Riding With Holda

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In some tales, Holda is a weather goddess. Snow flies as Holda shakes her cape or the comforter on her bed. It is said that fog comes from her fires and rain from her washing day. In other accounts, Holda is a goddess of prosperity and generosity. Gold coins fall from her cape as she furls it. In one tale, after a villager worked all night to fashion a new wooden shaft to replace the one that had broken on her carriage, he found she had thanked him by turning the wood shavings from his work into gold. It was only then that he discovered the woman he had helped was actually the Goddess Holda.

In other early lore, Holda was a sky goddess riding on the wind. She is thought to be an older form of Frigg, wife of the Father God Odin; in some tales, Holda and Odin ride the sky together. Holda also has been honored as a goddess of the moon, and sometimes her name has been used as a term for a lunar priestess. Another of her forms is that of a night-riding witch leading a spirit host in a fierce ride, known as the Wild Hunt, through the sky and across the land.

During persecution times in Europe, some of those suspected of witchcraft were said to "ride with Holda." Her Pagan origins are evident in folk tales in which she is described as accompanied by a grand and furious procession of souls of the dead, mostly unchristened babies and children. It was said that as Holda and her entourage passed through the fields, they blessed the land with abundance and caused a double harvest in the growing season that followed.

In many places, Holda is closely associated with Perchta (Berchta), her tatters-clad shadow twin sister, also identified with the Wild Hunt and Yuletide. On Perchta's Day, January 6, ancient Europeans left offerings of cakes and milk on house roofs to bring good luck for the coming year. Holda and Perchta probably emerged as local variants of the same goddess-turned-folk character, since both sometimes appear in tales as hunched-backed crones and bogey figures, punishing or blessing adults as well as children for bad or good behaviors, at Yuletide and at other times of the year. As crone goddesses, they also preside over destiny and the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.

Geese are sacred to Holda, and some say she is the source of the storybook character Mother Goose. As the Lady of Beasts, Holda has many creatures associated with her, including hounds, wolves, pigs, horses, goats, bears, and birds of prey. In some tales, she lives in the woods and is the ancient half-tree, half-woman who gave birth to humankind. Apples and flax are among the plants sacred to her.

Holda also is associated with lakes, streams, and wells. In the Grimm's fairy tale, "Mother Holle," she is visited by two half-sisters at her home at the bottom of a well, where she rewards the industrious one with gold but covers the lazy one with pitch. Holda as goddess of hearth and home presided over spinning and domestic arts. She also symbolized virtue, wisdom, and womanhood.

Today, across the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world, Holda is remembered, not only by folklorists, but by Pagans of many paths, who invoke her, give her offerings, and share her stories and traditions in Winter Solstice rituals and celebrations. As Holda takes her Yuletide ride this year, may she bring the world her blessings of peace, prosperity, and well-being.

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