What do we really know about this magnificent period of the year?
Yule is the time of the year when we celebrate Winter Solstice and everything related, we celebrate mostly on 21st , 22nd or 23rd December (depends on the year)
Winter Solstice has been celebrated in cultures the world over for thousands of years. This start of the solar year is a celebration of Light and the rebirth of the Sun. In old Europe, it was known as Yule, from the Norse, Jul, meaning wheel.
Pagans celebrate this time of the year in different ways, having different rites or traditions. Paganism is seen in lots of forms from Shamanism, Wiccanism, Traditional Witchcraft, Druidry to the Germanic Neopagans and Northern traditions and more. Because of the different ways of pagans there are different ways to see Yule and to celebrate Yule, but there is a common essence and that is: death and rebirth, mostly REBIRTH.
I don’t know about the others, but I know that I, as a Wiccan, celebrate the rebirth of the Great Horned Hunter God, who is viewed as the new-born solstice sun. For Wiccans Yule festivities involve the burning of the Yule log on an open fire to honour the lord Cernunnos or the Horned God; the log is decorated with holly and other symbolic paraphernalia.
Also during the many Wiccan Yule rituals, the Holly King dies and the Oak King is born. This signifies the changes from the dark half of the year to the light half of the year.
I’ve found some interesting ways of celebrating Yule, here are some of them – (From Celebrating Winter Solstice by Selena Fox):
“Adorn the home with sacred herbs and colours. Decorate your home in Druidic holiday colours red, green, and white. Place holly, ivy, evergreen boughs, and pine cones around your home, especially in areas where socializing takes place. Hang a sprig of mistletoe above a major threshold and leave it there until next Yule as a charm for good luck throughout the year. Have family/household members join together to make or purchase an evergreen wreath. Include holiday herbs in it and then place it on your front door to symbolize the continuity of life and the wheel of the year. If you choose to have a living or a harvested evergreen tree as part of your holiday decorations, call it a Solstice tree and decorate it with Pagan symbols.”
I wait for Yule prepared with a warm heart and may you and your dear ones be blessed by the Light of a new SUN.
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