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Episode 40: Yule
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Welcome back Witches! This week's episode is going to be our final podcast episode for 2022 and it's going to cover ALL things Yule!! We're going to discuss history, correspondences, and ways that you can celebrate this beautiful holiday!! Members of our Supercast will still have 2 exclusive episodes and 1 more newsletter for 2022!! If you don't want to miss out on our bonus content, make sure you subscribe at the link below!
We would be forever thankful if you left our podcast a 5-Star review. If you really loved the show and want more Get in Loser content, check out our Supercast & Buy Me a Coffee links below. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @GetinWitches, on TikTok @weredoingwitchcraft or email us at weredoingwitchcraft@gmail.com. You can support our show through our
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Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio- The Witch
- Beyer, Rebecca. Wild Witchcraft. (2022) Simon Element, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
- Stirler, Gael. Yule History and Origins. Renstore. https://stores.renstore.com/history-and-traditions/yule-history-and-origins
- Moone, Aurora. Yule & Winter Solstice Pagan Correspondences. (2021). Plentiful Earth. https://plentifulearth.com/yule-magickal-correspondences/
- Yule- Day of Winter Solstice. (2019). National Day Calendar. https://nationaldaycalendar.com/yule-day-of-winter-solstice/
- YoutubeScarlet Ravenswood
- Wigington, Patti (2019). History of Yule. Learn Religions. https://www.learnreligions.com/history-of-yule-2562997
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Announcements
00:00:00
Speaker
Do you feel drawn to learn more about witchcraft and the occult but feel lost on where to start? Then welcome to Get In, Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft, a podcast all about what it means to be a witch and where to get started on your journey. Join us as we navigate through various witchy topics and share what we have learned about the craft. So Get In, Witches, as we close out 2022 and season one of Get In, Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft with an episode all about y'all.
00:00:43
Speaker
So before we begin today's episode, we would just wanted to remind everyone that this is our final episode of 2022, which is sad, but it's okay because we will be back in January with the new season and new topics. And just as an additional reminder, if you want us to cover a topic that we haven't yet, let us know and we'll get it scheduled. For our supercast subscribers though, this will not be the last that you get from us before 2023.
00:01:12
Speaker
We will still have book club recordings, and we'll send readings, book club readings. The next one will be released on December 1st. We'll also be releasing a bonus episode on Supercast later in December, so keep your eyes open for that and make sure you're checking your emails because we're still sending out the newsletter on the 1st of every month.
00:01:36
Speaker
And if you're listening to this and thinking how much you love to hear our fabulous bonus content and you want to read our hilarious and insightful newsletter, make sure you check out our Supercast for different subscription options.
00:01:51
Speaker
for your binging pleasure over this holiday season.
Hosts' Personal Reflections and Holiday Plans
00:01:54
Speaker
And lastly, before we get started on this episode, I know I speak for both Tiffany and myself when we say how thankful we are for all of our listeners and subscribers because we love making this podcast and we can't wait to be back in January. We'll be back like recharged and refreshed. And I don't know about you. I know I'm exhausted right now. Yes. Time of the year gets so busy for us. Like we're barely me.
00:02:20
Speaker
home next month. We're going on a trip for Veterans Day weekend and then we go to Arizona to see family for like a week and a half. And then it'll be like Christmas before you know it. I know, I know. And you guys are still getting, well, our Supercast members are still getting book club and super secret special episodes. Yes.
00:02:43
Speaker
Oh, yeah. And then by the time we release content in January, hopefully we won't be in a new house. We probably won't have any furniture, but I will be on the other side of the world, which is kind of sad, but exciting. I'm excited. I'm excited. Cause we're going to come out and visit you guys. I was going to say, I'm excited for you to come see everything. We're going to be flip-flopping now. You're going to be like in the morning or in the morning. Yeah, early in the morning. And it'll be nighttime.
00:03:13
Speaker
So I'll be the one drinking the coffee and you'll be the one drinking the alcohol. And let's be honest, for those that don't know me, I thrive later in the day, not early in the day. So you're going to get a better version. And you'll probably get a better version of me too, because I feel like I'm more of a morning person. You are. Yeah. Yeah.
00:03:34
Speaker
So look, you're getting a better podcast next year. Exactly. It's going to be for the best. Maybe even like, like easier editing for us. Oh my God. Yeah.
00:03:47
Speaker
That right there is worth it in front of itself. Yeah. It says morning Tiffany struggles. Yeah. And the evening Sam. Well, I love that we kind of moved it up a little bit. Cause when we first started recording, it was like nine o'clock for me, which it's not that late, but then I would just get so exhausted almost. Yeah. I'm just like, I can't even, like my voice is really scratchy because I'm feel like I'm dying and it's only every morning. Well, especially to like living in the Midwest.
00:04:17
Speaker
Like growing up in a desert where we didn't have a lot of like plants that we had to adjust to. Like I said, I had seasonal allergies, but it was normal. Living out here first thing in the morning, I barely have a voice. I'm always super stuffy, like allergies in the Midwestern, no joke. I hate it. Like later in the day, you know, my allergy medication has kicked in, I've gotten rid of the scratchiness, which
00:04:45
Speaker
Right now the scratchiness is because I was sore throat for whatever stupid reason because of Vegas. At least it's not COVID. Yeah. So for those that don't know, like our supercast people will know because we just filmed book club too, but I'm struggling. Sam's struggling.
00:05:06
Speaker
And of course, as always, I feel like my husband is gone. So my animals are super needy and up I asked 24 seven. I'm surprised at this moment. There's not one in the room because they've all been in here this morning. So yeah, we apologize for any interruptions.
00:05:23
Speaker
But that's just life right now. Crazy coughing that you might eat better. I will try and eat it. I feel like I'm getting back because I'm out of hot tea and coffee. So I'm getting back to that raspiness. I sound like I've been smoking for 87 years. Yeah. But look, we're going to come back in January, refresh, have that analysis. Yeah. Not be using our smoker voices or coughs.
