Devotions to the Goddess Saaga

Stacey Lynne Stewart and Robert L. Schreiwer are looking to increase the presence of devotional items to more deities within the Urglaawe context.

This year (2023), we are encouraging people to write poems or stories, draw/paint pictures, create images, sing songs, and more to the goddess Saaga. Saaga is a goddess associated with creativity, art, music, and history, so it is appropriate that we begin this annual project in Her honor.

Works submitted to us prior to December 5, 2023, will be set on the stage, read, or otherwise utilized at Philadelphia’s Parade of Spirits on Saturday, December 9, 2023. Those who are able to attend the Parade are invited to read their work or sing their song during the entertainment portion of the Parade.

Who Is Saaga?

Allow us to introduce Her to you through a poem Stacey wrote last year:  

She is the story

She is the song

She is the poem 

She is the laughter

She is the tear

She is the memory 

She is the grand painting of the master,

and the humble crayon marks of the toddler 

She is the precise dance of the ballerina,

and the wild wiggles of the young child discovering their extremities 

She is the face you see in the clouds,

and the patterns in the fall leaves

She is the whisper of inspiration

She is the stir of ardor

She is the muse of creativity 

She is the rhythm of the weaver

She is the beat of the drummer

She is the voice of the community 

Past, present, and future.

Stacey Lynne Stewart ~2022

*      *      *     *

This is a small view of our Saaga, the Saaga of der Urglaawe. She is inspiration at its core. Anything creative is in her realm. 

She is the Urglaawe cognate of the Norse Saga. In our oral lore from our traditional practices, She is a goddess of the Ase who is particularly concerned with history, cultural expressions through history, and the acquisition of the lessons of history in order to improve humanity's lot in the future. She is the root of our languages' words. She carries with Her the explanation of syntax and diction. She brings forth ancient wisdom -- that which is needed to recover from the suppression of human consciousness since the time of the conversion and from humanity's worst atrocities being perpetrated between 1933-1945. These horrors were often committed in the names of our deities, thereby also besmirching their reputations. Unfortunately, the rise of the Third Reich in Europe generated anti-German sentiment here, too, even though Germany was not even a nation state when our migration hither took place. History matters.

We are, historically speaking, an agricultural people who seek the simple joys in life. Our experiences as an ethnic group differ widely from the Colonial narratives and Early Republic histories that are taught in public schools. It is our task in the current era to write the stories, to paint the paintings, and to sing the songs of Pennsylvania Dutch history and of the present. One need not be Deitsch to participate in this effort; indeed, the historical perspectives of, and interactions with, our neighbors are part of our shared story. History matters.

Those who feel the pull of history, who have a story to tell or an image to make manifest, or who simply want to honor a goddess of history and culture are actively encouraged to help us to expand our body of lore by contributing to our effort.

Please contact us on Facebook or by email if you have any questions.

Thank you for your consideration! 

Robert L. Schreiwer (Parade of Spirits Co-Manager)
Stacey Lynne Stewart (Public Relations Director, Distelfink Sippschaft, Urglaawe)