Frau Holle leads the Wild Hunt

My dear friend Birgit  has been blessed with writing songs to the Gods for many years and shared a beautiful tune she penned a few years ago to our ears – Heil Dir Holle. Here she is singing this with birds joining in the background.

Frau Holle is known in regions of Germany as the protector of children, keeper of the home crafts (such as spinning), Goddess of Winter, leader of the Wild Hunt and matron of witches.  The Grimm’s preserved her tale in their fairy tales, detailing the gifts given to two young girls. One of integrity and industriousness, the other greedy and lazy.

Frau Holle teaches, inspires and rewards the hard worker, sometimes finishing an industrious worker’s reels for her during the night, but she punishes the lazy, fouling their work.  While governing domestic chores, Holle is also strongly associated with the outside wilderness, wild animals and places remote from man. Her main celebration is during mid-winter and was originally known as Die Zwolften (The Twelve).

Frau Holle  is  the patroness of the Urglaawe faith, and the mother of the Deitsch nation. Many of Urglaawe’s views of Holle result from the oral traditions of the healing practice of Braucherei.

Enjoy getting to know Frau Holle.

Words to the song by Birgit Knorr. You may hear Birgit sing the song on YouTube here.

Heil Dir, Holle, hehre Mutter,                    Hail to you, Holle, noble Mother
heil Dir, Holle, hohe Frau.                           Hail to you, Holle, high woman.

Seelen sinnen tief im Wasser,                     Souls are dreaming deep in water,
Seelen sinnen tief im See.                             Souls are dreaming deep in the lake.

Heil Dir, Holle, hehre Mutter,                    Hail to you, Holle, noble Mother
heil Dir, Holle, hohe Frau.                           Hail to you, Holle, high woman.

Federflocken fallen leise,                             Feather flakes are falling softly
Federflocken fallen lind.                               feather flakes are falling mildly.

Heil Dir, Holle, hehre Mutter,                    Hail to you, Holle, noble Mother
heil Dir, Holle, hohe Frau.                           Hail to you, Holle, high woman.

Gib uns gute Arbeit heute,                          Give us good work today,
gib uns gute Arbeit nun.                               Give us good work now.

Heil Dir, Holle, hehre Mutter,                    Hail to you, Holle, noble Mother
heil Dir, Holle, hohe Frau.                           Hail to you, Holle, high woman.

Schillernd scheinen deine Flocken,            Glittering shine your flakes,
schillernd scheint der Schnee im Land.    Glittering shine the snow on the land

Heil Dir, Holle, hehre Mutter,                    Hail to you, Holle, noble Mother
heil Dir, Holle, hohe Frau.                           Hail to you, Holle, high woman.

Bade mich in Deinem Brunnen,                     Bathe me in your well,
Brunnen bringt mich in Dein Land.             [the] well brings me to your land.

Heil Dir, Holle, hehre Mutter,                    Hail to you, Holle, noble Mother
heil Dir, Holle, hohe Frau.                           Hail to you, Holle, high woman.

 

*The statue of Frau Holle featured above is located at Frau Holle Teich (Frau Holle’s Pond) at Hoher Meißner, Werra-Meißner-Kreis, Hesse, Germany. photo by Jan Tjeerd (c) 2017