Holle: A goddess of the West Germanics, shepherdess of children, keepers of the souls of infants, goddess of healing wells, creator of snow, gifter of Flax to the people, inventor of Thuringian dumplings, and more. While she is present across much of West Germanics her main areas are present in Hesse and Thuringia. Where she is said to live atop the Meissner or in the Venusberg respectively. She gifted Flax to her people after telling a farmer he could chose a gift from her in a gem encrusted cave he picked the “Purple flowers” she had in her hand which became never ending seeds and Flax became incredibly important and tied to Holle. In one story she was essentially given her “Steading” by Hertha (Possibly Nerthus) though it may be a pseudo-folktale. She was also likely fused with both Eastre and a summer maiden perhaps Walpurga or Volla over the years likely due to her name being more acceptable to use compared to the other more “pagan” names. This was due to her name being similar to a villain in the bible. She is also known as Holda and she is most well known from the Grimm's fairy tale Mother Holda/Frau Holle. Where Goldmary and Pitchmary visit her and receive their “payment” many take this to be symbolic of a sun and moon goddess (whose story also appears independently of Holle) possibly the Wendish goddesses Yr and Om or perhaps Sunna and Sinthgunt. She is said to give the dawn on May 2nd while she spins in her chair and her golden curls shine with her “Morning gift”. She is sometimes thought to be the sister of Perchta a nearby Celto-Teutonic-Slavic goddess (basically Alpine). For consorts she is sometimes thought to have Ewicher Yeager as a consort while others will attribute her the corn giant Wode (Wodan was a later addition as a result of medieval scholarship). She is a talented baker and sorceress, being both responsible for healing and matchmaking and pregnancy as well as being the inventor of Thuringian Potato Dumplings and being very associated with pancakes. She is associated with many animals especially cats (White ones especially) who are at times said to be her followers shapeshifted, while other times it is girls she has punished. She also gives out punishment and gifts at Yuletide while with the wild hunt. Her retinue includes her attendents the Hollen (a kind of fae or imp), Eckhart her former priest and now Herald, fae, elves, cats, witches, babies, and odd bugbears like the Hulleswaatch. Her symbol is at times the spindle that she walks with or a magic wand/club, other times a sickle which is the symbol attributed to her in Urglaawe. The Pennsylvania Dutch heathenry where Holle is attributed the guiding hand of migrating the PA Dutch to America to escape persecution and continue the old ways like many pagan minded people who fled Europe during dark times for them. She is also said to lead the Parade of spirits on Halloween and is responsible partly for the reincarnation process. This is the just the tip of the iceberg for Mother Holle and I hope you are able to find much more on her as you look, she is fond of apples and Elder trees.
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If you want to learn more of Holle and the Frauen look to Europe & Diaspora Issue 3 Koleda and my article "Tales of the Frauen" coming this Yuletide -TAO
I love my people enough to earn your hatred and bear so with honor and steadfastness