The history of Yule to todays Christmas

Yule or Yule-tide, yet another celebration that hasn't anything to do with christianity and we clearly know now that Christ wasn't born on December the 25th. In truth, Yule is a pagan festival that has been held throughout centuries, a winter festival to honor the female deities of the Norse/Germanic peoples, that is where it actually originated. But where do the pagan festivities and the christian beliefs met? and why?

Originally, the night where this festival took place was during the "new year's night" and it was so called Mōdraniht, meaning, Mother Night. During this pagan holiday a sacrifice was made and everyone involved, all the celebrants, would share the feast afterwards. But throughout history people have come together and mingle by means of trade or invasions and people end up adopting customs and ideas from each other. So there came a time in history when the Norse/Germanic lunar calendar was changed by the Julian calendar which was adopted and the date of the Yule festival changed to December the 25th. Since then it has been absorbed into the Christian holiday of Christmas as a form of propaganda, so the pagan peoples wouldn't feel much changes and still held their celebrations but now turned to a different faith and a different deity, slowly forgeting the old traditions by the force of habit, replacing their beliefs by foreign ones. Nowadays these pagan festivities have emerged again and it is now celebrated among Wiccans, and Pagans of Europe or European descendance during the winter solstice on December 21st. It is believed that the pagan Yule festival was influenced by both the Wild Hunt and the Roman winter festival of Saturnalia.
The Wild Hunt goes by many names, and its connection to Yule goes fat back to the folklore myth / legend of Odin's Hunt, and the most known versions of it are the christianized ones. "The legend is that a group of huntsmen with hounds and horses make a mad dash across the ground or through the sky in pursuit of something unknown. The huntsmen, depending on the folklore, are often undead, demon possessed clergy or fairies of the underworld. The legend goes on to warn mortals from viewing the hunt because if one sees it, a catastrophic event such as the plague, famine, or war could follow. Another warning in the legend against the viewing of the Wild Hunt is that the spirit or soul could be grabbed by the riders and taken to the underworld." The vision of the Wild Hunt takes place during the time of the year when the wind blows the strongest and storms begin to form.Odin's Hunt begins on October 31st and ends on May Eve or April 30th. However, the height of the hunt takes place on Yule, the shortest day of the year. Odin and his Valkyries ride across the sky searching for those worthy to join the ride, many heroes of old also join this hunt, along with the Einherjar, the Elite warriors of Odin. Also this is the time when souls are "collected" and bought to the next world. During christianization fear replaced the tales of old and Yule fires were lit to keep the hunters at bay.
Saturnalia was a Roman winter festival with the objective of honoring the dedication of the temple to the god Saturn, or Cronus to the Greek. Originally the festival was celebrated on December 17th but grew in popularity and was extended to a week long event. A lot of feasts were held during this week, trickery and tomfoolery. A common practice was for slaves to dress as masters and masters to dress as slaves.
Great feasts would take place during the week of Saturnalia after the religious rites were performed in the temples of course. Visits to family and friends would take place and the giving of gifts was a common practice. Such gifts included wax candles and lamps, very common gifts by this time. It was believed that this was to light up the area and chase the spirits of the dark away.

So Yule and Christiams at some point in history came together and made a fusion and we see nowadays in Christmass many things that belong the the pagan festivals of old, like decorating the trees, the type of food we eat during this time, many decorations with elves, goats (the story of the Julbock), Reindeer, snow, pine trees, fir trees, the colors of Red and White and so on, things that were never common in the lands where Christ was born, but to keep this time of the year with its true essence and magic, we kept Christmas in a very pagan manner. During Yule it is a common practice to light Yule logs for Yule fires and to eat goat or boar and fill the air with singing and merriment. During Christmas it is common to light a Yule log, celebrate the birth of Jesus through the Virgin Mary, feast with family and friends, give gifts and witness religious rites in church. Throughout history the combining of these pagan festivals made it easier to convert the heathen pagans to Christianity.

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Jólablót - 21st of December

Most of you may think that at the 21st of December of 2012 is the end of the world, but i must tell you, it is just an other winter Solstice.

