The true meaning of Christmas Mōdraniht "Night of the Mothers"
1.) Julian _Gregorian calender
2.) Lady Day -still used in UK Tax Laws.
3.) Mōdraniht "Night of the Mothers"
1)
First a brief history on how time has been rearranged, Of course remembering that Britain went Protestant in 1450's.
Beginning in 1582, the Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian one, in Roman Catholic countries.
This change was implemented at a much later date in newly formed Protestant and Orthodox countries.
2)
New year started on Lady Day 25 March In the western liturgical year, Lady Day is the traditional name in some English speaking countries of the Feast of the Annunciation , known in the 1549 Prayer Book of Edward VI and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as "The Annunciation of the (Blessed) Virgin Mary"
In England, Lady Day was New Year's Day from 1155 to 1752, when the 1st January 1752 was declared to be the official start of the year.[1]
In England and Wales, Ireland, and the British colonies, the change of the start of the year and the changeover from the Julian calendar occurred in 1752 under the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750.
In Scotland, the legal start of the year had already been moved to 1 January (in 1600), but Scotland otherwise continued to use the Julian calendar until 1752.
Issue 9198 of the London Gazette, covering the calendar change in Great Britain. The date heading reads: "From Tuesday September 1, O.S. to Saturday September 16, N.S. 1752."
A vestige of LadyDay remains in the United Kingdom's tax year, which starts on 6 April, i.e., Lady Day Until this change Lady Day had been used as the start of the legal year. This should be distinguished from the liturgical and historical year.
Before 1751 the year began 25th of March.
{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Day}
Yule or Yuletide ("Yule time") is a festival observed by the historical Cymbri Goths Pre christian Pagan Tribes of Europe and the far east. Germanic peoples, later undergoing Christianised reformulation resulting in the now better-known Christmastide. Scholars have connected the celebration to the Wild Hunt, the god Odin and the pagan Anglo-Saxon Mōdraniht. {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule}
3)
Mōdraniht (Old English "Night of the Mothers" or "Mothers' Night") was an event held at what is now Christmas Eve by the Anglo-Saxon Pagans where a sacrifice may have been made. The event is attested by the medieval English historian Bede in his 8th-century Latin work De temporum ratione. Scholars have proposed connections between the Anglo-Saxon Mōdraniht and events attested among other Germanic peoples (specifically those involving the dísir, collective female beings, and Yule) and the Germanic Matres and Matronae, female beings attested by way of altar and votive inscriptions, nearly always appearing in trios.
Disirs
The basic meaning of the word dís is "goddess"It is now usually derived from the Indo-European root *dhēi-, and a form dhīśana.[6]
Scholars have associated the dísir with the West Germanic Idisi,[4] seeing the initial i- as having been lost early in Old or Proto-Norse.
Jacob Grimm points out that dís Skjöldunga in the Eddic Helgakviða Hundingsbana II (v. 52) is exactly parallel to ides Scildinga "Scylding queen" in Beowulf (l. 1168).[7] He also suggests that Iðunn may be a reflex of the original form of the word.[8]
There is considerable evidence that the dísir were worshipped in Scandinavia in pagan times.
Firstly, a sacrificial festival (blót) honouring them, the dísablót, is mentioned in one version of Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs and in Víga-Glúms saga, Egils saga and the Heimskringla.[14] According to Víga-Glúms saga it was held at Winter Nights (at the onset of winter).[15] In Hervarar saga, the dísablót is also held in autumn, and is performed by a woman, the daughter of King Álfr of Álfheim, who "reddens the hörgr with sacrifices and is subsequently rescued by the god Thor after she has been abducted; John Lindow suggests that the passage depicts a model of heathen behaviour.[16] In western Scandinavia, dísablót appears to have been a private observance; even the large gathering in Víga-Glúms saga was for family and friends.[17]
Happy Mothers Night!
2.) Lady Day -still used in UK Tax Laws.
3.) Mōdraniht "Night of the Mothers"
1)
First a brief history on how time has been rearranged, Of course remembering that Britain went Protestant in 1450's.
Beginning in 1582, the Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian one, in Roman Catholic countries.
This change was implemented at a much later date in newly formed Protestant and Orthodox countries.
2)
New year started on Lady Day 25 March In the western liturgical year, Lady Day is the traditional name in some English speaking countries of the Feast of the Annunciation , known in the 1549 Prayer Book of Edward VI and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as "The Annunciation of the (Blessed) Virgin Mary"
In England, Lady Day was New Year's Day from 1155 to 1752, when the 1st January 1752 was declared to be the official start of the year.[1]
In England and Wales, Ireland, and the British colonies, the change of the start of the year and the changeover from the Julian calendar occurred in 1752 under the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750.
In Scotland, the legal start of the year had already been moved to 1 January (in 1600), but Scotland otherwise continued to use the Julian calendar until 1752.
Issue 9198 of the London Gazette, covering the calendar change in Great Britain. The date heading reads: "From Tuesday September 1, O.S. to Saturday September 16, N.S. 1752."
A vestige of LadyDay remains in the United Kingdom's tax year, which starts on 6 April, i.e., Lady Day Until this change Lady Day had been used as the start of the legal year. This should be distinguished from the liturgical and historical year.
Before 1751 the year began 25th of March.
{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Day}
Yuletide
Yule or Yuletide ("Yule time") is a festival observed by the historical Cymbri Goths Pre christian Pagan Tribes of Europe and the far east. Germanic peoples, later undergoing Christianised reformulation resulting in the now better-known Christmastide. Scholars have connected the celebration to the Wild Hunt, the god Odin and the pagan Anglo-Saxon Mōdraniht. {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule}
Night of the Mothers
3)
Mōdraniht (Old English "Night of the Mothers" or "Mothers' Night") was an event held at what is now Christmas Eve by the Anglo-Saxon Pagans where a sacrifice may have been made. The event is attested by the medieval English historian Bede in his 8th-century Latin work De temporum ratione. Scholars have proposed connections between the Anglo-Saxon Mōdraniht and events attested among other Germanic peoples (specifically those involving the dísir, collective female beings, and Yule) and the Germanic Matres and Matronae, female beings attested by way of altar and votive inscriptions, nearly always appearing in trios.
Disirs
The basic meaning of the word dís is "goddess"It is now usually derived from the Indo-European root *dhēi-, and a form dhīśana.[6]
Scholars have associated the dísir with the West Germanic Idisi,[4] seeing the initial i- as having been lost early in Old or Proto-Norse.
Jacob Grimm points out that dís Skjöldunga in the Eddic Helgakviða Hundingsbana II (v. 52) is exactly parallel to ides Scildinga "Scylding queen" in Beowulf (l. 1168).[7] He also suggests that Iðunn may be a reflex of the original form of the word.[8]
There is considerable evidence that the dísir were worshipped in Scandinavia in pagan times.
Firstly, a sacrificial festival (blót) honouring them, the dísablót, is mentioned in one version of Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs and in Víga-Glúms saga, Egils saga and the Heimskringla.[14] According to Víga-Glúms saga it was held at Winter Nights (at the onset of winter).[15] In Hervarar saga, the dísablót is also held in autumn, and is performed by a woman, the daughter of King Álfr of Álfheim, who "reddens the hörgr with sacrifices and is subsequently rescued by the god Thor after she has been abducted; John Lindow suggests that the passage depicts a model of heathen behaviour.[16] In western Scandinavia, dísablót appears to have been a private observance; even the large gathering in Víga-Glúms saga was for family and friends.[17]
Happy Mothers Night!
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