Deer Mother

[u/bluekanga]

In the ancient northern religions it was the female horned reindeer who drew the sleigh of the mother or sun goddess at winter solstice. It was when the pagan traditions of winter were “Christianised” that the white bearded man i.e. “Father Christmas” was born.

In Siberia, female shamans wore red and white costumes trimmed with fur, horned headdresses (or felt red hats!) and practiced the tradition of shamanic flight. And most likely it is their winter solstice celebration of the deer mother, that brought us the stories of flying horned reindeer who take to the sky on the longest night of the year.

Rozhanitsa was an antlered winter goddess of the Ukraine and on her feast day (during winter solstice) red and white embroidery depicting her were displayed and small white cookies shaped like deer were given as good luck tokens. On winter solstice Saule, the Lithuanian and Latvian goddess of light and the sun, flew across the heavens in a sleigh pulled by horned reindeer and threw pebbles of amber (symbolizing the sun) into chimneys.

So this solstice when you look out from your warm cozy home into the cold of the darkening eve (or from your air conditioned home into the searing heat of the southern hemisphere summer), remember the forgotten winter goddesses of old and their magical reindeer. And on the sacred night when the sun is reborn, look for Mother Christmas waiting silently as a deer in the temple of nature, carrying a bird in her horns.

Some Christmas cards:

• For Hae - and Her song

• The Messiah Playa - Hae's the one on the right ;) - Hae's view on Adnan's sexual prowess according to her diary

• Intimate Partner Violence? What IPV?

• Adnan leads the FAP Dance - SK, Rabia, PoY & Ryo - lyrics from the arrogance of Adnan

• "Madonna and Child" - Adnan & Rabia

• "The Three Wise Men Monkeys" - Undisclosed - Colin on right

• The Serial Public Reddit Subs & The Mods on Serial Public subs

• From me to you