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Yule was the winter solstice celebration of the
Germanic pagans. It is also one of the eight solar holidays, or sabbats, of
Neopaganism. In modern Neopaganism, Yule is celebrated on the winter solstice:
in the northern hemisphere, circa December 21, and in the southern hemisphere,
circa June 21.
Yule celebrations at the winter solstice predate Christianity, and though
there are numerous references to Yule in the Icelandic sagas, there are few
accounts of how Yule was actually celebrated, beyond the fact that it was a
time for feasting. 'Yule-Joy', with dancing, continued through the Middle Ages
in Iceland, but was frowned upon when the Reformation arrived. It is, however,
known to have included the sacrifice of a pig for the god Freyr, a tradition
which survives in the Scandinavian Christmas ham.
Many of the symbols associated with the modern holiday of Christmas such as
the burning of the Yule log, the eating of ham, the hanging of boughs, holly,
mistletoe, etc. are apparently derived from traditional northern European Yule
celebrations. When the first missionaries began converting the Germanic
peoples to Christianity, they found it easier to simply provide a Christian
reinterpretation for popular feasts such as Yule and allow the celebrations
themselves to go on largely unchanged, rather than trying to suppress them.
Today the holiday is, with Beltane and Samhain, one of the most popular among
Neopagans. In some traditions, it commemorates the death of the Holly King
(symbolizing the old year and the shortened sun) at the hands of his son and
successor, the Oak King (the new year and the new sun that begins to grow). In
other traditions, it is seen as the birthday of the new sun god.
A traditional ritual is a vigil from dusk to dawn, the longest night of the
year, to make sure that the sun will rise again.
Source:
Wikipedia.org
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