A ritual for yule: mother’s night

It’s probably clear by now: yule, midwinter, is an important point in the year for us. During midwinter we find ourselves in the darkest time of the year. After this, we’ll slowly return to the light. Yule is therefore about death from which life will come again and about darkness from which light is born. Every ritual that we have around yule has this theme one way or another, including the ritual we perform during mother’s night.

The first yule night, mother’s night

The first night of yule is mother’s night. We celebrate this night after sunset on December 20. Traditionally, every 24 hour period started with the dark and not with the light part of the day, as it does nowadays. That does actually make sense when you consider the fact that almost every creation myth starts with darkness and chaos from which light and order comes forth.

Mother’s night is a kind of new year’s eve to us. This night is dedicated to the great primeval mother, who holds life and death in her hand. During mother’s night we are moving through the darkness of her womb to a new period of life. We prefer doing this without old issues still affecting us. That’s why mother’s night, to us, is all about letting go so that we enter this period of reflection, the time between time that is yule, with a clean slate.