00:05:53
Speaker
Yeah, it'll be nice.
What is Yule and its Historical Significance?
00:05:55
Speaker
But yeah, so let's talk about Yule. Yay. This is, again, we just were talking about this, but this is my second favorite time of the year, with right now being my absolute favorite time of the year. But yeah, everything surrounding Yule or Christmas or like the weather. I love when it snows and you have all these beautiful decorations out. Oh yeah, I love it until Christmas.
00:06:22
Speaker
Once New Year's Day all around, I'm like, I still love it. It can be spring. Thanks, magical.
00:06:30
Speaker
It's a magical time of the year. It's just too cold, but I guess I won't have to deal with that for three years because I'll be on the tropical island. Yeah, my favorite part about like, I know a lot of people hate the snow, but if you've ever just like sat outside and listened while it's snowing, like snow just deadens all the sounds. It's like silent and peaceful. I absolutely love it. That does sound really nice. Yeah, I do like that.
00:06:55
Speaker
and I don't like when it like melts and then refreezes and melts and then refreezes and then it's like sheets of ice and like brown yes or like the Mississippi River in St. Louis whenever it's cold and it's like it freezes into pockets and I'm like oh my god it looks like a skin disorder it looks so gross it does or it looks like
00:07:18
Speaker
Like when it starts to melt and it's all like kind of flowing, it almost looks like diarrhea. It's really disgusting for all of our listeners because this is gross, but that's what it looks like. Yeah, it looks really, really gross. I hate, I hate it. I remember I would be like driving to work on the, or not driving the work, riding to work on the, the, I was about to say tube, but it's not the tube over there. It's just the train, the Metro. Um, and like as we're crossing that bridge, like not even wanting to look out the window because I didn't want to see it.
00:07:48
Speaker
It's so good. It is, or shoveling. So I remember one time it snowed. It was last year. We had like the most snow we've ever gotten since living here. It was like 14 inches or something like that. And Anthony of course was TDY and he has this tiny little car now. And I had to shovel the driveway before he got home. So he would be able to pull in to our driveway.
00:08:18
Speaker
Well, I didn't have to, but I was being a nice wife and then I very quickly regretted my decision because shoveling snow sucks. It's a workout. It is especially like 14 inches of snow. I have a Jeep. So like, I'm just popping in four wheel drive and I'm good. Like I can drive pretty much in any condition. That was awful.
00:08:42
Speaker
That was terrible. I was like, he got home and I'm like, I deserve an award because you would not have been able to get in this driveway and you wouldn't have to shovel, but I did it for you because I'm the best wife. Yeah, because I'm the best wife ever. And so what did you buy me? I would like a present please. So you all.
00:09:04
Speaker
begins on Wednesday, December 21st this year. And it goes through Sunday, January 1st. Correct me if I'm wrong. Yule is one of the, is it called like an astrological holiday where it falls on different days, right? Like it'll start on different days each year, somewhere between like the 20th, I think in like 22nd or 23rd. Yeah. Okay. So Yule is when the light starts to return and the light half of the year begins.
00:09:30
Speaker
And it's a pagan festival that falls on the winter solstice. And the winter solstice is the actual shortest day of the year. And from here on out, the days get longer and the nights get shorter. And you'll just in itself, this will be a theme that we'll probably mention again and again, but it's a celebration of the sun coming back. And that's kind of the whole premise of it. And so whenever you see Christianity still,
00:09:58
Speaker
from Yule to create Christmas, the literal like baby sun is coming. That's what they're celebrating. But no, the sun in the sky is coming back. Six sounds. Yeah. But also the very bright star that warms our planet. The actual like sun that
00:10:22
Speaker
the actual physical son that is- Grow food. Not a story, the thing that's existing in the sky. In ancient times, Yule was a season of hunting after the last harvest season, ending with Samhain. Yule observes the arrival of the winter solstice, and it predates the holiday known as Christmas, like we said, by thousands of years.
00:10:50
Speaker
In Germanic cultures of Northern and Western Europe, you all celebrated the rebirth of the sun and the light that it would bring to the earth. And a lot of it is when we talk about the history and stuff, it's a mixture of many pre-Christian traditions and lore, but it's all about this sense of hope. We know that winter will eventually come to an end and
00:11:12
Speaker
It's just signaling that end of the darkness and the beginning of that light, like we were saying. But Yule is not just the day of the Winter Solstice, it's a season and a way to come together. So it's not just the day of the Winter Solstice, that's it.
00:11:29
Speaker
like Tiffany said, you know, it's a whole ass season and it spans weeks. So Yule is also a magical liminal time. So there's a lot of mystery and magic tied to Yule and it occurs again during the darkest time of the year, but people were concerned about ghosts and ghouls during this time.
00:11:51
Speaker
And this is, you know, something that I didn't know about until I was researching it because, you know, you always hear about it, you know, people being afraid of ghosts and ghouls and goblins and whatever at Samhain, but there is that fear and concern at Yule as well because it's this liminal time. And we see this in modern day Christian folklore as well, like with the Christmas carol and like, you know, being visited by the Holy Spirit and all sorts of shit.
00:12:18
Speaker
There's a lot of different ways that you'll see this in Christian folklore as well. And I think in certain songs and stuff too, like Christian Christmas songs, you'll hear about the ghosts. So modern celebrations of Yule are a merger of many pre-Christian traditions. And so a few of these in Scandinavia, ancient pagan celebrations lasted 12 days.
00:12:44
Speaker
and culminated with the burning of the yule log. And so this is where, you know, we get the 12 days of Christmas, which is a vegan thing, but shocker. And then obviously Christmas caroling and was sailing, which Tiffany's going to go into a lot more detail on it. So I'm not even going to, you know, really mention anything about it. But that also comes from a
00:13:10
Speaker
pre-Christian pagan tradition.
