Copyright 2007 T. Sheil & A. Sheil All Rights Reserved
Time was that Yule was an entirely Pagan holiday. Heathens celebrated with family gatherings and the exchange of gifts. Wiccans celebrated the Solstice through ritual and a community feast. The day symbolized something. It was the rebirth fo the Year, to celebrate the change from a waning to a waxing Sun. Each locale had its own myth for the season, usually the birth of a God. Norsemen celebrated the birth of Baldur, or Frey, or Thor, as was the custom in their respective regions. For Celts it might be Lugh or one of the other solar deities.
Most regions had their own legends of a special Yule Visitor. It might be Frau Perchta, bringing candy for good children and spankings for the naughty ones. In some places it was Odin or Tyr or Thor with the wassail bowl, and in others it may be Frigga or Freya. The event was cause for a party, and offerings were left for the Gods. As was the Northern custom, gifts were exchanged with relatives and friends. These were tokens of esteem, often handmade by the giver himself. The ancients were much more crafty and they did their carving and painting and other craftwork during long wintery nights. A roaring fire was lit, featuring a special log. In some places, a tree was brought indoors as a symbol of Yggdrasil.
What did Yule really mean to the ancient Pagans? It meant a festival that focused on people. The idea was to gather together one last time before the harshest part of winter made travel impossible. Yule was not a harvest festival, but a family gathering. It was a chance for one last visit before the long and lonely days of frigid cold. In one aspect, Yule was akin to a going-away party.
How very different from our Yule season today!
I doubt our ancestors would recognize our modern holiday.
Yule was forcibly supplanted with Christmas by Chrisitianity. The Christian take onYule was the birth of their sun god, Jesus. They changed the trappings, eliminated the best parts, and watered down the rest. Gods were replaced with Santa Claus or Father Christmas. The biggest change came in the 19th Century when Christmas went mercantile. The gift giving boomed as Santa Claus became a magickal toy dispenser.
The holiday changed slowly but surely. Children became accustomed to getting one major gift and couple of small ones by the 1930s. Families also exchanged gifts, but they were within reasonable limits. Come the 1960s and that all changed. The air waves of Autumn were bombarded with commercials implying that generous gift giving was proof of affection Commercials touted a slew of oddball items: Norelco razors, Hai Karate cologne, battery operated toys and a host of other oddities. Next came shiny aluminum Christmas Trees with a colored light that revolved.
Today, it is worse. The mercantile madness has hit an all-time high. For most people, the Yule season is a time of extravagant gifting that goes beyond the pale of reason. For children, it includes a glut of expensive toys. Instead of a family gathering, it is a “gimme fest.” Any doubts? Look at the malls. They are packed with people who buy into this giving-glutting malarkey. Look at the television ads. The holiday is buried beneath piles of marketing!
Wait a second....what holiday? Yule? Or Christmas? How many ads say Yule? That is rare. Most say Christmas. That’s the Christian holiday. We’re Heathens and Pagans. Our holiday is Yule. So why are we confusing the two?
Living in this society, we are confronted with Christmas. Maybe our relatives celebrate it. It certainly looms large in town. Christmas is a hot item in schools and clubs. We have to deal with Christrmas, to a degree. However, we do not have to take it as our holiday. After all, our holiday is Yule. Christmas is someone else’s thing . For Heathen and Pagan homes, a lot of the Christmas junk should never enter into the equation.
We do not need extravagant decorations, nor the overabundant gift glut. Our way is to make the holiday meaningful. . That means real fun. We celebrate our Gods and our Traditions. We have a feast with our fellow Heathens and Pagans. Our gifts should be meaningful, not lavish. And our holiday should be about the people and the Gods
Decorations should be tasteful, not garish.
Christmas borrowed most of its traditions and trappings fromYule. Do not let that fool you. CHRISTMAS IS NOT YULE! If we keep that in mind, and act accordingly, we are guaranteed a truly Heathen and Pagan holiday for ourselves.
Perhaps we all have to make some concessions to Christmas, since few of us live in places that are exclusively Pagan. Christmas is something we deal with for our loved ones who are not Heathen or Pagan. Yule is what we do for ourselves. Make our Yule distinct from Christmas. If we must handle both holidays because of non-Pagan loved ones, keep this rule in mind: Yule is for us, Christmas is for them. In our activities, we should focus on Yule. Christmas is incidental.
***
By the way, if you have a Yule tree, you can run a toy train underneath in a clockwise directions. This is a form of service to the God Thor. There is nothing Christian about trains and trees. It’s just a holiday thing they invented in the 20th Century. For us, though, any miniature rolling cart going clockwise is a Thor kind of thing.
***
Thank you!
