YULETIDE: The Winter Holy High-Tide

Brief Overview of the Yuletide Celebration

Since the beginning our honored ancestors were aware that during the winter months death was at its strongest throughout the lands. They also understood that the veil that separated our world and other worlds was at its thinnest, hence they believed that one could communicate with the spirits of the departed and other supernatural beings and that interaction with them was possible. Most Yuletide traditions & customs have a common ancient origin, which is evident as they are found among the many different cultures & ethnicities, and throughout different places & periods of Indo-European peoples (including Slavic, Germanic, Scandinavian, Keltic, and Finno-Ugric peoples)...

In recognition of the Winter season, in honor of these ancestral spirits and of the heathen gods & goddesses, our Folk held a celebration that began around the time of the Winter Solstice called “Yule” (also Jöl, Korochin, Kūčios, Kaledos, and Hogmanay) which would last for twelve nights, past Mother Night, and into the new Heathen year. This celebration of Heathen life is considered one of the highest of holy days, and all modern celebrations and traditions associated with Christmas are descendants of the Holy days of Yule, Mother Night, and Twelfth-Night.

Originally, Yuletide would begin at the Full-Moon on or following the Winter-Solstice with the ritual “Goðablót” or “Jólablót,” which honored all the Gods & Goddesses of Æsir & Vanir; and was followed by Sumbel, then a feast of Pork/Ham. The three-days following the Blót were kept holy by not working, and instead resting, telling of tales, giving gifts, playing games, lighting large bonfires, dancing, singing and caroling, with every Heathen home burning a sacred Oak "Yule log" (also called "Bonke Nadolig" in Welsh, "Budnik" in Bulgarian, "Kallach" in Gaelic), which provided warmth and protection from the winter cold, in addition to bestowing good-fortune & prosperity.  Small conifer trees, considered symbolic of the sacred World-Tree Yggdrasil (or Irminsul), were presented as traditional gifts to decorate Heathen Homes. Woven straw and wooden Goat figures called “Yulebock” were fashioned and decorated with red ribbons to honor this animal which is sacred to the god Thor. Jingle/Sleigh-Bells and garlands made from conifers were affixed to home doors to attract carolers and participants, and also to ward off the negative forces of Winter. Bells & drums were thought to summon spirits of Ancestors, and having bells on the home door was a symbolic invitation to any Ancestral spirits to enter the home and attend the feasts. This tradition of invititing ancestral spirits, ghosts, beings from the past into the home and to join in the feast is also observed in the Slavic, Keltic, and Finno-Ugric equivalents of Yuletide...

On December 25th, Mother Night was typically celebrated (which was also the first day of the Heathen New Year) with a feast in tribute to the Great Matron Goddesses of Urd, Verdandi & Skuld. The Yuletide celebration would conclude on “Zwölften” or “Twelfth-Night,” usually occurring on either the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th of January; All Heathens held a great “Sónarblöt,” Sumbel, and Feast on this day.

For thousands-of-years our Heathen ancestors celebrated the above said (and other) Yuletide traditions and customs. However, the Universalist Roman Church began celebrating their “Christ” and a “Christ Mass” on December 25th in the year 336 CE, and with the ensuing Northern European Crusades of the Roman Church, came the methodical suppression, obfuscation, renovationism, syncretism, and general circumvesting of the Native Folk-Religion and our Native Heathen Yule traditions. Nevertheless, so many of these Yule traditions and customs survived, being either pushed to the margins or practiced in secret–disguised within the Roman “Christ-Mass” mythos. These holiday traditions evolved well into the Middle-Ages, and would undergo additional transformations during the Victorian Era of the 1800’s. However, in spite of these modifications, modern day “Christmas” customs, ceremonies, rituals,  and traditions still have identifiable & obvious connections to their ancient Heathen Yuletide origins.