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Ep 1: Yule
930 Plays1 year ago
Oz and Kierra get into the holiday spirit in Hearth of Wyrd's FIRST OFFICIAL EPISODE! We discuss all things YULE: historical attestations, some mildly concerning folklore traditions, and our own family traditions.
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Transcript
Introduction to Heathenry and Yule Traditions
00:00:04
Speaker
You're listening to the Hearth of Weird podcast. Where we discuss heathenry, lore, and legend. And the modern take on an ancient practice. I don't know how to sound natural now. Now I'm overthinking it. Okay. Hello. Thank you for listening to the Hearth of Weird podcast. Today's episode is on the historical and modern traditions of Yule.
00:00:34
Speaker
That was a very good intro. You sounded very professional. Thank you. Should you tell the people who you are? My name is Oz. My name is Kira. Welcome to Heathens After Dark. No, no, I don't think that's it. Hearth of Weird podcast, where we talk about all things heathenry, including lore, practice, and the unsolicited viewpoints from two opinionated assholes.
00:01:04
Speaker
Absolutely. I think that sums it up pretty well. It does. Okay. Well, let's get into it then. What's been going on with you?
Controversies in Modern Heathen Practices
00:01:14
Speaker
What kind of bullshittery have you been witnessing? Oh, the bullshittery abounds this week. Yeah, I've been having a really great time watching people on various social media platforms talk shit about heathens that practice things that include any kind of modern practice whatsoever.
00:01:34
Speaker
way. Okay, okay, you're gonna need to get into this deeper with me because I don't understand what how they could have that stance. Oh, well, apparently the concepts of frith and weird are not Norse concepts, apparently. Okay. All right. And so believing in those things, even though they are attested to, perhaps under different words, like conceptually, they are historically attested to.
00:02:02
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, apparently that makes you not actually a heathen. Oh my god, I fucking hate it here. And the idea, of course, that anyone who's practicing heathenry today is in some way not a neo-pagan, which is interesting to me because all modern recreations of ancient religions is neo. I hate everything. Okay, so what does their heathen practice look like then? I'm assuming that they just live in a mud puddle in the woods.
00:02:31
Speaker
I'm sorry, but insulation is not heathenry. Oh, I agree. Yeah. I agree. That's why my entire house is not insulated. Central air is not heathenry. I'm sorry, having a home with an asphalt roof, that's not heathenry. You're right. You're a poser. You're a poser now. Absolutely. I have to give away all of my things. Yeah, no, I will take creature comfort to be a poser all day long.
00:02:53
Speaker
Okay, so who was even saying that? Is it making the rounds? Are people talking about it? Or is it just something that you stumbled across? Oh, no, this is just things that I've been finding. It's a lot on TikTok. There's a lot on TikTok. TikTok is a great source of ire for me. You know what's even a greater source of ire for me is Facebook, which is why I'm not a part of literally any heathen Facebook groups because I cannot stand it. I cannot stand it.
00:03:20
Speaker
I only have a Facebook so that I can look at pictures of deceased by numbers, otherwise I don't use it at all. It's bad. It's so bad out there.
Humorous Musings on Odin
00:03:29
Speaker
In my week of bullshittery, there was a very important argument brought up. Is Odin winking or blinking? I... Maybe I'm the asshole because neither.
00:03:49
Speaker
What, you just stares? He only has one eye. Yeah, I know. So is it winking or blinking? It's blinking. I don't know. Odin seems like a sassy little guy. So I think he winks a lot. But here's what I decided. When he's winking, it's accompanied with a click sound with his mouth. Yeah, otherwise it's just blinking. Like don't, you know what I mean? But he's got to be a winky guy. He has to.
00:04:19
Speaker
I think he is a winky guy. He's kind of a rogue. He's skeevy. There's that too. But he's got it. Like, you know, he's got to look at the ladies and all the time he has to. But he's just the one eye. I'm just picturing like this wizard and big rogues. Like, I don't know why I picture Odin as like a Gandalf type. But I do. I mean, yeah, that makes sense. A one eyed Gandalf. Yeah, with daddy issues.
