Asatru and Heathen Yule

[icymist]

Yule called in Old English Geol began with the rites of Modraniht or the Night of the Mothers. Bede refers to this sacred night as the beginning of the Anglo-Saxon New Year in his De Temporum Rationale

"The ancient peoples of the English computed their months according to the course of the moon ... However the year began on the eighth day before the Calends of January where we now celebrate the birth of our Lord. And the same night now sacred to us, they then called by the pagan name Modranect, ‘Night of the Mothers’, on account, we suppose, of the ceremonies which they performed overnight."

In all likelihood, Modraniht was in some way connected to the cult of the Mothers. Altars all across the Lowlands, in England, France, and in other areas were erected to the "matrons," by Germanic mercenaries in the service of Rome. In some cases these altars were more than mere votive stones, but made up part of greater cult centers such as those at Nettersheim and Bonn. The "mothers" were shown with fruit baskets, plants, trees, babies, children, cloths for wrapping babies, and snakes. Most feel that this cult of "matrons" can be linked to the Norse idea of the disir or ancestral women who had a sacred night to them in the fall at Winter Nights (commonly referred to as Disablot.

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