Another Reason for the Season

I for one especially embrace the Christian concept of "peace on earth". But historians know the time around the winter solstice has been the season and the reason for celebration by many people of many cultures long before the birth of Christ. There are elements taken from ancient cultures involving a great number of traditions that we still carry along with the holiday that we celebrate today. I particularly like the story that comes to us from the Saami people of northern Scandinavia, who still raise and herd reindeer. It is of a goddess they worship called Beiwe who is the sun goddess of fertility and sanity (I think this refers to the seasonal depression that some suffer due to the darkness of long winters), she travels through the sky in a "sleigh" made from reindeer bones along with her daughter, Beiwe-Neia, to bring back the greenery that the reindeer feed on. On the winter solstice the Saami people, sacrifice white female animals and ribbonand with the bones and hide they take ribbons and weave rings. They cover their door posts with butter to give the two goddesses food for their journey through the sky.

This is where we get the part of the the Christmas legend involving a sleigh pulled through the sky by reindeer and also the Christmas wreath.