00:04:47
Speaker
Oh, oh no. Oh, that's fucking funny. Okay, that was really all of the bullshittery for me. I loved that topic. I'm glad that I missed the weird and frisk not being heathen.
Historical Yule Celebrations and Calculations
00:05:03
Speaker
Because like to me, those things are like core concepts in heathenry. Well, enough with the bullshittery. Do you think we should get to the fucking meat and potatoes of our episode now? I do love potatoes. You do?
00:05:16
Speaker
Uh, how do you like them? In my mouth. I can't. I would have sworn that you were going to do the boil of mash them, stick them in a stew type thing, but I do love your answer even more. It's the best answer I could come up with at the time. Absolutely it is. All right. Well, yeah. So let's get into it. Shall we? That's your line. Yeah. I'm so glad you asked. Let's get into it.
00:05:47
Speaker
Fantastic. Okay, where do you want to start? You want to start with like the history of Yule? Yeah, do you want to just go back and forth source for source? We can do that. Yeah, we can absolutely do that. If there's something that either one of us misses, I'm sure that we'll catch it. But I think that the I think that a lot of people struggle because there are so many different ways of celebrating Yule, even like historically attested celebrations of Yule.
00:06:16
Speaker
There's the three day, there's the 12 day, there's the two month that you just mentioned that I had never heard of before that we'll get into. But I will say that traditionally, for the most part, as far as I understand it, that Yule was a three day thing. And it's only one of three official and historically attested to heathen holidays. Right. If you want to celebrate Yule,
00:06:45
Speaker
on the official Yule days, it's a really simple, it's a really simple thing. You just have to calculate it. And it's the, what was it? The first full moon after the new moon following the winter solstice. So that's super easy. Right. I'm sure that you've got those dates just right off the top of your head for this coming Yule.
00:07:08
Speaker
Oh, all the time. I don't even know when those dates are, actually. The first full moon after the first new moon after the winter solstice. So the winter solstice is generally the 21st, right? Yes. So then, yeah, I don't know. It's sometime in January, I'm sure. Yeah, sometime in January. And it's interesting to me because I do think that a lot of people think that the
00:07:38
Speaker
like historically, Yule was celebrated on the winter solstice, and we're finding that that's not true. That the winter solstice wasn't really a thing for the arch heathens. But I mean, personally, I think that celebrating around the winter solstice is still a valid practice, just because I feel like it's in alignment with the energy of the rest of the Western world in the Northern Hemisphere.
00:08:03
Speaker
Right, right. I think there's a lot to be said too about it being specifically a Northern Hemisphere practice because people aren't celebrating winter in July here. Here, right. In the Southern Hemisphere, of course they are, so. Right. And that's kind of speaking to the idea that there can't be Norse pagans all around the world, like of course there can, you know. 100%. For them to celebrate mid-winter in the middle of their summer because they have to align with the Northern Hemisphere dates is just absurd.
00:08:33
Speaker
Do you feel that people that live in the Southern Hemisphere should celebrate Yule during winter? I feel like they should, but I don't know. I agree, actually. I agree with that. Because it is about the natural season. It's not about a date on a calendar. Right. OK. OK. Well, we're on the same page then. All right. Well, that's fine. All right. What historical sources should we dig into here?
00:09:02
Speaker
I've got a good one from Benjamin Thorpe. Okay, which one is that one? In Thorpe's Northern Mythology, Volume 2, pages 49 and 50, this is a very small excerpt that just basically states that Yule existed. Oh, excellent. Fantastic. Okay, let's have it.
00:09:25
Speaker
Okay, so many Christmas customs and pastimes derive their origin from the sacrifices, which in the days of heathenism were appointed in order to render the gods propitious, which is giving or indicating a good chance of success or some kind of favorable light upon these people. Propitious, I like that. You'll have to forgive the language. Benjamin Thorpe lived in the 1800s, so. I will not forgive that.
