WINTER SOLSTICE - In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice, sometimes known as Yule,
occurs on or very close to this date. In the Northern Hemisphere, it
marks the first official day of Winter. In the Southern Hemisphere, the
summer solstice occurs around this time.
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.
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. Thus,
the terms "Yule" and "Christmas" are often used interchangeably,
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).
As with other
holidays at this time of the year, it is about the shortness of the day
and the long dark night, and it is celebrated, traditionally, with the
burning of a log all night to keep the light or carry the light over the
divide of the old year to the new.
The burning of
the Yule log, the decorating of Christmas trees, particularly with
lights, 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.
