For information on Sir Henry Yule, please see Henry Yule.
Yule is the midwinter solstice Blót (celebration) in Asatru, the pagan practices of the Germanic peoples prior to the arrival of Christianity. Today, it is one of the eight solar holidays, or sabbats, of Neopaganism. In modern neopaganism, Yule is celebrated on the winter solstice: in the northern hemisphere, circa December 21, and in the southern hemisphere, circa June 21.
1 Connection to modern Christmas
Many of the symbols associated with the modern holiday of Christmas (such as the Yule log, Christmas trees, the eating of ham, holly, mistletoeMistletoe is the common name for various evergreen parasitic plants of the families Loranthaceae and Viscaceae, especially "European Mistletoe" Viscum album and "American Mistletoe" Phoradendron flavescens with waxy white berries and smooth-edged oval lea, etc.) are apparently derived from traditional northern European Yule celebrations. It has been theorized that 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, although no conclusive documentation to this effect has come to light. HalloweenHalloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31, usually by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting candy. It is celebrated in much of the Western world, though most commonly in the United States, Ireland and Canada. and EasterEaster is generally accounted the most important holiday of the Christian year, observed March or April each year to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead (after his death by crucifixion; see Good Friday), which Christians believe happened at are theorized to have been likewise assimilated from northern European pagan festivals.
2 Etymology
Of the contested origin of Jól, one likely connection is to Old NorseOld Norse or Danish tongue is the Germanic language once spoken by the inhabitants of the Nordic countries (for instance during the Viking Age). Formally, it can be divided into two similar dialects: ;West Norse: Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian ;East Nors Hjól, 'wheel,' to identify the moment when the wheel of the year is at its lowpoint, ready to rise again. Other linguists suggest that the connection is fortuitous, and that Hjól has been inherited by Germanic and Scandinavian languages from a pre-Indo-European language level.
In the ScandinaviaScandinavia is the cultural and historic region of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The Scandinavian countries are Norway, Sweden and Denmark, which mutually recognize each other as parts of Scandinavia. The collective label "Scandinavia" reflects the culturaln languages, Jul is the word for Christmas.
3 Traditional Yule
What is certain is that Yule celebrations at the winter solstice predate Christianity. Though there are numerous references to Yule in the IcelandThe Republic of Iceland is an island nation in the northern Atlantic Ocean, located between Greenland and Scotland, northwest of the Faroe Islands. Lydveldid Island ( In Detail) (Full size) National motto: none Official languageNone. Icelandic de facto''.ic sagas, there are few accounts of how Yule was actually celebrated, beyond the fact that it was a time for feasting. 'Yule-Joy', with dancing, continued through the Middle Ages in Iceland, but was frowned upon when the Reformation arrived. It is, however, known to have included the sacrifice of a pig for the god Frey, a tradition which survives in the Scandinavian Christmas ham.
