In the Northern Hemisphere, Winter Solstice will happen on December 21st, marking the season of Yule. It is the shortest day of the year, while also marking the slow return of longer days. Winter begins, but also heralds the hope of spring.

At Stonehenge, Neolithic builders shaped the standing stones to frame the winter and summer solstices. On the winter solstice, the sun sets southwest of the stone circle.

The Winter Solstice also ushers in the pagan season of Yule which directly follows Samhain. Once again, fire is an important element of the festival, this time to denote the sun’s return. Yule logs were burned to symbolize heat and the returning sun. Of course, the massive fire brought actual heat as well during the cold nights.

According to legend, Yuletide is a celebration of the Holly King’s victory over the Oak King. The two kings engage in a constant struggle related to seasonal cycles. The Oak King of summer gives way to the Holly King of winter until the cycle shifts again.

Yuletide celebrations begin with the Yule Log, a full tree that was brought inside the house. It could be fed into the fireplace and burned from the bottom with the tree extending into the room. As the fire burned, the tree was pushed further into the hearth. Alternatively, the tree could be cut into 12 sections for the 12 days of celebration.

As to the feasting, excavations at Durrington Walls, a Neolithic village near Stonehenge, offer some interesting suggestions. Archeologists have uncovered 38,000 pig and cattle bones, the remains of about 1000 animals. It appears they were slaughtered at about the age of 9 months, so they would have been born in the spring. Animal sacrifices are thought to have been part of the celebrations.

Celts thought that the sun stood still for 12 days during the Solstice. During this time the earth is, in fact, tilted at its furthest point from the sun, which is why the sun is at its lowest point in the sky.

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Illustrations & A Few Sources

Stonehenge at Dawn Winter Solstice by Mike Peel; Wheel of the Year by Imbolc.cerddwr; Yule Log Being Brought into Hever Castle by Robert Alexander Hillingford; Position & Timing of Solstice. “Winter Solstice & Stonehenge” English Heritage. Catherine Boeckmann. “The Story Behind Yule & the Yuletide Season.” Farmers’ Almanac. Oct. 22, 2024.

The post YULE: A CELEBRATION OF WINTER SOLSTICE first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.

Winter Solstice on December 21 in the Northern Hemisphere is both the shortest day of the year, and the first day of Winter. The word solstice finds its root in the Latin words sol for sun and sistere, meaning “to stand.” The term also refers to new birth, as a new year rises from the old.

The short day and long night of Solstice inspired many customs we still practice during modern holiday season celebrations.

Io Saturnalia

Ancient Romans celebrated Saturnalia, a seven-day festival from December 17 – 24 of the Julian calendar. It began with a sacrifice to Saturn, continued with a public banquet and private gift-giving of modest presents. But the most dramatic aspect of the holiday was social role reversals. Men dressed as women; masters dressed as servants, and slaves feasted at banquet tables. Ordinary pursuits of work or business were set aside while Romans spent the time gambling and feasting.

Decorations included boughs from laurel and evergreen trees to symbolize the continuity of life, and lamps that were kept burning to ward off evil spirits.

Yule

The word Yule has several possible sources. Norse myths described the sun as a wheel that changed with the seasons. The word for the wheel was jól, which may be the source of yule.

To celebrate the Solstice, Norsemen let bonfires, shared stories, and drank ale – which may have made the stories more creative.

British Druids observed the day by cutting mistletoe, a parasite that grows on oak trees. Oak trees were sacred, and mistletoe was a symbol of life in the dark winter months.

Burning the Yule Log, which was more accurately an entire tree, was a way to entice the sun to return. The Yule log fed the fire through what became the Twelve Days of Christmas.

In Finnish lore, the goddess Louhi caused winter darkness when she kidnapped the sun and moon, and hid them inside a mountain.

Italian folklore refers to the goddess Befana. During Solstice, or perhaps the day before Epiphany, she rides around the world on her broom to leave candy and gifts for well-behaved children, and a lump of coal for the others [sound familiar?]. Invitations for Befana to visit came by way of a rag doll in her likeness placed by the front door or window.

The Kallikantzaroi

The Kallikantzaroi, from Greek mythology, live underground and emerge during Solstice to cause havoc. The creatures are small, black, male, mostly blind and have long black tails.

One way to avoid the chaos Kallikantzaroi cause is to leave colanders where they are easily seen. Kallikantzaroi can only count up to the number three, and they spend the night trying to count the holes in the colander.

