Helhestr / Fastelavn - The Night of the Hel-Horse

dustinstorms
Jan 17
2 min read

New Moon — January 18

As the dark half of winter begins to loosen its grip, we come to Helhestr, also known in later Scandinavian tradition as Fastelavn, a liminal holy tide standing at the threshold between winter and the returning light.

In Old Norse belief, Helhestr (“Hel-Horse”) is a supernatural horse associated with death, winter, and the restless forces that move between worlds. Folklore from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden tells of the Hel-Horse appearing in mid-winter, especially near burial grounds and churches, as a reminder of mortality and the thinning of boundaries between the living and the dead. The name itself preserves a clear connection to Hel, the realm and goddess of the dead, attested in the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda.

A Night of Feast and Reversal

Helhestr / Fastelavn falls on the new moon of January, and was traditionally marked by heavy feasting, particularly on pork and rich foods, before a period of restraint. This mirrors broader Germanic and Scandinavian custom of eating well before a fast, a pattern also seen in medieval Nordic law codes and seasonal food regulations.

Much like later Fasching, Karneval, or Mardi Gras, this was a time of:

Mockery of rulers, kings, and authority
Social inversion and ritualized chaos
Laughter as a ward against winter spirits

People wore animal masks, especially bears, wolves, and birds, animals deeply symbolic in Norse culture and mythology, embodying primal forces and ancestral spirits. Parades, noise, and public misrule were believed to drive away lingering winter beings and stir the world toward renewal.

Foods of the Feast

Traditional foods associated with Fastelavn and its older roots include:

Pancakes
Boller (sweet buns)
Doughnuts
Rich cakes (the ancestor of the “king cake” tradition)

These foods are well-attested in Scandinavian Fastelavn records from the medieval period onward and fit naturally within the older Germanic feast-before-fast pattern.

Cleansing the Winter

One enduring folk custom was the hanging of winter clothes, blankets, and bedsheets outdoors. This act symbolically:

Cleansed garments of winter spirits
Exposed illness and stagnation to moonlight and cold air
Invited the spirits of spring to return

Such practices align closely with Norse ideas of vættir, seasonal spirits, and the importance of maintaining right relations between household, land, and unseen beings.

The Turning Begins

After Helhestr / Fastelavn, tradition speaks of a period of restraint, up to forty days without meat, reflecting both later Christian fasting customs and earlier seasonal food discipline as stores ran low and the land prepared for rebirth.

Why We Honor Helhestr Today

For those who walk the path of Forn Siðr, Helhestr reminds us: