| YULE |
| Yule means wheel in reference to "the wheel of the year," and is also called the Winter Solstice. The Celts call Yule Alban Arthurian. It marks the longest night of the year and it is the point when the days slowly start to get longer. In Pagan theology it marks the rebirth of the Sun and it is the first promise that light and warmth will return. Yule is sacred to all infant Sun/Son Gods. Gods such as Horus, Apolla, Bel, Baldur and Shamash as well as the Horned God as Winter King. In many Dianic circles, the rebirth of Lucina or other Sun Goddesses such as Artemis, Amaterasu, and Bast is celebrated instead. As the sun is reborn, our time of reflection and meditation draws to a close. New ideas, dreams, hopes, and projects are now born and our thoughts and energies turn to the new season of life that is ahead. True, there are still months of very cold weather ahead for many of us, but as the light grows, the warmth will follow. The newborn sun is the Great Mothers gift to the workl and this is reflected in our our gifts to firnds and family. Giving is a statement of faith in the abundance to come and in the love that survives the coldest winter. In it not hard to see a Pagan element in Santa Claus, however, in many European countries a Goddess figure brings presents to everyone. In Italy, she is La Befana or Santa Lucia. In Sicily, she is La Vecchia di Natali . In Germany she is Mother Berchta and in Sweden she is Lucia. Evergreens and holly, as well as mistletoe and ivy are plants that are considered sacred to Yule. The decorated tree is a symbol of life that continues through the bleakness of the winter months. It is also the World Tree or the Tree of Life that is the framework of the universe. The Celts called sacred trees Bele-trees or Bill-Glas, sacred to Bel, according to Campanelli. In Greece the fir was sacred to the Moon Goddess Artemis. Here are some ways that you can celebrate Yule: ---Decorate your temple with colors of gold, white, green and red. Put up symbols of the Sun or the Winter King. Symbols such as stag horns, pine cones, and evergreen boughs ---Hang mistletoe over your door---with berries for fertility---and kiss beneath it. Or hang a "Green Branch" over the foor to symbolize hospitality, as the old wayside inns used to do. ---Decorate an aok Yule log, ideally a large root with ribbons, fir, yew, ivy, birch and holly. Light it using an unburned piece of last years Yule log. This symbolizes the blazing of the reborn sun. Spread the ashes in your garden for fertility and save a small unburnt piece to light next years log. ---You might enact a mystery play about the birth of the Sun. Begin your ritual in darkness and snd it in a blaze of light. ---Burn a pair of bayberry candles, as Pauline Capanelli suggests, annointed with "magnetic oil" (soak a lodestone in oil, new moon to full) and carve on the candles the Feoh (cattle) rune for prosperity. ---Share your hopes and desires for the coming year with those in your circle. If you are a solitary Witch, then you can share your hopes and dreams with your circle of friends. --- Sing carols, such as "Deck the Halls" "Jingle Bells" or reclaimed Christmas tunes with Pagan lyrics. ---Since the Yule Tree is an ancient Pagan symbol for the Goddess, the world, and everlasting life, why not decorate it as part of your Yule ritual. Play Yule themed music and cover the tree with strings of popcorn and cranberries, stars and suns, pentacles and crescents, snowflakes and animals, harps and white horses, little God and Goddess images, as well as other sacred symbols. ---Celebrate with an old fashioned Pagan Feast of plum-pudding, roast pig, duck, kolcannon (layered potatoes, mushrooms, onions, and cheese), homemade breads, pies, and tarts. Or, you can hold a feast of hearty "Earth" foods such as bakes potatoes, chili, and fruitcakes. Drink hot mulled cider spiced with cloves, cinnamon, and ginger, and finish off with cakes shaped like suns and stars. These are just a few things that you can do to celebrate Yule. If you have a special way that you celebrate, please send it to me and I will gladly post it here with full credit to you. The above ideas are the way that my Coven celebrate Yule, and they were set forth in Amber K's book Coven Craft. (pages 152-4) |
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