Influence of Roman and Norse Traditions on Yule
00:13:12
Speaker
And then a lot of traditions come from ancient Rome, like the Feast of Saturnalia, which lasted about a week and included drinking and feasting. This was the earliest evidence of gift giving.
00:13:26
Speaker
and kissing under the mistletoe there's there's a lot of lore associated with the Feast of Saturnalia and mistletoe and and you know basically bringing about fertility and whatnot so a lot of this comes from ancient Rome pagan traditions as well. I kind of just circle back to like the ghosts and ghouls like you see that too in
00:13:50
Speaker
Germanic Europe with the Christmas Krampus. Like everybody has like, oh, Santa Claus or St. Nicholas or whoever is bringing gifts to the children. And then in Germany, it's like bad children get put in the Krampus. And they even do a Krampus festival where they'll have people like dressed as Krampus running the streets and like picking people out of the crowds and
00:14:17
Speaker
spanking them. It's really funny, but also slightly terrifying. Just a little bit. Just a little bit. Yeah. Your celebrations include bonfires,
00:14:29
Speaker
decorating with holly, mistletoe, or evergreen trees. They include feasts and gift giving. And then ancient celebrations also included ritual sacrifices. And the Norse celebration for Yule, which is known as, I think it's also just pronounced Yule from what I got, but it's spelled J-U-L. Yes. And this was centered around Odin, and many make the connection of Odin, the Allfather, as being Santa Claus as well.
00:14:58
Speaker
So if you don't know that more Odin is actually considered to be Santa, like Santa. I mean, it fits. So yeah. Yeah. And then too, I thought it was interesting to kind of dive deeper into some of the Norse pagan Yule traditions because they're so cool.
00:15:16
Speaker
They're so interesting. They really are. What we do know, a lot of it's just been passed down because here's the thing with like the Norse pagan yule traditions, not much was written down. So I mean, while they did have like the runic languages and stuff, nothing about their religious festivals or ceremonies was really documented.
00:15:38
Speaker
And the biggest party surrounding Yule took place about 20 days after the solstice. But what we do know about Norse pagan Yule traditions comes from an Icelandic dude, author named Snorri Strollson. He wrote the Prose Edda, which is a collection of Norse myths. He wrote down like how he thought Yule was celebrated, you know, based on his own research and stuff. But he existed in a post-Christian time.
00:16:07
Speaker
So, I mean, while, you know, some of this stuff is really interesting, we don't know how accurate it is because this is based on like his own biased accounts. And it's based on hearsay and what he's heard and seen from the local populace. So we don't know how accurate it is, but it does give us a good place to kind of jump off to.
00:16:27
Speaker
when it comes to just learning about their traditions. So what we do know is that the Norse pagans, while they followed the sun, because obviously it needed to be tracked for farming and stuff, they weren't obsessed with the sun for celebrating Yule, not like we see in other cultures and not like how we've already kind of discussed the celebration of Yule as like
00:16:50
Speaker
the sun coming back, like the literal sun, not a pretend baby. It was not born on Christmas Day. Exactly. So yeah, but the sun isn't as present that far north anyway during this time of year. I mean, I'm not sure how much sunlight you guys got in Germany, but here in England during winter, at least where we are,
00:17:13
Speaker
the sun sets at like three and it's like pitch black. And like the summer, the sun will last until like 1130. But in the winter, it's dark by like 435 o'clock sometimes. Yeah. And I know like the further up north you get the less sun you'll have in the summer in the winter. Yeah. I know living out there, there were times that like periods of the year where I'm
00:17:37
Speaker
it was dark when I went to work and it was dark when I got home. So it was like, I never even saw the sun that day. Yes, that's how it is here. It is so, it gets so dark, so early in the winter. And I hate it so much. And it's also not streetlights here really, which also sucks because it's like pitch black everywhere. But that's nice for sleeping.
00:18:01
Speaker
Yeah, until it's summertime and then it's, you know, that's fun all the time, like literally until 1130 at night. And then why is that? Yeah. Why is that not a thing here? Because it's.
00:18:15
Speaker
way sunnier here in the summer than it is in Germany. Well, we found out, because when we moved back to America, Anthony was like, oh my God, we should simply get ralodins installed, at least in the bedrooms. And they're illegal in the States because they're considered a fire blockage. Like if the house was to catch on fire, they're considered it. It's probably a thing here because like all the houses here are built to keep heat in. So if you had those two, you'd all just die.
00:18:42
Speaker
So, but, you know, going back to the topic at hand, while sun symbolism was important, it wasn't like, I mean, we know they track the sun, but it wasn't like the most important thing that they celebrated when it came to Yule, but they did do a really cool party called a Yule plot and it's a Yule sacrifice party. So this would occur on the first full moon following the new moon after the winter solstice.
00:19:08
Speaker
So basically, like for this year, the next new moon that falls after Yule is December 23rd. The next full moon after that is Friday, January 6th. And so if we were back in like ancient like pagan Norse times, this is when they would celebrate this Yule plot would be... Okay, so it would be new moon to full moon.
00:19:32
Speaker
versus like traditionally it's somewhere around like starting the 20th to the 23rd ish and then going through the first. Okay I didn't mean that but that's really interesting. It is really interesting so this is the best time like if you are a Norse pagan or you're really interested in this path and you want to celebrate yule like they did and do a yule plot this would be the best time to really honor the Norse gods would be
00:20:00
Speaker
Friday, January 6th, if you were listening to this in 2022, next year it'll be completely different. So don't go there. But if you're listening to this, when it's released January 6th, keep that date in mind. A big portion of the Yule plot had to do with the sacrifice. And so at the Yule plot, they would sacrifice an animal. Sometimes it would be a horse.
