[Northkeep] Yule

[giladriel]

Yule Lore.

Yule, (pronounced EWE-elle) is when the dark half of the year relinquishes
to the light half. Starting the next morning at sunrise, the sun climbs just
a little higher and stays a little longer in the sky each day. Known as
Solstice Night, or the longest night of the year, much celebration was to be
had as the ancestors awaited the rebirth of the Oak King, the Sun King, the
Giver of Life that warmed the frozen Earth and made her to bear forth from
seeds protected through the fall and winter in her womb. Bonfires were lit
in the fields, and crops and trees were "wassailed" with toasts of spiced
cider. 

Children were escorted 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, the wheat stalks portrayed the harvest, and
the flour was accomplishment of triumph, light, and life. Holly, mistletoe,
and ivy not only decorated the outside, but also the inside of homes. It was
to extend invitation to Nature Sprites to 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 pay visit to the residents. 

The ceremonial Yule log was the highlight of the festival. In accordance to
tradition, 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, doused with cider or ale, and dusted with flour before set ablaze
be a piece of last years log, (held onto for just this purpose). The log
would burn throughout the night, then smolder for 12 days after before being
ceremonially put out. Ash is the traditional wood of the Yule log. It is the
sacred world tree of the Teutons, known as Yggdrasil. An herb of the Sun,
Ash brings light into the hearth at the Solstice. 

Deities of Yule are all Newborn Gods, Sun Gods, Mother Goddesses, and Triple
Goddesses. The best known would be the Dagda, and Brighid, the daughter of
the Dagda. Brighid taught the smiths the arts of fire tending and the
secrets of metal work. Brighid's flame, like the flame of the new light,
pierces the darkness of the spirit and mind, while the Dagda's cauldron
assures that Nature will always provide for all the children. 

Deities of Yule:
Goddesses-Brighid, Isis, Demeter, Gaea, Diana, The Great Mother. Gods-Apollo, Ra, Odin, Lugh, The Oak King, The Horned One, The Green Man, The Divine Child, Mabon.