Saint Knutsday, 13th of January
Saint Knut, patron of Saint Knut’s Guild Netherlands
For the Knut’s Guild, today is the naming day of his patron Saint Knut. In Sweden they say “tjugondag jul”, the feast on the twentieth day after christmas. But the actual Knut’s day is on January 7. It was moved to the 13th in 1680, the background of which is complex and for now irrelevant.
Saint Knut was killed on January 7, 1131, by his rival during the conflict for the kingdom of Denmark, which at the time encompassed much more Scandinavian territory than modern day Denmark.
Important to mention is that during this duke Knut’s lifetime, society was in a transitionary period from serious Heathenry to christianity-light. The Heathen men-bonds (männerbünde) were forbidden, the cult of Wodan was actively suppressed, but followers of Donar were tolerated and allowed to assemble, if they did so whilst wearing a christian ‘coat’. They chose the coat of Saint Knut but kept their goat-horns and goatees until the present day, when they showed themselves during the Yuletide.
As Saint Knut’s Bucks, and likewise the men of Saint Knut’s Guild Netherlands show themselves.
The guilds would become superpowers during the medieval age, and the most powerful of them in the north was the Saint Knut’s Guild.
Not only in Scandinavia did Donar’s bucks retain their role of importance with the guilds. In the Netherlands the medieval guilds lived on through the so called “Oldyears associations”. This new year's one of them made the news: the Âldjiersklup of Haskerhoarne in Fryslân, called “Geitefok Witte Sik”, stole all the village name signs of Moerdijk and swapped them with the signs of their own village Haskerhoarne. They did this to call attention to the housing issues the youth in their own village are facing, and to the issue that Moerdijk is planned to be completely demolished for industry.
Oldyearsclub “Witte Sik” (“white goatee”) shows they are still presently a “fifth power” outside of the established legislative, judiciary, executive and civil service powers of government. And they are actively using their cultic right-to-steal, which originates with the Heathen men-bonds!
A much older guild that used to take assembly rituals seriously is the Antonius guild from Brabant. The men of Antonius wore buckskins (goat) and held a “goat-fair” yearly on a Wednesday after Saint Knut’s day. At this winter fair the main event was the “goat-meal” which included a lot of beer. This was originally a sacrificial meal for a successful harvest the coming year. The leader was called the “upperbuck”.
The cultic right-to-steal was here applied to the goats which were to be eaten (sacrificed). The sacrificial meal took place on Wednesday night, so traditionally the start of the Thursday, and was dedicated to Donar.
Saint Knut’s Guild Netherlands emerged in 2021 within Swesaz, initiated by the men of the group. From 2026 going forward we intend to make ourselves known and to take steps towards becoming a fifth power. We want to reinstate the sacred ritual assemblies which survived among the medieval guilds and originated in Heathen times. But above all we want to promote the shared bonding experiences of men amongst each other, which has become extremely rare these days. Until we meet again.
5January 13, 2026 1.4K 7
