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Yule
Winter festival From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Yule is a winter festival historically observed by the Germanic peoples that is claimed to have been merged with Christmas during the Christianisation of the Germanic peoples.[1]
The term Yule and Yuletide, along with their cognates, are still used in English and the Scandinavian languages, as well as in Finnish and Estonian, to describe Christmas and the season of Christmastide.[2] Furthermore, some present-day Christmas customs and traditions such as the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar and Yule singing may have connections to older pagan Yule traditions.[3]
Today, followers of some new religious movements (such as Modern Germanic paganism) celebrate a holiday they call 'Yule', independently of the Christian festival of Christmas. While some scholars have linked the original celebrations of Yule to the Wild Hunt, the god Odin and the heathen Anglo-Saxon Mōdraniht ("Mothers' Night"), others have questioned the existence of a pre-Christian festival called 'Yule', holding that the term arose in the Christian era as a synonym of Christmas.[4]
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Etymology
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The modern English noun Yule descends from Old English ġēol, earlier geoh(h)ol, geh(h)ol, and geóla, sometimes plural.[5] Both words are cognate with Gothic 𐌾𐌹𐌿𐌻𐌴𐌹𐍃 (jiuleis); Old Norse, Icelandic, Faroese and Norwegian Nynorsk jól, jol, ýlir; Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian Bokmål jul, and are thought to be derived from Proto-Germanic *jehwlą-.[6][7] Whether the term existed outside the Germanic languages remains uncertain, though numerous speculative attempts have been made to find Indo-European cognates outside the Germanic group, too.[a] The compound noun Yuletide ('Yule-time') is first attested from around 1475.[8]
It has been thought that Old French jolif (→ French joli), which was borrowed into English in the 14th century as 'jolly', is itself borrowed from Old Norse jól (with the Old French suffix -if; compare Old French aisif "easy", Modern French festif = fest "feast" + -if), according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology[9] and several other French dictionaries of etymology.[10][11] But the Oxford English Dictionary sees this explanation for jolif as unlikely.[12] The French word is first attested in the Anglo-Norman Estoire des Engleis, or History of the English People, written by Geoffrey Gaimar between 1136 and 1140.[11]
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Anglo-Saxon
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Old English forms of the word 'Yule' included ġeōl, ġeōla, ġēohol, iūla and giuli.[13]
In the 8th century, the English historian Bede wrote that the pagan Anglo-Saxons called both December and January Giuli. Bede links this term with the winter solstice, writing that "The months of Giuli derive their name from the day when the Sun turns back [and begins] to increase".[14][15] Other Old English writers call December ǣrra ġēola (the former Yule) and January æftera ġēola (the latter Yule).[13][16][17] In Anglo-Saxon England, the winter solstice was generally deemed to be December 25, following the Julian calendar.[18][19]
The usual Old English name for December 25, Christmas and the winter solstice, was midwinter.[18][19] In the Doom book of Alfred the Great, written c.890, Christmas is called Ġehhol (Yule).[20] Some later Old English texts call Christmas Day Ġeōhel-dæg (Yule Day).[16] It is suggested that the Vikings who settled in England introduced or popularized 'Yule' as a name for Christmas among the Anglo-Saxons.[4][19]
Bede also wrote that the pagan Anglo-Saxons had celebrated the festival Mōdraniht (Mothers' Night) at the winter solstice, which marked the start of the Anglo-Saxon year.[19]
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Old Norse
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The word Jól is applied in an explicitly pagan context primarily in Old Norse, where it is associated with Old Norse deities. Among the many names of Odin is Jólnir ('the Yule one'). In Ágrip, written in the 12th century, jól is interpreted as coming from one of Odin's names, Jólnir, closely related to Old Norse jólnar, a poetic name for the gods. In Old Norse poetry, the word is found as a term for 'feast', e.g. hugins jól (→ 'a raven's feast').[21] Whilst the Old Norse month name ýlir is similarly attested, the Old Norse corpus also contains numerous references to an event by the Old Norse form of the name, jól. In chapter 55 of the Prose Edda book Skáldskaparmál, different names for the gods are given; one is "Yule-beings" (Old Norse: jólnar). A work by the skald Eyvindr skáldaspillir that uses the term is then quoted: "again we have produced Yule-being's feast [mead of poetry], our rulers' eulogy, like a bridge of masonry".[22] One of the numerous names of Odin is Jólnir, referring to the event.[23]
Heitstrenging
Both Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar and Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks tell of the custom of heitstrenging. They say that on Yule Eve, people placed their hands on a pig referred to as a sonargöltr while swearing solemn oaths. In the latter text, some manuscripts explicitly refer to the pig as holy, that it was devoted to Freyr and that after the oath-swearing it was sacrificed.[24]
Saga of Hákon the Good
The Saga of Hákon the Good credits King Haakon I of Norway, who ruled from 934 to 961, with the Christianization of Norway as well as shifting Yule the date of Jól (Nordic Yule) to the date of Christmas. The saga says that when Haakon arrived in Norway he was a Christian, but, since the people were still heathen, Haakon hid his Christianity to receive the help of the "great chieftains". In time, Haakon had a law passed that Yule celebrations were to be held at the same time as Christmas, "and at that time everyone was to have ale for the celebration with a measure of grain, or else pay fines, and had to keep the holiday while the ale lasted".[25]
