Reindeer Mother’s Night a Winter solstice journey
Today is the shortest and darkest day of the year in the Northern hemisphere and the longest and brightest day in the Southern Hemisphere. It also marks the celebration of Reindeer Mother’s Night in the far northern regions of the planet. The deer mother celebrations are embraced by Scandinavia, Finland, Russia, Sapmi, Great Britain, Siberia as well as the Baltic States of Estonia, Lithuania, and Lativa. Each place has it’s name for her but symbolized the same thing everywhere, the death and life cycle of our beautiful planet and all who live there.
This is my absolutely favorite day of the year. From the time I was very little I was completely enchanted with the story of the Reindeer Mother or Beaivi, the Life Giving Mother of the Sami tribes. My grandfather was from Sapmi, the Sami lands in Norway, one of my great-grandfathers was from the far Northern reaches of Karelia, and the rest of my family comes from Gotland, Sweden in the Baltic Sea.
For the Sami, the indigenous people of the Nordic countries, Beaivi is the name for the Sun Goddess associated with motherhood, the fertility of plants and the reindeer. The reindeer is the very source of life. It provides clothing, shelter, and food. During the mid winter a white reindeer is sacrificed to ensure the health of the land, the reindeer herds, and the people. At the Winter Solstice, warm butter (a symbol of the sun) is smeared on door thresholds as a sacrifice to Beaivi so that she can gain her strength and fly higher and higher into the sky.
She is also associated with healing mental illnesses which can occur when the sun disappears from the sky during the winter. During the winter, the people of the arctic and sub-arctic regions do not have daylight for weeks. For the Sámi, this might be as long as 40 days. In modern times we have learned the importance of vitamin D, the sun, and mental well-being. It is very common in Scandinavia and further north to take vitamin D drops during winter.
Beaivi is often shown accompanied by her daughter in a sleigh made of reindeer antlers and bones. Together they return the Sun in Reindeer Mother’s antlers so the days will grow longer and bring fertility back to the land.
One of the great inspirations on this day is imagining Reindeer Mother traveling around the world in search of the sun. First she flies up higher and higher to the East and talks with the ice, if it has seen the sun. Then she flies down to the south but need to fly further still to find the sun. She finally finds the sun and places it between her antlers as she continues her journey west over the ocean and then up to the north where it peaks over the horizon bringing light and hope to all who live there.
I’ve created and composed a Reindeer Mother’s Journey so you can experience it for yourself. Along with this journey are the seeds planted for your own inner knowing. Tomorrow the days grow slowly longer until we are in full summer again.
Wishing you much hope and light during this darkest day of the year.
