Holles-Brauch
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This channel is dedicated to the authentic revival of the cult of Holle, her traditions, customs and rites.
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âBerchtoldstag is an Alemannic holiday, known in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is near New Year's Day, during the RauhnĂ€chte, in Switzerland nearly always on 2 January, with the status of a public holiday in a number of cantons. Its observation is attested since the 14th century, although celebrations were limited after the Protestant Reformation.
Berchtold Day is a light-hearted, sociable event. People meet in pubs and restaurants to exchange good wishes for the New Year. In Hallwil in the canton of Aargau one can still witness the BĂ€rzeli, a parade of dressed up and masked figures symbolizing concepts like fertility, age, ugliness, wisdom, and vice.
The name may be related to the Perchta, a female of myth and folklore, guardian of the animals, and sometimes leader of the Wild Hunt,
Perchta shows dual faces at this time. To the faithful, she appears as a beautiful goddess of light who blesses humans with health and prosperity. To the evil hearted, deceitful and wicked, she appears as a ferocious demon with horns and fangs.â
Oh,Holy Mother
The bright lady
Queen of the earth
Frau Holle
I thank you for all that you have given me in this life.
I thank you for protecting my kin and keeping me healthy and giving me strength.
In return I give you this libation of ( Beer, Mead , Cider) as gratitude for your divine love.
Hail Holle!
Oh, heilichi Mudder
Die glensend Fraa
Keenichn vun der Erd
Fraa Holle
Ich dank dir fer alles wu du mir im Lewe gegewwe hoscht,
Ich dank dir dafer dass du mei Sipp beschitzt, mich gsund haldscht, un mir Graft gebscht.
Als Gegeleistung gewe ich dir dieses Trankopfer vun (Bier, Hunnichwei/Met, Seider/Eppelwei) als Dankbarkeet fer dei gettlichi Lieb.
Heil Holle!
William of Auvergne (d. 1249)
âcalled Abundia or Satia, wandered at night through houses and cellars, accompanied by her followers, eating and drinking whatever they could find: if she came upon food and bread left as offerings, she bestowed prosperity on the house and its inhabitants; otherwise she withdrew and refused her protection."
Claude Lecouteux's "Phantom Armies of the Night": This custom was observed throughout the entire Middle Ages, as the clerical literature testifies. It is mentioned by CĂ©saire of Arles (died 542), St. Boniface (675â754), the pseudo- Augustine (eighth century), Atto de Vercelli (died 960), Yves de Chartres (d. 1040), and Gratien (d. before 1179), and others. The canonists and clerics note that offerings or gifts are placed on the set table (mensas cum dapibus vel epulis in domibus preparare).
Sometimes the rite is referred to by two words: mensas ornare. A Munich manuscript from the Alderspach Monastery alludes to those who âgarnish their table for Percht.â"
Jeffrey Burton Russell's "Witchcraft in the Middle Ages": "Another popular story relating to witchcraft has to do with the wild ride and the bonae. A typical version from about 1254 is told by Jacques de Vitry in his Golden Legend. One evening, St. Germain of Auxerre was dining at the home of a friend. After they had risen from the table, the hosts began, to Germain's astonishment, to set the table again. When asked why, they said that they were preparing for the good ladies who ride out at night".
These 3 quotes help us understand the rites that pertain to the Holle Cult and provide further evidence that her cult did not only persist through the Middle Ages but also grew.
On certain nights throughout the year one dresses the table and leaves out food for the good lady and her procession In hopes of receiving good favor from the goddess.
"The Thesaurus pauperum of 1468 condemned "the idolatrous superstition of those who left food and drink at night in open view for Abundia and Satia, or, as the people said, Fraw Percht and her retinue, hoping thereby to gain abundance and riches." The same practice of offering drink, salt, and food to Perchta, "alias domine Habundie," on certain days had been taken note of and subsequently condemned in 1439 by Thomas Ebendorfer von Haselbach in De decem praeceptis."
The Thesaurus pauperum of 1468 speaks of a "growing cult to Perchta" found in Bavaria which was then actively condemned by the Church. After which the cult still continued to exist.
It amazes me that the most historically catholic state in Germany had a growing cult to Perchta/Holle during the medieval period.
Below are the various names the German Goddess Holle goes by :
FRAU GODE: Fru Gaud(en), Fru/Mutter Gaudsch/G(oo)dsch(e), Frau Gaue(n), Mutter Gauerken, Fru Gauk/Goik, Fru Gaul/Gaus/Gosen, Fru Gaur, Fru Godke, de Goor, Vergoden
FRAU HOLLE: Frau Helle, Frau hollen, frauw helt, fraw Hold, Frau Holda/Holde, Domina Holda, Striga Holda/ friga Holda, ver Holde, Frau Holla, Holl, Hollefrau, Holle-/HullibÀr, Fra Holle/Holte, Hulde grawen, Holle-Löcke, Holle(n)zopf, Holloch, Frau Hoole, fraw Holt, frawenhuld, fraw Hulda, Domina Hulde, Huldie, Hullafraa/-bouz/-klatch/-mau/-pöpel/-watch/-wauwau, Hullefrau, Hulleberta, Hullefrau, Hullepopel, frawe vorholde/vorhawlde/vorhowlde, Vraawholde, Hollen, die guten Helde, die Holden, die Hulden, fraw Holden/Hulden, Frau Roll(e), Rulle, et al.
