Part 2: Frau Holle and Perchta; seasonal symbolisms of the Wild Hunt
by Sean Jobst
31 December 2020
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| "Frau Gode" by the German painter Ludwig Pietsch (1824-1911) |
"Frau Holle is represented as a being of the sky, begirdling the earth: when it snows, she is making her bed, and the feathers of it fly. She stirs up snow, as Donar does rain: the Greeks ascribe the production of snow and rain to their Zeus; so that Holda comes before us a goddess of no mean rank. The comparison of snowflakes to feathers is very old; the Scythians pronounced the regions north of them inaccessible, because they were filled with feathers. Holda then must be able to move through the air, like dame Herke. Her annual progress, which like those of Herke and Berhta, is made to fall between Christmas and Twelfth-day, when the supernatural has sway, and wild beasts like the wolf are not mentioned by their names, brings fertility to the land. Not otherwise does 'Derk with the boar,' that Freyr of the Netherlands, appear to go his rounds and look after the ploughs. At the same time Holda, like Wuotan, can also ride on the winds, clothed in terror, and she, like the god, belongs to the 'wutende heer'"(Grimm, 267-268).
Whereas Mutter Erde (Mother Earth) personifies the landscape, Frau Holle is that aspect which is the seasonal and weather change. For Paganism knew the deities as allegories for various forces of Nature, the Cosmos, and the Psyche, but also very real entities since there is a power and consciousness within everything. Frau Holle unites both the upperworld and underworld, the weather being an interplay of both upon the landscape. She is said to live in a cave, which represents inside the earth. She was a goddess of healing, much like the healing connotations of Wodan in the continental sources (such as the Merseburg Charms). Her close link to Wodan can be seen in her names of Frau Gode or Wode, as there was a time when "G" and "W" were used interchangeably. Another variation is Frau Herke, a female version of the Old English Herla whose own named derived from a Proto-Germanic word meaning "host leader" and thus referred to Wodan: "This would place Frau Herke in the same category as Frau Gode/Wode, as being names that appear to have come from the custom of married women being known by their husband's first name. However in the case of Herke, not only does she potentially take Wodan's name, but in some places she's also believed to take his role as leader of the Wild Hunt"(Heath, 6).
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| "Perchta" by contemporary American artist Scott M. Fischer |
Who is Perchta? Her name means "the bright one", deriving from Old High German beraht, bereht -> Proto-Germanic *brehtaz. The feast of Epiphany is called Berchtentag in her honor. The Austrian mythologist Lotte Motz saw Perchta as the South Germanic equivalent of Holle, while Grimm notes Perchta was known "precisely in those Upper Germa regions where Holda leaves off, in Swabia, in Alsace, in Switzerland, in Bavaria and Austria"(Grimm, 272). Both share the role of "guardian of the beasts" and oversee spinning during the Raunächte, which connect them with goddesses of fate, the Norns - and the act of spinning an allegory for both "weaving" ones deeds into the Web of Wurt and magical-shamanic qualities: "That a godhead visits humans and intervenes in their concerns is indeed a rare and characteristic phenomenon. Just such a divinity is encountered, even in modern times, in the regions of German speech. Folk traditions have preserved the features of this female deity so that, with minor variations, she emerges as a well defined and vivid creature. Though she belongs to widely separated geographic areas and is designated by many names we cannot doubt that the many individual spirits had arisen from one basic form"(Motz, 1992, 11).
She would receive flax from shepherds in the Summer and bless their flocks. She traveled through the countryside, inspecting for any signs of laziness in spinning; failure to fulfill this task in a timely manner would lead to Perchta cursing with bad luck for the next year. "People also say that Dame Holle begins to move about during the Christmas period. This is why serving women replenish their spindles or roll large amounts of yarn or fabric around them, and leave them there over night. They say if Dame Holla sees this she will say, 'For every thread there will be a good year'"(Praetorius, 403). Folklore identifies snow as occurring whenever Frau Holle or Perchta makes her bed. Even the clouds were taken as symbolic: White, fluffy clouds were her hanging her clothes out to dry in the sun; more elaborate clouds were her "weaving" - its not for nothing that Grimm noted the Wild Hunt being "perceptible in cloudy shapes". A Munich manuscript from the Alderspach Monastery alludes to those who "garnish their table for Percht"(Lecoteux, 18), a remnant of the ancient Pagan practice of libations and setting aside food for one's ancestors at the table.
