Meet Pruitt the Druid!
By Bronwen Forbes, Pruitt by Gary Zahradka

Greetings and good Yule, readers! I am Pruitt the Druid. You can call me Pruitt, or Pruitt the Druid, just don’t call me late to dinner! I love a hearty Yule feast by the fire when it’s wet and snowy outside and the ice-kissed wind can sneak under my robes and give my old bones quite the chill when I go outside to collect more firewood. Roast beef, plum pudding and mince pie are what I like best to eat on the Shortest Day. What do you like best? I love to tell stories about the different gods and goddesses almost as much as I love to eat; hopefully you and I can meet here every issue of Broomstix so I can share some of the wondrous tales I learned as a young bard. Pull up a chair close to my cheerful and cozy hearth fire, my children, and I will tell you what I know of the fair yet exacting goddess Frau Holla.

Frau Holla is a German goddess who rewards hard, honest toil--especially work that is traditionally done by the woman of the house: cleaning, spinning, cooking. She has also been known to punish lazy or incompetent workers, so beware!

On Solstice Eve, goodwives and diligent servants bind cotton or flax around their spinning tools (usually spindles) and leave them out for Frau Holla to find. If the goddess sees the spindles, she praises their industriousness and says, "So many a hair, so many a good year." In other words, the goodwife or servant would be rewarded by as many years good luck as there were fiber strands still on the spindle.

Where should she hide that spindle?

However, the same goodwife or servant then had to weave all of the flax they’d spun by Twelfth Night (January 6), and then hide the spindle under the roof of the house in anticipation of Frau Holla’s return. For if the goddess found a spindle with even a little bit of flax still on it she would become angry and shout to the lazy servant, "As much hairs, as much bad years!" Then, of course, the unfortunate goodwife or servant would have as many years of bad luck as there were fiber strands still on the spindle!

A beautiful goddess is Frau Holla, young and white with long golden hair and rosy cheeks. When it snows very hard, it is said that Frau Holla is shaking out her feather bed, and that the snowflakes are feathers that have fallen out of her mattress. A good housewife shakes out her feather-stuffed mattress every day in order to “freshen it up” and fluff up the feathers inside to ensure a restful night’s sleep at the end of the day’s labors. Frau Holla is a good housewife.

Frau Holla shakes out her pillow.

Early on the morning after the Longest Night, a young woman who wanted a husband would buy a roll from the baker’s shop for a penny. The maid then cut off a bit of the crust and tied it under her right arm. To attract Frau Holla’s help in her quest, the maid would work diligently at her chores all through the day. At night she would place the crust under her pillow and say, "Now I lay down to sleep with bread by me, if only my true love came and ate with me!" If Frau Holla thought the young girl ready to marry within the year, a bit of the roll’s crust would be eaten by morning. If the crust was untouched, the girl would not find a husband for at least the next twelve months.

There was once a young woodsman who wanted nothing more than a wife, but he was too poor to support one. Also, he worked long hours in the forest far away from the village, and did not know the village girls very well. This made him very sad and lonely. He was a good woodsman, though, and worked very hard. One day he met a lovely maid with long golden hair in an oak grove deep within the woods. He immediately fell in love with the girl, who was actually Frau Holla in disguise. They danced and sang together in the sacred grove, and Frau Holla learned the deepest wish of his heart. When it was time for her to leave the woodsman, she gave him a small sack of gold. Since he was no longer poor, he was able to find a good, hardworking wife in the village below, and he and his wife were happy for the rest of their days thanks to the blessings of Frau Holla.

May the blessings of Frau Holla (also known as "Frau Holle" and "Mother Hulde") be with you this Yule!

Do you know the story of Cinderella? How she worked so hard for her wicked stepmother and stepsisters and eventually won the hand of the Prince with a little help from her fairy godmother? The story of Cinderella may be based upon yet another tale about Frau Holla.

Once upon a time there was a woman with two daughters. One daughter was diligent, a hard worker, and very beautiful. The other daughter was lazy and ugly. The hardworking daughter did all of the work around the house, and she did it well. One day the hardworking daughter was told to go fetch something from the market. On her way she passed an oven and the bread inside called out, “Oh take me out. Take me out! For I am long done and will soon be burnt up!” The girl carefully pulled the bread out of the oven and started toward the market again. She passed an apple tree, and the tree called out, “Oh, shake me, shake me! My apples are all ripe!” The hardworking girl did as the tree asked and even gathered up the fallen apples into a neat pile.

Soon she passed by a tiny, neat cottage. A small old woman came out of the cottage and said, “Come and work for me for a time. If you do, you will be well rewarded.” The girl was frightened, but the woman said, “I am Frau Holla.” The girl agreed to work for Frau Holla for a time. She did all her chores as well as she could, and kept the cottage neat. In return, Frau Holla treated the girl with much more kindness than she ever had at home, and fed her well.

Eventually, though, the girl became homesick and asked to go home. Frau Holla said, “Because you have served me so faithfully, I will take you home myself.” Frau Holla led the girl to her own gate, at which point a shower of gold coins fell from the sky and stuck to the girl, covering her nearly completely. “This you shall have,” said Frau Holla, “because you have been so diligent and served me well.” The hardworking girl was well received by her mother and sister, and eventually found a good man to marry her and make her happy.

The ugly, lazy sister wanted gold and a husband, too, so she offered to go to the market one day for her mother. As she was walking she came to an oven and the bread inside called out, “Oh take me out. Take me out! For I am long done and will soon be burnt up!” The lazy girl said, “Why should I take you out? I will only make myself dirty if I do that.” Soon after she passed an apple tree and the tree called out, “Oh shake me, shake me! My apples are all ripe!” The lazy girl said, “Why should I shake you? An apple will fall on my head if I do, and that would hurt.”

Soon she came to the same tiny neat cottage that she knew was the home of Frau Holla because her sister had told her before her marriage. A small old woman came out of the cottage and said, “Come and work for me for a time. If you do, you will be well rewarded.” Thinking of all the gold Frau Holla had given her sister, the lazy girl agreed. The first day she worked hard, but the next day she did almost no chores at all. The third day she lazed about in bed all day.

Frau Holla became angry at the girl and took her home. The old woman led her to her own gate, at which point a shower of pitch fell from the sky and stuck to the girl, covering her nearly completely. “This you shall have,” said Frau Holla, “because you have been so lazy and served me so poorly.” The girl never found a husband, and is still covered with pitch to this day.

Joy, health and peace to you and yours this Solstice season and throughout the year, my children!

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