Other names for this month’s Moon have historically had a connection to animals. The Cree traditionally called this the Bald Eagle Moon or Eagle Moon . The Ojibwe Bear Moon and Tlingit Black Bear Moon refer to the time when bear cubs are born. The Dakota also call this the Raccoon Moon , certain Algonquin peoples named it the Groundhog Moon , and the Haida named it Goose Moon . Another theme of this month’s Moon names is scarcity. The Cherokee names of Month of the Bony Moon and Hungry Moon give evidence to the fact that food was hard to come by at this time.

THE WINTER SOLSTICE ALSO KNOWN AS THE LONGEST NIGHT The day with the least amount of daylight and the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere This night was also known as Mother Night as the goddess worked her magic so new life could emerge from the dormant seeds lying in the earth Beiwe is the Sun Goddess of the Sami, who rely on the reindeer. Their stories show her flying through the heavens on the Winter Solstice in a ring of reindeer antlers, flinging fertility & life onto the land Freya the Norse Goddess sat at her spinning wheel on the Winter Solstice weaving the fate of the year to come The reindeer were a sacred animal to our ancestors, the doe was the giver of light & life Saule, the Latvian goddess of light & sun, took to the skies on the solstice in a sleigh pulled by horned reindeer. Her aid caught her tears in a golden cup and they transformed into amber, she threw these pieces of amber, like little pieces of sun down to the world to spin sunlight Let us remember the ancients belief in the reindeer, goddess and mother night when she flies high on the sky and dives deep into the earth to nourish and promise a renewal of life It may be dark now, but the light will return Taken from Judith Shaw The Reindeer Goddess