Perchta is dual-natured, alternately appearing as a young maiden or an old "hag" depending on what is reflected back at you through your own deeds. The term "hag" was a Christianized term used to describe an old woman, often in the medieval context of accusing her of "witchcraft", often being the herbalists and midwives with knowledge of natural lore and herbalism. Even in the term "hag" Perchta's ancient healing abilities were evident: The Hagal Rune meant "all-protecting" and Germanic warriors would inscribe it upon their shields. Conversely, her violent qualities include cutting open the stomachs of those not using their time wisely and the symbolism of those standing in the way of her Wild Hunt with their entrails trailing behind them is a visceral allegory for what we can call Shadow Work or a profound examination of the self. In their fairy tale, the Grimm Brothers stress Frau Holle's dual role as benevolent to the girl who willingly helped and as a "hag" to the girl's lazy half-sister. This represents the Yuletide rewarding those who have been good and punishing those who have been bad, later Christianized as Saint Nicholas giving either gifts or coal in a child's stocking. Perchta is thus an example of syncretism and survivals of pre-Christian Alpine Paganism within ostensibly Catholic traditions.
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| "Berchtengehen", Illustrierte Chronik der Zeit (1890) |
Celtic Origins. Noting the distinct differences between Perchta and her more northern cousins, German linguist Erika Timm made a compelling case that Perchta arose from an amalgamation of Alpine Celtic traditions with the Germanic Migration Period. Among other qualities, her association with iron, including in her "eiserne nase" (iron nose), could harken back to the advanced iron works of the Alpine Celtic cultures such as Hallstatt that the Suebi, Alemanni and Bavarii absorbed. Rather than just from Germanic Beraht, Timm proposes a Celtic etymology for Perchta's name in Brixta, a Celtic goddess linked to healing wells (Timm, 317-318), which would lend further relevance to Perchta's healing qualities and her association with wells and other water sources. Such water sources as wells, springs and swamps could be seen as "cauldrons" of Frau Holle or Perchta, betraying Celtic imagery: "The Celtic gods who emulated the Great Goddess Cerridwen also had cauldrons, including Dagda, the benevolent Sky God, and the Lover of Dana (Dea Ana), the Earth Goddess, who had a cauldron 'that would never empty and go dry'"(Storl, 46). The latter is especially tantalizing if we recall the Wild Hunt in Asturias was led by a goddess named Dianu.
Conflation with Diana. We have already seen how medieval authors tended to conflate all the Pagan goddesses to the Roman goddess of the hunt, Diana. This was due both to their own Roman bias and their associating all with what they defined as "devilish" qualities - celebration of the female form, the primal power of the forests, and practicing witchcraft. Written between 788 and 800, the Passio Minor describes Irish "Saint" Killian's attempts to convert the people of Franconia to Christianity. Locals told him about the worship of a "Diana of Würzburg": "We want to serve the great Diana, as our fathers did and in doing so, have prospered well to this day"(Timm, 208). Noting how the Roman cult of Diana had never appeared in that region, Grimm suggests this "Diana" was Frau Holle: "As it is principally in Thuringia, Franconia and Hessen that Frau Holda survives, it is not incredible that by 'Diana' in the neighbourhood of Würzburg, so far back as the 7th century, was meant none other than she"(Grimm, 286). Timm further identified her with Frija.
