Yule is a noun meaning “Christmas, or the Christmas season,” which is the Christian holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus. However, yule can also refer to the celebration of the winter solstice that’s observed in some Pagan traditions.
What religion is Yule?
The Pagan celebration of Winter Solstice (also known as Yule) is one of the oldest winter celebrations in the world.
What does it mean to celebrate Yule?
Yule is a midwinter festival celebrated by Germanic people, a celebration to the Norse God, Odin and a Pagan holiday called Modraniht. It revolves around thanking the Gods and Goddesses for what you have as well as celebrating nature and its changes. … Yule is celebrated for twelve days, starting on the Winter Solstice.
Is Yule a God?
The word is conjectured in an explicitly pre-Christian context primarily in Old Norse. Among many others (see List of names of Odin), the long-bearded god Odin bears the name Jólnir (‘the Yule one’).
Is a Christmas tree a pagan tradition?
Christmas trees did begin as a pagan tradition as early as the fourth century C.E., according to ABC News. European pagans were largely responsible for dressing their homes with the branches of evergreen fir trees in order to bring color and light into their dull winters.
What are the 12 days of Yule?
- Mother’s Night.
- The Winter Solstice.
- Virtue – Courage.
- Virtue – Truth.
- Virtue – Honor.
- Virtue – Fidelity.
- Virtue – Hospitality.
- Virtue – Discipline.
Did Christians Steal Christmas?
If you are Christian and you want to celebrate the Old Testament Feasts but not Christmas and Easter, fine, that’s your prerogative. … However, shaming Christians that do celebrate Christmas and Easter is self-righteous.
Do you say Happy Yule?
A lot of people who don’t know this wish her “Merry Christmas,” but the 45-year-old mother of two doesn’t mind. “When they say ‘Merry Christmas’ I say ‘Merry Christmas,’ ” she said. “Amongst sisters and brothers and mothers of my faith, we say ‘Blessed Yule’ or ‘Happy Yule. ‘ ”
What are pagans beliefs?
Pagans believe that nature is sacred and that the natural cycles of birth, growth and death observed in the world around us carry profoundly spiritual meanings. Human beings are seen as part of nature, along with other animals, trees, stones, plants and everything else that is of this earth.
Is Santa a pagan?
The modern Santa Claus is a direct descendent of England’s Father Christmas, who was not originally a gift-giver. However, Father Christmas and his other European variations are modern incarnations of old pagan ideas about spirits who traveled the sky in midwinter, Hutton said.
Is the Yule log pagan?
The tradition of yule logs has its roots in pagan rituals. … Northern Europeans, like Vikings, celebrated the Festival of Yule to honor the winter solstice by journeying into the woods in search of a hearty oak tree. The event was a family affair, with family members venturing out in search of a choice cut of wood.
Did the Celts celebrate Yule?
Druids, the priestly class in ancient Celtic society, celebrated the festival of Alban Arthuan (also known as Yule) at the time of the Winter solstice. It was on this day that they ceremonially gathered mistletoe from oak trees. … The Holly and Ivy; evergreens that Celts saw as important to keep evil spirits at bay.
Who is God of winter?
Boreas (Βορέας, Boréas; also Βορρᾶς, Borrhás) was the Greek god of the cold north wind and the bringer of winter. His name meant “North Wind” or “Devouring One”.
What pagan god is associated with Christmas?
In Germany, people honored the pagan god Oden during the mid-winter holiday. Germans were terrified of Oden, as they believed he made nocturnal flights through the sky to observe his people, and then decide who would prosper or perish. Because of his presence, many people chose to stay inside.
Is 12 Days of Christmas pagan?
Now, I know that we all sing about the Twelve Days of Christmas, but you might not have realized that the pagan celebration of Yule is twelve days long, starting with the winter solstice on December 21 and ending on January 1. … (Christmastide is also twelve days long from December 25 through January 6th —Epiphany.)
Which president banned a Christmas tree in the White House?
When I was a kid fifty years ago, President Theodore Roosevelt had a bad rap. We learned that way back in the 1900s, he banned Christmas trees from the White House.
Is Easter a pagan holiday?
Well, it turns out Easter actually began as a pagan festival celebrating spring in the Northern Hemisphere, long before the advent of Christianity. … Following the advent of Christianity, the Easter period became associated with the resurrection of Christ.
Is Easter a pagan tradition?
Despite its significance as a Christian holy day, many of the traditions and symbols that play a key role in Easter observances actually have roots in pagan celebrations—particularly the pagan goddess Eostre—and in the Jewish holiday of Passover.
What are the traditions of Yule?
Yule celebrations included bonfires, decorating with holly, mistletoe, and the boughs of evergreen trees, ritual sacrifices, feasts, and gift-giving.
What do you eat on Yule?
Sweets flavored with nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, or peppermint work out perfectly for Yule. Other classic sweet treats for Yule include traditional holiday cookies like shortbread, snowball, caraway, or ginger snaps. Pears and oranges are also a nice touch to a dessert at Yule.