FRAU HERKE: Harke, Frau Ache(n), Frau Arke, Mutter Haagsch, der Haken, de Haksche, Frau Harfe(n), Harfenfichte, Frau Harken, Frau HĂ€rkster, Frau Har(r)e, vrouwe/vor Here, Herekwif, Hirke/Hurke, worhacken, Harkemai
MURAWA/MURAUE, Moarache/Moersche, More, et al.
BERCHTHĂLDERE: Brechhöldere, Brechtöldin, Brechtölterin, Brechalder
FRAU PERCHT/BERCHT : frawperte, Pe(c)htra/Perchtra Baba, Perahta, Perchta, Domina Percta, mensae Perchtae,
Perchte, Perchtl, Perchtlgaba/ -waga/ --wawa, Perechta, frawe Pericht, perhtwiese/Pertenwisun, Perscht, Perschtl, Frau Pert, Pert(h)a/Perte, Frau Pertige, Dea Precha, Perechta, Perh(a), Pericht, Pernaht, Perscht(l)/ -mutter, Pert, Precht ; der BĂ€r, BĂ€r-/Bermutter, Berfrau, Berchtlgaga/-waba/-waga, Berchtla, Bergda, Vrauwe Berhe, fraw Bertha/Berthe, Bericht, Berscht, Bert, Bert(h)a, la Brava/donna Berta, schwarze Berta, wilde Berta, Berta, Bert(h)a, Berchta, Froberte, et al.
FRAU WODE: Fru Waud, Frau Wauer, Fru/Mudder Wau-, Waurstrusch, Frau Wagen, Frau Was(en), Waul(en), Waus(en), Wohl, Fru/Mudder Wauf
(FRAU) WERRE/WIRRE, Werra in the Vogtland.
âThough many names are encountered, the creatures show such strong resemblances to one another that we may be sure of one basic configuration; she is a spirit of the woodland, a visitor to human dwellings in the winter season. She may inspect the order of the household, check on the behavior of children, and receive the offered gifts. She may punish or ordain fortune or misfortune for the coming year.â
Lotte Motz, The Beauty and the Hag, (1993), pp. 78-79, 124
âIn popular legends and nursery-tales, frau Holda (Hulda, Holle, Hulle, frau Holl) appears as a superior being, who manifests a kind and helpful disposition towards men, and is never cross except when she notices disorder in household affairs. None of the German races appear to have cherished these oral traditions so extensively as the Hessians and Thuringians (that Worms bishop was a native of Hesse). At the same time, dame Holle is found as far as the Voigtland, past the Rhön mts in northern Franconia,in the Wetterau up to the Westerwald, and from Thuringia she crosses the frontier of Lower Saxony. Swabia, Switzerland, Bavaria, Austria, North Saxony and Friesland do not know her by that name.
From what traditions has still preserved for us, we gather the following characteristics. 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 (Herod. 4, 7. conf. 31). Holda then must be able to move through the air, like dame Herke. She loves to haunt the lake and fountain; at the hour of noon she may be seen, a fair white lady, bathing in the flood and disappearing; a trait in which she resembles Nerthus. Mortals, to reach her dwelling, pass through the well; conf. the name wazzerholde.
Another point of resemblance is, that she drives about in a waggon. She has a linchpin put in it by a peasant whom she met; when he picked up the chips, they were gold. 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 (p. 214), 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.'' - Teutonic Mythology by Jacob Grimm
The following lines are from the German tale Krumme Jakob :
You are Crooked Jakob from the castle", she said, "and I can and will help you, if you will give me your trustâ.
Thereupon Jakob opened his heart, told Frau HĂŒlle of his plight. Frau HĂŒlle then spoke:
"Come with me, Jakob. In three years we will go to your brother. Perhaps by then he will come to his senses and finally give you your property."
She took Jakob with her to her small cottage, there he had to water her rosemary bushes, feed the cats and tend her flax fields.
In the winter, he had to cut staves for the wine farmers and barge poles for shippers.
In the spring he carried them into the valley to market. Frau HĂŒlle took up her distaff like a cane, packed her yarn together in her shawl, and went with him.
When Jakobâs load got too heavy for his leg to bear, she took the wood with her thin arms, carrying it on top of her bundle as if it were straw.
