Yule Day 2024 is on Saturday, December 21, 2024: What is Yule ?

Saturday, December 21, 2024 is Yule Day 2024. I Heart the Goddess: December 2010 1st Day of Yule – Mother's

What is Yule ?

Yule is a winter festival celebrated in Northern Europe since ancient times. In pre-Christian times, Germanic pagans celebrated Yule from late December to early January on a date determined by a lunar calendar.[1] During the process of Christianization and the adoption of the Julian calendar, Yule was placed on December 25, in order to correspond with the Christian celebrations later known in English as Christmas.[2] Thus, the terms "Yule" and "Christmas" are often used interchangeably[3], especially in Christmas carols.

In Denmark, Norway and Sweden the term jul is the common way to refer to the celebration, including among Christians. In these countries the highlight of the yule celebrations is the Yule Eve or Christmas Eve on December 24, which is when children get their yule or christmas presents by a character resembling Father Christmas called julemanden (Denmark), julenissen (Norway), or jultomten (Sweden).

In Finland, it is called joulu, in Estonia jõulud, and in Iceland and the Faroe Islands jól.

Yule is an important festival for Germanic neopagans, Wiccans and various secular groups who observe the holiday at the winter solstice (December 21 or 22 in the Northern Hemisphere, June 20 or 21 in the Southern Hemisphere).

Of the contested origin of Jól, one popular connection is to Old Norse hjól, wheel, to identify the moment when the wheel of the year is at its low point, ready to rise again (compare karachun). This theory however seems based more on similarities between the words "jul" and "hjul" (with a mute h) in modern Scandinavian languages, rather than any connection based on older cognates or historical sources. Linguists suggest that Jól has been inherited by Germanic languages from a pre-Indo-European substrate language and either borrowed into Old English from Old Norse or directly inherited from Proto-Germanic.[citation needed] Considering the original Old English form Geohhol, another suggestion connects the word to Latin jocus, however this is uncertain.[4]

In the Scandinavian Germanic languages, the term Jul covers both Yule and Christmas, and is also occasionally used to denote other holidays in December, e.g., "jødisk jul" or "judisk jul" (tr. "Jewish Yule") for Hanukkah. The word "jul" has also been borrowed into the neighboring Finnic languages, most notably to Finnish and Estonian (where it has been modified to "joulu" and "jõul", respectively, and denotes Christmas in modern usage), although the Finnic languages have a linguistic origin different from Germanic languages. In Old English, geóla[2] originally referred to the month of December; although the ancient Anglo-Saxon calendar had two "tides" of 60 day periods: "Litha Tide", roughly equivalent to modern June and July, and "Giuli Tide", being essentially December and January (the remaining months of the year were lunar, 29 day periods--the New Year began with the second half of that tide, also known as "Wulfmonath"). There was also a period of time, twelve days, intercalary between the two halves--or "monaths"--the which becoming the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas. The definition later narrowed to mean Christmas day only, with the returning of the Latin-based calendar--via the Normans--over time in Christian Norman and Anglo-Saxon England.

Yule celebrations at the winter solstice predate the conversion to Christianity. It was, in pre-conversion times, the name of a feast celebrated by sacrifice on mid-winter night of January 12th according to the Norwegian historian Olav Bø. [3] Though there are numerous references to Yule in the Icelandic sagas, there are few accounts of how Yule was actually celebrated, beyond the fact that it was a time for feasting. According to Adam of Bremen, the Swedish kings sacrificed male slaves every ninth year during the Yule sacrifices at the Temple at Uppsala. 'Yule-Joy', with dancing, continued through the Middle Ages in Iceland, but was frowned upon when the Reformation arrived. The custom of ritually slaughtering a boar on Yule survives in the modern tradition of the Christmas ham and the Boar's Head Carol.

"On Yule Eve, the best boar in the herd was brought into the hall where the assembled company laid their hands upon the animal and made their unbreakable oaths. Heard by the boar, these oaths were thought to go straight to the ears of Freyr himself. Once the oaths had been sworn, the boar was sacrificed in the name of Freyr and the feast of boar flesh began. The most commonly recognised remnants of the sacred boar traditions once common at Yule has to be the serving of the boar's head at later Christmas feasts".[4]

The confraternities of artisans of the 9th century, which developed into the medieval guilds, were denounced by Catholic clergy for their "conjurations" when they swore to support one another in coming adversity and in business ventures. The occasions were annual banquets on December 26,

"feast day of the pagan god Jul, when it was possible to couple with the spirits of the dead and with demons that returned to the surface of the earth... Many clerics denounced these conjurations as being not only a threat to public order but also, more serious in their eyes, satanic and immoral. Hincmar, in 858, sought in vain to Christianize them."