00:09:56
Speaker
I like that, though. Propitious. Propitious. The sacrifices consecrated to Odin, which sometimes consisted of human beings, were celebrated with games and dancing. In gothland, as he puts it, where most memorials of Odin are to be met with, a game still exists in some places which represents such a sacrificial dance. It is performed amid many nimble springs and changes of motion by young men disguised with their faces blackened or colored.
00:10:28
Speaker
That's... okay. Well, some practices are best left in the past. Some practices are. Yeah, I agree. One of these represents the victim.
00:10:38
Speaker
Everything required for the sacrifice is brought forth, which is apparently carried into effect to the sound of music or of song. Sometimes the person selected as the victim sits clad in skin, naked, on a stool. Holding a wisp of straw in his mouth, which cut sharp at the ends and standing out from his ears, is intended to resemble a swine's bristles. Oh. Yeah, like ghoul and bursty, phrase bore. All right, I dig it.
00:11:08
Speaker
He is thus supposed to represent the sacrifice made at Yule to fray and which consisted of a hog. In many places, a loaf or cake is baked, which is called the Yule hog or Yule galt and is kept until the spring when it is given to the cattle with which the labors of spring are to be executed. I love that. That's cool. Yeah.
00:11:32
Speaker
I feel bad for the naked dude on the stool, like the human hog for the celebration. I wonder how they picked that one out. Yeah. Would you volunteer to be the human hog? No, but I think I'd be a good human hog selector. Oh no. I don't even know if I want to know the parameters by which you would judge the best human hog.
00:11:55
Speaker
Oh, no, those are top secret. Okay. That's probably for the best. We don't want to get canceled our first episode. I don't think. Right. We will. We will. No. Okay, so I've got some stuff from the Englinga saga and Hamscringla. Ooh.
00:12:15
Speaker
Okay, and this is just the attestations for the three official holidays. Literally the only thing that states what the three official heathen holidays are, right? So it's in section eight, Odin's law giving. On winter day, there should be blood sacrifice for a good year, yule. And in the middle of winter for a good crop, winter nights. And the third sacrifice should be on summer day for victory and battle, battle, seagrbloat.
00:12:44
Speaker
That's it. Baddler. Huh? Baddler. Baddler. Baddler? Why? I mean, this really speaks to like the very small amount of historical attestation that we actually have toward heathen holidays, which is really interesting.
Pagan and Christian Traditions: A Continuity Debate
00:13:02
Speaker
Well, and that's why I'm always just like, and we'll do a full episode on heathen holidays. But what you should know is that the Norse Wheel of the Year
00:13:11
Speaker
Number one is created by some real questionable characters, do your research. But also most of it is Wiccan influenced. Like those aren't heathen holidays. Those are Wiccan holidays with a Mjolnir thrown on them. Yeah, absolutely. Like Beltane in bulk. Yeah, none of those are ours. Well, it's it's totally valid to celebrate the turning of the seasons, like and to be in tune with nature and to do the things but just know that that's not historically how it was done. Absolutely.
00:13:40
Speaker
Um, okay. And then in Hamescringola, the saga of Hock and the Good, section 15, it says the following, the first night of Yule was hokunote. I'm gonna, that is terrible. Listen, if we have any non-American listeners, like they are probably shutting the podcast off right now because of my pronunciation of these words.
00:14:00
Speaker
I'm going to fall prey to that, too. It's fine. OK. OK. We're Americans with American mouths. OK. That is Midwinter Night, and Yule was held for three nights. Hang Screen with Saga, Magnus the Blind, chapter six, Yule was kept holy for only three days when no work was done. Hakon the Good, his saga is all about Hakon, of course, like generating and propagating Christianity in Scandinavia.
