Posted on 12/21/2016 11:12:36 AM PST by heterosupremacist
Yule is observed on the day of the Winter Solstice.
Also known as Jul, Yule predates the Christmas holiday by thousands of years. There is some debate as to the origin of the word Yule.
Some linguists suggest the word is derived from “Iul”, the Anglo-Saxon word for wheel. This makes a connection to a Celtic calendar, the Wheel of the Year.
In the Norse culture, “Jul” refers to the god, Odin. Odin was celebrated during Yule as well.
Yule celebrations included bonfires, decorating with holly, mistletoe and the boughs of evergreen trees, ritual sacrifices, feasts and gift giving.
Do you recognize any Christmas traditions borrowed from Yule?
•The Yule midwinter feast usually lasted 12 days.
•Vikings would decorate evergreen trees with gifts such as food, carvings, and food for the tree spirits to encourage them to return in the spring.
•Mistletoe combined with a mother’s tears resurrected her son, the God of Light and Goodness, in a Viking myth. The Celts believe Mistletoe possessed healing powers as well and would ward off evil spirits.
•In Norse tradition, Old Man Winter visited homes to join the festivities. The Viking god, Odin was described as a wanderer with a long white beard and is considered the first Father Christmas.
•Viking children would leave their shoes out by the hearth on the eve of the winter solstice with sugar and hay for Odin’s eight-legged horse, Sleipnir.
•Children would traipse from house to house with gifts of apples and oranges spiked with cloves and resting in baskets lined with evergreen boughs.
•The Yule log was a whole tree meant to be burned for 12 days in the hearth. The Celts believed the sun stood still during the winter solstice. They thought by keeping the Yule log burning for these 12 days encouraged the sun to move, making the days longer. The largest end would be fed into the hearth, wine poured over it, and it would be lit with the remains of the previous year’s Yule log.
Everyone would take turns feeding the length of timber into the fire as it burned. Letting it burn out would bring bad luck.
While the winter solstice is observed around the world, Yule was celebrated primarily by Germanic cultures of northern and western Europe. The midpoint of winter was a time to celebrate the rebirth of the sun and the light it would bring to the earth.
I suspect many Christians don’t want to hear about the origins of their traditional celebrations.
While they have assigned new meaning to Christmas, the traditions are thousands of years old.
Just goes to show how many tools Satan has at his disposal.
And, of course, Wagner, that evil German of great genius, used some of those myths in his operas and eventually influenced evil, pagan Nazism.
It’s amazing that the sun always comes back to us. I wonder what would happen if the sun ignored the solstice and just kept going farther and farther away.
I assume they learned this information from writings from the period.
Actually, unsure if that is entirely true.
In Iran there is also "Yalda celebrations" (mid-winter solstice), always celebrated on the eve of 21 December, since ancient, pre-Zoroastrian era, and even now. It is the longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere - older FR post
A typical Yalda spread or table
We did celebrate here with family & friends last night. But since I live in Australia, seasons are reversed. So, it is the longest day here - it's an enchanting tradition.
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To Yehova, by any name they are all abominations.
Dec 25, or whatever, it is the day that the newborn babies born to the raped virgins of Easter are put in the hot glowing arms of the idol in the fire.
It is still done to this day.
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In a way it is doing that.
The sun has shut down, and is losing energy daily.
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Hanukka (Jewish festival of light) is also celebrated around “Yule”, “Yalda” or Christmas. Though, specific dates vary yearly because it is based on lunar calendar.
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I, for one, am happy to see the daylight time fraction of the day increase.
The traditional Christmas Watermelon? Kool....
lol.. not Christmas, only “Yalda”.
It’s summer in Australia (summer fruit).
Besides, typically in Persian cuisine, they use a mix of “hot & cold” food/fruit/vegetables to help with digestion. It’s about offsetting heat with cold, in what one consumes. Sort of a balance in diet.
https://javanehskitchen.com/2010/03/31/whats-hot-and-whats-not/
Somehow I doubt Celtic or Viking children would have oranges in their baskets. Thank goodness we are done with such superstitions. Now excuse me, I have to get to the airport and sacrifice a goat to keep my plane in the air.
Thanks for the ping.
It is very commendable that Iranians increasingly celebrate their ancient pre-islamic Aryan festivals.
>>”Now excuse me, I have to get to the airport and sacrifice a goat to keep my plane in the air.”<<
Try sheep next time, it’s plentiful and much cheaper.
Overcast here, sunrise was not visible
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