The Crones of Christmas

Grandma, is that you?

Dec 30, 2022

The most invisible person in the world is the older woman. Overlooked and ignored by a youth-driven, future-obsessed culture, she fades into the background, relegated to the useless past.

She comes in two varieties: first, the sweet little old lady, aka the grandmama. She's a little out of it, forgetful but kind. She's invisible, but when occasionally thought about, loved.

The second is the crone. Mention her, and a very different image springs to mind. We shudder and recoil when she crosses our path.

Acerbic, not sweet, contrary, rather than kind, she upends our granny fantasy.

We are frightened of her, and with good reason.

How odd then that she should appear in numerous disguises at Christmas, that joyful, loving, and gentle time of the year.

I want to introduce you to these enigmatic figures of the winter season.

La Befana, the Italian Christmas witch; Babouschka from Russia; the Slavic Baba Yaga, and the Scottish Cailleach.

Each gives us insight into what happens when a woman reaches a certain age. Their stories will show how older women can threaten the social order.

First, I'd like to say a word about reclaiming language.

Over the past two decades, I've noticed an alarming trend to try and rehabilitate words denigrating the feminine using an unfounded scholarship.

Crone is one of those words. I'm all for reclaiming and rehabilitating words like crone, witch, and hag, but I cringe when I see it done based on faulty assumptions and incorrect information.

Crone is one such word that suffers from this unfortunate trend. I often see people proclaiming that crone once meant "crown," which proves that older women were revered and respected as wise elders and clan leaders in the distant past.

Misogyny runs deep, and nothing could be further from the truth.

No crown for the crone, just carrion.

Crone entered the English language around 1390 AD, deriving from the word carogne, an insult.

Carogne is derived from the Old North French (charogne, caroigne), meaning a disagreeable woman. It literally means "carrion," rotting flesh.

It should be noted that in folklore and myth, crones are often associated with crows, a further nod to the origin of the word relating it to carrion. Crows, also known as carrion crows, feast on the remains of the dead.

Here we see her association with death and the underworld. The first reason to fear her.

However, as we continue to assert the power and value of the older woman, we can create new meanings for the crone, including using the wordplay of crone and crown.

Let's always be clear that we are adding something new to the word and not incorrectly concocting a history for the term that never existed. It's important to not erase the derogatory history of crone. We must preserve its true meaning because it documents the struggle older women and women, in general, have historically faced.

Why crones at Christmas?

Le Befana, Babouschka, and Baba Yaga have Christmas tales associated with them. However, the Cailleach is much, much older. She is older than Christmas but inextricably intertwined with winter's hoarfrost, ice, and snow.

Le Befana and Babouschka share a similar story, attesting to its ancient and widespread roots across southern and eastern Europe. Yet, each tale carries particular distinctions that convey different messages about the crone.

The basic tale is about an old woman living alone. Then, one winter night, the three Magi arrive and knock on her door. They invite her to join them on their quest to find the Christ Child. She declines, regrets her decision, and sets out the next day to find the Magi and the Child. But she has waited too long and cannot find them. So she continues to search to this day, giving gifts to the children she meets along the way.

We begin with an assessment of an old woman's condition in society. She is alone and lonely. This is particularly stressed in Babouschka's story. We learn about her deep connection to the animals, trees, and nature around her. In winter, she is especially solitary when the birds and animals have migrated or hibernated. She feels abandoned even by nature. We sense an echo of this region's long-lost Earth Mother Goddess, made known by archaeologist and anthropologist Marija Gimbutas. In the death sleep of winter, she is all alone and grieves for the company of her children.

The harshness of the cold and dark of the night prevent her from accepting the Magi's offer. In this detail, we see that for the crone, rejected by society and nature, it is difficult to break free from the limited existence placed upon her. Difficult, but not impossible. The call to a quest for meaning and purpose works its way into her, and upon reflection, she chooses to accept her chance to seek something more for herself. She looks for the salvation and renewal offered by the birth of the Divine Child.

