Yule: Viking Christmas (2024)

FAQs

What are the 12 nights of Yule? ›

In ancient times, the twelve days of Yuletide began on the winter solstice and ended on January 1. Christianity revised this pagan celebration to the Twelve Days of Christmas, also known as Twelvetide, beginning Christmas Day and ending on the 5th of January, with the last day being Twelfth Night (Epiphany Eve).

They called it “Yule” which is pronounced the same as the word for Christmas in Norway today “Jul”. The Vikings believed Odin, the great God, and father of other gods, would ride across the night sky and visit them in their homes.

Yule celebrations included bonfires, decorating with holly, mistletoe, and the boughs of evergreen trees, ritual sacrifices, feasts, and gift-giving.

On the 10th Day of Yule, we connect with nature by learning more about Wights, Huldufolk, or the “hidden people”. Yule Elves, also called Tomtens, Tonttu, or Nisse are associated with Scandinavia, the Winter Solstice, and the greater winter holiday season.

What is Mother's Night? Today, December 20th is Mother's Night, the official beginning of the celebration of Yule.

Yule is one of the oldest winter solstice festivals in the world. Although commonly associated with Christmas, the celebration of Yule goes back much further, having originated in Scandinavia thousands of years ago.

As told in the Celtic legend of the battle between the Oak King- representing the light of the new year and the Holly King. During the Yule, the Oak King conquers the Holly King until Midsummer. Greetings include “Happy Solstice,” “Merry Yuletide,” and “Happy Yule.”

The symbols of Yule are evergreens, the Yule Log, a Yule tree, mistletoe, holly, wreaths, and bells.

Festive wreath

Like the evergreen trees, wreaths created using an evergreen plant such as Holly, would be brought into people's dwellings during Yuletide to remind them of the warmer days to come, a reassuring symbol during the long cold winters of the Scandinavian north.

What is Viking Santa called? ›

Santa Claus

The Norse god Odin was described as a bearded old man wearing a hat and a cloak, Odin would often ride his eight-legged horse Sleipnir across the midwinter night's sky, delivering gifts to those down below.

The table for the Christmas Eve meal is often set with pinnekjøtt (dry-cured lamb ribs), ribbe (bone-in pork belly), and the acquired taste of lutefisk (cod that has been cured in lye) are local specialties, with the risengrynsgrøt for dessert, perhaps with toasted almonds.

Yule's original Christmas

It goes without saying that during these festivities a toast was made with the drink par excellence: mead, which Odin named his favorite drink. What would a Viking celebration be without mead and its toasts?

The children were said to leave hay in their boots during Yuletide for Odin's eight-legged steed to feed from while Odin stopped to bring treats to children by entering through the fire hole.

The tale of the Christmas Yule log was born in the faraway lands of Norway. Deriving from the Norse word, “Hweol,” meaning wheel, the Norse people would use the Yule log to celebrate the sun's return during the winter solstice.

Yule is a 12 day long celebration that starts on the eve of the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and ends with the new calendar year. This celebration was one of the most important of the year in ancient times, celebrated by Pagans across Europe.

During these 12 days of celebration, there was lots of close family contact with each day seen as representing one of the 12 months of the year. With the return of longer days and the ending of the solar year, they celebrated the start of another cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

The Twelve Nights and the 13 Wishes

Starting from December 24th, one paper is drawn each day and burned unopened in a fire bowl, with the knowledge that a higher power will take care of fulfilling this wish. At the end of the Twelve Nights, the 13th wish remains.

The Twelve Days are 25 December to 5 January, counting first and last. The Octave, or Eighth Day, is New Year's Day and the Feast of the Circumcision, the day Jesus was circumcised according to the faith. The evening of the last day is Twelfth Night or Epiphany Eve, the next morning being Epiphany.