Yule is the Anglo-Saxon word for the festival of the Winter Solstice. It comes from the original ‘Iul’ meaning ‘wheel’. In the old Almanacs, the symbol of a wheel was used to mark Yuletide. The idea behind this is that the year turns like a wheel, The Great Wheel of the Zodiac, The Wheel of Life, of which the spokes are the old ritual occasions. The winter solstice, the rebirth of the Sun, is a particularly important turning point.
According to the Bardic Tradition, the winter solstice was called ‘Alban Arthan’ by the Druids. It was then that the Chief Druid cut the sacred mistletoe from the Oak, a custom that still lingers with our use of mistletoe for Christmas decoration. It is interesting to note that Mistletoe is usually banned from churches at Christmas, because of it’s Pagan association. However, at one time, there used to be a different tradition at York Minister. Stukeley, an eighteenth-century writer noted that on Christmas Eve, they carried Mistletoe to the High Altar in the church and proclaimed a universal liberty and pardon to all sorts of criminals and wrongdoers.
The idea of holding a festival at the winter solstice, to celebrate the rebirth of the Sun was so universal in the ancient world, that the Christians adapted it. No one really knows for sure when Christ was born, but by holding this feast at midwinter, Christ was mystically identified with the Sun. The Romans celebrated the winter solstice with a festival called Saturnalia. The winter solstice takes place when the Sun enters the Sign of Capricorn, and Saturn, the ruler of Capricorn, was also supposed to be the ruler of the far off Golden age of the past when the world was happy and fruitful. At this time of the year, the Romans decked their houses with boughs of evergreen trees and bushes. People gave each other presents, and all normal business was suspended and social distinctions were forgotten. Servants and slaves were given a feast by their masters who waited the tables.
The Pagan Saxons celebrated the feast of Yule with plenty of ale and blazing fires, of which our Yule log is the last relic. The Yule log is actually an indoor equivalent of the outdoor bonfire of Midwinter Eve. There used to be an old custom of saving a piece of the Yule log, ‘for luck’ to kindle the next year’s blaze.
The evergreens for Yuletide decorations were holly, ivy, mistletoe, bay, rosemary, and the green branches of the box tree. By Candlemas, all these had to be gathered up and burnt, or hobgoblins would haunt the house. In other words, by the time a new tide of life had started to flow, people had to get rid of the past and look to the future. Spring-cleaning was originally a nature ritual.
Yule marks the death and re-birth of the Sun God. It also marks the vanquishing of the Holly King, God of the waning year, by the Oak King, God of the waxing year. Old mumming plays, which still exist in some places as part of the Yuletide festivities, are linked with the rebirth of the Sun. Saint George in shining armor, comes to do battle with the dark faced ‘Turkish Knight’. Saint George is the Sun, slaying the powers of darkness. However, the victor immediately proclaims that he has slain his brother. Dark and Light, winter and summer are complementary to each other. So on comes the mysterious ‘Doctor’ with his magical bottle who revives the slain man. There is much rejoicing and all ends well. Another version of the Oak/Holly King theme, is the ritual hunting and killing of a Wren. The Wren, little King of the Waning Year, is killed by the Robin Redbreast, King of the Waxing Year. The Robin finds the Wren hiding in an Ivy bush (or as in some parts of Ireland – a holly bush).
At Yule, the Goddess shows her Life-in-Death aspect. At this season, she is the leprous-white lady, Queen of the cold darkness, yet, this is her moment of giving birth to the child of Promise, the Son-Lover who will refertilize her and bring back light and warmth to her kingdom.
The Winter Solstice rebirth and the Goddess’s part in it, were portrayed in ancient Egypt by a ritual in which Isis circled the shrine of Osiris seven times, to represent her mourning for him and her wanderings in search of the scattered parts of his body. For the festival, people decorated the outside of their houses with oil-lamps that burned all night. At midnight, the priests emerged from an inner shrine crying, “The Virgin has brought forth! The light is waxing!” and showed the image of a baby to the worshippers.
Lamps burning all night at Midwinter, survive in Ireland and elsewhere, as the single candle burning in the window at Christmas Eve, lit by the youngest in the house – a symbol of mircocosmic welcome to the Marcosm.
Whatever the form or name of Yuletide celebration, it is a festive time of year throughout the world. With the rebirth of the Sun, the giver of warmth, life and light, people had something to be genuinely happy about.
haunted history-
According to the traditions of Central and Southern Europe, children born on Christmas Day are likely to become werewolves. Why? Because being born on the same day as Jesus Christ is seen as a blasphemous affront. In the 20th century, The Werewolf of Paris author Guy Endore revitalized this tradition by having his werewolf, Bertrand Caillet, be born on Christmas Day following the rape of his mother.
Some have argued that the folk Catholic belief in Yuletide werewolves is a remnant of the Roman festival of Lupercalia, a winter celebration intended to honor the she-wolf who raised Romulus and Remus. The fear of werewolves was once so strong that even uttering the word “wolf” was believed to bring bad luck upon the entire village.
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Photo credit: timeanddate.com
For today’s practicing Wiccans, Yule and the Winter Solstice are some of the most sacred holidays. According to the neo-pagan version of history, Christmas is but a highly sanitized version of Yule, a pagan celebration mostly held by the Germanic and Celtic peoples, and the Roman festival of Saturnalia. Taken together, many Wiccans and others believe that Christmastime is especially good for casting spells.