00:14:29
Speaker
And I think that that really speaks to it as well, because the idea of like not doing work kind of like a Sabbath is not a heathen practice in general, but it is in a lot of Abrahamic faiths. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point. In your notes, were there other things that you wanted to talk about as far as historical yule things? I can't remember.
00:15:00
Speaker
Well, so Dr. Andreas E. Sautner, and I probably butchered that name really poorly, he states in one of his books that the lunar solar calendar of the Germanic peoples reconstruction of a bound moon calendar from ancient medieval and early modern sources, it's chapter 10,
00:15:22
Speaker
It is a common misinterpretation to think that it happened mid-winter on the winter solstice, as you kind of mentioned earlier. According to the prim staff, the winter feast was celebrated in the so-called Hakunot on January 12th.
00:15:37
Speaker
This, excuse me, it has been a calendar fixed date in the middle of the Julian month. Applying a lunar calendar, this is the full moon date, also in accord with the Yul moon and disting rules, this time in the first lunar moon of the year, beginning after the solstice. It's kind of an attestation about when Yul would have been the first full moon after the first new moon after the winter solstice.
00:16:06
Speaker
Super easy. Super easy. So January 12th is a good estimate then, according to Dr. Andreas Sautner. Okay. There is also a historical attestation for the gift-giving aspect of Yule. Let's go! Okay. So in Eggil's saga, chapter 70, Eren Bjorn held a great Yule feast to which he bade his friends and the neighboring landowners.
00:16:35
Speaker
There was there much company and good cheer. Aaron Bjorn gave Eggl as a yule gift, a trailing robe made of silk and richly broidered with gold, studded with gold buttons in front all down to the hem. Aaron Bjorn had the robe made to fit Eggl's stature. Aaron Bjorn also gave to Eggl at yule a complete suit newly made. It was cut of English cloth of many colors.
00:17:01
Speaker
Friendly gifts of many kinds gave Aaron Bjorn at Yule to those who were his guests, for Aaron Bjorn was beyond all men open-handed and noble. I love that. I love that. And I'm glad that you brought that up. Because, and this is another thing, the gift-giving process has always been a cornerstone of heathen practice.
00:17:24
Speaker
And when I say heathen practice back then, it was just what was done. It wasn't considered heathenry. It was just how you fucking lived, right? And so to see where that started and how it has always continued, we also need to keep in mind that it wasn't just a Yule tradition. It was an every special occasion tradition, you know, and it was a cultural tradition. When I'm looking at, you know,
00:17:50
Speaker
modern pagans, I'm gonna go on a rant, okay. Modern heathens are so quick to get that little gotcha in when it comes to Christmas celebrations. And it's like, you stole the tree, you stole the gift giving, you stole the this, you stole the that, the mistletoe, the blah, blah, and they're like, Christian stole that from us. And I'm like, no, no. What happened was, we already had these traditions culturally in these geographical regions,
00:18:20
Speaker
And when we converted to Christianity, those cultures survived or that tradition survived. It's not a matter of Christians stealing anything. It's just, that's what the people did. And while it did later become something that was like, oh, this is now part of our tradition too. It wasn't necessarily like thieving. The origins may have been lost until now when everybody's like,
00:18:49
Speaker
Do you know where that started? Do you know how the Christmas tree started? Do you know why people give gifts? Do you know, you know, and get into the origin story of these traditions, but it wasn't theft. Of course not. When people bring up the theft of pagan traditions in favor of Christianity's Christmas, I like to cite that the Romans practiced Saturnalia long before heathens practiced Yule, at least that we have record of.
00:19:17
Speaker
And Saturnalia is Christmas. Like, if you look at Saturnalia, the entire practice of Saturnalia is Christmas. Right. There are so many things. Well, it's like, how can you, when you're looking at lights and fires and using the natural things around you, like trees and logs and branches and mistletoe and all the things to decorate, right? That's just what you do for party time. Yeah. You know? And so, anyway, I'm so glad that you brought that up.