This is the day of the celebration most commonly known as Yule, or for the northern peoples of Europe, the Jólablót, Jullblot or julofferfest. A celebration held for some millenia, well carved in the history of mankind.
This is the day of the year when the night is longer, darkness prevails over the land, but after this day, the sun and its light will return and the days will gradually grow. This day is associated with rebirth, after the darkness, the sun will return and its light will spread all over the land, the fields will be ready to sow, and this union of the sun with the earth is something we all should celebrate. After an entire year of planting and harvesting to gather food for the comming winter, the trials of the year will come to an end, and a new year will begin. This is not only the rebirth of the sun and the earth but also of their children, plants and animals, the sun will help in the fertility of the soils, animals will wake from their slumber and hibernation and we humans will have joyful days when the sun and its warmth will touch our very souls. All of us know that the cold weather and the gloomy atmosphere of winter, leads us to a state of depression which is associated with the absence of external stimulations, and the coming of brighter days and the light of the sun and a warmer weather will give us joy, motivation and inner strength, now imagine how the northern people would feel, they have more cold and snowy days than others, so the coming of the sun, it was a real blessing, and would ensure their survival since it would be easier to plant in soils that would not be burned by frost. So this was also the rebirth of the human soul. In this day, people would gather and celebrate the end of the year and the coming of the new one, oaths were taken at the beginning of the year, and now that it came to an end, oaths were renewed, people would thank the gods and the spirits of the land, who helped them to survive and to ensure the survival of their loved ones, and thank to the ancestors for the protection and good advices. People at this night would also ask the gods for a good harvest in the next year. In the darkness of the year's longest night, the fires burned bright and hot, the fires of each one's house and the inner-fires that we all have, fires of love and friendship.

This celebration begins at Mōdraniht, or Mothers Night, at the sunset of the winter Solstice, the longest night of the year as i already said, and it ends twelve days later on the Twelfth night. You may see some similarities with the christian christmas, but that is the part of the history that most people aren't interested in.

When christianity came into Europe, they tried to erase these ancient celebrations, and turned them into "christian celebrations" that did not existed, but would appear with the same similarities as the old celebrations so that the peoples of Europe wouldn't feel much of a difference and could become christians in a peacefull manner, either that, or they would be forced to become christians, but this propaganda of all these celebrations thing, was indeed a successful plan to bring the pagans into the christian fold. The birth of the sun was replaced by the birth of Jesus, which back then no one knew when he actually born, so by the night of 24th to 25th seemed to be a good day, and this was actually the night when Odin, the all-father of the Germanic people, would come to earth with other spirits and ancestors, to give presents to the humans, and so in this way, father christmas was born. Twisting the old celebrations into new ones of an other religion, didn't turned out good, people were used to celebrate all the feasts which their ancestors also celebrated in their own manner, people didn't want to hear about such new things, about repentance, to save the soul or anything that christianity brought, people just wanted to be free and live happy under the laws of nature, with the company of their gods who were more friends than anything else, this new god, the christian god, would take their freedom away, and in truth that was what happened, not a god taking away their freedom or tell them to do things they didn't want of course, but people who were constantly speaking and acting in his name.

With all of this, i just want you all to remember, that christmas is not about presents or the birht of Jesus, its meaning goes deeper in our European roots, it is about family, and the warm connections we have with our friends, our family members and our ancestors, to remember the deeds of the year and to try to make the next year even better, it is about love and after all the trials of the year, have a little peace with those we love the most.

Happy Yule to all.

( read this before the world comes to an end :P )

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Yule - 21st of December (introduction)

Yule is the pagan celebration held at this day (21st of December) for at least 2000years before de common era, it was probably celebrated in a even more remote time.
The name "Yule" means "wheel", most likely refering to the wheel of the year and all the celebrations, and Yule being the last one to be held, but its meaning is also connected to the sun that for millenia its symbol was a wheel.
This is the day of the year when the night is longer and the darkness prevails over the land, but it is also the day of the rebirth of the sun. After the long dark days, the sun will "revive" and the days will be longer, light will fill all the corners of the land and with it, joyful days will come. This is also the rebirth of the earth itself, the fields will be ready to sow, the sun and its rays of light on the gradual growth of days will help in the fertility of the soils. But this rebirth is not only about the sun and the earth and their union, this rebirth is also seen in their children, plants and animals and the warmth of the sun will also give light to our own souls, and a new year will come and all of us must be ready for it.

I will write about this day in more detail in the post called "Jólablót" in the "Northern pagan traditions" lable. If you want to know more, check it out.