00:20:22
Speaker
And I read that they would take some of its blood and sticks were dipped into the blood and flicked at people to bless them with the sacrificial horse blood. I'm not sure exactly like what the blessing meant or if it was just like good luck in the next year or whatever, but pretty gross.
00:20:38
Speaker
But also, but I was also reading that the sacrificial animal could be a pig or a boar. We don't know exactly. And we don't know why, but it could be in honor of Freya or to ask for like fertile fields in the springtime. But it also might make more sense if the sacrificial animal was a boar or a pig or something. Because if they were going to eat it afterwards, I mean, I don't know, very many of them ate horse, but
00:21:06
Speaker
I don't think they really did. They probably did. And I know in Germany they do. There's still horse butchers and you can get like horse brats from like the soccer games and stuff or football games, whatever you call them. Soccer, football, whatever. Anthony has eaten horse. I don't know if I always want to eat horse. I won't. The whole time we lived there, like our Sven and Marty. Sven loves it. And Anthony said it was really good, but I like
00:21:34
Speaker
to me a horse is a pet. It's not a favorite. Right. It's so cute. Which I mean, I know any animal can be a pet. Yeah. In some people's eyes, like you shouldn't eat animals at all because they are like pets or scent change or whatever. But I mean, I eat meat. I could not eat horse. Yeah.
00:21:51
Speaker
I don't think I could eat horse either. I did. And I feel like it would just be, I don't know. I just feel like it wouldn't be that great. It seems like I also thought that Anthony said it's actually really good. I was like, that's good for you. You know, glad that you tried it. I will take a report.
00:22:07
Speaker
Thank you. Yeah. And then toasting was also a huge part of the Yule Blot and the Yule celebrations and any sort of festive celebrations, even to this day. So cups were raised in honor to the gods. The first was raised to Odin. The second was was raised to Njord, the god of the sea. And then the third would be raised to Frey.
00:22:31
Speaker
In Norse traditions, you always considered a time of oath making. It's also a time when business deals and marriages were brokered. Basically, the chieftain often wore a golden ring that people would swear an oath by laying their hands on the ring while making their pledge in front of other witnesses. One of the rings was actually found at an 11th century chieftain's residence on the outskirts of Denmark during an excavation.
00:22:57
Speaker
That's cool. Yeah, I thought that was really cool. There was a lot of, you can actually, like if you search this, you can find a lot of images of different ones that have been excavated. They're pretty cool. They're really cool looking. But personally, for me, this is something that I practiced with my grandparents in a sense when I was a little kid. And look, if our listeners know exactly how this is pronounced, if it's wasail or wassel,
00:23:27
Speaker
My family probably pronounced it wrong, but I grew up knowing it as wasl until I met Sam and then I was like, what's the difference? My grandparents always called it wasl. And while traditionally it does have alcohol in it, you can make it non-alcoholic because it is like uses juices and spices and stuff in it as well.
00:23:54
Speaker
Um, or sometimes like if they didn't make the full on like Wassel recipe, they would just do like a spiced apple cider. And basically they did this every Christmas. I remember doing this as a kid, like we would get a glass of either Wassel or a spice apple cider, and we would essentially just set goals for the upcoming year. And we would talk about like what we wanted to accomplish, you know, like it was just something that I did every year. So in a sense, like making that oath, I thought,
00:24:24
Speaker
I tied all of this together because we used Wassel a lot of times, or Waseo. However you say it, I don't know. My family called it Wassel. Yeah. Yeah. That was a huge thing of it. It really is probably where we get the New Year's traditions of, what's it called? I can't even think of what it's called, the New Year's resolutions.
00:24:47
Speaker
is probably from this ancient pagan tradition. And the fact that, you know, you were doing that with your grandparents and that's something that Norse pagans practice. And you have the Indian blood in your family and stuff like it's just, I know it was like one of the first books that I read, like after meeting you and finding all this out about myself, it was on some Norse pagan, Norse paganism and Norse like traditions.
00:25:17
Speaker
And there was a whole chapter on this where I was just sitting there going like, my grandparents literally trekking into making oats. We would like sit and write down our goals and talk about all these things over Wausl or Spice Cider, which was like this book in particular, I cannot remember the name of it, but it was a Norse paganism and Norse traditions book.
00:25:42
Speaker
talked about how like it wasn't necessarily always done for you all. Like if they had something coming up and they, you know, were kind of making essentially like contracts between people, they would also make it and toast to the oath or the contract. So.
00:26:03
Speaker
And then also kind of the last thing that I wanted to talk about when it comes to the Norse pagans was regarding present giving. So the tradition goes back, like when it comes to presents, this tradition really goes back to pagan times and many different cultures.
00:26:20
Speaker
really though kind of back to Saturnalia and ancient Rome with their gift giving traditions and actually Boxing Day, which I didn't know about this, this comes from Saturnalia gift giving because they enrolled like they would give the servants the day off and like give them a present in a box and so that's what I call it Boxing Day, which is crazy that that like then
00:26:44
Speaker
like we're all the way up to England. And that was like a major like English holiday or just a tradition. It's a holiday. But so Norse pagans, they wouldn't necessarily give gifts to like, I mean, if they would, but it wouldn't be to everyone. And not everyone would get a gift.
00:27:05
Speaker
but they might give them to like maybe the Yarl or the King or whoever was important in the area that they lived in. But there is a huge gift giving cycle in the Norse cultures. And so they would give to receive and like whoever got the gift would then have the obligation of giving you now a gift. And I thought that was pretty funny. Here's a present. I want mine. Right. Yeah. So
00:27:31
Speaker
you're in my debt. Yeah. So I get something. So I really like that. But so they there's also because I watched Pagan happy hour with Scarlet Ravenswood, which we've talked a lot about on this podcast. Like she tied it back together with like honoring and off like offering to deities. And so like Norse pagans, they would
00:27:59
Speaker
give honorings and offerings so that the gods would honor them back and give them gifts. And so that's kind of how that gift giving cycle worked. And so there was presence at these yule plots, but it wasn't like, everybody gets a present or all the kids gets a present or somebody dresses, Oden, your father would come in with a present. That's not how it really worked, but there was some sort of gift giving there too.
