The Wild Horde
The Frauen are the leaders of the Wild Horde, the band of wandering souls, especially children’s souls, who fly through the winter night skies (perhaps disguised as swans, or wild geese, or the wind).
This is even true for St Lucy. In Norway, she is considered a loose woman, even a goblin, and is said to lead the Wild Hunt.
The Wild Horde itself was a complex phenomenon whose origins lose themselves partly in the prehistoric past. There was the assembly of ghosts under the leadership of a female divinity—Hecate or Artemis in ancient Greece; in the Latin West, Diana or Herodias, the mother of Salome. This gathering of female spirits, which later swelled into the crowd of evil hags at the witches’ sabbath, was well known to theologians of the first millennium who in vain flung their anathema against it: As usual the effort was in vain.
- Celebrating Winter Solstice, Customs and Crafts, Recipes and Rituals for
Festivals of Light, Hanukkah, Yule, and Other Midwinter Holidays; Compiled by Waverly Fitzgerald
Blessings dark and deep!
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