Filiadies: The Twelve Days
The Twelve Days of Christmas were once highly associated with the dead and the spirits of the other world. This was born from the early realization that the lunar year is around eleven days short of the solar year (there are 354 days in a lunar year compared to the just over 365 in a solar year). The dead of winter was considered a time out of time, much the same as we see Hiatus, as the lunar year was seen to have ended and these days became essentially 'intercalary' to keep the lunar in sync with the solar. [Intercalary refers to time periods added to a calendar to make up for drift; we retain this in our modern Western calendar where we add an extra day in February every four years.]
Days outside of the regular calendar are often seen as inauspicious times -- the Mayan calendar predicted a miserable life for anyone born on the five intercalary days at the end of the year; in more modern times, leap years are viewed as inauspicious for a number of activities. For Europeans, it was considered very unlucky to be born during the 12 days as this time belonged to the dead.
This idea is also somewhat preserved in Madrian sources, as Yuletide is one of the three ghost seasons in our calendar along with midsummer and Tamala/Halloween, as quoted in the ECE (second footnote, page 229, 5th edition): "Nativity was a time for singing the many beautiful Rhennish carols and for telling stories. Ghost stories are popular at this season -- but not on Nativity itself, when no ghosts are ever abroad." This admirably mixes pagan belief (ghosts are loose around this time of year) and Christian (but no ghosts are loose on Nativity, when the Holy Child is born).
In these early agricultural communities that birthed our traditions, this was also a time for the earth to be fertilized ahead of the spring:
"For the crops (or babies) to grow, the earth (or female) must be inseminated by the male; and after insemination, one must wait awhile before seeing evidence of new life. Normally that new life appears in the fields in spring, therefore the insemination must be ritually encouraged earlier -- in the winter and/or at the time of plowing and sowing." Dancing Goddesses, pg 130
Wintertime for this reason was associated with men and male magic. Unlike the spring and summer which were filled with an abundance of female powers and symbolism as crops are planted and grow, the winter was rife with male deities and symbolism: one sees roving bands of disguised men singing and dancing and making a great deal of noise all over Europe due to this underlying logic.
Though
overlaid with many attempts to bring the pagan masses to a wholly
Christian mindset, many of the Christmas and Yuletide traditions we have
inherited will share a common factor and have a common logic if we look
far enough (and know what to look for). Since most of my efforts went
to pre-Nativity posts last year, I wanted to take the time to look into
the other side of Nativity for this year. The twelve days are mentioned
in passing occasionally in Filianic and Madrian sources, and I've always
wanted to discover more about what each day might have meant. There is a
footnote in the ECE on page 230 that mentions three days --
"She
noted that 'Maskiday* was the day when the traditional Nativity plays
and dance-dramas were performed,' and went on to mention a 'Wren-Hunt
Day', 'Drispeal Day', and 'Wexell Day' as occurring within the twelve
days of Nativity also, but provided no dates for these and no mention of
their activities except that on Wexell Day 'the Rhennismare was taken
carolling the families'. No other source records any of these named days
within the twelve."
-- which we'll cover in depth in this post. (*Maskiday
will not be covered as it is fairly obvious: the name is a reference to
'masks/masking' where people dress up in disguises or costumes and
perform 'masks' or plays, which have been commonplace in European
celebrations since time immemorial and still somewhat preserved in modern choices of television ["pantos"] around Christmastime.)
Wren-Hunt Day
Though this day is variously explained as having to do with a wren somehow ruining something, either St Stephen's hiding place or by betraying Irish soldiers fighting against invading Norse, this day screams all over that it's an ancient pagan custom.
Apart from the obvious marker (a band of disguised men and boys going through the town), another marker is that each house is to give something to the group: coins or small treats like nuts and fruit. We see this offering of gifts as important to all such wandering groups, whether they be carolers, trick-or-treaters, or the various wassailers such as those accompanying the Mari Lwyd. This is a form of folk magic where if you behaved as though you had wealth, you might induce wealth to come to you in the coming year:
"Manifest abundance during these rituals, like the rice showered on brides, analogically induces abundance in the year to come. If the householders do not show largesse to the visitors, they may incur the displeasure and retaliation of more than the human mummers. It's treat, or trick." Dancing Goddesses pg 132
Refusing to open the door or not having anything to give was a sure way to anger the spirits and to turn away good luck in the new year. We also see this with Wren-Hunt Day: if someone refused the Wren Boys entry or didn't give them anything, the wren was buried opposite the house to ensure no good luck could come to the family in the coming year!
