Yule ~ The Winter Solstice Yule is when the dark half of the year relinquishes to the light half. Known...
Yule ~ The Winter Solstice
Yule is when the dark half of the year relinquishes to the light half. Known as Solstice Night, or the longest night of the year, the sun’s ‘rebirth’ was celebrated with joy. On this night, our ancestors celebrated the rebirth of the Oak King, the Sun King, the Giver of Life that warmed the frozen Earth. From this day forward, the days would become longer.
Bonfires and Wassailing
Bonfires were lit in the fields, 
and crops and trees were ‘wassailed’ (honored, frolicked) with toasts of spiced cider. Children were led from house to house with gifts of clove spiked apples and oranges which were laid in baskets of evergreen boughs and wheat stalks dusted with flour.
The apples and oranges represented the sun. The boughs were symbolic of immortality (evergreens were sacred to the Celts because they did not ‘die’, representing the eternal aspect of the Divine). The wheat stalks portrayed the harvest, and the flour was the accomplishment of triumph, light, and life.
Seasonal Decorations
Holly and ivy not only decorated the outside, but also the inside of homes, in hopes Nature Sprites would come and join the celebration. A sprig of Holly was kept near the door all year long as a constant invitation for good fortune to visit the residents.
Mistletoe was also hung as decoration. It represented the seed of the Divine, and at Midwinter, the Druids would travel deep into the forest to harvest it.
Mistletoe has been around for a long time, and has been considered a magickal plant by everyone from the Druids to the Vikings. Ancient Romans honored the god Saturn by holding fertility rituals under the mistletoe.
Today, we don’t quite go that far under our mistletoe (at least, not in my home 😁), but it could explain where the kissing tradition comes from.
The Yule Log
The ceremonial Yule log was 
the highlight of the Solstice festival. Traditionally, the log must either have been harvested from the householder’s land, or given as a gift — it must never have been bought.
Once dragged into the house and placed in the fireplace, it was decorated in seasonal greenery, soaked with cider or ale, and dusted with flour before being set ablaze by a piece of last year’s log (held onto for this reason).
The log would burn all night, then smolder for twelve days afterwards before being put out with pomp & fanfare.
Be magickal, y’all!