According to the saga, Haakon's popularity led many heathens many to be baptized, and some people stopped making sacrifices. Haakon spent most of this time in Trondheim. When Haakon believed that he wielded enough power, he summoned a bishop and other priests from England. On their arrival, "Haakon made it known that he would have the gospel preached in the whole country." The saga continues, describing the reactions of various regional things.[25]
A description of a Nordic Yule is provided (notes are Hollander's own):
The narrative continues that toasts were to be drunk. The first toast was to be drunk to Odin "for victory and power to the king", the second to the gods Njörðr and Freyr "for good harvests and for peace", and third, a beaker was to be drunk to the king himself. In addition, toasts were drunk to the memory of departed kinsfolk. These were called minni.[27]
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Academic debate
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Significance and connection to other events
Scholar Rudolf Simek writes the Nordic Yule feast "had a pronounced religious character". He says "it is uncertain whether the Germanic Yule feast still had a function in the cult of the dead and in the veneration of the ancestors, a function which the mid-winter sacrifice certainly held for the West European Stone and Bronze Ages." The traditions of the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar Sonargöltr, Yule singing, and others possibly have connections to pre-Christian Yule customs, which Simek says "indicates the significance of the feast in pre-Christian times."[28]
Scholars have linked the Nordic Yule to the Wild Hunt (a ghostly procession in the winter sky), the god Odin (who is attested in Germanic areas as leading the Wild Hunt and bears the name Jólnir), and increased activities of draugar (undead beings who walk the earth).[29]
British historian Ronald Hutton wrote of the term "Yule" that there is "doubt over whether it was originally attached to a midwinter festival which preceded the Christian one [of Christmas]".[4] Hutton writes that the earliest Scandinavian literature, before Snorri, makes no reference to Yule as a pagan feast.[4]
British author Nicholas Page noted that all the first mentions of yule-candle (1808), yule-game (1611), yule-log (1725), and yule-tide (1572) are well into the Christian era, in reference to Christmas customs.[1][3]
Mōdraniht (Mothers' Night), a festival seemingly focused on females or female supernatural beings, attested by Bede as being held at the winter solstice, has been seen as further evidence of fertility rituals during Yule.[30]
Date of observance
The exact dating of the Nordic pagan Yule celebrations is unclear and debated among scholars. Snorri in Hákonar saga góða describes how the three-day feast began on Midwinter Night (The Winter Solstice). Andreas Nordberg proposes that Nordic Yule was celebrated on the full moon of the second Yule month in the Old Icelandic calendar (the month that started on the first new moon after the winter solstice), which could range from 5 January to 2 February in the Gregorian calendar. Nordberg positions the Midwinter Nights from 19 to 21 January in the Gregorian calendar, falling roughly in the middle of Nordberg's range of Nordic Yule dates. (Though this is not accepted by most Academics).[31]
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Contemporary traditions
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Relationship with Christmas in Northern Europe
In modern Germanic language-speaking areas and some other Northern European countries, yule and its cognates denote the Christmas holiday season. In addition to yule and yuletide in English,[32] examples include jul in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, jól in Iceland and the Faroe Islands, joulu in Finland, Joelfest in Friesland, Joelfeest in the Netherlands and jõulud in Estonia.[citation needed] The term Yuletide is now used to refer to Christmastide.[2]
Modern paganism
As contemporary pagan religions differ in both origin and practice, these representations of Yule can vary considerably despite the shared name. Some Heathens, for example, celebrate in a way as close as possible to how they believe ancient Germanic pagans observed the tradition, while others observe the holiday with rituals "assembled from different sources".[33] Heathen celebrations of Yule can also include sharing a meal and gift-giving.[citation needed]
In most forms of Wicca, this holiday is celebrated at the winter solstice as the rebirth of the Great horned hunter god,[34] who is viewed as the newborn solstice sun. The method of gathering for this sabbat varies by practitioner. Some have private ceremonies at home,[35] while others do so with their covens:
Generally meeting in covens, which anoint their own priests and priestesses, Wiccans chant and cast or draw circles to invoke their deities, mainly during festivals like Samhain and Yule, which coincide with Halloween and Christmas, and when the moon is full.[36]
LaVeyan Satanism
Some members of the Church of Satan and other LaVeyan Satanist groups celebrate Yule at the same time as the Christian holiday in a secular manner.[37]
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See also
- Dísablót, an event attested from Old Norse sources as having occurred among the pagan Norse
- Julebord, the modern Scandinavian Christmas feast
- Koliada, a Slavic winter festival
- Lohri, a Punjabi winter solstice festival
- Saturnalia, an ancient Roman winter festival in honour of the deity Saturn
- Yaldā Night, an Iranian festival celebrated on the "longest and darkest night of the year".
- Nardoqan, the birth of the sun, is an ancient Turkic festival that celebrates the winter solstice.
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References
External links
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