Frau Holda: Embrace Winter

In the north of Germany Dame Perchta is known as Holda (it is arguable whether she is actually a northern incarnation or a "sister" of sorts). The images left "Holda, die gütige Beschüzerin [Holda, the good protectress]" from Nordisch-germanische Götter und Helden (1882) depicts a beautiful woman emerging from a forest is not uncommon when one takes into consideration of the souther Perchta (a mistress of the Wild Hunt). The patron of domesticated practices (most notably spinning), wild animals, and winter; she is an obscure and ancient character in the Teutonic mythos. She neither fills the role of better known goddess like Hel and Frigg completely, which leads one to question if Holda has pre-indo-European origins predating the Germanic pantheon.

Whatever the case maybe Frau Holda has withstood the annals of time. Hludanae a name that bears a striking resemblance to the latter Holda appears in inscriptions dating from the 197 C.E. An example of this is found in various places among them Frisia, which is a coastal region along the North Sea that lies between Great Britain and Scandinavia. Canonical text lists Holda among the Diana of Italy and Herodias of biblical times to have been venerated in cult form. At times these various entires are assumed to be one and the same just differentiated via region.

Qui credunt quod Diana, quae vulgariter dicitur fraw Percht, cum exercitu suo de nocte solet ambulare per multa sapatia terrarum [Diana who is commonly known as Fraw Percht is in the habit of wandering through the night with a host of women] (Tegernsee MS 434).

This quote from the Tegernsee manuscript is interesting in that it identifies Holda with another known goddess associated with alleged "witches" at the time. The "host of women" under her can either be interpreted as a Holda's entourage within the Wild Hunt or existence of cult veneration. Whether this is evidence (and slim as it might be) of an "Old Religion" is up to the individual, however, it is not the point of this post (I digress). Now one can begin to see how Holda gets connected with the infamous Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt initiates the dark time or the beginning of winter, thus Holda becomes connected with winter and the Yuletide season.

Holda becomes a literary archetype of sorts. In the collection of fairy tails as collected by the Grimm brothers. Best know is the story of Frau Holle, known by the same name. These stories follow a specific rubric (therefore making the tales sounds similar) that contain such elements spinning (in the older texts a spindle and the distaff, cf. Sleeping Beauty).