00:28:26
Speaker
So with that kind of foundation being set to the history of Yule, let's talk about some Yule traditions.
How Did Yule Traditions Transform into Christmas Customs?
00:28:34
Speaker
Like Sam said earlier, much of Yule's customs became part of Christmas celebrations within Christianity as is normal with Christianity. Like they take all of our stuff and brand it as their own. So one of, I feel like,
00:28:53
Speaker
This is probably the biggest one that people probably think of when you mentioned yule, but the yule log. So the yule log is considered one of the oldest traditions and it's changed over time. So originally a large tree or tree trunk was taken and one end of it was placed into the hearth and the rest of it was just kind of like sticking out into the house or wherever it was being lit. So they would light it.
00:29:21
Speaker
with a brand from the previous year's Yule Fire. Again, leaving the rest of it sticking out so only the one end is burning and slowly push this log into the fire as they needed to. And it would be burned continuously for 12 days from Christmas Eve to what was called epiphany. And at the end of the 12 days, the unburned portion was fully extinguished and saved to light the next year's fire.
00:29:47
Speaker
letting the yule log burnout was thought to bring bad luck to those that let that happen. So people would just take shifts like watching over the yule fire and continuously feeding this log into the fire and not letting it burn out. In Holland, it was believed that storing the leftovers of the yule log underneath one's bed was a way to protect the home from being struck by lightning.
00:30:10
Speaker
which how many lightning strikes that are happening in Holland that you like. Must be a lot. I know. It's like an actual fear that they're driving. Yeah. They're like, we need protection from lightning. So here's, here's how you do that.
00:30:24
Speaker
And then in France, I was going to ask you, Bush didn't know well. I'm just going to let you say that. And this is like this particular thing. People probably have seen this. It's a dessert. Basically it's considered a decadent dessert. So the Yule log is this dessert made of sponge cake and buttercream frosting that's rolled into the shape of a log. And then it would be decorated with things like
00:30:53
Speaker
chocolate that would look like bark and candied holly leaves or meringue as mushrooms. And it was meant to be this like decadent, beautiful little centerpiece dessert for you. It is so good. I've made this before. It takes a really long time to make because of like the sponge that you have to use particular one, but it is delicious. And usually it'll have like some sort of like a
00:31:19
Speaker
Uh, I don't know if it's like a Cooley or some sort of like tart, like jam, like it'll be like the sponge and then some like jam stuff and then the cream and then you roll it and it is amazing. And it's so good. I've never made it. I kind of want to try this year, but I have eaten it and it is delicious. Yeah. Worth, worth all of the hard work and effort in the kitchen. It is so good. Yeah. So that's just like.
00:31:49
Speaker
a way that the yule log has kind of transformed over the years and is still used traditionally. You can still, you don't have to like cut a whole tree down, but you can collect like wood that you use as your yule log if you want to practice this. Like I couldn't imagine trying to cut a whole giant tree down that's gonna last me 12 days and having like just stretched across my head.
00:32:16
Speaker
Yeah, there's gonna be like, how would you even get it? Yeah, how would you get it? So next is the Yule goat, which I love for several different reasons. But Thor, this is probably my favorite reason because they just came out with marble just came out with Thor love and thunder. And there was I don't have you seen it? Yes. The two goats in there just made me fucking laugh so hard. That's all I could think about when I was reading about this.
00:32:45
Speaker
So Thor was believed to have a chariot that was pulled through the sky by two goats. So that is a whole thing in Thor Love and Thunder. If you haven't seen it, highly recommend it. It's not as serious, it's a little more campy than the other Thor movies, but it's great. I loved it.
00:33:04
Speaker
Basically they would go around during Yule delivering gifts to well-behaved children or demanding gifts for Thor. So this is just one iteration of where we get Santa Claus or Father Christmas from and I'll talk about another one later. Next is the Yule ham and this kind of harkens back to what Sam was talking about with
00:33:27
Speaker
the sacrificial horse that could have been a boar. So the yule ham was a boar that was associated with the god Freyr. They were sacrificed to him before a bountiful harvest or other blessings. It also has ties to Freya, but I couldn't find like
00:33:45
Speaker
like a solid, it was all just kind of like here say this could have been tied to Freya, which I think you mentioned as well. The sacrifices were cooked and then served during the evil feast. And this is something that we still see like on Christmas day, most people will cook and serve Christmas ham. I know my family has always been a Christmas ham and it's my favorite part of the feast. I love a good Christmas ham.
00:34:13
Speaker
But that's just another tradition that's been carried through is the yule ham. And then with sail or wussle or however you say it, basically this is an alcoholic punch. Like I said earlier, though it can be made without alcohol, it's made with spices and fruit juices and it was used to toast. It basically translates to good health. So when you're toasting with it, you're toasting to good health.
00:34:37
Speaker
And then Sam briefly mentioned this earlier, but to go wassling, apparently it's called to go a wassling. And this was like the adult Yule version of trick or treating. So you would go door to door begging for wassle or other treats. And can we please bring this back because I would 100% do this. I would too. I absolutely think that this should still be a thing.
00:35:04
Speaker
I agree. And speaking of wassail or wassail or whatever it's called. One day we'll find out what it's really called. I'm sure that it's wassail and my family is super white. But have you heard of smoking bishop before? I have not. I guess it's similar to mulled wine, but I really want to try this. But it's basically an orange and you put cloves inside of it.
00:35:33
Speaker
And then you bake the orange, and then you add that baked, orangy, clovey goodness to hot wine and drink it. This sounds delightful. I know, right? I'm just like, I want to make that, but it's called some. I know. I don't know if I included this. It was just something that I read, but I know that during this time of year, like putting clothes in an orange and hanging it in the house.
