Some of the more important rituals/activities take place on Mother’s Night which starts at sundown on December 20. The first one is the flaming sun wheel (Picture 1). The flaming sun wheel is a wheel made from straw or wood. The sun wheel is placed on a bonfire and represents the sun’s return and reassurance that the fimbulwinter is not upon us and Ragnarok has not started (Picture 2).
(Don't worry about the Sun Wheel, it is not a medicine wheel. The Sun Wheel goes back into the late Stone age and early Bronze age in Europe.)
The second is having one or more people staying up all night sitting vigil. The main reason for this goes back to our pre-Christian ancestors who stayed up all night to make sure the goddess Sunna, the sun, would rise again the next morning. Once she had risen, they would make offerings to her. (These offerings can be as simple as beans or other seeds.) The other reason is that the goddess Holle is still out leading the Wild Hunt and having someone stand guard over the house and anyone that may have passed out around the bonfire is wise.
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