>>13705142Hâlogiaptann, or Halloween thus marks the beginning of the year, and inaugurates the Germanic Yule. The sources of this tradition are best documented among the pagan Celts, but all sources indicate that it was marked in the same way here in Scandinavia and the rest of Europe. For example, the Slavs had their Dziady.
Around the time of Haloween, the bear enters its den in the wild, and closes it permanently for the winter in the northern hemisphere. This happened on the day our ancestors referred to as Björnakveldr (“The Bear’s evening”), 9 days after Halloween. This day is also marked on the traditional pre-christian Norwegian calendar, the primstav and have been marked even after the forced arrival of christianity. It was a day for feast and was used to plan and pay for the main Yule festival. Both in terms of what actually symbolically happened on this day, and that in the tradition of faith one should "cover for the feast of one's ancestors".
As we all know, Haloween is strongly connected to witches. They are symbols of the guardians of our ancestral spirits. That which exists but which cannot be seen. Our ancient folk tales and fairy tales are full of this symbolism. Witches that have to be defeated by the heroes that are most of the time young children in these stories. They are ancestors getting reborn into their descendants.
Bears were one of the holiest animals to our pagan ancestors and the She-bear fertilizes her eggs on the summer solstice and gives birth to her cubs on the actual winter solstice. The Yule night itself between December 21-22. It is also a fact that the She-bear can select her embryos and choose which of them to be born, before they are physically born.