00:35:58
Speaker
was meant to like, I think it was to bring good luck and fortune into the new year, but it also like felt nice. I don't remember if I included it in my notes for the episode, but that was another thing like cloves and an orange. That sounds delightful. I might need to try it. I'm gonna try it this Christmas because it sounds real good. Mistletoe is the next one. Mistletoe was greatly revered by the ancient druids.
00:36:28
Speaker
And the Norse also believed it to be magical due to the fact that mistletoe stays green year round, even when the host tree appears to be dead. So when all the leaves fall off the tree and the tree is just like sad little sticks, the mistletoe that's growing on it will still be alive. So they thought it was magical because of that. If mistletoe was found on a sacred oak tree, it would be cut down with a golden sickle, like in a ceremony.
00:36:53
Speaker
and they had to catch it with a white cloak before it could fall to the ground. And the mistletoe would then be divided up and given to every home within the village to ward off evil in the upcoming year. How do you know it's a sacred oak tree? Or is it just all oak trees are sacred? I'm here to believe that all oak trees are sacred. I'm here for that too. So if it's an oak tree and you find mistletoe in it, you need to go find yourself a golden sickle and a white cloak and chop it down in a ceremony.
00:37:21
Speaker
and catch it before it touches the ground and then give it to everyone in your town. But don't ask me to do it because I will drop it and I can't catch anything. So same. I'd probably cut myself. I'm pretty good at doing that. Same. So I also was reading about, there's a legend tied to, I mean, cause I know we talked about it with
00:37:46
Speaker
in relation to Saturnalia, but it's also, there's lore that ties it to Baldur and Frigg. And so basically like Baldur was prophesized to die and Frigg asked all the creatures and plants to not kill him, but she forgot to ask a mistletoe. So, unfortunately for Baldur,
00:38:09
Speaker
Loki eventually ties it to an arrow and shoots Balder with it and then kills him. And so that really sucks. But, um, there's a later version of this lore that basically says that Frank brings Balder back to life. And she claims that because of that mistletoe is now the plant of love.
00:38:30
Speaker
kind of sweet but also a little bit sad because yeah so the yule feast which is also known as the midwinter feast would last 12 days and during this time vikings would decorate an evergreen tree with gifts that often included food and carvings and would also often include food for the tree's spirits in hopes of encouraging their return in the spring which i think is super precious and again
00:38:58
Speaker
I remember being a kid and we used to take popcorn and sew a needle, like a needle and thread through it, make little popcorn chains to decorate the tree at my grandparents house. The Celts also believed that mistletoe possessed healing powers and it would like ward off evil spirits, which is what led them to bringing it in their homes for evil in the first place. And the Norse had old man winter.
00:39:22
Speaker
who would visit homes to join people during their festivities. Odin has long been considered the original Father Christmas or Santa Claus because of this. Their children would leave their shoes out by the herd on the eve of winter solstice paired with sugar and hay for a slept near, which is Odin's eight legged horse. So like eight legs on the horse, eight reindeer that pull the sleigh, leaving out the treats. And I know in Germany, I don't know if they do this in England,
00:39:52
Speaker
But in Germany, children leave their boots out by the front door for St. Nicholas to leave them gifts. Yes. Yeah. That's not a thing here, but I knew it was in Germany. Yeah. But again, like this is just one of those things we see in all of these old traditions that create Christianity.
Folklore Figures in Yule: Krampus and Frau Perkda
00:40:13
Speaker
You see it still today in the Christian version of Christmas.
00:40:17
Speaker
Yeah. And they just take it and they change it. Yeah. They get their own and they're like, no, this is exactly how it's always been. And the earth is only 2000 years old. Yeah. And you're like, okay, awesome. And dinosaurs didn't exist. Yeah. So speaking of Germany, um, I loved learning about Frau Perkda. Have you heard about her?
00:40:41
Speaker
No. She, I think you'll like her because she's kind of like Krampus, but not. And I love Krampus. Yeah. So as I mentioned earlier, during Yule, during the season and just the Christmas season in general, a lot of people were concerned about witches during this time. It's not just a Samhain thing. I mean, it was pretty much all year long, people were worried about witches, but there was something about Yule
00:41:10
Speaker
that really just scared some people. So this whole work goes back to the Alpine region in Europe, so Austria, southern Germany, Bavaria, and northern Italy, so all within that Alps region. And there's many variations of this story, and it's connected with Frau Hulda, which is a pagan goddess.
00:41:31
Speaker
And it could have derived from the stories of Frau Hulda, or it could be something completely different. We don't know, but we do know that this is like something that legit was believed for. I mean, I probably even still now believed, but.
00:41:45
Speaker
So something to know about these little towns and the Alps. There's not a lot of trade between the areas, especially during winter time, because of how spread out they are and how, you know, the weather is and everything. So all these traditions evolved and changed depending on which village you lived in. And so one village can have something or believe something completely different related to this lore.
00:42:08
Speaker
But the time period that this basically started was around 1200, which is obviously during a post-Christian period in Europe. So it wasn't just a pagan Europe anymore, which is sad. But it's associated with the day of Epiphany, or the 12th night, and that's January 6th. And the name of Frau Perta is a corruption of an old Germanic word, meaning epiphany night.
00:42:36
Speaker
And it was said that this is a time of great manifestation and potential, but obviously this is a corruption to that word. So she is represented by either a beautiful maiden or an old crone, depending on where you lived in the Alps. But there's a duality that she's most common depicted as a crone.
00:42:58
Speaker
with a long beaked nose and a staff with two points. So it looks like a Biden, but it's actually a disstaff, which is a tool for spinning wool. And so she's associated primarily with females in the household. And that's who she targets, which really sucks. But that's why she's usually seen with like a Biden or a disstaff, because it's connected to women and
00:43:24
Speaker
Um, women were the ones who were spinning and using tools like that in the house. So really what she would do is she would arrive to check in on women on epiphany night or epiphany eve and would punish people who had not kept a clean and orderly home or hadn't stopped finished spinning their wool by epiphany eve.
