Beaivi is a deity in the folklore of the Sami people of northern Europe. She is the goddess of the sun, spring, and sanity, associated with the fertility of plants and animals, particularly reindeer. On the winter solstice, a white female reindeer would be sacrificed to Beaivi so that she would end the winter. The sacrificed animals' meat was threaded onto sticks, which were then bent into rings and tied with bright ribbons. This was called the Festival of Beaivi.

#FolkloreSunday #GothicSpring #Mythology #Folklore #Sami #Finland #Spring #Winter #WinterSolstice #Holiday

Dear Lovely Peeps,

Not what I usually post, but I am thinking of a few of you right now.

For anyone who may need this, know I am wishing you a better morning and more light. 🕯️

The Longest Night

by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat
(aka The Velveteen Rabbi)

We all tell ourselves stories
about grief to come.
Anticipating the dark
we think, how can I live
without the sun I turn toward?

We wrest what gifts we can
from the dying days.

One morning we wake
and the doorway we most dreaded
is behind us.

The ice may not recede
for months to come
but day by day
may there be more light.

#Light #Poetry #Hope #Solstice #Grief #Grieving #WinterSolstice #RabbiRachelBarenblat

One of the oldest known “windows”

Light opening (center of image) above the entrance to the passage at Newgrange.
For a few days around the winter solstice, a ray of light shines through this opening into the chamber at the end of the passage at sunrise.

May 2014

#Newgrange #PassageTomb #Boyne #SiAnBhru #CountyMeath #Ireland #Neolithic #Neolithicperiod #wintersolstice #sunrise #solstice #Irland #Neolithikum #Jungsteinzeit #passage #Wintersonnenwende #Sonnenaufgang #FensterFreitag

To those who celebrate, may you walk in #light.

#Candlemas
#Imbolc
#StBrigidsday

Enjoy your #crossquarterday.
Northern Hemisphere is about halfway from #wintersolstice to #vernalequinox; #Spring is coming.

Candlemas Day by Marianne Stokes (1855-1927) c. 1901, Tate #T02108, Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1977, public domain

#astronomy #calendar #season #solstice #equinox #Earth #Sun #histsci