Holda: Deity of Witches

Disclaimer

This is NOT a page about Wiccans or neo-pagans, and I do not advocate the belief that Wiccans are Satan-worshippers and/or baby-killers. I am well aware that they are not. This is a starting point for historical research into the great witch craze of 1100-1700 AD. And please, don't ask me for spells.

Holda

Also known as Fraw Holt, Holda became virtually synonymous with Abonde, Diana, and Perchta. Originally, Holda had been a Germanic goddess of vegetation and fertility, much like Perchta. Holda was also the goddess of spinning and weaving.

She, like her other manifestations, was the leader of the "Furious Horde" or "Wild Hunt" (Wütischend Heer, Wilde Jagd, Mesnie Sauvage)--"namely of the ranks of those who had died prematurely and passed through village streets at night, unrelenting and terrible, while the inhabitants barricaded their doors for protection."

Holda had two forms, that of a beautiful girl dressed all in white, and that of a hideous crone with fangs, a hooked nose, and long, tangled grey hair. In the latter form, she looked just like the stereotypical image of a witch or the evil stepmother of fairy tales. As the White Lady, she was a fertility goddess who granted prosperity to home, family, and field. As the Hag, she offered those who ignored or insulted her death, illness, and misfortune. In this form, she was responsible for fog and snow.

Many animals were sacred to Holda: birds of prey, bears, horses, goats, wolves, pigs, and hounds. Along with her sometimes partner the Wood Man, she was the guardian of wild animals.

Holda may be part of the origin of the Santa Clause mythos as well. She treated children ambivalently.

If they behaved themselves during the year then at Christmas she rewarded them with gifts and good luck. If they had been naughty they would be severely punished. Sometimes Holda was used as a bogey figure and mothers threatened their children that if they did not behave then she would come and take them off to the woods and teach them good manners. Holda allegedly kept the children in a well, endowing the good ones with abundant luck, health and wealth, and turning the bad ones into faery changelings.

(Ginzburg 40)
(Hilton)

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Holda: Deity of Witches is copyrighted 1996-1998 to Shantell Powell.