*Ø* Blogmanac December 20 | Modresnach

Modresnach – The Mothers’ Night
This is a Germanic/Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon annual commemoration, an Odinist Midwinter festival held approximately on this date, many echoes of which can still be found in our Christmas traditions. It was believed that dreams on this night foretold events of the year to come. Traditionally, pine or other evergreen trees are decorated tonight to represent the tree of life. The decorated evergreen tree symbolises the Tree of Life, or Yggdrasil (World Tree). In Norse Mythology, Yggdrasil was a gigantic ash tree, thought to hold all of the different worlds: such as Asgard, Midgard, Utgard and Hel. Like Jesus on the Cross (often called ‘the Tree’ in the Christian tradition), Odin suffered on Yggdrasil.

The star at the top of the Modresnach tree represents the pole star of the Star God or Goddess ...

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.

Read about the origins and folklore of the festive season at the Wilson's Almanac Christmas page.

[Christmas tree fingerprint art here]