A Yuletide Fairytale

Long, long ago, when winter nights were truly cold and always dark, people said a mysterious woman walked through the snowy forests. She came out in the deep winter and they called her Yule Mother. 

No one knew exactly what she looked like. Some said she wore a frosty cloak made of snowflakes. Children claimed her hair was long and silver like moonlight. At this time of year, everyone kept watch for her in the forest.

Every winter, when the nights were growing longest, the Yule Mother walked down from the high mountains. She carried a big woven basket and walked quietly through the woods.

She collected tiny sparks of leftover sunlight, hiding in surprising places; a twinkle under a pine bough, a warm glow nested in a pinecone, a spark flashing on a fox’s fur, a golden shimmer on a frozen lake.

As she gathered the tiny sparks, her basket began to glow.

The animals followed her; the fox trotting behind her, the owls watching from pine trees, and the deer stepped carefully around the lake. In the darkest of night, they could not help but follow her light.

When her basket was full, the Yule Mother went back to her cozy little cabin under a giant spruce tree.

There, she emptied all the sparks onto her hearth table. The sparks glowed and radiated warmth. Slowly and carefully, the Yule Mother crafted the sparks into a shining star. It was no bigger than an acorn, She wrapped the star in a blanket woven dark as night.

On the longest night of winter, the Yule Mother stepped outside with the bundle in her hands. The night was dark and quiet. All living creatures watched and waited. 

The Yule Mother lifted the star up into the sky and whispered:

“Little one, shine for everyone.”

The star lifted from her hands, up to the sky until it nestled onto the horizon, becoming the first spark of the rising sun.

The next morning, all the creatures noticed something; the sunrise came a tiny bit earlier, the earth felt a little warmer, their days felt a little brighter. 

Whether they saw her or not, everyone knew the Yule Mother had done her work. And so on the darkest nights, people light candles and say: “Yule Mother, we keep a light for you. Come visit us from the high mountains, and bring back the sun.”

And she always does.

Join me for more folk tales in my online class offering Circling the Sun where we will weave stories of old with living plant wisdom.