or (;

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

for "Night of the Mothers" or "Mothers' Night") was an event held at what is now

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

by the

Anglo-Saxon pagans The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened ...

. The event is attested by the medieval English historian

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom ...

in his eighth-century Latin work . It has been suggested that sacrifices may have occurred during this event. Scholars have proposed connections between the Anglo-Saxon and events attested among other

Germanic peoples The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...

(specifically those involving the , collective female ancestral beings, and

Yule Yule, actually Yuletide ("Yule time") is a festival observed by the historical Germanic peoples, later undergoing Christianised reformulation resulting in the now better-known Christmastide. The earliest references to Yule are by way of indi ...

), and the Germanic , female beings attested by way of

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in pagan ...

and

votive A votive offering or votive deposit is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally ...

inscriptions, nearly always appearing in trios.

Attestation

In , Bede writes that the pagan Anglo-Saxons:

Theories and interpretations

Scholars have linked these ' ("Mothers") with the Germanic .Simek (2007:205–207) and Herbert (2007:24).

Rudolf Simek Rudolf Simek (born 21 February 1954) is an Austrian philologist and religious studies scholar who is Professor and Chair of Ancient German and Nordic Studies at the University of Bonn. Simek specializes in Germanic studies, and is the author o ...

says that ' "as a Germanic sacrificial festival should be associated with the Matron cult of the

West Germanic The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three branches of the Germanic family of languages (the others being the North Germanic and the extinct East Germanic languages). The West Germanic branch is classically subdivided into ...

peoples on the one hand, and to the ' and the ' already known from medieval Scandinavia on the other hand and is chronologically to be seen as a connecting link between these Germanic forms of cult."Simek (2007:220). Simek provides additional discussion about the connection between ', the ', and the

norns The Norns ( non, norn , plural: ) are deities in Norse mythology responsible for shaping the course of human destinies.'' Nordisk familjebok'' (1907) In the '' Völuspá'', the three primary Norns Urðr (Wyrd), Verðandi, and Skuld draw w ...

.Simek (2007:205–207). Scholars have placed the event as a part of the Germanic winter period of

.Orchard (1997:187). Regarding Bede's attestation, Philip A. Shaw commented in 2011 that "the fact that Bede's ' can be to some extent confirmed by the Romano-Germanic votive inscriptions to matrons does at least indicate that we should not be too quick to dismiss the other evidence he provides for Anglo-Saxon deities".Shaw (2011:61).

Notes

References

* Giles, John Allen (1843). ''The Complete Works of the Venerable Bede, in the Original Latin, Collated with the Manuscripts, and Various Print Editions, Accompanied by a New English Translation of the Historical Works, and a Life of the Author. Vol. VI: Scientific Tracts and Appendix.'' London: Whittaker and Co., Ave Maria Lane. * Herbert, Kathleen (2007). ''Looking for the Lost Gods of England''. Anglo-Saxon Books. * Orchard, Andy (1997). ''Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend''.

Cassell Cassell may refer to: Companies * ''Cassell Military Paperbacks'', an imprint of Orion Publishing Group * ''Cassell's National Library'' * Cassell (publisher) (Cassell Illustrated or Cassell & Co.), a British book publisher now owned by the Orion ...

. * Shaw, Philip A. (2011). ''Pagan Goddesses in the Early Germanic World''. Bristol Classical Press. * Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall. ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology''.

D. S. Brewer Boydell & Brewer is an academic press based in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, that specializes in publishing historical and critical works. In addition to British and general history, the company publishes three series devoted to studies, editio ...

. * Wallis, Faith (Trans.) (1999). ''Bede: The Reckoning of Time''.

Liverpool University Press Liverpool University Press (LUP), founded in 1899, is the third oldest university press in England after Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. As the press of the University of Liverpool, it specialises in modern languages, li ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Modraniht Anglo-Saxon paganism December observances Events in Norse mythology

Attestation

Theories and interpretations

See also

Notes

References