bring back the Yule mobile!

Within the last episode of Brute Norse there's a passage that before the Victorian livingroom global takeover of the Yule Tree (which may anyhow reflect & echo the far earlier interior hall tree from The Saga of the Völsungs with its sword-gift stuck in it by Jólfaðr [Yule-Father] Odin) there was an amazing Scandinavian tradition of assembling huge beautiful straw mobiles that were geometric cosmological models of the universe that would gently turn in the drafts from outside and the fireplace from the ceilings to admire over the winterbound nights:

The above's a Norwegian Oro, while below's a Swedish Halmkrona:

There are many other-regional variants from the Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, and more, so it was a rather widespread to Eastern Europe & Russia, and where it came from is anyone's guess, but that it got adopted, stuck, given a magical/representational meaning, and produced such craftworks of beauty seems totally worth re-adopting into the Northern Tradition.

And there are some modern artists making them, so for scale here's Finland's Eija Koski with one of hers:

NorsePlay would like to suggest perhaps the straw constructs of our worlds could have something to do with Byggvir (his name derived from straw-stemmed Barley) as Freyr's servant, or with Sif's cut then restored golden dwarf-made hair, and that having this aspect of harvest material inside to remind us that we will get all that golden plenty back when the giants' wintery hold finally ends.

In this seasonal spirit, NorsePlay wishes you Good Yules, and if you decide to make or find some awesome strawmobiles, do share them with us below!

[photos & facts from The Straw Shop, and thanks to Brute Norse for bringing this to our attention.]

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Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires' Norse Gods and Giants at age seven. Since then he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the Map of Midgard project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay. If you have employment/opportunities in investigative mythology,  field research, or product development to offer, do contact him.