Happy Yule!
The Winter Solstice, also known as Yule or Midwinter is the first Pagan Holiday celebrated after the ending of the old year and the beginning of the new one at Samhain. It is located on the top of the Wheel, representing the time of long dark nights and the cold of winter’s grip. Winter Solstice marks the halfway point in the Dark part of the year. It is the shortest day of the year. From this point forward, the length of the day begins to increase until it reaches the longest day at Summer Solstice.
Many Neo-pagan traditions, particularly those based on Norse or Celtic mythology, view Yule as the day when the Lady, as Mother, gives birth to the Sun God. It is also a time of the Goddess as the wise Crone; the Queen of Darkness. Other traditions have the Oak King born to the Goddess with the Holly King preparing to depart.
Yule traditions include burning of a Yule log as a representation of the returning light. A common practice is to keep a piece of the old log to light next year’s Yule log, and to scatter some of the ashes over the fields. Kissing under the mistletoe is the remnants of an ancient fertility practice. Holly and evergreen branches (or a whole Yule tree) are both symbols of the promise of the return of the light and life. Indeed, many practices associated with Christmas have their roots in the ancient celebration of Pagan Yule.
While the winter solstice has been celebrated by cultures worldwide for millennia, the holiday of Yule is derived from Germanic origins. Almost all the traditions of Yule, including Kris Kringle, have their origins in Germanic mythology. The Germanic peoples had their own names for the months which varied by region and dialect, but common to most tribes were Ærra Jéola (before Yule) and Æftera Jéola (after Yule). The actual origin of the word remains speculative and numerous attempts to find cognates outside of the Germanic languages have proven to be fruitless.
To the Germanic tribes and other Paleo-pagans, Yule was a completely different celebration with different meanings than that given to it by Neo-pagans. For most it was a time of blood sacrifice. The Norse viewed it as a time for much feasting, merrymaking, and animal sacrifice.
Though they did not call it Yule, according to Pliny the Elder, the Druids of the pre-Roman British Isles sacrificed a white bull and gathered mistletoe in celebration of the winter solstice. In some traditions, the Wild Hunt led by Odin took place at Yule. (This contrasts with the Wild Hunt at Samhain in Faerie traditions.) In others, the Veil is thinnest at Yule (rather than Samhain) and spirits walk the earth.
Lee Hollander in his 2007 work History of the Kings of Norway describes Norse Yule of antiquity as follows:
“It was ancient custom that when sacrifice was to be made, all farmers were to come to the heathen temple and bring along with them the food they needed while the feast lasted. At this feast all were to take part of the drinking of ale. Also all kinds of livestock were killed in connection with it, horses also; and all the blood from them was called hlaut (sacrificial blood), and hlautbolli (the vessel holding the blood); and hlautteinar, the sacrificial twigs. The latter were fashioned like sprinklers, and with them were to be smeared all over with blood the pedestals of the idols and also the walls of the temple within and without; and likewise the men present were to be sprinkled with blood. But the meat of the animals was to be boiled and served as food at the banquet. Fires were to be lighted in the middle of the temple floor, and kettles hung over them. The sacrificial beaker was to be borne around the fire, and he who made the feast and was chieftain, was to bless the beaker as well as all the sacrificial meat.”
The narrative continues that toasts were to be drunk. The first toast was to be drunk to Odin "for victory and power to the King", the second to the gods Njörðr and Freyr "for good harvests and for peace", and thirdly a beaker was to be drunk to the chieftain himself. In addition, toasts were drunk to the memory of departed kinsfolk. Wassailing is likely a vestige of this tradition.
The first known appearance of the word Yule was in the 4th century C.E. The spread of Yule can be inferred by a study of the history of Anglo-Saxon and Norse tribal migrations. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, two Germanic tribesmen, Hengist and Horsa, came ashore on the coast of Kent in southeast England in the year 449. They had sailed 600 kilometers (372 miles) down the coast from Frisia, and had then made the crossing to Britain. As many as 200,000 Angles, Saxons and Frisians followed. Modern genetics show less than 20% of modern Britons, mainly in the south, carry evidence of this invasion in their genes. Yet, ideas are assimilated faster than genes are, and thus Yule came to the British shores.
As the barbarians were Christianized, Yule took on a different meaning and eventually came to be equivalent to Christmas. Obviously blood sacrifices were eliminated but traditions such as the Yule Log, Yule Tree, wassailing, caroling, gift-giving, feasting, mistletoe, holly, etc. are all thinly-veiled Paleo-pagan practices.
Neo-pagans tend to keep most of the adopted Paleo-pagan practices for their Yule celebrations, but substituting the Christian concept of the birth of the Son of God for rebirth of the Lord (Sun God) and commemorating the return of Light. You will hear some Neo-pagans talk of “taking back” their holiday. Other than engaging in a little Christian bashing (which Village Commons strongly disapproves of) or lamenting the over-commercialization of the holiday (something even a number of Christians disapprove of), what is lost that could be taken back are things like blood sacrifice, drinking blood from the sacrificial beaker, toasts for victory and power to the King. These traditions may not be acceptable to most Neo-pagans though!
