These stories come down from hundreds of years of oral tradition in which he was equally kind, sneaky, helpful or devious. There are many versions of the Tomte, who is also called “Nisse” across Scandinavia, and he is usually depicted as no taller than three feet with a long white beard and a pointy red wool hat. Here is a lonely old farm where everyone is sleeping. On such a night people creep into their small houses, wrap themselves up and bank the fire on the hearth. The stars are shining in the sky tonight, the snow lies white all around, the frost is cruel. Once upon a time someone came here, cut down trees, built a homestead and farmed the land. The farm is deep in the middle of the forest. The old farm lies fast asleep and everyone inside the house is sleeping too. It is accompanied with beautiful illustrations of a farm in mid-winter by Harald Wiberg. Growing up, one of the favorite books from Tim Reese, supervisor at Gale Woods Farm (pictured above), was The Tomten, a picture book adapted by Astrid Lindgren (creator of Pippi Longstocking) from a poem published by Swedish author Viktor Rydberg in 1881. 'Befana' by foto.dino is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 The Story of Tomte Placing a rag doll in her likeness by the front door or window entices her into the home. In Italian folklore, La Befana is a goddess who rides around the world on her broom during the solstice, leaving candies and gifts to well-behaved children. For this reason she was worshipped during this time of year. It was believed that she travelled through the night sky in a structure made of reindeer bones with her daughter, Beiwe-Neia, to bring back the greenery on which the reindeer fed. Winter solstice has also been known to celebrate Earth’s regeneration or rebirth, and the Scandinavian Goddess, Beiwe, is associated with health and fertility. Winter Solstice Gods and Goddessesĭuring winter solstice, there were also stories about kinder beings, and a variety of gods and goddesses were worshipped, like Tonantzin in Mexico, Cailleach Bheru in Scotland, Horus in Egypt and Spider Grandmother by the Hopi. The Kallikantzaros would end up trying to count the holes in the colanders until sunrise and then have to go back underground before they could cause any mischief. They were reputed to be rather dumb and unable to count past 3, so villagers put out colanders to ward them off. Like the Kogukhpak, they could also be killed only by sunlight and emerged during the solstice to wreak havoc on homes and villages.

In Greek Mythology, the Kallikantzaros were angry, hairy, gnome-like creatures who lived underground and tried to cut down the tree of life. On the winter solstice, the Kogukhpak emerged to hunt and mammoth carcasses were said to be the corpses of the ones who stayed out too long and died when the sun returned. The Yupik peoples, indigenous to the Artic, tell the story of the Kogukhpak, subterranean monsters with bulbous bodies and frog-like legs who could only be killed by the sun.

In Finnish mythology, it’s told that Louhi, the “witch goddess of the North,” kidnapped the Sun and Moon and held them captive inside a mountain, causing the darkness of winter. But sometimes solstice stories are about kinder beings who help us through the leanest time of year, too. Winter solstice is also known as “The Day the Sun Stands Still.”Ĭultural traditions from around the Northern Hemisphere have long told fireside stories about mythical monsters who steal the sun, play tricks on or try to eat hapless humans in the darkness. The word “solstice” is derived from the Latin words “sol” (sun) and “sistere” (to stand). Only a minute or two at first, but it won’t take long for it to be noticeably lighter for longer. From this time forward, our days will begin to lengthen. The winter solstice also marks the astronomical beginning of winter, at 10:19 PM exactly, when Earth’s North Pole is tilted farthest away from the sun, though here in Minnesota, we might feel winter started much earlier. Winter solstice, which falls on December 21 this year, marks the shortest day of the year when we will have just 8 hours and 46 minutes of daylight between sunrise and sunset.

The dark side of saturnalia