Many of the symbols and motifs associated with the modern holiday of Christmas are derived from traditional pagan northern European Yule celebrations. The burning of the Yule log, the decorating of Christmas trees, the eating of ham, the hanging of boughs, holly, mistletoe, etc. are all historically practices associated with Yule. When the Christianization of the Germanic peoples began, missionaries found it convenient to provide a Christian reinterpretation of popular pagan holidays such as Yule and allow the celebrations themselves to go on largely unchanged, versus trying to confront and suppress them. The Scandinavian tradition of slaughtering a pig at Christmas (see Christmas ham) is probably salient evidence of this. The tradition is thought to be derived from the sacrifice of boars to the god Freyr at the Yule celebrations. Halloween and aspects of Easter celebrations are likewise assimilated from northern European pagan festivals.

English historian Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum contains a letter from Pope Gregory I to Saint Mellitus, who was then on his way to England to conduct missionary work among the pagan Anglo-Saxons. Pope Gregory suggested that converting heathens would go easier if they were allowed to retain the outward forms of their traditional pagan practices and traditions, while recasting those traditions spiritually towards the Christian God instead of to their pagan "devils": "to the end that, whilst some gratifications are outwardly permitted them, they may the more easily consent to the inward consolations of the grace of God".

What is the difference between Christmas and Yule?

What is the difference between Christmas and Yule?

Yule begins on Mother Night, (about Dec. 20) the night before the shortest day and the longest night (winter solstices). We honor the beginning of the Sun's return and the breaking of Winter, (which is most noticeable in five days) and is celebrated over a twelve day/night period ( this were Christians got the 12 days of Christmas). We know there will be no Fimbulwinter which proceeds Ragnarok.

It is a time of the year when our deceased Ancestors are closest to us; this is when the dead (draugar) are more active than any other time. Yule is when Jólnir another name for Odinn leads the procession of the Wild Hunt through the sky's with sprits of humans, horses and dogs. This procession occurs during all twelve days of Yule.

It is a time for great feasting, honoring Thorr for driving back the frost etins, Frey to give us prosperity in the coming year, Odinn as leader of the Wild Hunt, and of course our Ancestors. Jólablót, have a Yule party with family and kindred. Decorate a tree with sunwheels and light a Yule Log.

The Yule Tree (Christians came to call this a Christmas tree) is the symbol of our cosmology; it’s the Great tree Yggdrasil.

From the Voluspa. "Yggdrasil its name.

With water white is the Great Tree wet;

Thence come the dews that fall in the dales.

Green by Urths well does it ever grow."

And so the evergreen tree is the most appropriate, to remind us of the eternity of Yggdrasil, as it last through out winters Ever Green.

The burning of a Yule Log is an ancient ritual; our ancestors kindled a huge oak log in honor of Thorr. Today we burn a smaller log during the Yule Season. When lighting the new Yule Log it should be with the charred remains of the previous year's log, which is, keep to guard the house against lightning and fire.

Twelfth Night (about Dec. 31/Jan. 1) culminates the traditional twelve days/nights of Yule. Our Ancestors at this time consecrated a boar to Frey, led it out so everyone present could lay their hand on the boar and swear a solemn Oath. This is to honor Frey for prosperity. Oaths sworn on the Oath-Boar are very binding during this time, than any other time of the year( this where the tradition of New Year's resolutions came from). We make a New Year's resolutions in the old way by swearing our oath on Frey's boar or on our hammer.

The Yule is no exception when it comes to christian plagiarism of other cultures Holidays. There is no doubt that the Yule Tree, Yule Log, the Singing and exchanging of Gifts are from our Northern Culture

Many of the symbols associated with the modern holiday of Christmas such as the burning of the Yule log, the eating of ham, the hanging of boughs, holly, mistletoe, etc. are apparently derived from traditional northern European Yule celebrations. When the first missionaries began converting the Germanic peoples to Christianity, they found it easier to simply provide a Christian reinterpretation for popular feasts such as Yule and allow the celebrations themselves to go on largely unchanged, rather than trying to suppress them. The Scandinavian tradition of slaughtering a pig at Christmas (Christmas ham), and not in the autumn, is probably the most salient evidence for this. The tradition derives from the sacrifice to the god Freyr at the Yule celebrations.

