So as not to create a debate on which is an older celebration we will not discuss whether the Norse or Germanic celebration of Yule dates further back in history. We will consider, for the purpose of this class that they began during approximately the same time period.

 

Welcoming the Sun Through the Ages

 

Four thousand years ago, the Ancient Egyptians took the time to celebrate the daily rebirth of Ra, the god of the Sun. As their culture flourished and spread throughout Mesopotamia, other civilizations decided to get in on the sun-welcoming action. They found that things went really well... until the weather got cooler, and crops began to die. Each year, this cycle of birth, death and rebirth took place, and they began to realize that every year after a period of cold and darkness, the Sun did indeed return.

 

Winter festivals were also common in Greece and Rome, as well as in the British Isles. When a new religion called Christianity popped up, the new hierarchy had trouble converting the Pagans, and as such, folks didn't want to give up their old holidays. Christian churches were built on old Pagan worship sites, and Pagan symbols were incorporated into the symbolism of Christianity. Within a few centuries, the Christians had everyone worshipping a new holiday celebrated on December 25.

 

In some traditions of Wicca and Paganism, the Yule celebration comes from the Celtic legend of the battle between the young Oak King and the Holly King. The Oak King, representing the light of the new year, tries each year to usurp the old Holly King, who is the symbol of darkness. Re-enactment of the battle is popular in some Wiccan rituals.

 

A Festival of Light

 

Many cultures have winter festivals that are in fact celebrations of light. In addition to Christmas, there's Hanukkah with its brightly lit menorahs, Kwanzaa candles, and any number of other holidays. The Pagan holiday called Yule takes place on the day of the winter solstice, around December 21. On that day (or close to it), an amazing thing happens in the sky. The earth's axis tilts away from the sun in the Northern Hemisphere, and the sun reaches at its greatest distance from the equatorial plane. As a festival of the Sun, the most important part of any Yule celebration is light -- candles, bonfires, and more.

 

Origins of Yule

 

Norse roots

 

In the Northern hemisphere, the winter solstice has been celebrated for millennia. The Norse peoples viewed it as a time for much feasting, merrymaking, and, if the Icelandic sagas are to be believed, a time of sacrifice as well. In his, Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway, M. Lee Hollander writes a description of pagan Yule practices:

“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 [aspergills ]. These 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 king himself. In addition, toasts were drunk to the memory of departed kinsfolk. These were called minni.

 

The Norse names for the holiday are “Jul” or “Jol”, which are cognates of Norse “Jòlnir” or “Ýlir”, which are alternate names of Odin, although the root itself is debated. Jul was celebrated during the second moon (from new moon to new moon) of the winter half of the year – roughly from the new moon of November to the new moon of December. At this time, the animals for slaughter were the fattest, flour had been processed, all the work of autumn was completed, and it was time to celebrate.

 

Scholars have connected the month event and Yule time period to the Wild Hunt (a ghostly procession in the winter sky), the god Odin (who is attested as leading the Wild Hunt and, as mentioned above, bears the name Jólnir), and increased supernatural activity, such as the aforementioned Wild Hunt and the increased activities of draugar—undead beings who walk the earth.

 

Traditional customs such as the Yule log, the decorated tree, and wassailing can all be traced back to Norse origins.

 

Germanic roots

 

The earliest references to Yule in Germanic culture are in the form of month names, where the Yule-tide period lasts somewhere around two months in length, falling along the end of the modern calendar year between what is now mid-November and early January.

 

Yule or Yuletide (“Yule time”) is a festival observed by the historical Germanic peoples, later undergoing Christianized reformulation resulting in the now better-known Christmastide.

 

Present day Christmas traditions of the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar (still reflected in the Christmas ham), Yule singing, and others can also be attributed to the ancient Germanic Yule.

 

The events of Yule are generally held to have centered on Midwinter (although specific dating is a matter of debate), and, like the Norse celebrations, feasting, drinking, and sacrifice were involved. Scholar Rudolf Simek comments that the pagan Yule feast “had a pronounced religious character” and comments that “it is uncertain whether the Germanic Yule feast still had a function in the cult of the dead and in the veneration of the ancestors, a function which the mid-winter sacrifice certainly held for the West European Stone and Bronze Ages.” customs, and customs which Simek says “indicates the significance of the feast in pre-Christian times.”

 

Modranicht, or Mothers Night was an event focused on collective female beings occurring among the pagan Anglo-Saxons on what is now Christmas Eve,

 

Celtic Celebrations of Winter

 

The Celts of the British Isles celebrated midwinter as well. Although little is known about the specifics of what they did, many traditions persist. According to the writings of Pliny the Elder, this is the time of year in which Druid priests sacrificed a white bull and gathered mistletoe in celebration.

 

Roman Saturnalia

 

Few cultures knew how to party like the Romans. Saturnalia was a festival of general merrymaking and debauchery held around the time of the winter solstice. This week-long party was held in honor of the god Saturn, and involved sacrifices, gift-giving, special privileges for slaves, and a lot of feasting. Although this holiday was partly about giving presents, more importantly, it was to honor an agricultural god.

 

Neopaganism

                                                                                                

As forms of Neopaganism can be quite different and have very different origins, these representations can vary considerably despite the shared name. Some celebrate in a way as close as possible to how they believe Ancient Germanic pagans observed the tradition, while others observe the holiday with rituals “assembled from different sources”.

 

In Germanic Neopaganism sects, Yule is celebrated with gatherings that often involve a meal and gift giving. Groups such as the Asatru Folk Assembly recognize the celebration as lasting 12 days, beginning on the date of the winter solstice.

