Yule, Jól or Jul is the name of the ancient Germanic midwinter festival. Marking the beginning of the new year, and the celebration of the return of light and thus life itself - is probably the main theme of this festival. It was later replaced by the celebration of the birth of Christ, during the christianization of Northern Europe. As with many other native Northern European festivals and traditions, the old festivals was simply given a new meaning, while the celebration and much of its symbolism etc. remained much the same.

Due to the upcoming Yule celebrations, we are about to take a closer look at some aspects of it. First and foremost, it's not all certain when this festival starts, or when it ends either for that sake. The sources are all but clear, and part of the explanation might be that there are variations over time and geographic locations all over Northern Europe (as is the case with many other pre-christian festivals).

For Scandinavia, which will be used in our example, we can take a look at the illustration below.

This illustration dating from 1707, comes from a carved wooden calendar called primstav or runstav, found in Telemark in Norway. It provides us with a little insight: The hand to the left is the mark for “Tomasnatten” (or, probably, in older times Höknatten – the exact date of Höknatten is however a matter of debate), the night before the Midwinter Solstice. The solar symbol to the right is the mark for Midwinter Solstice itself, later followed by the Yule Day (“Christmas eve”) in the form of a drinking horn, the building to the right of the horn is New Year's Eve. These are the traditional Twelve Days of Yule.

The most primeval version, is probably (as the name suggests) the idea that Odin leads a pack of hunting dogs and a horde of undead through the skies. According to some sources they are made out of a band or dead kings, thieves and murderers (the symbolism here might be worth thinking of), or simply the Einherjar. In later times, for example in Sweden, Odin instead hunts a naked “skogsrå” (siren of the woods) or troll woman through the woods. In other later versions yet, The Wild Hunt is simply the Devil, along with a band of evil spirits or restless souls. In Northern America, The Wild Hunt was brought along with Northern European immigrants, in the form of the Ghost Riders, which became a sort of cowboy legend. It's in short terms about a band of cursed cowboys, forever "trying to catch the Devil's herd across the endless skies".
All the way into somewhat modern times (1800-1900's) at the Scandinavian countryside, it was not considered to be a good idea to wander along outside during these nights. Crosses were drawn at doors and sometimes on food containers and barrels of beer, to keep the evil spirits out, even though people also – in what might seem like a contradiction – put out a sheaf of hay at the top of high poles, to provide the horses of The Wild Hunt with something to eat.
These twelve nights was also the time of various Yule parades, partly with their roots in ancient customs. One such tradition is the “Staffansritten”. A fine example of an originally purely heathen tradition, that has survived through the ages, and absorbed various Christian elements. Worth mentioning, is that the Swedish song Staffan var en stalledräng, is probably one of the oldest Scandinavian folk tunes preserved to our date. Besides a sort of semi-ceremonial horseback racing, there were also parades similar to the Perchtenlauf etc. (which takes place around Easter). Young men dressed up in various costumes (often with a demonic appearance), and rode around through the villages, visiting each and every farm and sang songs, preformed dances and in return demanded food, and probably first and foremost alcoholic beverages. In some locations, there's also an element of “trick or treat” involved in these parades: If the household refused to reward them for their performances, they could suddenly find their front door nailed shut, their chimney clogged with hay, or see a dozen of young men (a very usual number, which is a reminiscence of berserks and ulvhedins that usually appeared in numbers of twelve) urinating in their farm well – or in some extreme cases even having the roof of their house torn off.

To “Drink Yule”, a religious duty
In close association to the Yule feast and the jólablót (Yule blot), the ceremonial toasts of “drinking Yule” is an important custom. These toasts are called “full” – simply meaning full – and alludes to the full horn (or other vessel) being emptied. The first full is for Jólnir (the common heiti – or name – of Odin during the Yule celebrations) for coming victories and success in politics and war. The second full is for Frey and Njord – for the comings years harvest (not only in an agrarian sense) and well being (til árs ok friðar). It was also customary for anyone who felt for it, to call out Bragi’s full – made for any special promise or vow they wished to make in front of the attending crowd, to be accomplish during the following year. A last toast – minni – (minni means memory) is called out for the remembrance and honour of deceased comrades or family members.
In older times, all the way up to medieval times, it was even compulsory by law, to brew beer for Yule; and even earlier it seems to have been a a religious duty to preform the specific ceremonial toasts when drinking Yule. The ceremonial toasts survived up through medieval times, but of course with a modified Christian appearance. Despite this fact, the church tried to suppress these customs, due to their heathen roots.

These are just a few examples of the interesting elements of our rich heritage around Yule, and there is a lot more to discover for those who wish to explore it further. With these closing words, we wish you a Merry Yule and a fruitful New Year.

Wir rufen Deine Wölfe