00:19:46
Speaker
But yeah, I don't want to hear the gacha moment. I love that it's like the gift giving was a piece of that, yes. I like seeing the origin and I like that we're bringing up the origin story again because of the fucking war on Christmas or whatever. It's kind of like, okay, the war is kind of self-inflicted because all of these practices predate Christianity, you know? But it's not like, ha, stupid Christians. Like, I hate that. I hate that.
00:20:14
Speaker
Yeah. Like, they have just as much right to the traditions as we do. You know, because it's a cultural thing. Right. It's not a religious thing. Their meaning behind their celebration, the reason they celebrate, sure, that's a religious aspect. But when it comes to the actual, like, traditions, it's not anything to do with the religion. Right. Okay. Secular people practice Christmas. They do. They absolutely do.
00:20:44
Speaker
Um, okay. So speaking of the practices that were happening in Yule, I did find a excerpt here from the lay of Helgi, the son of Hjorvard, chapter four. And this kind of goes into, it's just a, it's a good look at what was actually done traditionally during those three days. And again, this is just one account, so grain of salt and all that. Um, it says,
00:21:12
Speaker
Heathen was at home with his father, King Hjorvarth, in Norway. Heathen was coming home alone from the forest when you will leave and found a troll woman. She rode on a wolf and had snakes in place of a bridle. She asked Heathen for his company. Nay, said he. She said, thou shalt pay for this at the king's toast. That evening, the great vows were taken. The sacred boar was brought in. The men laid their hands thereon and took their vows at the king's toast.
00:21:38
Speaker
heathen bowed that he would have Svava, Emlumi's daughter, the beloved of his brother Helgi. Then such great grief seized him that he went forth on wild paths southward over the land and found Helgi, his brother." So in the old traditions, the Yule feast marking the new year was a great event in the heathen north. And you're kind of seeing that with the sacred boar, the vows that were taken.
00:22:02
Speaker
which some people believe to be the origin of New Year's resolutions. I don't know. I forgot as well. Yeah. But also, there's a lot of the ghosts and witches like this troll woman showing up. You see that a lot in these old tales around Yule that there's all these like spooky critters and like things of the night and things of evil like showing up and spooking around. And that kind of gets into like more of the bulk traditions that we'll get into.
00:22:33
Speaker
But yeah, I liked the look though of, you know, what kind of rights were performed in that story at least. I know that there's other ones. Totally. I've heard the same kind of thing too about like laying hands on the board and making your oaths upon it. Yeah, that's really interesting. Okay. Any other things in our historical section of this episode? I think we should talk about the wild hunt.
00:23:02
Speaker
Yeah. You want to get into some folk traditions? Totally. Okay.
The Wild Hunt and Its Evolution
00:23:06
Speaker
Okay. I like that a lot of people talk about the Wild Hunt, but they don't actually like know. They talk about it, but they don't be about it. Right. Right. But I mean, it's because there's not a lot of things written about it. I did find a little excerpt, and I know you have one too. Yeah. Mine is from
00:23:27
Speaker
the Encyclopedia of Norse and Germanic Folklore, Mythology, and Magic by Claude Lickato, who is one of my favorite authors. He also wrote the tradition of household spirits, which I also highly recommend to everybody. A lot of his work is kind of dry, but it's very well researched.
00:23:46
Speaker
So it's always worth a read to me. Okay. Do you want me to read what he had here? Absolutely. Okay. It's going to be an abridged version because there's things that I don't care to get into, such as the Greek and Roman practices. Okay. All right. In all the Germanic countries, this phenomenon bears the name of the army or hunt of Woden, Odin, and so on.
00:24:10
Speaker
In France, it has close to 40 different names, depending on the region. The Wild Hunt refers to a retinue of the dead led by a one-eyed giant that appears during the 12 days of the Christmas tide. Also referred to in Germany as the 12 Nights, or Raunacht. I don't know how to speak German.