Remnants into the Christian era. Horrified by her beloved place within the Germanic memory, Christian missionaries lamented continued reverance for Frau Holle. In his Dictionary of Superstitions (Aberglaubensverzeichnis), written sometime between 1236 and 1250, the Cistercian monk Rudolf observed: "In the night of Christ's nativity, they set the table for the Queen of Heaven, whom the people call Frau Holda, so that she might help them"(Heath, 11). Even the founder of Protestantism, Martin Luther, warned in his Exposition of the Epistles at Basel (1522): "Here cometh up Fraw Hulde with the snout, to wit, nature, and goeth about to gainstay her God", a phrase that Martin Bucer translated into Latin as "verenda nostra hera" (Our Venerated Lady), a term confined to the Virgin Mary (ibid., 12). The Church tried to stamp out the folklore about "Frawen Percht", complaining about locals who preferred to chant "Domina Perchta" than say prayers to Mary. People would also leave food out for Perchta during these nights leading up to Epiphany, seeking her blessings for the next year.
As was common for various goddesses elsewhere, with the coming of Christianity the figure of Mary often took on the roles and qualities of Frau Holle or Perchta. We know at least two that were not in original Christian tradition: Her association with snow and overseeing spinning and sewing. "If, independently of the christian calendar, there was a Holda, then neither can Perahta be purely a product of it; on the contrary, both of these adjective names lead up to a heathen deity, who made her peregrination at that very season of yule, and whom therefore the christians readily connected with the sacredness of Christmas and New Year"(Grimm, 282). There remained festive days honoring Holle, alongside the Christian ones (Motz, 1984, 152-153). Finally, there is evidence from the 6th century that Holda was also given the title "Queen of Heaven" alongside Mary (Timm, 23) during that century defined by syncretism as a step towards Christianization.
Ostara and the Coming Spring. Just as Frau Holle or Perchta seemed to personify Winter, the Spring season was associated with the Germanic goddess Ostara, who represents "the transition from the death of winter to vernal life, and the Christian celebration integrated many pagan rites, such as the din intended to drive off the demons of winter"(Lecouteux, 197). The 19th century German folklorists Wilhelm Mannhardt and Friedrich Liebrecht both expressed the view that the Wild Hunt was connected to rituals for expelling Winter (ibid., 178). The Romanian scholar of comparative mythology, Mircea Eliade, cited an 8th-century text that spoke of how "the Alamans sought to expel winter during the month of February"(Eliade, 268-271). Ancient Alemanni lore has survived in Fastnacht traditions, with the various masked "witches" and "forest spirits" in processions symbolic of either Winter itself or forces of Nature seeking to drive Winter out with their presence while ushering in Spring.
This motif can variously be seen in the Perchta masquerades of Germanic Alpine lands, the Calends of March masquerades in French areas of Switzerland, and the parades of Lombardy, Venice and Piedmont to "burn the old one" (brusar la veccia), the "one" meaning the "year", "which can be likened to the ancient Roman festival of Anna Perenna that fell during the Ides of March"(Lecouteux, 178). The Lithuanian-American anthropologist Marija Gimbutas identified the goddess Holle with the duality of Winter/death and Spring/life: "[Holle] holds dominion over death, the cold darkness of winter, caves, graves and tombs in the earth....but also receives the fertile seed, the light of midwinter, the fertilized egg, which transforms the tomb into a womb for the gestation of new life"(Gimbutas).
Cycle of Death and Life. Even in the darkness of Winter there would be symbolic expressions of Spring, such as in the Wild Hunt candlelight processions of the Spanish Campaña. Here we see another lesson of the Wild Hunt: the boundary between death and life is not always clear, both operating as part of a cycle. There was the idea of the dead forming a processon and reentering their old villages for warmth and food, guided by a fire left specifically for them. This liminal time between Winter and Spring was taken as symbolic of the dead, such as in the Roman cult of the Lares. "In France and the Germanic countries this setting took the form of the fairy feast, the table set for Dame Abundia, Percht, or the Parcae"(ibid., 179), the "fairies" perhaps being a loose allegory for Ancestors and not the Sidhe of Ireland. The Wild Hunt in Asturias was associated with the buena genta, "the good folk", similar to the Sidhe. The theme here was expelling the "demonic" dead spirits and inviting the "good" ancestors. The Dutch fairy tale of "The Legend of the Wooden Shoe" contains interesting Druidic themes:
"In years long gone millions of good fairies came down from the sun and went into the earth. There, they changed themselves into roots and leaves, and became trees. There were many kinds of these, as they covered the earth, but the pine and birch, ash and oak, were the chief ones The fairies that lived in the trees bore the name of Moss Maidens, or Tree 'Trintjes'. The oak was the favourite tree. Under its branches, near the trunk, people laid their sick, hoping for help from the gods. Even more wonderful, as medicine for the country itself, the oak had power to heal the oak, with its mighty roots, held the soil firm"(Griffis).