Le Befana declines the offer to accompany the Magi because she is too busy cleaning her house. This is a warning about allowing the mundane to prevent us from searching for what is truly meaningful and worth having. In Le Befana's story, her broom, the tool of her captivity to everyday drudgery, becomes her supernatural mode of transportation. She flies through the air, searching for the Magi and the Christ Child. A tool used for "women's work" became her means of spiritual power. This is further amplified in the story when she drops down the chimney seeking the Child and leaving gifts. She uses her broom to sweep away the ashes she disturbs. This is no mere housekeeping. Le Befana, now uplifted in her spiritual powers through her search for the Divine Child, has reclaimed the crone's power to sweep away the ashes of the past, turn the Cosmic Wheel, and usher in a new year.

Le Befana and Babouschka can symbolize the year itself, old and ready for renewal, marked by the Divine Child's birth near the winter solstice. They also illustrate our need for re-birth, giving us a new lease on life in our crone years as we put away the daily struggle and leave the grieving behind in pursuit of more profound meaning and spiritual growth in our later years. This late-life call to quest and adventure within, when embraced, is one of the things that society fears in the crone. Because with inner experience and spiritual awakening come empowerment. These gifts ignite action and fearlessness in the face of injustice.

Le Befana and Babouschka are called. They are initially reluctant but ultimately accept the challenge to go beyond their circumstances. Their search changes them. Along the way, they bless others, particularly children, who symbolize the future. This nods to the Norns and the Fates, who spin humans' future destinies.

Le Befana and Babouschka fall into our first category of a crone, the grandmama. Now we will look at Baba Yaga, someone entirely different.

Baba Yaga is a tour de force of fierceness.

In Slavic countries, Baba Yaga is known as a horrible old witch who tries to steal children's Christmas presents.

She is a villain, the archenemy of Father Frost and the beautiful Snow Maiden. She is described as having teeth of iron, a long nose, and extremely long hair that streams wildly out behind her as she sails through the air in her mortar, paddling the air with her pestle. Deep in the woods, her magic hut walks about on chicken legs. She is genuinely terrifying.

Despite what we might think of as a grotesque appearance, I've heard herbalist Susun Weed give another more crone-friendly assessment of Baba Yaga.

She views Baba Yaga as an incredibly healthy woman of great age. She points to the health of her teeth, described as iron, and her nails, described as long and sharp. In fact, our teeth and nails can tell us a lot about our overall health. Decaying teeth and soft or brittle nails are not signs of robust health. Long healthy hair is another good indicator of a healthy body. Baba Yaga's long nose is an odd indicator of age and health. Did you know that your nose grows longer throughout your life? It's true. Her long hooked nose indicates her extreme age, yet the other features mentioned hint at excellent health.

Baba Yaga is old, yes, but healthy, strong, and full of vigor. She's also quite enigmatic. As a result, the many stories about her often contain striking ambiguities. She can be a villain, perceived as cruel and malicious, or be what folklorists call a donor. This is someone who tests the hero or heroine and provides magical assistance to help them on their journey.

In this capacity, we see her more like a fairy godmother. But, unlike the Fairy Godmother in Disney's Cinderella, who waves a magic wand and makes everything better by singing Bibbity-boppity-boo, Baba Yaga will make her heroine work for her help, forcing her to face her fears and overcome obstacles without an easy way out. This challenge is designed to help the young heroine mature and grow. This is the fierce wisdom of the crone. But, unlike the sentimental sparkles of a chubby, grandmotherly fairy godmother, it's not bestowed easily and costs you something dear.

This fierce crone wisdom has the most significant capacity for turning society on its head. This kind of insight, knowledge, and understanding gained over the years isn't sugar-coated. It doesn't come with niceties, fear of hurting feelings, or offending. It no longer has time for worrying about being liked or perceived as pleasant. It speaks the truth and clearly tells it like it is. This is Baba Yaga's most important lesson for us. As we become crones, we can cut through the nonsense and get straight to the point.

Tighna Cailleach, By Richard Bisset - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10530829

The Cailleach

The Cailleach is a deep and complex figure. So fitting for the age and stage of a woman's life she represents.

The Cailleach is born at Samhain, as the earth is dying, and is known as a bringer of storms. She is not born a babe or even a young maiden. Instead, she is born old and grows even older as winter progresses.

At winter's end, some accounts say the Cailleach turns into a grey boulder until the warm days are over. The boulder was said to be always moist because it contained the essence of life.

The Cailleach is ever-renewing and passes through many lifetimes. Wherever she is found, the Cailleach is mainly known for her identity as a hag and her association with winter.

