Ireland's OWN: Myths and Magic

The Month of December
—by Míchealín Ní Dhochartaigh

December is named after the tenth month of the Roman calendar and the middle goddess of the Three Fates, Decima. "Decima" means "she who personifies the present." Some sources indicated that the Roman goddess Vesta was also said to rule this month. However, her feast day is 7 June.

The Irish name of December is "Mi na Nollaig," or "Christmas Month."

The Celtic tree of Ruis (elder) runs until 25 November through 22 December, with 23 December being an intercalary day or a "blank day" (aka "Nameless Day") called "the secret of the unhewn stone." Elder is also sacred to Wiccans. Elder shows the path through the maze, the spiral path that leads within, and the meeting place where birth and death are one.

The month of Elder It is followed by the Celtic tree month of Beth (Birch), which runs from 24 December through 20 January. See also: Holly

December's Anglo-Saxon name was "Aerra Geola," which means "the month before Yule." The Winter Solstice, or Yule, is associated with the birth of the Sun King. It falls on the first day of winter, which is either 21 or 22 December, and is celebrated as the day that the Sun is reborn (later adapted by Christianity as the “son” is born, i.e., Christmas) to warm the Earth again. Yule comes from the word Jule, which is Scandinavian and means “wheel.”

Some Anglo-Saxons called the month "Wintermonat," which means "Winter Month."

Mistletoe gathered at Yule bears white berries and was used by Druids to make fertility amulets.

The darkest nights of winter, from Samhain to Yule, are thought to be filled with an abundance of spirit activity. If you are interested in mediumship, now is a good time to work on your skills.

The Franks called December "Heilagmanoth," which means "Holy Month," because of the large number of sacred festivals that fell during this month.

The December full moon is the Cold Moon. The birthstone of December is turquoise:

If cold December gave you birth,
The month of ice and snow and mirth,
Place on your hand a Turquoise blue,
And success will bless whatever you do.

15 December commemorates the Greek goddess Alcyone who was symbolised by the kingfisher. Her feast day marks the beginning of the halcyon days, i.e., seven days before and seven days after the Winter Solstice. In ancient Greece, this was a period during which the sea was smooth, a time of peace when the kingfisher could hatch her egg.
17 December begins the Roman festival of Saturnalia, which ran for seven days, and was known for its extravagant decadence. On this day in Rome, all people were considered equal, from slaves to emperor. It was the beginning of the 'season of goodwill' and the greeting was "Bona Saturnalia." Later Christianity would use the term 'season of goodwill' and the greeting ''Bona Saturnalia would become 'Happy Christmas' or 'Merry Christmas.'
20 December is known as the Mother Night. It is the Odinist festival of Midwinter. Dreams on this night are believed to foretell the events for the coming year.
21 December is Winter Solstice or Yuletide.
23 December is the blank day of the Celtic tree calendar, the only day in the year not ruled by a tree and its corresponding Ogham letter. Its name, the Secret of the Unhewn Stone, denotes the quality of potential in all things. As the Roman festival of Acca Larentis, today is sacred to the goddess Laurentina, mother of the Lares, and earth goddess who guards the dead and the seed corn. She commemorates the old year and the potential of the new year. This is also the last day of the Roman festival of Saturnalia.
26 December or Wren Day. In Ireland is St. Stephen's Day, originally called "Wren Boy's Day," which dates back to the Celtic Winter Solstice ritual of hunting and killing of the wren. Wren Boy's Day itself, regardless of the christianisation of calling it St Stephen's Day, is a day that was celebrated in ancient Greece and Rome and in all of the so-called "British Isles." It is a variation of the Oak/Holly King ritual. The Wren, "Little King" of the Waning Year (hiding in an ivy or holly bush), is killed by his counterpart, Robin Redbreast" of the Waxing Year, whose retreat is the birch, which follows the Celtic Tree Calendar. In some parts of Ireland, this is still celebrated. For example in Kilbaha in co. Clare, the Wren Boys are groups of adult musicians in colourful costumes who go from house to house bearing a tiny effigy of the wren on a bunch of holly. In parts of Co. Mayo, the Wren Boys and Girls are children, also bearing holly bunches, and going door to door singing:

"The wren, the wren, the king of the birds,
On Stephen's Day was caught in furze;
Up with the kettle and down with the pan,
And give us some money to bury the wren."

Robin Hood: Another version of Wren Day. The Waxing Year Robin also brings us Robin Hood, who is honoured especially in Cornwall, according to Robert Graves in The White Goddess. According to Graves, 'robin' means ''phallus'; also robinhood is a country name for red campion or champion, a cloven petal that suggests a ram's hoof. Thus, "Red Champion" was a title for the witches' god. 'Hood,' or hud or hod, meant the log put at the back of the fire, and it was in this log, cut from the sacred oak, that Robin (the Red Champion) was believed to reside. When the Yule log is burned, Robin Hood escapes up the chimney in the form of a robin, and he is then pursued by Bran, who is disguised as a wren.

31 December is the Scottish New Year festival of Hogmanay. Its name commemorates the solar divinity Hogmagog. As Gogmagog, this solar giant was formerly a chalk-cut hill figure in Wandlebury, close to Cambridge, while, divided into two giants, Gog and Magog, he is the spiritual guardian of the city of London. The traditional Hogmanay ceremonies involved dressing the hides of cattle and running around the village being hit by stick. Hogmanay festivities include the lighting of bonfires, rolling blazing tar barrels and tossing blazing torches. Animal hide was wrapped around sticks and ignited, a practice that was said to ward off evil spirits. The talismanic smoking stick eventually came to be called the Hogmanay. Black buns, shortbread and ankersocks (gingerbread loaves made with rye meal) are eaten on this night. Also, a shaman would often dress in animal skins, with horns or antlers on his head. At the moment of the New Year, doors and windows were opening to let out the old year, household utensils were banged to ward off any remaining psychic vestiges of the old year. In Wales, the banging of utensils was done to drive off Cwn Annwn, the phantom black dogs of the underworld that pass through the air on New Year's eve.

Get up, good wife, and shake your feathers,
and dinna think that we are beggars;
For we are bairns come out to play,
Get up and gie us our Hogmanay.

Sources:

Campanelli, P. and Campanelli, D. Ancient Ways, Llewellyn Publications, 1999.
Campanelli, P. and Campanelli, D. Wheel of the Year, Living the Magical Life, Llewellyn Publications, 2000.
Farrar, J. and Farrar, S. A Witches' Bible: The Complete Witches' Handbook. Phoenix Publishing, London, 1984.
Graves, R. The White Goddess. Faber Publishing, London. 1961.
Morrison, D. The Craft, Llewellyn Worldwide, 2002.
Pennick, Nigel. The Pagan Book of Days, Destiny Books, 2001.
Personal knowledge/traditions.