Frau Holle represents the motherly, love-energy the nurturing aspect of the atmosphere. She and her Wild Hunt brings forth life as much as death. Fertility depends on precipitation from the sky, hence the link between storms, Wild Hunt, and fertility. The dead also have power over the elements. Georges Dumézil identified these legions of the dead roaming the earth under the guidance of their leader as connected to the third function of fertility. "The passage of the Wild Hunt, which, in the traditions after the Middle Ages, was closely connected to food and drink, is perfectly logical to us once we grasp the role played by the dead. They presided over the fertility of the soil and the fecundity of livestock. Thus it was necessary to propitiate them if they were regarded as neutral or well-intentioned or to drive them away and send them fleeing if they were seen as wicked. In one way or another, the Wild Hunt fell into the vast complex of ancestor worship, the cult of the dead, who are the go-betweens between men and the gods"(Lecouteux, 199). Eliade makes a similar point:
"Agriculture as a profane skill and as a cult touches the world of the dead on two quite different levels. The first is solidarity with the earth; the dead are buried like seeds and enter a dimension of the earth accessible to them alone. Then, too, agriculture is preeminently a handling of fertility, of life reproducing itself by growth. The dead are especially drawn to this mystery of rebirth, to the cycle of creation, and to inexhaustible fertility. Like seeds buried in the womb of the earth, the dead wait for their return to life in their new form. That is why they draw close to the living, particularly at those times when the vital tension of the whole community is at its height - that is, during the fertility festival, when the generative powers of nature and of mankind are evoked, unleashed, and stirred to frenzy by rites and orgies....As long as seeds remain buried, they also fall under the jurisdiction of the dead. The Earth Mother, or Great Goddess of Fertility governs the fate of seeds and that of the dead in the same way. But the dead are sometimes closer to man, and it is to them that the husbandsman turns to bless and sustain his work"(Eliade, 295).
[To be continued in Part 3, about the role of Wotan and the Wild Huntsman archetype, as well as other aspects of the Wild Hunt....]
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Eliade, Mircea. Traité d'histoire des religions. Paris: Payot, 1949; Patterns of Comparative Religion, trans. Rosemary Sheed, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996.
GardenStone. Goddess Holle: In search of a Germanic goddess, trans. Michelle Lina Marie Hitchcock. Norderstadt, Schleswig-Holstein: BoD - Books on Demand GmbH, 2011.
Gimbutas, Marija. Civilization of the Goddess: The World of Old Europe. San Francisco: Harper, 1991.
Griffis, William Elliot. Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1918.
Grimm, Jakob. Teutonic Mythology, trans. James Steven Stallybrass. London: George Bell and Sons, 1882.
Heath, Catherine. "From Fairytale to Goddess: Frau Holle and the Scholars that try to reveal her origins." 2013.
Lecouteux, Claude. Phantom Armies of the Night: The Wild Hunt and the Ghostly Processions of the Undead. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 2011.
Motz, Lotte, "The Winter Goddess: Percht, Holda, And Related Figures," Folklore, Vol. 95, No. 2, 1984, pp. 151-166.
Motz, Lotte, "The Goddess Nerthus: A New Approach," Amsterdamer Beiträge zur Älteren Germanistik, Vol. 36, 1992, pp. 1-20.
Praetorius, Johannes. Saturnalia. Leipzig: 1663.
Storl, Wolf-Dieter. The Untold History of Healing: Plant Lore and Medicinal Magic from the Stone Age to Present. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2017.
Timm, Erika, and Gustav Adolf Beckmann. Frau Holle, Frau Percht Und Verwandte Gestalten: 160 Jahre Nach Jacob Grimm Aus Germanischer Sicht Betrachtet. Stuttgart: Hinzel, 2003.
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