"Woden Wædþ Mid Us"
Nerthusblōt
Earth Mother Sacrifice
Nerthus Sacrifice
Flowers of the Flesh
Nerthusblōt (also called the Earth-Mother Sacrifice or Nerthus Sacrifice) is one of our holy tides. Encompassing the days of the Autumn Equinox, it is a rite dedicated to our most blessed Mother Earth - Nerthus. We honour her alone in devotion, invoking the role she holds in the cycles of the seasons and their bore fruits. All that springs from her flesh is offered most highly during these days; flowers, fruits, vegetables, fresh water and other produce.
A liminal time, as all good rites should be, Nerthusblōt marks the point at which summer and winter meet. As the first grips of the wintry Wuldor arrives, we venerate Nerthus, our Mother Earth, in her holy space - the sacred grove. Within nature’s bounty is where she dwells and it is here she is worshipped with the Rite of Blōt. As in ancient times, all faithful may bear witness to her passage across our Middangeard. It is a time of frith, a time of peace; one which few would dare break during its tiding
With no attested date, our Order holds this rite under the lunar cycle that the seasons meet. By the light of the last Full Moon of September, she is honoured in this time as most appropriate.
Art: Nerthus by Emil Doepler, 1905; German illustrator.
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Want to learn more about the Nerthusblōt?
Please see the below resources for more information:
The Goddess Analysis - Part I
Are Nerthus and Jord distinct Asynjur?
An observant eye, a discerning mind. Both are needed in the interpretation of all things; be it understanding world politics to studying holy texts. More often than should be, we find these traits lacking in many Pagan circles - it is far easier to accept a false notion at face value than to inspect it in depth...
This is an Order Substack article. You can read this here:
Nerthus and Her Rites
Who is Nerthus and how was she venerated?
Her related ritual took place in an inviolable sacred grove, on an unknown island out in the ocean. Within the grove was contained a robe-covered cart dedicated to Nerthus. A single Gothi was permitted to touch the cart and was responsible for discerning Nerthus’ presence within...
This is an Order Substack article. You can read this here:
Historic Information
Mother’s Night (Old English Mōdraniht, Modranicht), also known as the Night of the Mothers, is the name of the Pagan English festival of the Mothers. The sole attestation, and information, of this night comes to us from the Venerable Bede in his work De temporum ratione. He quotes:
Original Latin
Incipiebant autem annum ab octavo Calendarum Januariarum die, ubi nunc natale Domini celebramus. Et ipsam noctem nunc nobis sacrosanctam, tunc gentili vocabulo Modranicht, id est, matrum noctem appellabant: ob causam et suspicamur ceremoniarum, quas in ea pervigiles agebant.
English translation
... began the year on the 8th calends of January [24/25 December], when we celebrate the birth of the Lord. That very night, which we hold so sacred, they used to call by the heathen word Modranecht, that is, "mother's night", because (we suspect) of the ceremonies they enacted all that night.
While there is contradictory evidence as to the exact date of Mother’s Night, Bede dated it to be December 24th (modern-day Christmas Eve) as the date it was historically practiced. This contradiction is compounded further in the proposal that this rite may have links to the Norse rite of Dísablót (English Sacrifice of the Dísir). Both are further likely to be part of the wider Germanic cults of the Matres and Matronae (English Mothers and Matrons, respectively).
Our Order's View
Multiple entities are worshiped within our Order during this time as below:
The Goddesses – Frige and Nerthus
As Mother of the Gods, Frige is primarily honoured in this celebration of maternal growth, being our Goddess of the Home and Childbirth. It is also a time of our Earth Mother Nerthus and the revering of the land, with Nerthus being a Goddess of Fertility and the Cycles.
The Wyrd Sisters - Weordende, Wyrd and Scyld
A trio of powerful feminine wights, the Sisters of Spinning Fate,are honoured for their dominion over the destinies of all – God and man alike.
Mother's Night
Night of the Mothers
Art: The dísablót by August Malmström, 1829-1901; Swedish painter.
Our Faith >> Festivals >> Mother's Night
Order of the Sacred Mannerbunde
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