The Scottish version of the Cailleach, the Cailleach Bheur, is depicted as "a tall, blue-faced crone" who is "both a personification of winter and a protectress of wild animals" in particular, the deer and the wolf, according to the Carmina Gadelica.

In Secret History of the Witches, Max Dashu writes,

"The word cailleach means veiled one, but this is not a veil of modesty (the cailleachan are wild) but of mystery. The Cailleach has universal qualities; she is not a goddess of fertility or death or any one thing, but a deity who is both transcendent and immanent.
She is connected with rivers, lakes, wells, marshes, the sea and storms; with rocks, mountains, boulders, megalithic temples and standing stones; and with cattle, swine, goats, sheep, wolves, bird, fish, trees, and plants."

Her one eye is characteristic of those supernatural beings who see beyond the world of opposites. From the Carmina Gadelica we get this description,

"...her face was blue-black, of the luster of coal,
And her bone tufted tooth was like rusted bone.
In her head was one deep pool-like eye
Swifter than a star in winter.
Upon her head, gnarled brushwood
like the clawed old wood of the aspen root."

Interestingly, even though the Cailleach is typically depicted as a destroyer goddess, primarily as a storm-bringer, she is also known for her ability to create new life. Her magical hammer is said to have created mountain ranges, lochs, and cairns all over Scotland. As a result, Scottish myths often cast the Cailleach as a shaper of the landscape.

Like the fierce Baba Yaga, we also see the Cailleach as a crone who challenges.

One fascinating aspect of the Cailleach is her opposition to war and the testing of heroes and hunters. This has to do with her embodiment as the Sovereignty of the Land, the force that bestows the right of ruler-ship on kings.

Again for Max Dashu’s Secret History of Witches,

"Powerful old women's opposition to military heroes appears throughout the tales and sagas of barbarian Europe and survives in modern peasant folklore.
These stories emerge from the cultural context of the grandmothers and represent a survival of the politically submerged concerns of women elders, who ask probing questions about the true nature of war and the arrogance of aristocratic heroes in the eyes of the common people."

It's fascinating to note that embracing the Cailleach was the test for worthiness to rule. She would present herself to the young would-be king, requiring a kiss or, in some cases requiring him to marry her. If he embraced the old hag, she would transform into her spring aspect, a young maiden, and grant him the right to rule.

The Cailleach as Sovereignty and as The Land itself asks that we welcome her as hag or crone (her most powerful, primal, dangerous aspect), not as her counterpart, the beautiful young woman of spring and summer. When we do, we gain the right to rule.

I see this as a challenge to each woman as she ages. To fully and wholeheartedly embrace The Crone. To do this is to gain sovereignty and the right to rule your own life. It is the requirement for stepping into your own power. It marks the time of life when you are at your most whole, most potent, and wise.

The Age of the Crone is a spiritual awakening.

It is a call to an inner quest that requires you to throw off limiting stereotypes and beliefs and push beyond the ordinary and dull illusion of material existence.

At first, you may retain a certain domesticated pleasant politeness. But the more years that go by, you will sense a change. Then, like Baba Yaga, you will become fierce.

Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. ~ 2 Cor. 4:16

This is a piece of esoteric wisdom that will take years to understand. But, at some point, you will realize that the Self, the inner being of your Soul, is getting younger, more alive, and more vibrant as you age.

You see through the illusion with clarity. The truth will be more easily recognized, and falsehood will be immediately seen. Worldly distractions and material gain no longer vie for your attention.

You will command respect and reject foolishness. As a result, others will no longer be able to manipulate you, and inner peace will come naturally to you.

This is the true essence of a crone.

I hope that you've enjoyed this look at the Crones of Christmas.

In 2020 I was scheduled to lead a creative workshop called Naming + Reclaiming the Wise Woman Within at Mercy by the Sea in Madison, Connecticut. But unfortunately, the pandemic had other plans, and that retreat became an online course.

Since then, I've made a few changes and released it as a self-study course called Reclaiming the Crone.

This is a gentle four-day journey, but since it is self-study with unlimited access, you can stretch it out for as long as you need. There are videos, written content, pictures, journal prompts, questions to ponder, a guided journey, and an intuitive collage project created from found images (Pinterest board with pictures provided).

If you are interested learn more and Sign Up HERE and Reclaim The Crone her energy, power, and wisdom.

May La Befana visit your hearth, sweep the ashes of 2022 away and open the way for the new year.