Jakob had it good with Frau HĂŒlle. She taught him everything about farming, such that he knew more than any natural born farmer. â
This small section tells a lot about holle and her powers.
Sheâs shown to be inhumanly strong, she teaches farming which links with her being the earth mother.
She also admires and rewards hard work and industrious people.
Later in the tale, Jacob gives up his pursuit of noble titles and lands in order to be a humble farmer in her worship showing her connection to peasants.
The "Diana of WĂŒrzburg"
In the Passio Minor, the passions of St. Kilian, that date to 788/800ad. Pertaining to St.Kilians' efforts in converting the population around the German city of WĂŒrzburg to Christianity.
The locals partook in the worship of what is described as the "Diana of WĂŒrzburg" who the people were deeply attached :
volumus servire magnae Dianae, sicut et anteriores nostril fecerunt patres, et prosperati sunt in eo usque in praesens
"We want to serve the great Diana, as our fathers did and, in doing so, have prospered well to this day."
The German folklorist Grimm connects the Diana of WĂŒrzburg to the German goddess Holle. Grimm writes:
"As it is principally in Thuringia, Franconia and Hessen that Frau Holda survives, it is not incredible that by Diana, in the neighbourhood of WĂŒrzburg, so far back as the 7th century, was meant none other than she(Holle). "
To support this theory, the professor Erika Timm examined eleven pre-1500 sources that equate both Diana with Holle.
Here is an example of the worship of Holle found among the lower German peasantry.
The Holy lady , Mother Frost , Dunkel Grossmutter, Weisse-Frau all by names for Frau Holle a German folkloric figure popular in Alpine regions although her stories can be found all over Germany and goes by many different names which may link her to other known Germanic goddesses.
Other names include Holda,Hulda,Hulle,Holla,Perchta,Pehta,Berchta,Gauden,Goden and Gode.
The first four names derive from the German word âhuldâ meaning, gracious, friendly, sympathetic. From middle German âhuldeâ to proto-Germanic âhulthazâ all provide the same meaning.
Another possible etymology links Holda to Hludana a goddess name, found in five Latin descriptions in the Germanic area. âHlothynâ an alternative name for Jord the earth goddess, mother of Thor is likely a relation.
The middle three names come from Austria and Bavaria and other alpine regions. These names come from old high German âberechtâ or âberehtâ meaning âbrightâ , which comes in turn from Proto-Germanic âbrehtazâ. Obviously this Goddess as described by her many names all allude to her being bright or shining, perhaps also shows her connection to snow and winter which can be bright and almost blinding. Also these names reflect her mother like qualities. The last three names share a likely connection to the Gothic people of the migration era. Gaut or Goden being the Gothic name for Wodan or Odin and the origin of our word âGodâ. From here âFrau Godenâ or in Gothic âGautis FraujĆâ or âlady of Gautâ may show her true colors as being the wife of Woden as being the Nordic goddess Frigga and in turn as a earth goddess by her connection to Jord.
Like Woden Frau Holle is believed to lead and or ride in the spectral wild hunt. In Mecklenburg she is related to the figure Gauerken, which is the tale of a woman who would rather hunt forever then go to heaven. God cursed Gauerken to lead the wild hunt for all eternity. In southern Germany Holle is said to take the souls of unbaptized and miscarried children, to the PA Dutch there is a tale of her taking these young souls to her mill where she processes them for the next life , suggesting Frau holle is a psychopomp and is responsible for bringing the souls into reincarnation .
During the Middle Ages Frau holy was conflated with the Virgin Mary in Alpine regions while also being described as an old ugly woman with a long nose.
Frau Holle was made popular by the Grim brothers and their collection of Germanic folk tales as well as Teutonic myths. In one story Frau Holle is said to beat her pillow out of her window causing her feathers to fall to earth creating snow storms and shows her connection to the weather as well as winter and is sometimes called the lady of Frost. In Pennsylvania there is a folkloric belief that she urged the people of the lower Rhine to migrate to the new world and escape religious persecution and famine caused by the 30 years war. In Pennsylvania it is said she holds her seat of the Hexenkopf or the witches head, a peculiar rock formation in Southern Pennsylvania.
Frau holle is an extremely important Goddess to our folk she is responsible for our coming here to this new land. In our faith she remains as our patron deity not surpassing the king of the Gods Woden no doubt but taking a large role in our day to day lives, perhaps more so then other Gods which I will go over in later posts.
Heele der gross mudder Fra Holle!
"The Hexenkopf in Pennsylvania
The Hexenkopf Rock in Pennsylvania is a popular destination for many "Weird" happenings. The site of numerous instances of folklore and "supernatural" occurrences. However most notable the Hexenkopf is considered the Throne the Goddess Holle took after she led the ancestors of the Pennsylvania Dutch to America. In Germany many similar legends are given to mounds, cairns and mountains for Holle so it stands to reason she would find a fitting throne in America for her followers, known as Urglaawe in America."
