[Ansteorra] Yule traditions in Norway based on Viking culture

[Hillary Greenslade]

With so many branches hosting Yule Revels, thought this article from off the Medieval-Trivia Yahoo
list would be of interest.  Enjoy, Hillary  

OSLO, Norway (AP) -- If the Vikings had seen pictures
of Santa Claus cruising the skies in a sleigh pulled
by reindeer, they probably would have assumed he was
catching a ride with Thor, the Norse god of thunder.
According to Viking traditions, which carry over into
modern Scandinavian Jul -- or Yule -- celebrations,
Thor's personal transport was a flying wagon pulled by
a team of horned goats.

"The idea of St. Nicholas got very much mixed in with
Thor's transport when it comes to the sled with flying
reindeer," said Helge Soerheim of the Archaeological
Museum in Stavanger.

Some say the idea of Father Christmas or Santa
bringing gifts stems from Norse mythology, too, since
the most powerful of the Viking gods, Odin, was
credited with doing the exact same thing, according to
the Norwegian research magazine Forskning.

Even though Christianity came to Scandinavia a
millennium ago, modern celebrations of Christmas hark
back to the pagan winter feast of Jul, which comes
from the Norse word "Jol" meaning fun and party.

Today, Jul marks the birth of Jesus and is part of the
Christian tradition, but it's still referred to by its
ancient name.

"Everything about it is ancient Jul. The name, the
concept, the lights in the darkness, the good food,
everything but the Christianity part," said Wenche
Brun, who works with the Viking Museum on northern
Norway's Lofoten Islands.

Ancient Jul was celebrated on December 21, then
believed to be the longest night of the year. It was
easy to shift to the Christian celebration that takes
place December 24.

Today, Scandinavians are overwhelmingly Christian. In
Norway, for example, 86 percent of the 4.6 million
people are registered members of the state Lutheran
Church of Norway.

Modern Scandinavians would say they celebrate Yule,
while the Vikings "drank Jul."

And a key part of "drinking Jul" -- today as in the
year 1000 -- is brewing special Christmas beers.
In Norway alone there are more than 50 kinds of
Juleoel, or Christmas beers, ranging in strength from
4.5 to 9.9 percent alcohol, brewed just before the
holidays each year. They are darker and more flavorful
than regular beers.

In Viking times, Soerheim of the archaeological museum
said, people thought drinking themselves into a stupor
on holiday beer and other alcoholic beverages would
create a euphoric connection with supernatural forces.
And failure to get drunk at a Viking feast was an
insult to the host, implying that his alcohol wasn't
good enough.

Because modern Jul is generally a family affair,
today's Scandinavians are more moderate in their
"drinking Jul."

But the old Viking toast -- "to a good new year and
peace" -- still echoes in the modern Christmas wishes
of the North, Soerheim said.

Even after Christianity made inroads, brewing Jul-time
beer remained a serious matter. In medieval times,
every farmer was required to brew Christmas beer or
risk fines and worse.

"Everyone had to make two batches of Christmas beer a
year, one for themselves and one for guests, or be
fined three riskdollars, " Olaug Flakne, 31, Norway's
only female brew master, said, referring to the
currency of that day.

"If they did not do it for three years in a row, their
farms were taken away, and, if they were also not
Christian, they were expelled from the country," she
said at the brewery on the outskirts of Oslo.

In old times, Norwegians used whatever was at hand,
from juniper berries to tobacco, to flavor the beers.
But under the Beer Purity Act of 1516, which was
repealed in 1994 but is still heeded by Norwegian
brewers today, only malt, hops, yeast and water can go
into beer.

Ringnes, Flakne's employer and Norway's largest
brewery, alone makes 3.3 million liters (nearly
870,000 gallons) of Christmas beer in 18 varieties.
Not everyone is happy about the connection between
Christmas and the brewing of beer. In the 1960s, the
Christian Sobriety Society demanded that the name
Juleoel, or Jul Beer, be banned.
The national brewers' association, however,
successfully countered that Jul has nothing to do with
Christmas or Christianity but stems from Viking times.

Other Christmastime traditions appear to have been
passed down from the Vikings. Many believe the
"Julenek," a sheaf of grain Norwegians place outside
for the birds each Christmas, stems from the Vikings'
Jul offerings to their gods. Others say it may have a
later origin, such as sharing Christmas bounty with
all creatures.

The Christmas goat, called Julebukk in Norway and
Joulupukki in Finland, recalls pre-Christian times
when Jul celebrants wore goat horns. Now, masked
children depicting the Julebukk go house to house
singing carols and expecting treats, much as children
do on Halloween in some countries.

Another pagan belief was that Lussi, a demon woman
with fiery hair, wandered the earth on the night
between Dec. 12 and 13, the longest night of the year
before the calendar was changed. Lussi was believed to
be searching for naughty children and, like an
ill-intentioned Santa Claus, might slide down a
chimney to find them.

Under Christianity, December 13 became Lucia Day, a
Roman Catholic tribute to St. Lucia, martyred in
Sicily in 304 A.D.

And when it comes to Santa's reindeer, they should
consider themselves lucky. In Scandinavia, the main
place for reindeer at Christmastime is on the dinner
tables of the Saami, a people who have herded reindeer
above the Arctic Circle from time immemorial.

END