Log in Subscribe
Garden Guru

The myth of Yule

Jim Boxberger
Posted 12/16/22

Well it looks like a White Christmas after all. Brake out the eggnog, hot cocoa or mulled cider and let’s sit around the yule log. If you don't have a fireplace for a yule log, usually on …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in
Garden Guru

The myth of Yule

Posted

Well it looks like a White Christmas after all. Brake out the eggnog, hot cocoa or mulled cider and let’s sit around the yule log. If you don't have a fireplace for a yule log, usually on Christmas Eve, PBS Channel 13 has a yule log burning that you can tune into for that fuzzy Christmas feeling. 

I always get asked this time of year, what is a yule log and why is it any different from any other log. The Yule log, Yule block, or Christmas block is a specially selected log burnt on a hearth as a Christmas tradition in a number of countries in Europe. 

The exact origin of the folk custom is unclear as most customs like this were handed down through generations long before recorded history.

 In Northern Europe, Winter festivities were once considered to be a Feast of the Dead, complete with ceremonies full of spirits, devils, and the haunting presence of the Norse god, Odin, and his night riders. One particularly Winter Solstice festival was "Jol" (also known as "Jule" and pronounced "Yule"), a feast celebrated throughout Northern Europe and particularly in Scandinavia to honor Jolnir, another name for Odin. Since Odin was the god of intoxicating drink and ecstasy, as well as the god of death, Yule customs varied greatly from region to region. Odin's sacrificial beer became the blessed Christmas ale mentioned in medieval lore, and fresh food and drink were left on tables after Christmas feasts to feed the roaming Yuletide ghosts. Similar to the tradition today of leaving milk and cookies for Santa. Even the bonfires of ancient times survived in the tradition of the Yule Log, perhaps the most universal of all Christmas symbols.

 The origins of the Yule Log can be traced back to the Midwinter festivals in which the Norsemen indulged with nights filled with feasting, "drinking Yule" and watching the fire leap around the log burning in the home hearth. The ceremonies and beliefs associated with the Yule Log's sacred origins are closely linked to representations of health, fruitfulness and productivity. 

In England, the Yule was cut and dragged home by oxen or horses as the people walked alongside and sang merry songs. It was often decorated with evergreens and sometimes sprinkled with grain or cider before it was finally set alight.

In the former Yugoslavia, (now Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia) the Yule Log was cut just before dawn on Christmas Eve and carried into the house at twilight. The wood itself was decorated with flowers, colored silks and gold, and then doused with wine and an offering of grain. 

In parts of France, families would go together to cut the Yule Log, singing as they went along. These songs asked for blessings to be bestowed upon their crops and their flocks. The citizens called their Yule Log the trefoire and, with great ceremony, carried the log around the house three times and christened it with wine before it was set ablaze.

To all European races, the Yule Log was believed to bring beneficial magic and was kept burning for at least twelve hours warming both the house and those who resided within. When the fire of the Yule Log was finally quenched, a small fragment of the wood would be saved and used to light the next year's log. 

It was also believed that as long as the Yule Log burned, the house would be protected from witchcraft. The ashes that remained from the sacred Yule Log were scattered over fields to bring fertility, or cast into wells to purify and sweeten the water. Scattering the ashes on the fields would help the crops the following year because the ash is very alkaline and even a small amount would raise soil ph just like adding lime today. 

And putting ashes in the well sweetens the water because of the activated carbon in the charcoal is just like the carbon that used in common water filters today. So much of what was magic back in the day was simply just good chemistry for their gardens and wells, which helped to perpetuate the myth of the magic of the yule log.

 

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here