The Story Behind Yule and the Yuletide Season
Are you familiar with the tradition of the Yule log? Or perhaps you like to “troll the ancient yuletide carols”? Yule is one of the oldest winter celebrations in the world—celebrated on the solstice. Learn more about this centuries-old festival and its traditions (including the Yule log cake!).
What Is Yule?
Today, “Yule” and “Yuletide” are largely synonymous with “Christmas” and “Christmastide,” but the meaning behind them is quite different from that of the Christian holiday.
“Yule” comes from Old English geol, which shares a history with the equivalent word from Old Norse, jól. Both these words referred to a midwinter festival centered around the winter solstice, which traditionally marked the halfway point of the winter season. After the solstice—the shortest day of the year—the days again begin to grow longer, so it’s thought that Yule was a celebration of the re-appearance of the Sun and the fertile land’s rebirth.
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The celebration of Yule is one of the oldest winter celebrations in the world. Ancient people were hunters and spent most of their time outdoors. The seasons and weather played a significant part in their lives. The customs and traditions associated with it vary widely. Most commonly, the celebration consisted of a hearty feast and general revelry, which included wassailing (caroling), drinking, and dancing.
Later, when Christianity came to the British Isles, Christians adopted aspects of the pagan festival into a celebration of the birth of Christ. As Christianity began to spread in the 4th century, the Christmas feast day was set on December 25 by Pope Julius I to align with the Roman pagan holiday Dies natalis solis invicti, “the birthday of the invincible Sun.” The rest is history.
The Burning of the Yule Log
Burning a log in celebration of Yule started well before medieval times. It began as part of the winter solstice festivities.
The candles and lights associated with Christmas, meant to symbolize guiding beacons for the Christ child, may have evolved from the Yule log, which was lit to entice the Sun to return as part of the jól (Yule) festival in Scandinavia.
Interestingly, the Yule log was originally an entire tree! Families would bring the trunk of the Yule tree inside and stick the big end of it into the fireplace. The log would feed the fire through the 12 Days of Christmas (from Christmas Day through the evening of the 5th of January—known as Twelfth Night).
The ashes of Yule logs were said to be very good for plants. Wood ashes do indeed have beneficial uses in the garden!
Yule Log Decor and Dessert
Today, a Yule log is still a Christmas tradition in some cultures; a large log is traditionally burned in the fireplace on Christmas Eve. For other cultures, the Yule log is a log-shaped chocolate cake enjoyed as a Christmas dessert.
- If you are in the woodlot, plan to cut some of that white birch into Yule logs for your friends. They can be used in fireplaces or as decor. Tied with red ribbon, such logs make ideal Christmas gifts!
- The Yule log also makes an excellent centerpiece for tapers or tea lights. You could also use the purple and pink Advent candles. Our town’s Boy Scout troop drilled holes in birch logs to create special candle holders for Scout ceremonies.
Photo Credit: S Marina/Shutterstock
- Make an edible Yule log! Here’s our dessert recipe for a light bûche de Noël! It’s a Christmas favorite, adding a festive flair to any holiday table.
Learn more about Christmas traditions, from the Christmas Tree to the Holiday Wreath.
Catherine Boeckmann
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Whoever whatever whenever your tradition is for celebrating nature’s rhythms, blessings to you! Dogma is antithetical to spiritual living so follow your highest aspiration to recognize divinity!
Well said.
I was told that birch is endangered. Now by reading your stories I think that's inaccurate.
Your article about the yule log repeats a debunked theory about the date of Christmas. The Roman feast of Sol Invictus. December 25 was nine months after March 25, the date of the vernal equinox and a date linked to the conception of Jesus (celebrated as the Feast of the Annunciation). Of course, selecting March 25 for the conception was also rather arbitrary, it being calculated [?] as the date of the death of Jesus and having conception and death on the same date signified a divine cycle. he Philocalian calendar of AD 354, part VI, gives a festival of NATALIS INVICTI on 25 December. There is limited evidence that this festival was celebrated before the mid-4th century.
The Philocalian calendar of AD 354 gives a festival of "Natalis Invicti" on 25 December. There is limited evidence that this festival was celebrated before the mid-4th century.[37][38]
The idea that Christians chose to celebrate the birth of Jesus on 25 December because this was the date of an already existing festival of the Sol Invictus was expressed in an annotation to a manuscript of a work by 12th-century Syrian bishop Jacob Bar-Salibi.
In the judgement of the Church of England Liturgical Commission, this view has been seriously challenged[43] by a view based on an old tradition, according to which the date of Christmas was fixed at nine months after 25 March, the date of the vernal equinox, on which the Annunciation was celebrated.[44] The Jewish calendar date of 14 Nisan was believed to be that of the beginning of creation, as well as of the Exodus and so of Passover, and Christians held that the new creation, both the death of Jesus and the beginning of his human life, occurred on the same date, which some put at 25 March in the Julian calendar.[43][45][46] It was a traditional Jewish belief that great men lived a whole number of years, without fractions, so that Jesus was considered to have been conceived on 25 March, as he died on 25 March, which was calculated to have coincided with 14 Nisan.[47] Sextus Julius Africanus (c.160 – c.240) gave 25 March as the day of creation and of the conception of Jesus.[48] The tractate De solstitia et aequinoctia conceptionis et nativitatis Domini nostri Iesu Christi et Iohannis Baptistae falsely attributed to John Chrysostom also argued that Jesus was conceived and crucified on the same day of the year and calculated this as 25 March.[44][46] A passage of the Commentary on the prophet Daniel by Hippolytus of Rome, written in about 204, has also been appealed to.[49]
Among those who have put forward this view are Louis Duchesne,[50] Thomas J. Talley,[51] David J. Rothenberg,[52] J. Neil Alexander, [53] and Hugh Wybrew.[54]
The Yule Log article also has false information on the Yule Log and Candle Origin. Candles were used by Christians and many other religions. Christmas lights originated from candles.
The Yule Log was always a Log. The Chrismas Tree was adopted from Celtic tradition in Briton under the Holy Roman Empire. The custom was to dig up a living tree, bring it inside and take it back outside and plant the tree, not set it on fire.
Somehow this writer twisted several different historical accounts into one, mostly-false story.
Another note: Yule originated in Scandinavia but so too did the Germanic people. Anglo Saxons and other Germanic people carried the customs of their Norse ancestors south on foot, generations before the Viking Era. Given what we know of history it's likely these traditions all came together in what is now known as England, where the Romans brought Cristianity to the Celtic Britons, then The Anglo Saxons mixed in their culture while converting to Christianity and later the Normans arrived with a variation of what the Saxons had already brought.
We don't have specific records of cultural appropriation but we do know the Saxons in England converted to Christianity before missionaries from Rome (the city, after the fall of the Empire) brought Christianity to Germany which was long before reaching Scandinavia.
The other possibility is the Frankish Invasion of Gaul: When France stopped being Latin speaking Gauls (Celts) and started to convert the Germanic Franks to Christianity.
It was assuredly somewhere where Latin, Germanic and Celtic languages collided that the 3 separate religions combined customs which would mainly be France and England. As for Ireland and Scotland, there's no official record of any Norse influence and for both of those states, English came after it had already been mixed with Latin and Britton (British Celtic language). We only know that on the whole, Roman and Norman Invasion failed in Ireland and Scottland and that Roman Invasion failed in Germany (Germans already being of Norman decent, having pushed Celts out of Germany).
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Blessings ! I love the YULE LOG,it helps my home to be Peaceful and Joyful this time of year.
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