00:24:30
Speaker
It has also been interpreted as a personification of storms, but this is not the original meaning. It is more likely to be a reflex of a cult of the dead. The 12 days, 12 nights represent a key period when the deceased can return and the gateway to the other world is open.
00:24:46
Speaker
The church interpreted these troops of the dead as those of the damned and integrated the wild hunt into the great cycle of the punishment of sin. The members of the band are then children who died unbaptized, suicides, murder victims, murderers, adulterers, those who disrupted a holy service, and those who broke their fast during Lent, which I'm having a hard time
00:25:14
Speaker
with murderers running around with babies who weren't baptized. They're all in the same group of sinners. Their victims are all in the same group. How? Yeah, I can't imagine just being murdered and then all of a sudden being a member of the Wild Hunt. That doesn't seem fair. The dude who just snacking and he broke his fast. Right. He's running around with the murderers.
00:25:42
Speaker
Yeah, anyway, whoever finds himself in the path of the Wild Hunt risks being carried off, which just barely failed to happen to 16th century French poet, Pierre de Ronsard, if we can believe his hymn de demons, or hymn of the demons. The first written account of the Wild Hunt dates from 1092 and is found in Orderick Vitalis' chronicle, Historica Ecclesiastica. Accounts began to multiply starting around 1170,
00:26:09
Speaker
This extremely popular mythic theme was gradually enriched with meaningful details. A cart became a part of the troop, as did various animals." I think it's funny. I love that though, because then we can see also these traditions were just adopted by the church. It's just like, oh yeah, the wild hunt, spooky Odin and his ghost people. Those are unbaptized babies. What the hell?
00:26:40
Speaker
I think it's also really interesting how all of these different cultures share pieces of their history and beliefs because it's not just a Norse belief. It's not just a Germanic belief. It was also French. It was also Balkan and Slavic. I mean, these things go all over the place. The Grimm Brothers wrote about the Wild Hunt. Yes. I have an excerpt from Benjamin Thorpe. Let's do it. In Thorpe's Northern Mythology, volume two, page 83.
00:27:10
Speaker
In Scania, the sounds like voices that are at times heard in the air in November and December are by the common people called Odin's hunt. Grimm also connects the wild hunt with Odin, the tradition of which is current over almost all Germany. In the course of time after the introduction of Christianity, the pagan deity degenerated into a wild hunter regarding whom almost every place where he is said to ride its tradition.
00:27:38
Speaker
And of course, this was written in 1850. So bear that in mind. I love that. I think it's spooky. I kind of love it. Somewhere, and I don't have the source for this, but somewhere, it was said that the myth of the wild hunt or the story, the legend, that's a better story, the word, the legend of the wild hunt was created because during this time of year, there's a migration of these giant fucking crane birds
00:28:08
Speaker
that make a whole ruckus and like the sound of their flapping wings is very intense and the noises they make and they fly at night. Interesting. So like that's where they think that the like superstition came in around that time of year. But yeah, it's not sourced. So I trust me, bro. Trust me, bro. Yeah. Okay, so some other folklore that I love.
00:28:36
Speaker
And Iceland actually has a lot of like the weird spooky folklore around you all, which makes me so happy.
Icelandic Folklore and Yule Characters
00:28:44
Speaker
So we have Grilla, who is an ogress with an appetite for the flesh of mischievous children, who she cooks in a large pot. Her husband, Lepaluthi, is lazy and just stays at home in the cave. So I mean, that's pretty typical.
00:29:00
Speaker
of troll husbands. Then there's the Yule Lads. And these are 13 mischievous pranksters who steal from or harass the population. And they all have descriptive names that convey their favorite way of harassing. And I actually just had that pulled up. Where did I put it? Are you ready for the names of these Yule Lads? Lay it on me. Okay, we have Sheepcoat Claude.
00:29:31
Speaker
who bullies sheep. He is impaired by his stiff peg legs. We have gully gawk who hides in gullies waiting for an opportunity to sneak into the cow shed and steal milk. We have stubby who steals goats. Oh wait, steals? Hold on.