What is a Yule log to burn?
The Yule log, Yule clog, or Christmas block is a specially selected log burnt on a hearth as a winter tradition in regions of Europe, particularly the United Kingdom, and subsequently North America. … The Christmas practice calls for burning a portion of the log each evening until Twelfth Night (January 6).
What do Pagans call Christmas?
Pagans celebrate Yule, a holiday that takes place during the Winter Solstice, usually just a few days before Christians celebrate Christmas. The two holidays have similarities since Christmas is rooted in both the Germanic Yule, as well as the Roman Saturnalia.
Is Christmas Day actually Jesus birthday?
But was Jesus really born on December 25? The short answer is no. It is not believed Jesus was born on the day Christmas is globally celebrated. Instead, Christmas was chosen as a convenient celebratory day on the same day of a pagan holiday that celebrated the winter solstice, according to The History Channel.
What pagan holiday was replaced by Christmas?
The two most notable pagan winter holidays were Germanic Yule and Roman Saturnalia. Christian missionaries gave these holidays a makeover and they are now known to us as Christmas.
How many pagan holidays are there?
Almost all Pagans celebrate a cycle of eight festivals, which are spaced every six or seven weeks through the year and divide the wheel into eight segments. Four of the festivals have Celtic origins and are known by their Celtic names, Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain.
What is the proper greeting for Winter Solstice?
Greetings include “Happy Solstice,” “Merry Yuletide,” and “Happy Yule.”
What do you say on winter solstice?
“How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no winter in our year!” “I celebrate the spirit of Christmas. It’s the winter solstice celebration, rebirth and new possibilities.” “I like these cold, gray winter days.
What is the oldest religion?
The word Hindu is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, many practitioners refer to their religion as Sanātana Dharma (Sanskrit: सनातन धर्म, lit.
What is paganism in the Bible?
Pagans, in the Bible, refer to the non-Jewish people. The term synonymous with those who do not worship Yahweh, a.k.a. the Gentiles.
What does pagan mean in drill?
Pagan, paigon – untrustworthy person, enemy.
What did St Nicholas look like?
The real Saint Nicholas is likely to have had olive skin, dark brown eyes and a wide chin and brow. He stood at 1.68 metres (5ft 6in) and had a broken nose. However, according to the researchers, he did sport white hair and a beard – as was the fashion for 4th century religious leaders.
Is Odin Santa Claus?
Santa Claus may owe his earliest influence to Odin (also known as Wodan), a god revered by Germanic peoples in Northern Europe as early as 2 B.C.E. Odin was celebrated during Yule, a pagan holiday that took place midwinter. During this time, Odin was said to lead the Wild Hunt, a ghostly procession through the sky.
Did Coke create Santa?
Coca-Cola did not create the legend of Santa Claus. But Coca-Cola advertising did play a big role in shaping the jolly character we know today. … But in 1931, Coca-Cola commissioned illustrator Haddon Sundblom to paint Santa for Christmas advertisements.
What does yule log symbolize?
The Burning of the Yule Log
It began as part of the winter solstice festivities. The candles and lights associated with Christmas, meant to symbolize guiding beacons for the Christ child, may have evolved from the Yule log, which was lit to entice the Sun to return as part of the jól (Yule) festival in Scandinavia.
Is Yule and winter solstice the same?
The pagan celebration of the winter solstice is known as Yule, and it’s one of the oldest winter celebrations in the world. … But the winter solstice is the darkest day of the year, so Yule is both a time of reflection and celebration. This festival has been on the calendar for centuries.
What is a Yule tree?
The Yule Tree
The “Yule tree,”, or Christmas tree, is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer species, such as pine, fir, cedar, juniper, or spruce. The tradition has origins with ancient civilizations in the middle east, Asia, and Europe.
What are the four pagan festivals?
Valiente identified the four “Greater Sabbats”, or fire festivals, by the names Candlemas, May Eve, Lammas, and Hallowe’en, though she also identified their Irish counterparts as Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnassadh, and Samhain.
Is Yule Celtic or Norse?
Yule is one such holiday, a pagan celebration with roots in Norse and Celtic cultures. Pagans in the Northern Hemisphere celebrate Yule for 12 days and centers around the rebirth of the sun, symbolized in the days getting longer after the solstice.
Do the Welsh celebrate Yule?
In Druidic traditions, this day is known as Alban Arthan, which means ‘Light of Winter’ in Welsh. … In Ireland, Wales, and the Isle of Man, a festival called Lá an Dreoilín, or Wren Day, is celebrated on December 26.
Is there a god of death?
Thanatos, in ancient Greek religion and mythology, the personification of death. Thanatos was the son of Nyx, the goddess of night, and the brother of Hypnos, the god of sleep.
Who is the god of wind?
The Anemoi were four Greek gods with a . They were the offspring of Aeolus and Eos. Aeolus was the god of the Winds.
Who is the god of life?
Parents | Hatched from the cosmic-egg |
---|---|
God of | Creation, life |
Symbols | Egg |
Other Names | Protogonus |