The fact that the wren is buried at the end makes me wonder if originally the wren was to take the bad luck from each household and be ritually disposed of at the end to remove the spectre of the old year. Or, in the style of Caloian, a small figure made of clay that is ritually buried so it can take a message to the underworld, the wren is showered with gifts and songs then buried to take the those well-wishes to the underworld where it can then help facilitate the growth of spring. (Dancing Goddesses, pg 64-67)
Sources & Further Reading:
Irish Wren-Hunt Day
https://pilgrimagemedievalireland.com/2016/12/25/an-irish-st-stephens-day-tradition-la-an-dreoilinwren-day/
https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/irelands-ancient-celtic-christmas-traditions
Though it is on Wiki, the section The Celtic Theory that cites the book "Hunting the Wren" also sounds highly plausible; another book on my to-read list!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wren_Day
Dancing Goddesses by Elizabeth Wayland Barber
Drispeal Day
After Wren-Hunt Day was easily found in Irish traditions, it is tempting to hope the remaining days will also be found there.
No such luck.
"Drispeal" is a word uniquely Aristasian, said to mean the 3 Eternal Truths (perhaps from 'dri' (tri) meaning three). As it is described as a "Creed of the Amazons" -- though there is no historical reality to that claim -- I was interested to note that there is the day of St Sylvester, held on December 31, during whose papacy the Nicene Creed was formulated. Though this is a bit of a stretch, Sylvester is synonymous with New Year's Eve throughout Europe, particularly in Germanic speaking areas; therefore I think it just possible those who coined "Drispeal Day" were aware of the details of St Sylvester's life and might have intended the connection.
Lead was used in Germany for many years to foretell the future on this day by pouring its molten form into a tub of water and divining from the shape it takes (though it is now technically banned as dangerous), and many traditions for this day fit with the general theme as discussed above: disguised bands of men, people dressed up like spirits and wild creatures, rolling flaming wheels down hills or setting off fireworks. Noise has always been a deterrent for spirits of all sorts, but particularly against those who would do you harm, and fireworks have long served that purpose within and without Europe.
Therefore,
traditional new year's observances may be a good fit for Drispeal Day.
Fortune telling and perhaps reciting the Creed also suit this day, which
I would tentatively place on Dec 31.
Sources & Further Reading:
Drispeal (only available to view through the Wayback Machine)
https://web.archive.org/web/20150607204718/http://allgirlworlds.com/the-three-eternal-truths/
St Sylvester & Sylvester's Day Celebrations
https://www.christmas-celebrations.org/215-st-sylvesters-day.html
https://www.deutschland.de/en/topic/life/german-holidays-explained-silvester
https://inavukic.com/2013/12/31/croatia-a-sylvesters-day-tradition/
https://www.papalartifacts.com/december-31-the-feast-of-pope-st-sylvester-i/
https://www.thelocal.de/20191230/16425/
Wexell Day
This day has a clue to accompany it: 'on Wexell Day "the Rhennismare was taken carolling the families"'.