00:29:55
Speaker
Yeah, so we have Stubby. He's short and he steals food from frying pans. So he's like the short chubby one. Oh, no. We have Spoonlicker who licks spoons, which may be the most egregious of the crimes committed here. We have Potscraper. He steals unwashed pots and licks them clean, which honestly, I find that to be helpful. Yeah.
00:30:21
Speaker
um, bowl licker. He steals bowls of food from under the bed, which I guess that, uh, people used to store food under the bed? That's upsetting. Food around the bed at any time is upsetting to me, so... No, bed snacks are great. You're wrong. No! Um, well, you better watch out, because bowl licker is going to come steal your Ritz crackers and peanut butter. I don't keep them in bowls.
00:30:50
Speaker
We have Door Slammer, who stomps around in Slam's doors, keeping everyone awake, which is just rude. We have Skir Gobbler. He eats up all the Icelandic yogurt, which is called Skir. And I don't know if you've tried it, but it's gross. I have, and it is disgusting. So he can have all of that, I feel. Yeah, sorry for all the Icelandic people that are horrifically offended right now. We have Sausage Swiper. He loves stolen sausages.
00:31:22
Speaker
I got lots to say, but I'm gonna give it to myself. We have window peeper. Oh, no. He likes to creep outside windows and sometimes steal the stuff he sees inside. Pervert. He's a big old pervert. We have door sniffer, which just gives me the strangest visual image. He has a huge nose and an insatiable appetite for stolen baked goods.
00:31:52
Speaker
Uh, then we have Meat Hook, who snatches up any meat left out, especially smoked lamb. And then the last one here is Candle Beggar, which he steals candles, which used to be sought after items in Iceland. And now it's just going to upset some new age, witchy type ladies. Oh, no. Uh,
00:32:20
Speaker
So there's that. Oh, and then there's also, of course, the Yule Cat. Have you heard about the Yule Cat? No. Okay, the Yule Cat is a huge and vicious cat who lurks about the snowy countryside during Christmas time and eats people who have not received any new clothes for Christmas. Oh, that's rude. What is that? What?
00:32:48
Speaker
That's very specific. It's like, oh, you're too poor to afford clothing. Gonna eat you. I'm gonna eat you. Yeah. Don't eat the rich. Let's eat the poor. That seems like a bad policy. I agree. I really do. Like that's some fucked up traditions. Not I'm not trying to like hate on some, you know, sacred cultural traditions or anything, but
00:33:14
Speaker
No. Now I'm gonna have to make sure that I buy everyone I care about clothes. Yeah, earls are in danger. From the Yule Cat. This is a first world problem. It really is. That's really the only like folk traditions that I found that stuck out to me specifically.
00:33:34
Speaker
I mean, there's a lot of really weird things around this time of year. Like I, I don't have a source for it. So it's just trust me, bro. But one of them was like, don't leave your panties on the ground because the house trolls will take them. Um, naughty, naughty, naughty. Yeah. Oh, what's the one that you'll add? It's like put candy in your shoes or they're gonna fill your shoes with rotten potatoes. Oh,
00:34:04
Speaker
So there's that. What's with all these first real, I don't, we have to spend so much money around this time of year already and to have to add more money to appease trolls and shit. I know. And see, this is it. This is where the capitalist traditions of Christmas began. That's a valid take. That's a valid take. Like you've always had to spend extra money and make extra food and buy extra clothing. Otherwise your kid's going to get eaten by a cat.
00:34:33
Speaker
or have rotten potatoes in your fricking shoes, which is just inconvenient. Nobody wants any of that. No, no. Okay.
Blending Personal Traditions into Yule
00:34:41
Speaker
So we talked about the historical aspects of yule and some folk traditions. What are your traditions? Because I think that that's something that a lot of heathens want to know, especially if they're newer to the practice. Like what do you do for yule? And also I kind of wanted to get into it because we both have kids.