While it is undoubtedly true that many elements of modern Christmas are lifted directly from the pagan traditions of ancient Europe, much of the idea of Yule witchcraft actually comes from folk Catholic beliefs, primarily the idea that the 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany are a time when the spirit world impinges on our own.
Also known as Holle and Frau Holda, Holda is a Germanic goddess that can be found in the folklore of Scandinavia, northern Germany, and the Alpine regions of Bavaria, Austria, Switzerland, and South Tyrol. According to legend, Holda spends the nights between Christmas and Epiphany traveling via a wagon or on horseback as the leader of a ghostly hunting party.
Her spiritual coterie are believed to be the souls of unbaptized infants and those not yet ready to enter Heaven. Holda, as one of the chief figures of witchcraft in the traditions of German-speaking Catholics, may have connections to the Greek goddess Diana.
Another common idea is that Holda is related to the evil Herodias, the mother of Salome who encouraged her daughter to decapitate John the Baptist.
Thanks to the Internet, comic books, and certain horror films, much of the world has seen a renewed interest in the figure of Krampus. A demonic helper of Saint Nicholas, Krampus is native to the German-speaking regions of the Alps. However, it is incorrect to think that there is just one interpretation of Krampus.In both East Tyrol and the German-speaking Italian region of South Tyrol, the Klaubauf monsters are ugly and hairy creatures that are summoned by the vocalizations of children on the eve of Saint Nicholas Day.Once awakened, the Klaubauf follow Saint Nicholas as he goes house to house to find the good and bad boys and girls. In some places (such as Thurn, Austria), locals and Klaubauf performers engage in violent wrestling matches.
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Ungroomed Peter6-ungroomed-peter
Photo credit: Heinrich Hoffmann
“Ungroomed Peter” is but one name for a whole host of dark Christmas legends. As the central antagonist in Heinrich Hoffman’s story of the same name, Ungroomed Peter is a giant monster with long, shaggy hair and even longer fingernails. He eats or otherwise tortures children who terrorize animals, refuse to eat dinner, suck their thumbs, or do other mischievous things.Various other bogeymen of German and Austrian legends include the Black Man, Krampus, and Ruprecht. Taken together, these figures are designed to instill in children good habits through terror. They also connect older Germanic practices of the Yuletide with some of the Italian traditions of Carnival.
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Frau Perchta5-perchta
Photo credit: conjurecinema.com
The eve of the Twelfth Night is known as Perchta’s Day. Yet another creepy creature of the Alps, Frau Perchta is depicted as a ghastly old crone. Specifically, it is believed that unless one eats a specific diet, Perchta will steal into the house and slit open your stomach.A creature of the snowy mountains of Austria, southern Germany, and Switzerland, Frau Perchta bears many of the hallmarks of ancient forest deities. Similarly, Perchta is often depicted as both a goddess and a witch.Unless one wants to be attacked by the wild-eyed Perchta, it is recommended that milk or porridge be left out for the creature to consume. This may be one of the origins for the American tradition of leaving out milk and cookies for Santa Claus.
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The Yule Cat4-yule-cat
Photo credit: lifewithcats.tv
In Iceland, Christmastime is when the Yule Cat punishes those who do not own a new piece of clothing. The Yule Cat, or Jolakotturinn, is described as a gigantic beast that reminds the Icelandic people to work hard throughout the coming year. Namely, those who have not worked hard enough to afford new clothes will be visited by the Yule Cat, who primarily likes to eat up all of the lazy party’s food.Although the origins of the Yule Cat are in question, the point of the stories is not. Although only a few stories show the cat actually eating humans, this massive creature is a sort of bogeyman promoting industriousness among a people well-known for their work ethic.
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Pere Fouettard3b-st-nicholas-pere-fouettard
Photo credit: educol.net
As can already be seen, the figure of Saint Nicholas is most often associated with the darker strains of European folk belief about the Christmas season. Primarily celebrated in the regions of Nord-Palais-de-Calais, Alsace, and Lorraine (the latter two of which have sizable German-speaking populations), Saint Nicholas Day falls on December 6.One of the most popular and gruesome stories about Saint Nicholas concerns how he rescued three children from the dreaded Pere Fouettard. As the story goes, Fouettard was a wicked butcher who stole three lost and hungry boys in order to eat them.In some stories, Fouettard manages to consume the boys, while in others, they are saved at the last minute by Saint Nicholas. Once the boys are returned to their families, Saint Nicholas turns Pere Fouettard into his helper—a switch-carrying menace who threatens bad children during the annual giving of presents on the night of Saint Nicholas Day.
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Val Di Fiemme Witch Trial2-val-di-fiemme-witch-trial
Photo credit: visitfiemme.it
This particular legend is based in historical fact. Celebrated annually in early January in the Italian regions of Trentino and South Tyrol, the Val di Fiemme witch trial reenactments are folk memories of the executions of 14 people between 1501 and 1505.The trials began when a man named Giovanni delle Piatte claimed to have met the goddess Diana (some sources say he met the Germanic goddess Holda) in the Venusberg, the legendary home of the goddess Venus in German-speaking Alps.To avoid his own execution, delle Piatte named several other witches whom he saw in the mountains after dark. A woman named Margherita Tesero (or Vanzina) was named as the head of the coven and the supposed leader of a cult dedicated to communicating with incubi and other malevolent spirits.Today, in the town of Cavalese in the Italian Tyrol, the witchcraft trials that sought to stop local witches from commanding the weather and cursing their neighbors are commemorated through live-action performances and the burning of hanged witches in effigy