Winternights

The Winternights, or Vetrnætr, is a twelve-day festival that begins on a night in mid-October, and marks the end of summer and the start of the winter. The name Vetrnætr (pronounced Vetter-natter) is Old Norse, composed of two words, vetr - meaning winter, and nætr - meaning nights. Vetrnætr is series of feasts and ceremonies (blóts, pronounced bloots) that celebrate the bounty of the harvest, and also honor the Disir, or female ancestor spirits.

Vetrnætr is celebrated by the Ásatrú; Ásatrú is an Icelandic name, taken by the modern-day Norse and Germanic people who worship the old northern gods (such as Thor, Odin, and Frey) and goddesses (such as Freya and Frigg). Though its practice was interrupted, Ásatrú has been reconstructed as closely as possible to the original religion of the Northern European people, based on the surviving historical records. Ásatrú intrigues me, because it would have been the religion of my ancestors.

2018 ofrenda

This month, Winternights festivals are held across Scandinavia, Germany, and New England and are marked by bonfires, tournaments, feasts, and arts and crafts vendors.

Agenda this week:

1. Set up my ancestor altar (ofrenda)
2. Disir meditation
3. Make more runes
4. Throw the runes
5. Feast and blót

1. Set up my ancestor altar (ofrenda):

The start of the winter season is when the veil between my world and the spirit world becomes thinner. Since Vetrnætr is a time to honor my ancestors, this is when I begin to set up my ofrenda, or ancestor altar. 

An ofrenda is a special table for the Mexican Days of the Dead that holds offerings and decorations, such as arches, candles, incense, skeleton toys, marigolds, photographs, sugar skulls, as well as some of the ancestor’s favorite foods and things, and little gifts. I've been collecting and making things for my ofrenda for years. Today I've arranged:

• a skeleton, to remind me that death is a part of life
• tree of life candles, symbolic of the creation
• photos of my grandparents, father, my in-laws, and my friend Emily.

I will continue to add to my ofrenda throughout the next two weeks.

2. Disir meditation:

The female spirits known as the Disir (pronounced DEE-sir) are an enigmatic group of beings in the mythology and religion of the pre-Christian Norse and other Germanic peoples. The Disir are my female ancestors - grandmother spirits and guardians of the household. They have special knowledge in matters of family luck, illness, childbirth, personal problems, and other everyday matters.

At around the same time as Winter Nights, the norse tribes held a dísablót (sacrifice to the Disir), but the Anglo-Saxons honored the Disir later, on Mother’s Night”, which takes place in late December.

Today I light a candle on my ofrenda and settle into meditation. I bring a picture into my mind of my grandmothers - those strong German, Dutch, and Anglo women who traveled across the ocean and the frontier. I read their names out loud, and picture them gathering around me. I ask my grandmothers to make themselves known to me and stand by me during the coming year, that I may face the demands of the world with the wisdom of my kin at my back.

3. Make more runes:

Runes are an ancient writing system created about 100 - 200 AD by Germanic tribes and spread all over middle and northern Europe by the migration of these tribes. The runes were used by the Germans, the Scandinavians, the Angles and Saxons. They are found inscribed onto stone, bone, and metal, and were used for poems and ornamentation, as well as divination.

I've been working on a set of runes, burned onto circles cut from a hazel branch, and today I made a few new ones.

4. Throw the runes:
Runes are used as a divination tool- I don't have a complete set yet, so I use virtual runes such as the ones at Ifate.

Today I asked, "What is my future as an artist?" and I got this reading:

1 - Past: Hagalaz (creative destruction) is a small form of Ragnarok, when our world and the world of the gods will both be destroyed, and a vast process of universal rebirth will begin: Only through the destruction of emotional blocks and ties to the past can I move forward. Often it's a fear of loss which prevents future growth and positive change.

2 - Current situation: Nauthiz (needs, troubles) is like a canyon or icy crevasse between my current position and my goal. Nauthiz is a demand that overwhelms my savings, or the yearning of the soul which is currently unfulfilled. This indicates a need to retrain, relearn, and plan effectively in order to get what I want - which is, I think, to make art.

3 - Challenge: Dagaz (dawn, awakening) indicates that a new day is dawning. This powerful rune is a reminder of the cyclical nature of all things - all things are interconnected and in a state of constant flux. The challenge here is to accept the transformation I am offered. Dagaz is the rune of awakening -- new worlds, new possibilities and new opportunities arise as others fade away.

4- Future: Algiz (defense, sanctuary) indicates the presence of a threat, and a need to guard against something. Algiz signals that protection is available, and can be expected either from an outside source or from my inner strength. 

5. Feast and blót:

As I said earlier, this Vetrnætr is a series of feasts. We had planned on a family feast this weekend, but the forest fire smoke go the better of us. Hopefully, we will have a feast next weekend.

The blót ceremony, which means “to worship with sacrifice,” comes after the food. The purpose of the blót is to thank the gods for a successful end to the growing season, to share the bounty with the gods, and to ask for protection against the harshness of winter. The old prayer was til árs ok friðar, “for a good year and frith (peace)”.

In the old days the sacrifice would have been a blood sacrifice of a horse, pig, or cow, because they were farmers and had those. Today the Ásatrú usually substitute mead, beer, or juice (we will use fresh grape juice from our vines). The offering is made with a lot of ceremony, and those gathered can sense that the deity has tasted the drink. After that the group passes the drink around and everyone makes a toast and takes a sip.