Vanir research women flying reindeer goddess

 On  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanir

Lorenz Frølich (25 October 1820 – 25 October 1908)

Pierre-Jules Hetzel (15 January 1814 – 17 March 1886

Jan Pieter Marie Laurens de Vries (11 February 1890 – 23 July 1964)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellerup

Holger Pedersen ( 7 April 1867 – 25 October 1953)

Karl Gustav Stricker Brøndsted (13 December 1915 – 27 February 1945)

https://gathervictoria.com/2017/12/15/doe-a-deer-a-female-deer-the-spirit-of-mother-christmas/

The reindeer was often shown leaping or flying through the air with its neck outstretched and legs flung out fore and aft. Her antlers were frequently depicted as the tree of life, carrying birds, the sun, moon, and stars. And across the northern world, it was the Deer Mother who took flight from the dark of the old year to bring light and life to the new.

For the Sami, the indigenous people of the Nordic countries, Beaivi is the name for the Sun Goddess associated with motherhood, the fertility of plants and the reindeer. At Winter Solstice, warm butter (a symbol of the sun) was smeared on doorposts as a sacrifice to Beaivi so that she could gain strength and fly higher and higher into the sky. Beaivi was often shown accompanied by her daughter in an enclosure of reindeer antlers and together they returned green and fertility to the land.

Many winter goddesses in northern legends were associated with the solstice. They took to the skies led by a bevy of flying animals. One tells of the return of Saule, the Lithuanian and Latvian goddess of the sun. She flew across the heavens in a sleigh pulled by horned reindeer and threw pebbles of amber (symbolizing the sun) into chimneys.

These colours are thought to descend from Siberian legends, in which the reindeer took flight each winter after ingesting the hallucinogenic Amanita Muscaria mushroom, the archetypal red toadstool with white spots. Shamans would join them on a vision quest, by taking the mushrooms themselves. Climbing the tree of life in her horns, they would take flight like a bird into the upper realms. Other folktales tell how shamans, dressed in red suits with white spots, would collect the mushrooms and then deliver them through chimneys as gifts on the winter solstice. Talk about a wild night.

Considering that most of the shamans in this region were originally women, it is likely that their traditional wear is the true source for Santa’s costume.  And it is also very likely that they were the first to take shamanic flight with the reindeer on winter’s darkest night.

And while these women are largely forgotten today, the Deer Mother still lives in our Christmas cards, seasonal decorations and tales of Santa’s flying reindeer. And while we may not recognize her, I believe some deep, old part of ourselves still remembers the original “Mother Christmas” who brought light and new life to the world.