Join your family, friends and SiStars in celebrating YOUR HerStory on 12th Night of Christmas, celebrated by my Celtic ancestors as Nollaig na mBan (Women’s Little Christmas in Irish Gaelic).
For those of you not familiar with Women’s Little Christmas, it is a Celtic tradition from days of yore and is still celebrated in Ireland, the Isle of Man and in some parts of England and Scotland, and possibly in other countries.
Many start their 12 Days of Solstice (or Christmas) with celebrations on “Mother’s Night” on Solstice Eve or Christmas Eve. I love the symmetry of beginning and ending the 12 Days of Solstice by honouring all women!
On the Twelfth Day of Christmas — January 6th, which is also the Christian holiday of Epiphany — women of all ages would get together and celebrate, and the men would stay at home! It became a perfect time to share stories, bond, dream, celebrate. Not exactly a Red Tent, but close to it! Often, it’s more likely to be celebrated at the local pub or at home . . . but that’s another story!
This holiday is now being reclaimed (and secularized) as a celebration of women, our Divine Feminine and of our herstories: the women we know, the women who inspire us, the women of our blood (family) and bone (ancestors), the women of our future (our daughters, nieces, and spiritual descendants).
This is my invitation to you:
Create YOUR Women’s Little Christmas on the 12th Night weekend (Friday, January 4th to Sunday, January 6th, in 2019) and feel free to call it whatever you want!
Honour the Divine Feminine in YOUR life. Spend some time with family, friends, acquaintances… give them a call, visit, have a laugh, cook a meal together, craft together, share a story, light a candle, celebrate being aligned with the Divine Feminine. Celebrate being a woman / womxn.
FYI, the HerStory movement in Ireland is telling the lost stories of hundreds of Irish women from history and today… in performances, storytelling, illuminations and more.
For your journal
You may find that the women you celebrate on Nollaig na mBan become part of the lore and inspiration for the archetypes in the Women’s Wheel of Life with which we are working in our newest course 13 Moons, 13 Goddesses. Be sure to journal your inspirations and perhaps even consider with which archetype they are aligned.
If I think back to my inspiration as a child, I know how much I loved reading stories about strong and amazing women — heroines, adventurers, explorers, leaders, scientists, goddesses and more — even young adult literature featuring independent clever girls (Nancy Drew anyone?). So many archetypes there!
Some of these tales were the stuff of myth and legend, while others were about real women. And for me, some of the most amazing stories were ones I heard at home… how the women who came before me lived their lives, and faced challenges that we can’t even imagine.
Who are YOUR heroines?
Who are YOUR SHEroes?
If you don’t know much of your family history, this would be a great time to connect with other family members and ask them to share their memories of the past.
And if you are not connected to your birth family, take some time to meditate and journey with your Ancestors (this is always a good thing to do!!!!). You are connected to them through the DNA that provided the blueprint for YOU, the wonderful being that came into this world. You may find some wonderful inspiration on the journey.
Oh, yes, Nancy Drew (although a tad priggish) was a definite role model in an era where they were in short supply. I can remember feeling hard done by not being able to find biographies of heroines and sheroes in the librayr. So few. Now we have Mighty Girls! Louisa May Alcott was a huge influence, too.