by their children. Indeed, many Germanic female names have elements of strength and battle in them. For example, the name Mathilde translates as "mighty battle maiden."

 Among the notable works of the Venerable Bede (c.673-735) is De temporum ratione (The Reckoning of Time). It explains why the length of days and nights changes (Bede knew the Earth was a globe); it explains how the Sun and Moon cause the phases of the Moon, and it addresses the relationship between the Moon and the tides (but doesn't understand how the relationship works). It also includes an explanation of various calendars used by different cultures. The whole point of his scholarship was to explain how to calculate the date of Easter, that "floating Holy Day" that can be held anywhere from 22 March to 25 April.

One of the events he discusses as part of other calendars is Mōdraniht (Night of Mothers), intended to be the start of the New Year:

...began the year on the 8th kalends of January [25 December], when we celebrate the birth of the Lord. That very night, which we hold so sacred, they used to call by the heathen word Modranecht, that is, "mothers night", because (we suspect) of the ceremonies they enacted all that night. [Wallis, Faith (1999). Bede: The Reckoning of Time. Liverpool University Press.]

Pope Gregory suggested that the missionaries to England should hold Christian feasts on the dates and in the same places (reconsecrated as Churches) where the heathen had been accustomed to have their pagan feasts and in this way to use their habits to bring them over to Christianity.

Mothernight, as with so many other heathen customs, are pieced together from the very few bits and pieces that survive, and we know very little about what was really practiced. Those who recorded the history were more interested in having those customs forgotten than preserving them.

Who were the "Mothers" meant by Bede? I think he was referring to female spirits that had to do with mankind's welfare, and who would be sacrificed to and invoked for bounty for the coming year. Some scholars have linked them to the dísir (singular dís), female spirits that watch over the fate of Norse clans. These would be similar to the Norns of Norse mythology who function like the Fates of Greek mythology.
Bede seems to be reliable on many of the observations he makes of other cultures. Unfortunately, he did not elaborate on the "ceremonies" that he "suspected" were performed on Mōdraniht, and we have no other contemporary source for information on what the celebration entailed.

Whatever the case may be, we know that female ancestors remained a prominent element in Germanic heathen religion. They were celebrated not only during Mōdraniht, but they also enjoyed another holiday during the Autumnal Equinox - Dísablót. While Mōdraniht is attested in Anglo-Saxon sources, Dísablót is attested in the Norse. However, both cultures share a linguistic and cultural heritage.

Mōdraniht was celebrated on the date that we now call Christmas Eve.This though  a very  old custom  can still be appreciated by people of any religion today! So this year, raise a glass and toast to your female ancestors. and all the women who have helped raise you and yours and those who are believed to watch over our families and help us in times of need and offer our thanks.