 

In most forms of Wicca, this holiday is celebrated at the winter solstice as the rebirth of the Great horned hunter god, who is viewed as the newborn solstice sun. The method of gathering for this Sabbat varies by practitioner. Some have private ceremonies at home, while others do so with their covens.

 

Modern Traditions of Yule

 

Long before Christianity, Pagan tribes in Europe used evergreen boughs of Holly, Mistletoe and Ivy during their ceremonies and festivities around the Solstice to symbolize life. The fact that they never ‘died’ while all other life fell dormant must have been a mystery to our ancestors. In Germany, the Yule Tree or ‘Tannenbaum’ has been a tradition from as early as the Middle Ages and is based upon the older Teutonic tradition of the Yule log and the mysteries associated with the evergreens with which it is decorated.

 

The Yule log was lit to be one of many offerings to the Sun God, and while today the Yule Log is only symbolic, to our ancestors it was the largest most majestic log available, often large enough to burn the entire twelve day celebration. Truly a great sacrifice for those whose future was uncertain during the harsh depths of winter. The finding, the taking home and the lighting of the Yule log is a tradition, that has survived to the present day in some cultures.

 

The Yule Tree has also evolved from old Teutonic customs. At this time of year the Earth Elementals, the Wood Sprites and the Fae, are encouraged to rest to prepare themselves for all the hard work required of them to replenish the Earth with the fresh blooms of new life in the forthcoming of spring. Celebrations were held in honor of the Wood Sprites and families would bring a live tree into the home so the Wood Sprites would have a warm place to rest during the cold winter months. The trees would then be decorated with candles and brightly colored threads to attract the Sprites and bread, fruit and nuts would be hung from the branches to provide food for them. Bells were often hung in the branches to let the family know when the Sprites and Fae were present.

 

Some scholars believe that the Saxons were the first to place candles in the Yule Tree. Candles were also used in the decorations as well as the rituals; being placed in windows and along with the Yule fires burning in the hearth and fields they provided a form of sympathetic Magick to give strength to the sun and encourage its return to once again warm and give life to the earth.

 

The ‘Wassail Bowl’ is yet another carryover from our Germanic ancestors, one that is slowly making a comeback within more and more traditions. The Wassail Bowl has undeniable connections with ancient Anglo-Saxon pagan rituals. The origin of the word Wassail (from the Old Norse ‘ves heill’) lies in the toast that would be made during Yule celebrations, ‘Wæs þu hæl’, ‘be thou hale’, i.e., ‘be in good health’.

 

This drink itself in modern times is a mulled cider; however most scholars believe that historical wassail drinks were more of a mulled beer or mead. It was made by mixing sugar, ale or mead, nutmeg and cinnamon in a bowl which was then heated. They topped it with slices of toast which they called sops. Later the drink became associated with apples and songs would be sung around the apple tree for the next year’s harvest. The tradition, to go ‘a-wassailing’, was to go door to door, singing and asking or rather demanding the drink from the occupants who were usually the rich in the town, clearly the roots of current day caroling. Historically the wassail bowl was used for communal toasts and looked like a goblet and was made out of wood. The lord of the manor would begin the toast with ‘Wæs þu hæl’ and the goblet would then be passed from one individual to another, each adding their own toast and the wassail bowl refilled as necessary.

 

To our Germanic ancestors each of the twelve days of the Yule celebration was a month of the preceding year in miniature, a time to reflect on the past year; your successes and failures, gains and losses, the good you have done as well as the bad. Take stock in this knowledge of reflection and lay a course for your future. Make New Years resolutions in the old way by swearing your oath on Freya’s boar or on Thor’s Hammer. Resolutions, hopes, wishes and desires may also be placed on the Yule Log, then, when the Yule Log is burned these promises and requests will be taken to the Gods upon its sacred smoke.

 

Yule was the time of the dead for the Teutonic peoples and during this period our Germanic ancestors believed the spirits of departed family and ancestors would come to visit the household, a period of time during which the dead can roam among the living; a belief very similar to the period of Samhain to the Celtic peoples. This was a time for them to honor their dead, who were thought to be vital for luck as well as the well-being of the livestock and family.

 

The Goddess Frau Holda's festival is in the middle of winter, the time when humans retreat indoors from the cold, Frau Holda personifies the weather that transforms the land, for when it snows, it is said that Frau Holda is shaking out Her feather pillows; fog is smoke from Her fire, and thunder is heard when She reels Her flax. Holda traditionally appears in either of two forms: that of a snaggle-toothed, crooked-nosed old woman, similar to the Celtic Cailleach or a shining youthful maiden clothed in white, her garments resemble the gleaming white of a fresh mantle of snow. Depending on the Teutonic tradition it is believed that Frau Holda would ride through the sky giving gifts to Her faithful followers or She along with Odin would lead the Wild Hunt together across the skies, yet another element once common at Yule but now practically forgotten.

 

Regardless of the tradition Odin would always lead The Wild Hunt, also referred to as Odin’s Hunt. The Wild Hunt was a folk myth prevalent in former times and was known all across the European continent. The fundamental premise is always the same, a spectral group of huntsmen with all of the accoutrements of hunting, horses, hounds, etc., in mad pursuit across the skies, along the ground, or just above it. The hunters may be the dead, the fairies or unidentified lost souls, and would be led by Odin, at times accompanied by His consort Frau Holde. Seeing the Wild Hunt was thought to be an omen of some catastrophe such as war or plague, death of a family member, or worse, the death of the one who witnessed it. Mortals getting in the path of or following the Hunt could be kidnapped and brought to the land of the dead, never to return.”