Mother's Night

A holiday to celebrate the mothers.

Mother’s Night is a folk holiday celebrated the night before the Winter Solstice with Anglo-Saxon and Pagan roots.

During the darkness of this night, the female ancestors of a lineage or line are remembered or honored. Gathering around a fire to tell stories of our mothers or our mother’s mothers (whether we knew them or not), leaving out an offering, building an altar, or lighting candles in the windows for passing by female spirits are ways to connect with this holiday. It is the moment of mystery and darkness just before the solstice, the realm of the goddess.

In the book Missing Witches, Risa Dickens and Amy Torok describe Mother’s Night as “a time to draw closer to your maternal ancestors. Mother’s Night begins this season in the dark, tied with our breath and our voices to all the possibilities inherent in that space before and between. We keep the Yule log burning to keep us on this side of life, to stay warm and survive until tomorrow. This moment is a dangerous encounter with death, just like the labor of childbirth has been for most of human history. And in this way, this moment is, by its very nature, dangerous to patriarchy.”

A Mother’s Night Ritual….

My family likes to make pomanders together by the fire at my mom’s house. Although I don’t get to do this every year, when I can, my heart is always full.

To make a pomander, you will need oranges and whole cloves.

A pomander is an orange pierced by cloves in patterns. Pomanders are often tied with a gold or red ribbon and sometimes anointed with oils. These charms were used for healing, protection, and good luck. These make lovely Yuletide gifts, fragrant luck charms for the New Year, or a gift for someone who needs something soothing.

Medieval herbalists used pomanders–mixtures of aromatic dried herbs in cloth bags or perforated boxes-to ward off illness or bring strength and good fortune. The word pomander comes from the French pomme d’ambre, meaning apple of amber.

While you make the pomanders, share stories with your loved ones about the mothers in your family lineage. If you don’t know them, that’s okay! Imagine them and their stories, and send love to these unknown spirits back into your ancestral line.

When finished, add them to a bowl to create a centerpiece for a holiday table or create an altar. Feel free to add Yuletide elements like evergreen branches, pine, cedar, photos of the mothers, holly, or other festive decorations. If you’d like to add a writing element, write a letter to one of these specific women or your ancestors more broadly, honoring them during the glimmering shadows of the solstice.

Happy Mother’s Night! To all the mothers and their mothers.