However you celebrate this festive season, have a wonderful time!

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Illustrations

Winter Solstice at Stonehenge taken December 27, 2008 by simonwakefield.

Dice Players in Pompeii.

Mistletoe with flowers by Ticketee.

Hauling the Yule log, 1864.

Befalna by Tiguliano.

Matrakoukos, chief of the Kallikatzaroi.

“Kallikantzaroi – Greek Christmas Goblins.” Greeker than the Greeks.

The Story Behind Yule. Almanac. Nov. 29, 2021.

Winter Solstice. BBC. June 6, 2007.

Michelle Bierma & Time Reese. “Winter Solstice.” Three Rivers. Dec. 9, 2019.

The post Yule Tide Festivals first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.

ANCIENT CELEBRATIONS

The Norse god Odin was part of Yule celebrations that took place for three nights after the solstice. During the feasts, the first toast went to Odin to grant victory and power to the king, the second to Njoror and Freyr for good harvests and peace, and the third for the king. Presumably drinking and toasting went on for much of the night.

The custom changed in the Tenth Century when Haakon Haraldsson, known as Haakon the Good, became king. Haakon grew up in Anglo-Saxon England, and returned to Norway as a Christian, a fact he kept secret until he became secure on his throne, at which time he passed a law saying Yule celebrations would coincide with Christmas when everyone was supposed to drink ale and keep the day as long as the ale lasted.

This merging of holidays may be why Google defines Yuletide as an archaic term for Christmas.

Now that mystery is solved, other Christmas customs and terms make sense. There is the YULE LOG — not the cake but the specially selected tree brought into the house to be burnt. Yule logs predate Victorian Christmas trees by several centuries. The largest part of the tree was fed into the hearth, with the remainder filling the room. Revelers kept feeding the log into the hearth so it would burn for the entire Twelve Days of Christmas.

There is also the YULE GOAT, probably connected to Norse celebrations for the god Thor who traveled the sky in a chariot pulled by two goats. From this beginning, several customs emerged. In Norway people went door-to-door dressed like goats to sing carols in exchange for food and drink.

In Sweden, Norway, and Finland elves rode goats to deliver gifts to children.

When Scandinavians migrated to America, they brought Yule Goats, most often now viewed as Christmas decorations plaited with straw and tied with ribbons.

The YULE BOAR is another pagan custom we’ve incorporated. Yule Boars probably began with the Anglo-Saxons. On Yule Eve the best boar in the herd was brought into the Banquet Hall. Participants laid their hands on it and made unbreakable oaths which were thought to go straight to Freyr, god of Yule and fertility.

The next day, the boar was sacrificed to Freyr. Servants carried the boar’s head with the apple in its mouth into the banquet hall to the sounds of trumpets. And the feast began.

Some say this custom explains why many people eat ham on Christmas Day.

The last Yule custom for today is YULE SINGING better known as WASSAILING. Wassail itself is a beverage made from mulled ale, curdled cream, roasted apples, eggs, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and sugar. The hot mixture is served from large bowls. As the drinks are passed around, the giver says, “Waes Hael” which translates as Good Health.

If you want to make your own Wassail, here’s one recipe.

Wassailers sound a bit like Norwegian carol-singing goats. Wassailers also go door-to-door singing in hopes they will be asked inside for a bit of wassail, a bite to eat, and some time by a warm fire. In Victorian times, Wassailers morphed into people going door-to-door singing Christmas carols.

So now you know how St. Nicholas became Santa Claus; how Yule became Christmas; how Yule Boars became Christmas ham, and how Wassailers turned into Carolers. I don’t know how the Yule Log became a round cake. I’ll try and find out for next year.

In the spirit of Christmas silliness, I’ve attached a humorous rendition of “Here We Come A-Wassailing.”

HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS, AND I’LL BE BACK NEXT MONTH.

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Illustrations in the Public Domain from Wikimedia Commons.

Christmas Tree

Hauling in the Yule Log for Christmas. 1864.

Father Christmas on a Yule Goat.

Boar’s Head on a Platter. 1855

History of the Yule Log. Why Christmas.com

History of Wassailing and Mumming. Why Christmas.com

Slaughtering the Sacred Boar. Yule-the Midwinter Festival. Orkneyjar.

Mark Mancini. The Fiery History of Scandinavia’s Yule Goat. Mental Floss. Dec. 19, 2013.

Sue Weaver. The Yule Goat. Inside Story, Dec. 18, 2009.

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