Mother Holle
Frau Holle (sometimes translated as Mother Hulda) is a character in one of Grimm's fairy tales, which goes something like this:
Once upon a time, there were two sisters. One was lazy and spoiled, but favored by the mother, whereas the young, industrious daughter was scorned and made to do all the work with no rewards. One afternoon, as the younger daughter was spinning, she dropped her spindle into the well. Terrified of what her mother would say, she jumped after it. She fell and fell without hitting water, and ended up in a magical land - that of Mother Holle.
She started walking and came to an apple tree. The apples begged, "pick us, pick us, lovely girl, we are ripe and will soon fall and bruise." So she picked them and went on. She came to an oven where rolls started crying out, "please take us out from the fire - we will soon burn!" So she removed the rolls and went on. Finally she came to a cottage where she found an old woman - Mother Holle. When she told the old lady her troubles, the crone offered to let her stay there in return for work. The girl agreed and did all her chores industriously, including shaking out the down pillows every morning. Whenever she did so, the children of the land above were very pleased, because the snow fell thick and heavy as the feathers fell.
When the season was up, Mother Holle wished the girl well and sent her on her way home; she passed through a gate which showered her with gold, and soon found herself at home. The rooster crowed, "cock-a-doodle-do, our golden girl has returned home to us!" Her mother saw the girl return, and got greedy. She decided that the other daughter would be rewarded in the same way, and so she sent that girl to jump down the well too.
The girl landed in the same spot and took off towards the cottage. Being lazy and selfish, she ignored the cries of the apples begging to be picked and the rolls screaming from the oven, and when Mother Holle put her to work at her cottage, she shirked her tasks. As she didn't shake the down pillows out, snow didn't fall that year, and all the children were very sad because they couldn't sled or have snowball fights or build snowmen. When she was sent her way in the spring, the gate she passed through rained tar and pitch on her, and the rooster crowed, "cock-a-doodle-do, the dirty girl has returned to us too." And no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't wash the tar off her as long as she lived.
It is believed that Frau Holle is more than just an archetypical crone, but rather a descendant of the pre-Christian Germanic sky goddess known variously as Hulda, Holda, Holle, and Holla, who ruled the weather (snow, rain, and sunshine) - the Sky-Mother. Many Indo-European "sky" deities were also the supreme gods of the culture. Marija Gimbutas surmised that Holle might have been the supreme goddess of the German pantheon, and might perhaps have predated all other deities of that pantheon. Some of her symbolism (such as spinning and weaving, and rewarding/punishing the girls according to their actions) also connects her with the Werde, which has to do with Fate - remember Shakespeare's Wyrd sisters of Macbeth?
When Christianity was introduced to the region, earlier Pagan elements and deities were reduced in importance and their meanings and legends distorted, with occasional memories of the earlier gods and goddesses embedded in the folklore of the region - including in the fairy tales, sayings, and other customs and prohibitions. In parts of Germany, when it is snowing people still mention Mother Holle and how she is making her bed. She was also supposed to be the keeper of unborn or dead children, with her home in various mountains, caves, or the waters of ponds or fountains.
In some traditions, Holle was the wife of Wodan, and on the Winter Solstice she would walk through the land to bless it. In other regions, she is said to haunt Christmas nights even now, as part of the wild hunt (flying, with howling dogs accompanying her) of as a fancy lady in a carriage pulled by dogs. People stay indoors after dark in this time of the year to avoid meeting her. With the coming of Christianity, negative legends have increasingly been associated with her, with her punishing those who were lazy or wasted food. It is believed that these tales were told to discredit the once-beloved goddess of the people. Her festival is celebrated on December 25th.
