Saturday, December 14, 2019

Goddesses of the Longest Night of the Year





“The goddess has never been lost. It is just that some of us have forgotten where to find her. ” - Patricia Monagham

Every culture has had its way of celebrating the longest darkest night of the year.  Most celebrations are focused on birth, life, death, renewal and protection.  In this painting, on canvas, I celebrate the four Goddesses connected to my DNA heritages:  Frigga of Scandinavian beginnings; Frau Holle, Scandinavian; Beira, the Queen of Winter in Scotland; Saint Brigid of Ireland; and Spider Woman of the Hopi.

Frigga honored her son, Baldur, with a blessing from Mother Nature, in order to protect him.  But Baldur's brother found that mistletoe was not mentioned in the blessing, so he made a spear of mistletoe and killed his brother.  Baldur was later restored to health and Frigga declared the mistletoe as a plant of love rather than death.

Frau Holle (who may be Frigga by another name) is associated with evergreens and snowfall.  It is said the snow that falls on the longest darkest night is Frau Holle shaking out her feather -stuffed mattresses.

Cailleach Beira is the Scottish Queen of Winter, one of the triple goddesses, and appears when Mother Nature is dying prior to winter.  She is the bringer of winter storms.  It is interesting that she is portrayed as being like the witches we celebrate in October, with bad teeth and matted hair, but she rides her broom and drops gifts.  The Irish called her Cailleach Beare.  

Spider Woman is the Hopi representative for the longest darkest night (Soyal).  She is an honor to the sun's victory over winter's darkness and the battle is waged while the celebrants celebrate.  She is honored much the same as Brigid, the fire-tender.   No matter where it was celebrated, there were fires and today we celebrate with lights.  Some feminine aspect is always honored during this time. (Think Mary).  Mothers’ Night (the solstice) continues for a week or two after the longest darkest night.

As I began this canvas, I wanted to portray protection during the longest, darkest, night, thus, my own symbol of protection, the Eagle.   All characters were free-handed in basic shapes.  I began with the smallest feminine character, the bringer of storms, Frau Holle with her crown of a snowflake.  Beira is portrayed with snow-covered evergreen crown.  Spider Woman is portrayed with feathers in her crown.  Frigga is portrayed with mistletoe in her crown.  The painting is simplistic, but portrays my thoughts right now.

 



©Carol Desjarlais 12.13.19

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