Many Neo-pagan traditions, particularly those based on Norse or Celtic mythology, view Yule as the day when the Lady, as Mother, gives birth to the Sun God. It is also a time of the Goddess as the wise Crone; the Queen of Darkness. Other traditions have the Oak King born to the Goddess with the Holly King preparing to depart.
Yule traditions include burning of a Yule log as a representation of the returning light. A common practice is to keep a piece of the old log to light next year’s Yule log, and to scatter some of the ashes over the fields. Kissing under the mistletoe is the remnants of an ancient fertility practice. Holly and evergreen branches (or a whole Yule tree) are both symbols of the promise of the return of the light and life. Indeed, many practices associated with Christmas have their roots in the ancient celebration of Pagan Yule.
While the winter solstice has been celebrated by cultures worldwide for millennia, the holiday of Yule is derived from Germanic origins. Almost all the traditions of Yule, including Kris Kringle, have their origins in Germanic mythology. The Germanic peoples had their own names for the months which varied by region and dialect, but common to most tribes were Ærra Jéola (before Yule) and Æftera Jéola (after Yule). The actual origin of the word remains speculative and numerous attempts to find cognates outside of the Germanic languages have proven to be fruitless.
To the Germanic tribes and other Paleo-pagans, Yule was a completely different celebration with different meanings than that given to it by Neo-pagans. For most it was a time of blood sacrifice. The Norse viewed it as a time for much feasting, merrymaking, and animal sacrifice.
Though they did not call it Yule, according to Pliny the Elder, the Druids of the pre-Roman British Isles sacrificed a white bull and gathered mistletoe in celebration of the winter solstice. In some traditions, the Wild Hunt led by Odin took place at Yule. (This contrasts with the Wild Hunt at Samhain in Faerie traditions.) In others, the Veil is thinnest at Yule (rather than Samhain) and spirits walk the earth.
Lee Hollander in his 2007 work History of the Kings of Norway describes Norse Yule of antiquity as follows:
“It was ancient custom that when sacrifice was to be made, all farmers were to come to the heathen temple and bring along with them the food they needed while the feast lasted. At this feast all were to take part of the drinking of ale. Also all kinds of livestock were killed in connection with it, horses also; and all the blood from them was called hlaut (sacrificial blood), and hlautbolli (the vessel holding the blood); and hlautteinar, the sacrificial twigs. The latter were fashioned like sprinklers, and with them were to be smeared all over with blood the pedestals of the idols and also the walls of the temple within and without; and likewise the men present were to be sprinkled with blood. But the meat of the animals was to be boiled and served as food at the banquet. Fires were to be lighted in the middle of the temple floor, and kettles hung over them. The sacrificial beaker was to be borne around the fire, and he who made the feast and was chieftain, was to bless the beaker as well as all the sacrificial meat.”
The narrative continues that toasts were to be drunk. The first toast was to be drunk to Odin "for victory and power to the King", the second to the gods Njörðr and Freyr "for good harvests and for peace", and thirdly a beaker was to be drunk to the chieftain himself. In addition, toasts were drunk to the memory of departed kinsfolk. Wassailing is likely a vestige of this tradition.
The first known appearance of the word Yule was in the 4th century C.E. The spread of Yule can be inferred by a study of the history of Anglo-Saxon and Norse tribal migrations. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, two Germanic tribesmen, Hengist and Horsa, came ashore on the coast of Kent in southeast England in the year 449. They had sailed 600 kilometers (372 miles) down the coast from Frisia, and had then made the crossing to Britain. As many as 200,000 Angles, Saxons and Frisians followed. Modern genetics show less than 20% of modern Britons, mainly in the south, carry evidence of this invasion in their genes. Yet, ideas are assimilated faster than genes are, and thus Yule came to the British shores.
As the barbarians were Christianized, Yule took on a different meaning and eventually came to be equivalent to Christmas. Obviously blood sacrifices were eliminated but traditions such as the Yule Log, Yule Tree, wassailing, caroling, gift-giving, feasting, mistletoe, holly, etc. are all thinly-veiled Paleo-pagan practices.
Neo-pagans tend to keep most of the adopted Paleo-pagan practices for their Yule celebrations, but substituting the Christian concept of the birth of the Son of God for rebirth of the Lord (Sun God) and commemorating the return of Light. You will hear some Neo-pagans talk of “taking back” their holiday. Other than engaging in a little Christian bashing (which Village Commons strongly disapproves of) or lamenting the over-commercialization of the holiday (something even a number of Christians disapprove of), what is lost that could be taken back are things like blood sacrifice, drinking blood from the sacrificial beaker, toasts for victory and power to the King. These traditions may not be acceptable to most Neo-pagans though!