00:43:47
Speaker
Wow. Yeah. Isn't that terrible? So it could, I mean, this could all just be tied back to Christianity in general, because we know how women are so put down in Christianity. And it was like, could have just been a way to scare women into compliance and make sure that they completed all their household tasks, because we got to keep women under our boots and it sucks. But she would, if you like, say she came to your house and
00:44:14
Speaker
You didn't finish all your household tasks and your house looked like a mess. She would burn your hands or tie your yarn into knots. So, yeah, so rude. But this kind of started this whole tradition of making sure your house would be like completely cleaned before epiphany, just in case she came by. Which is terrible. Yeah. She's known as the Yule Witch. Wow. My yarn would be in all kinds of thoughts because let's be honest.
00:44:41
Speaker
My house is not always clean. And your wool is not spun? No, no, I'm definitely not spinning the wool. Same. She would come into my house right now and be like, excuse me, wear your hands. Let me burn them. Let me burn the shit out of your hands because what is this mess? My house has been under construction for months. Tiffany, where's your wool? Give me your hands. Give me those hands.
00:45:12
Speaker
And do you have any yarn that I cannot because we're doing both for you. Yes. So now that we've talked about traditions, let's talk about dual correspondences. So colors for you are going to be gold, green, red, white, and silver. Crystals will be bloodstone, clear quartz, diamond, emerald, garnet, and ruby. And since an oils are going to be cedar, cinnamon, clove,
00:45:37
Speaker
Frankincense, juniper, myrrh, orange, pine, ginger, and winter green. Plants and herbs will be bay laurel, bayberry, calendula, sunflowers, wild gensing, wormwood, west thistle, chamomile, cinnamon, clove, evergreen trees, holly, ivy, juniper, mistletoe, oak leaves, pine, pine cones, poinsettias, rosemary, sage, and winter green. So many.
00:46:07
Speaker
So many plants and herbs. Your foods will be things like cinnamon cakes or cookies or cinnamon, really, and anything. Caroulet, dried fruits and nuts, gender bread, roasted meats, especially pork dishes, spiced meats, roasted apples. Your drinks will be spiced apple cider, eggnog, mulled wine, wasl, wasail, however you say it. Warming drinks like gender tea.
00:46:35
Speaker
Goddesses will be Aphrodite, Brigid, Demeter, Fortuna, Gaia, Hel, Paul, Ishtar, Isis, and Persephone. Your gods will be Loki, Apollo, Addis, Baldr, Baucus, Cronus, Dionysus, the Green Man, Helios, Lew, the Oak King, Odin, Ra, Saturn, and Sol.
00:46:59
Speaker
Your animals are bears, deer, owl, reindeer, obviously, snow geese, squirrels, stags, wrens, and ravens. Magic should be centered around happiness, hope, love, peace, strength, world healing, and world peace. So symbolism is hope after darkness. The return of the sun reads the yuletree and or the true love. Some ways that you can celebrate, you could make an evergreen wreath.
00:47:30
Speaker
Making a wreath of evergreens represents everlasting life, protection, and prosperity. And some examples of what you could use would be like, you is associated with eternity and reincarnation. Polly and Ivy are used to ward off negative energy. Pine is healing. Mistletoe is thought to bring fertility and abundance.
00:47:52
Speaker
Yeah. And it's recommended to collect fallen branches for your wreath. And you can even just collect them and make them into like little bouquets around your house, like, or put it by like windows and stuff, or even just picking out your own Christmas tree. Like say if you are that type of person that you're never just going to make a wreath. Like you just know that about yourself. Um, even just going and picking out your own Christmas tree is a great idea to incorporate some evergreen into your home.
00:48:20
Speaker
for those that can't see because obviously we don't post videos ever. I am that person. I am not going to craft it. I am not a crafty person in that kind of way. So I will go get my own Christmas tree. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like anything that's like super messy, I'm like, man, I don't know. I'll just do the easiest version because I'm lazy. So I might be a collected in bundles type of person and put them strategically through my house.
00:48:49
Speaker
um or to like take some and put them inside my fake Christmas tree you know well you can also now like today a lot of um not florist but like plant shops you can get the like garland live tree version that you can
00:49:06
Speaker
put on your mantle or hang over your door or around your windows. So like we're lucky that we live in a day and age where like if you're like me and you are not a crafty person and crafts are like it's like Pinterest fail central in my house if I try to do these kinds of things.
00:49:22
Speaker
We live in a time where you can just get that already done. Yeah. It is the one nice thing. It really is. And then just like other members of the Evergreen family that have the same prosperity and protection correspondences are for Juniper and Cedar. So any of that, if you have that near you, great for the same sort of prosperity and protection as well.
00:49:49
Speaker
You can make your own you'll log, so this can go two ways, as I discussed before. Like you can either decorate an oak log with things like pine cones dried berries or fruits cinnamon sticks holly mistletoe again just looking.
What are the Rituals and Traditions of Yule?
00:50:06
Speaker
In like making sure these things are safe to be burned you don't want to burn things are not safe for you to breathe in.
00:50:13
Speaker
But decorate your own and then put it in your fireplace or your bonfire if you don't have a fireplace while it burns. Reflect on your year and release the past while vanishing old and negative energy that you no longer want in your life. Just spend some time welcoming back the sun and celebrating.
