All About Yule - Celebrating The Darktime

The Winter Solstice marks the beginning of Yuletide. Yule is the winter pagan celebration of the darkest day of the year. It is a day for invoking light and letting go. It celebrates the rest and creativity offered to us by the Darkness.

Yule is a Celtic holiday celebrated in pre-Christian Europe. It is celebrated on the Winter Solstice and marks the darkest day of the year. It was a time for feasting, gathering, and lighting the Yule log. Yuletide is a sacred time that begins on the solstice and continues for 12 days, marking the return of the Sun to the Earth.

Read on to learn all bout the themes of Yule and how you can celebrate the solstice this holiday season.

DEATH & REBIRTH

If there is one thread that ties humanity together, it is our love of death and rebirth stories. Mythologies on this theme transcend borders, time, and belief, appearing in innumerable religions throughout herstory. Yule marks the darkest time in the year, when the sun appears to stand still for 6 days (3 days before the solstice, and 3 days afterward). The solstice falls on the 20th or 21st of December each year.

Yule marks the stillness between the waning dark and the waxing light. It is the moment of transition, and the Sun itself (or rather its absence) is our guide. There is no change without a period of death, embodied within us as in stillness, reflection, rest, and silence. The dead of winter invites us to pause with the sun, and enact our own rebirth each year.

Mithras, the Roman God of light & truth, was the one to slay the Great Bull, from whose blood and body the world is born simultaneously as the Sacred Bull’s life ebbs away. Coatlicue is slain and gives birth to her son Huitzilopochtli in that instant. Osiris is slain and re-born after Isis gathers the pieces of him, making him whole. Christ is miraculously born from Mary’s womb, and later is killed, lies still for 3 days, and then rises again.

In a world full of death & loss, remembering the sacred truth that death is the necessary and holy precedent to all Life gives us the psychological tools to change our attitude towards death from one of fear to gratitude. This imbues all life with sacredness and a responsibility to protect life, for it is always born of the giveaway of another’s ending. The ancients knew this. May we remember.

THE YULE TRADITIONS

The Yule log is an olde tradition that links the past to the present, and the present to the future. The Yule log is a Scandinavian tradition that eventually spread throughout Northern & Western Europe and was shared by Celtic & Germanic people. The most poignant element of the Yule log is that every year, a portion of the burnt log is saved to begin the next Yule fire the following year.

Gathering the Yule log was always a fun affair. Typically done much earlier in the year so that the log had time to dry out, the family would venture out together to find and cut a stout and hefty log for their celebrations. On the solstice, the log was then lit using the piece from the last Yule as part of the kindling, and allowed to burn throughout the night. The ashes were then saved and used to mix into the livestock’s water, scatter over the fields, and mix in the potting soil for spring seeds.

The Yule log burning began 12 days of celebration, heralding in the light of the Sun. Wassailing was a Germanic tradition that involved traveling around the village with spiced liquor or cider and splashing it all over the house, the forest, the animals, and the fences to bless the home and the ones who live in it.

Yule has always been a time of enjoying homemade libations, as the work of the year was done, the crops stored long ago, the ale brewed and bottled, and there was nothing left to do but celebrate with song and drink. Our traditions of mulled wine, spiced cider, caroling, and visiting friends ties us to The Ancestors who knew how to have a good time -- and in fact spent a solid 12 days doing so!

SILENCE AND SOLITUDE

Yule gives us silence and solitude. In the Northern Hemisphere, the world is quiet, life is dormant, and the secrets of the seed are working their magic silently below the surface. This is an excellent time for us as animals to go quiet, too. The bear hibernates, the snow falls, and the birds go quiet.

Coming off of the intense releasing energy of Samhain, Yule is an invitation to integrate all that transpired during the business of the spring, summer, and fall. And integration is best done through deep rest and relaxation. Sink into the soil of your body, and allow yourself to feel, remember, and enjoy quiet as the sun stands still and the cold creates Sacred Pause.

CELEBRATE

A Yule log is a beautiful way to celebrate this time of year. If you do not have a hearth, you can simply create an altar around your log and burn candles near it or drill holes and place them in the actual log. The most important part of the Yule log is that it must be found or gifted, not bought! This helps us be a bit creative if we live in the city – can you find a way to trust that a Yule log will come to you if you venture out seeking it?

Making a pomander with Orange is another fun yuletide tradition. Check out our article detailing how to make your own pomander at home.

I am sure you have your own traditions for this time of year, and I think the most important part for us is to remember to relax into the celebration a little bit. Be playful. Release the need to perform. Make some space for yourself to receive from the Goddess in a way that feels special to you.

Happy Solstice & Merry Yule.