I've already mentioned the Mari Lwyd above, and it is the first thing that springs to mind when thinking of a 'mare' being 'taken carolling' at Christmas time. (Rhenn- + Mare = Rhennismare; rhenn- being a reference to a 'British matriarchal culture' that is largely imaginary but draws heavily on pre-Christian agricultural practices with a matriarchal veneer.) The Mari Lwyd is a descendant of a long tradition that started with a real horse skin, hooves and head still attached though the rest of the animal was removed, hung on poles and laid on rooftops:
"One
type of horse sacrifice not only survives here and there today among
Central Asian nomadic herders but also is archaeologically traceable for
seven thousand years. The horse was ritually slain, then slit open to
remove the meat and bones for a feast. What remained was a single piece
consisting of the head (with skull), hide, and lower end of each leg
(with tibia and hoof). This object was then hung over a slanting pole
stuck in the ground or on the roof, so the horse shape could be seen for
a great distance. Both the horse and the pole which represents a divine
tree...were perceived as sacred spirit channels, and they persisted,
for example, in the protective horseheads carved at the ends of the
rooftrees of Russian peasant huts. Sometimes the head, pelt, and
attached legs were folded together and deposited in or on a grave, where
archaeologists find their remains -- thousands of them over the
millenia. Known as "head-and-hooves" sacrifices, they occur, after 1800
BC, across Eurasia all the way to Britain." Dancing Goddesses pg 308
'Wexell' in itself sounds like it is a step away from 'wassail' which is what is happening on these types of days. Those accompanying the wren, the mare, or whatever other symbol a village is using nearly always go around in song, engaging in lyrical battles with householders, and dancing. The call 'wassail' comes from the Anglo Saxon phrase 'waes hael' -- 'to your health' -- and referred specifically to a type of caroling done to preserve the trees for next year's harvest; but has come to mean this sort of door to door singing. Alcohol, and in great quantities, is nearly always around on these days of the year, commonly given as part of the gifts to the carolers; where it is no longer present, the money given to the carolers is often spent on a round at the pub after!
So in many ways this is a repeat performance of Wren-Hunt Day, in that the Mare is "taken carolling" to remove lingering traces of the old year as it is fading, and bring good luck for the new year. Always accompanied with shows of festivity and abundance to ensure a good year, the Rhennismare/Mari Lwyd and Wren-Hunt Day are regional varieties of the same beliefs and practices though the awareness of the connection has faded in modern times. Back when the Twelve Days of Christmas were days out of time for the solar and lunar calendars to align, days completely open to the other world and spirits of all manners walked over the earth, behaving with generosity might impress spirits who would reward you.
There
doesn't seem to be one particular day associated with Mari Lwyd; rather
that the practice occurs on different days in different communities, so
there is no particular day I can give for Wexell Day. It seems to occur
today anywhere from mid-December to mid-January, so if you are looking
to incorporate something like Wexell Day into your Yuletide traditions,
it could be associated with any day you either go caroling or sing
carols with your family at home.
Sources & Further Reading:
Wassail
https://www.whychristmas.com/customs/wassailing.shtml
Mari Lwyd
http://www.folkwales.org.uk/mari.html
https://www.wales.com/about/culture/mari-lwyd
https://www.okwhatever.org/topics/culture/mari-lwyd
Dancing Goddesses by Elizabeth Wayland Barber
~*~
Though we are lacking a full list of all twelve days with exact correspondences for each (unlikely as it is that such a thing ever existed), this is a fair start! What seems to be preserved is again, like so much of Madrian practice, a heritage that truly stretches far back into the mists of time: the beginning of agriculture, to be precise. For those interested in the topic, I cannot recommend Dancing Goddesses enough: the work in that volume alone is staggering and written in a very accessible way. I found a copy in my local library system and was blown away by it. As with the Mari Lwyd, there is so much plain archaeological evidence and history to these symbols that most modern historians seem to have ignored that would allow them to place these symbols in a much clearer context and give explanations for quite a lot of what seems disjointed.
As well as Elizabeth Barber's works, Claude Lecouteux has several books written on many historical folk practices, drawing from those early written manuscripts and historical finds that inform a lot of my writing now that I've read his work. As both Claude and Elizabeth repeat throughout their works, these old practices had a clear logic to them. Our ancestors were not stupid. What we still have today is the broken, scattered remnants of a vast and glittering mental landscape that had very little to do with the Christian worldview that put a stranglehold on it. And I find the more I read about these historical realities, the more I realize just how much is preserved in very fine fashion in the Madrian sources.
Though they themselves may not have known it, and though they aren't preserving a Mother Goddess faith in the way they wanted, they have actually done a very good job pulling those older threads that genuinely did predate Christianity and putting them in places very like their original settings. Filianism, despite all its Catholic veneer, is surprisingly pagan -- in a very good way!
~*~
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