The Origins Of Yule.

My Blogging friends have expressed an interest in the origins of the Yule festivities, so I’ve decided to prepare an article for the Blog. Our religious holidays are called Sabbats Yule represents the rebirth of light around the 21st Dec is the longest night, it is also when we believe the Goddess gave birth to the Sun God. It’s a time for leaving old regrets behind and awakening to new goals.

Yule coincides closely with The Christian Christmas, which was once a moveable festival that could be celebrated at any time of the year, Dec 25th was chosen by pope Julius I in the 4th centaury AD to coincide with the pagan winter Solstice (or return of the Sun God) in the hope of replacing the pagan festival with a Christian one, and it seems to have nearly worked too!

The Christmas tree also is taken from Pagan tradition, we used to bring in a live tree so the tree spirits had a warm place to live, and hang bells on it so we new if spirits were present. Food and treats were hung on the branches for the spirits, and a five pointed start (pentagram) was placed on the top. Red and green are also traditional pagan colours for this time of year, and the custom of giving gifts.

The Stag reindeer is also a reminder of the Horned God, a solar God, and most Christmas decorations have some sort of significance in pagan tradition, Christmas carols like “The Holly And The Ivy” also mention pagan things.

We also traditionally find a small log and engrave the sun symbol on it and then burn it, a symbol of death and rebirth, and there are other spells involving fire that can be performed at this time of year to help with our symbolic rebirths.