December the 25th is definitely not the date Jesus of Nazareth was born. He was not born during the middle of winter; for the shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks by night (Luke 2:8). In Palestine the shepherds always bring their flocks in by mid-October. Here are three good reasons for the fall of the year to be the approximate time of the year for Jesus' birth all from the Bible.

First; his public ministry would start when he was thirty years old (Nu. 4:3), and last three and one half years. His ministry ended at the time of the Passover (John 18:39) that was in the spring. Then going back three and one half years he would have turned thirty in the fall of that year.

Second; he was born six months after John the Baptist. Finding John's approximate time of birth, and adding six months we have Jesus time of birth. Now John's father Zechariah was a priest at the temple in Jerusalem. Each priest had a definite period of the year in which to serve. There were twenty-four of these courses and according to Josephus each course lasted one week. Each priest served a week twice a year and all had to serve the three weeks of Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles. Zechariah was serving the course of ABIA (Abijah) when he learned his wife by some divine intervention, would give birth to a son (Luke 1:5-13). According to 1Chronicles 24:10, the course of Abijah was the eight in order. That is Iyar 27 to Sivan 5 to us this would be June 1-8. He was obligated to remain another week for Pentecost. After this time his ministry finished. He returned home and his wife conceived (Luke 1:23-24) this being about the middle of June. If we add nine months, John's birth would be in early spring about march. Add to this the six months the younger Jesus was (Luke 1:29-36), and Jesus' birth would be mid-September (approx. 15 Sept. 5 BCE), again the fall of the year.

Third, Joseph and Mary had gone to Bethlehem to be taxed (Luke 2:1-5). The fall was a logical time for taxes since it was the end of harvest. Also, when they made the trip it was most likely a time of a great feast at Jerusalem because it was crowded (Luke 2:7). Taxation alone would not draw this large a crowd in Bethlehem. Another point is that the law did not require a woman's presence at a taxing. Considering all of this Mary made the journey with Joseph to attend the Feast of Tabernacles that again is in the fall.

Halloween and Easter are theorized to have been likewise assimilated from northern European pagan festivals.

In short, just about everything that is associated with Christmas was stolen from Pagan religions, especially from what is known today as Ásatrú.

I hope this helps you out.

Yuletide blessings to you, and have a happy Yuletide.

can i freeze a yule log?

can i freeze a yule log?

How To Freeze Yule Log Cakes.Christmas is the time to make yule log cakes and enjoy them for the next few days. You should know how to freeze yule log cakes so that if you prepare them in abundance, you can store them properly for later use. Freezing yule log cakes in the right manner shall help to keep these cakes fresh and tasty... so just as you learn the making of these cakes - it is important to learn the process of freezing these cakes also.

Yule log cakes look very similar to logs and are normally garnished with sugar coated mushroom candies. Sometimes, you will even find woodland creatures which are made from sugar – hence you need to know special ways of freezing these cakes. Here are some tips which shall help you in the process of freezing yule log cakes.

You need to start the process of freezing the decorated yule cake by placing the cake inside the freezer and keeping it well covered. You can keep the yule log cake covered for at least one day so that the icing is well hardened.

Now, you need to take a clean plastic wrap and slowly wrap it around the cake. The plastic needs to cover the cake well – so you can gently press this plastic against the top section as well as the sides of the cake, so that an airtight seal is created. This seal needs to be created against the frosting, but with proper care so that the cake decorations are not damaged.

You should pull the long sides of this plastic foil, towards the side of the cake, and towards the top. Your main objective will be to let the plastic foil meet at the top part of the cake. It is suggested to hold the various ends of this foil together and then roll them down, so that the foil rests just flat and is completely against the cake.

Slowly you will have to roll the foil from the sides of the cake, by delicately holding the end sections, till you find that foil on all sides is just against the cake. This process might take a little extra time, but you need to carry it out patiently and never be in a hurry.

Once, you have wrapped the cake well, you can store it inside a cake box. Cake boxes are recommended since they are designed keeping in mind the size of the cake. You can keep the cakes inside the freezer in these boxes and let them be there till you will use them you wish to use them.

When you need the cake, you can remove it from the box and slowly unwrap it. You should remember that you need to carry out the unwrapping of the cake while it is still frozen. After you have completely unwrapped the cake, you can put it back into the refrigerator for the whole night. When you need to use the cake, you can keep it at room temperature for 1 hour at least and then you can serve it.

If you can store yule cakes in the right way, these cakes shall be in good condition for as long as 12 months.

Holidays also on this date Saturday, December 21, 2024...