00:50:32
Speaker
that the days are going to start getting longer. You can even use something symbolic again if you don't live somewhere where it's like safe to burn or you don't have like access to a fireplace or a bonfire. Use a candle. Netflix has like that fireplace in your home and Disney Plus has one that's like
00:50:50
Speaker
I want to say it's frozen themed. They have like Olaf's fireplace or something is what they call it. Oh cute. Yeah, but you can put this on the TV and use it as a symbolism for fire while you, you know, reflect on your year, release your past. Or you can make the dessert that symbolizes the Yule Log that I cannot say. The Bush to Newell.
00:51:14
Speaker
It's delicious. It takes, I mean, it's a little bit of effort, but it's worth every second. Yeah. And I mean, like it, like Sam said, it takes time and it's, there's a lot of effort, but use that time to like reflect on your year and release things and put your intention into the dessert that you're about to, you know, consume and probably do so with family and friends. Yeah. That's an amazing way to put it.
00:51:39
Speaker
And then as always, you can decorate your altar with some of the correspondences that Tiffany mentioned earlier. And this would be a great time to learn about some of the deities associated with Yule and those connected to your path. So set out offerings for them and learn about the traditions of your ancestors and just incorporate that all into your home and altar and just make it nice and Yulely.
00:52:06
Speaker
Um, so you'll also using gold as in like the color, you know, gold is often tied to you'll and it's one of those color correspondences that Tiffany mentioned
00:52:19
Speaker
But if your tradition celebrates the sun and its return as part of its Yule celebrations, adding gold throughout your home decor and altar, or even just adding some pictures or drawings of a sun to your altar or hanging throughout your home is a small way to celebrate. And it's kind of a cute way to, like just having a little sun, like dream catchers and stuff throughout your home is adorable. So.
00:52:45
Speaker
You can have a feast, which is, I feel like everybody has like a Christmas dinner. So like, especially if you're in the broom closet and you're not like out in the open about your practice, this would not seem out of the ordinary for you to do. So historically feasting has always been part of Yule and Winter Solstice traditions. It's a time to connect with friends and family and your neighbors while sharing the meal.
00:53:11
Speaker
And when preparing the meal, you can try to incorporate some of the correspondences for you all and some of the seasonal availabilities for this time of year. You can also use this time to exchange gifts with loved ones. We've, you know, talked about the gift exchange portion a few times already. Making the whistle or wassail pack. So again, just thinking about your intentions for the coming year.
00:53:36
Speaker
with a toast of wasl and make a pact with those close to you to work towards those intentions and those goals. An alternative to this would be to light a candle and speak your intentions out loud and spend time meditating and thinking of those intentions while the candle burns down.
00:53:55
Speaker
Visualize your intentions and goals coming true and what that would look like in your future. You can take this a step further by also writing down the steps that you'll need to take to make this a reality. And since this is a time of release, you can also spend some time decluttering your space, clean your home both physically and energetically.
00:54:17
Speaker
And a great way to incorporate some correspondences would be to use like the pine needles and mistletoe and your cleansing ritual.
Year-End Reflections and Listener Gratitude
00:54:26
Speaker
Yeah. And then even just adding some of the herbs that Tiffany mentioned earlier into like your pillow cases or anything like that can help with purification, protection, and relaxation. You can also go caroling or a wassling, which
00:54:43
Speaker
Again, I feel like this should be a thing. I feel like we need to bring this back. I would like to go to your house. We should just go around my neighborhood and see if anyone will give us treats. Yeah. They'll be like, call the police. These women are nervous. Weirdos out there.
00:55:05
Speaker
You can have a bonfire, just spend some time out in nature or do something that again if you're in the room closet and you know you're not out and open about your craft, do something like baking cookies or other sweets using some of those correspondences like cinnamon, you can make gingerbread, you know.
00:55:26
Speaker
Those kinds of things don't look out of the ordinary to someone who's not part of the craft. Yeah, and you can even do it as like a gift-giving situation as well. Which we do. I brought you cookies last year. You did, and they were a bomb. I ate them all. Drove them all the way to Oklahoma. Yeah, and I ate them all before I went to Italy. I shared them with
00:55:52
Speaker
No one. Actually, I take that back. I did share them with Kristen, my friend, her daughter. She really liked the cookies too. So we ate them together. So those are just some easy things that you can do to celebrate. And again, throwing in a couple of things for someone who might still be in the closet. But yeah, that's our Yule episode. In our last, like a podcast episode for the year, that's not a super fast episode.
00:56:22
Speaker
Yes, yeah. Man, this year has really just flew by. Right. I can't believe this is episode 40. I was just about to say that, and I can't believe that we have recorded 40 episodes for this podcast. I loved every minute of it. Me too, but it will be back in January. We hope you guys all have a blessed yule.
00:56:47
Speaker
definitely tag us in any Yule celebrations that you do because we'd love to see it. And don't be a stranger this next month because we will miss you, but we'll also be traveling, moving across the world and preparing some awesome stuff for you guys. And hopefully recharging your social batteries at some point in time. Yes. And not sounding like we used to make cigarettes for 80 years. Yeah.
00:57:16
Speaker
I feel better than ever. Scratchier and scratchier as time goes by. Oh no. So you don't have a male voice. You'll make another hot toddy. Yes. And then when Anthony gets home, you'll be like. No, by then I'll probably be like four or five hot toddies and I'll feel like I'm just falling everywhere.
00:57:49
Speaker
That's it for this episode of Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft. You can find our source material for this episode linked in the show notes. If you love this episode, we would be forever thankful if you leave us a five-star review on wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you really love the show and want more Get In Loser content,
00:58:05
Speaker
Check out our Supercast link provided in the show notes or search the Supercast website for Getting Loser We're Doing Witchcraft. There you can purchase a membership to our podcast and obtain exclusives like getting episodes early, shoutouts on the show, access to our Ask Me Anything forum, our monthly newsletter, a promo code for merchandise, and more.
00:58:25
Speaker
You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at Get In Witches or email us at we'redoingwitchcraft.gmail.com. Check us out on January 2nd where we will be back to discuss the elements. Until then, Blessed Be Witches!