At this time of the year, the Winter Solstice, a patriarchal theft by the Church is revealed by the concept of “Father Christmas.” It was stolen from the indigenous shamanic cultures primarily from Siberia and the Nordic countries of Northern Norway, Finland (Lapland), and the Arctic Circle.
Long before Santa and his flying steeds, it was the female reindeer who drew the sleigh of the sun goddess at the Winter Solstice. It was when the pagan traditions of winter were “Christianized” that “Father Christmas” was born.
It was never “Father Christmas” that brought gifts and the return of light at the Winter Solstice—it was “Mother Christmas,” the ancient Deer Mother of old. It was she who once flew through winter’s longest darkest night with the life-giving light of the sun in her horns.
And from the British Isles, Scandinavia, Russia, Siberia, across the land bridge of the Bering Strait, she was a revered spiritual figure associated with fertility, motherhood, regeneration and the rebirth of the sun (the theme of winter solstice).
Her antlers adorned shrines and altars, were buried in ceremonial graves and were worn as shamanic headdresses. Her image was etched in standing stones, woven into ceremonial cloth and clothing, cast in jewelry, painted on drums, and tattooed onto skin.
Reindeer were often shown leaping or flying through the air with neck outstretched and legs flung out fore and aft. Her antlers were frequently depicted as the tree of life, carrying birds, the sun, moon, and stars. And across the northern world, it was the Deer Mother who took flight from the dark of the old year to bring light and life to the new.
Sorry Rudolph, but the male reindeer shed their antlers in the winter, it is only the doe who retains her antlers as she is the one who leads the herds in winter. Ever since the early Neolithic period, the female reindeer was venerated by northern people. She was the “life-giving mother,” the leader of the herds upon which they depended for survival, and they followed the reindeer migrations for milk, food, clothing and shelter.
One of these cultures that honored the “life-giving mother, “the Deer Mother was the Sami.
For the Sami, the indigenous people of the Nordic countries, Beaivi is the name for the Sun Goddess associated with motherhood, the fertility of plants and the reindeer. At Winter Solstice, warm butter (a symbol of the sun) was smeared on doorposts as a sacrifice to Beaivi so that she could gain strength and fly higher and higher into the sky. Beaivi was often shown accompanied by her daughter in an enclosure of reindeer antlers and together they returned green and fertility to the land.
Many other winter goddesses in northern legends were associated with the solstice. They took to the skies led by a bevy of flying animals. One tells of the return of Saule, the Lithuanian and Latvian goddess of the sun. She flew across the heavens in a sleigh pulled by horned reindeer and threw pebbles of amber (symbolizing the sun) into chimneys.
While many historical explorations of the pagan origins of Christmas observe the link between Santa’s garb and the red and white amanita mushroom ingesting shamans, few mention that it was the female shamans who originally wore red and white costumes trimmed with fur, horned headdresses or red felt hats! The ceremonial clothing worn by medicine women healers of Siberia and Lapland, was green and white with a red peaked hat, curled toed boots, reindeer mittens, fur lining and trim.
Considering that most of the shamans in this region were originally women, it is likely that their traditional wear is the true source for Santa’s costume. And it is also very likely that they were the first to take shamanic flight with the reindeer on winter’s darkest night.
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