Happy Yule, Everyone! I know. A good portion of you are saying, “What are you talking about? It’s Xmas.” You’re both right and wrong. What does Yule have to do with Halloween, you might, also, be asking. While it’s not exactly the same holiday, there are some similarities, like ghosts, darkness, and death. After all, it was brought to you by the same people who like to celebrate every 5 minutes: the Celts. Many of our Yuletide traditions come from their celebrations.
Many cultures have celebrated the Winter Solstice long before Xmas became a thing. Why? Because it is a very significant time of the year: it signifies the beginning of the end of winter, also called, Midwinter, which might be a big deal if you live in a hut or a cabin and spend much of your time outside.
In the Celtic traditions, this time of the year is when the Holly King’s power has waned and the Oak King’s power has grown. Even though the Oak King defeats the Holly King, Yule is still his holiday. That’s why we “deck the halls with boughs of Holly”. People used boughs of evergreen trees, like holly, because they couldn’t fit entire trees in their houses. Some believed that the pointy holly leaves could be used to keep evil spirits away, and would, therefore, plant it on the outsides of their houses, kind of, like barbed wire. The Holly King represents the Dark half of the year and looks suspiciously like the Ghost of Christmas Present, and someone else I can’t quite place…. It seems, Charles Dickens was no fool.
How about the Yule log? Some people still use this element in their decorations. The Yule log is, traditionally, made from oak trees, probably because the leaves were gone from it. The Celts revered the evergreen trees because they didn’t lose their leaves/needles, and thus, did not “die” every year like deciduous trees. The Yule log was adorned with various drinks and spices before being ceremoniously burned. If that wasn’t possible, a smaller version was put in the house and decorated with things from nature and candles places atop. They would be burned after the solstice.
Of course, as with all Celtic celebration, there was, usually, a bonfire. The Celts weren’t just pyromaniacs. They had bonfires to celebrate and pay homage to the sun, which, they knew, was going to be returning in a few short months, making the days longer and the nights shorter, as it does. The ancients knew that without the sun, there would be no harvests and, therefore, no life.
Don’t forget the Christmas tree. As I said, people would use boughs of holly, but some would drag an entire evergreen tree into their homes and decorate them. Why? Well, for the same reasons, of course. They wanted to honor their gods and other religious figures. They decorated them with things they found in nature, such as holly and ivy, berries, and pinecones. They might, also, use things from inside their homes. They decorated the trees outside, as well, like one that grew in the center of the village….
It’s amazing, sometimes, when you think about the traditions that families pass down and practice. How far back do they go? Maybe the Celts didn’t come up with them either. We’ll, likely, never know.
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