00:35:00
Speaker
you know, and like, so I wanted to talk about how we involve our kids or our family in those traditions. Totally. Totally. So my, basically my entire Yule practice came from a group of people that used to be called Huygens Hievenhof, which unfortunately are no longer around. It's so sad. I loved that website. It was so good. There's, I have some mixed feelings about it because a lot of it could be very Wiccan in origin, but
00:35:29
Speaker
I like a lot of the things that I found on Heathenhof, a lot of their practices, because they just seem very, I don't know, very on the nose. And so while I've taken all of my yield tradition from the Heathenhof website, I have kind of tailored it for me and my family.
00:35:44
Speaker
Perfect. I love that. Also, I feel like any time that you're getting into a reconstructionist faith or path or religion, whatever you want to call it, there's going to be aspects of other practices in it. It's just how that goes. Oh, yeah. I agree. We don't have all of the pieces, and I cannot do a full sacrificial boar for three days. That doesn't fit my lifestyle.
00:36:10
Speaker
So I've got to come up. I do live in the suburbs. I think my neighbors would be really concerned. But like, so we do have to tailor it. We don't have to alter it a little bit. And there's nothing wrong with that at all. In fact, like my family, we, we still celebrate Christmas. We're heathen and we call it Yule. We do the 12 days of Yule, but we still celebrate on Christmas Day.
00:36:34
Speaker
But yeah, okay, sorry, I did not mean to interrupt you. Get into your... Yeah, that's okay. Okay. My family does the same thing, essentially. I do 12 days of Yule. And then because I'm married into a family that is not a heathen family, they also do Christmas. And so we do that too. I think that's fine. Yeah. So 1220 is when I start. That's my first night of Yule. That one I refer to, most people refer to as Mother's Night.
00:37:04
Speaker
That's dedicated to Frigg and her handmaidens in the DC'er, even though there's also disting and a few other, like, decent bloat. I also include the DC'er in there. I do a little prayer to Frigg and her handmaidens.
00:37:19
Speaker
And then I would try to make a dinner that's kind of traditional to my family. Unfortunately, I don't have any of those, so I just make up my own. Like this year, I'll probably do something like yakisoba because it's delicious. The traditional dish of yakisoba for you. I love it so much. You know, we put out a plate portion.
00:37:38
Speaker
of our meal for the DC'er and for Frigg and for Frigg's Handmaidens. And then we actually have this little game that we play, where after we write down the names of all of Frigg's Handmaidens, and then we put them into a hat or a jar. And then we each take turns pulling one of those names out. And then the characteristics of these handmaidens and body is then what we would focus on for the next year. Oh, that's cool. I love that. Yeah.
00:38:07
Speaker
I think I might borrow that from you because I like that idea a lot. Do it. It's great. The next day, 1221, I follow along the Heath and Hoff schedule and I go with Sol and Mani. So we do a prayer before the sun comes up because this is the longest day of the year. And so this is the day when Sol needs our help the most. So I light a fire before the sun comes up.
00:38:33
Speaker
to try and help energetically fuel her journey across the sky. I love that. Longest day of the year. I love that. That's so great. This is also the day that I start my Yule log. And then I save those ashes for the last day of Yule. Amazing. Okay. The 22nd I do for Frey and the Ulfar, the elves, you know, that we do a little
00:38:59
Speaker
prayer and then cook pork in honor of Frey that evening there. And we just enjoy discussing at dinner over this pork that we cook, discussing our accomplishments for the year and kind of sharing what we'd like to accomplish in the next and giving each other support in that endeavor. Cute. I love it. Yeah.
00:39:27
Speaker
The 23rd is going to be upsetting for a lot of people. It's for Loki and Sigyn. I don't care. I don't want to hear about it. Do not bother writing in the comments. Don't. Listen, this is fine. Tell me what it is.
00:39:45
Speaker
So essentially, during the day, we make an animal mask that represents an attribute that we would like to embody in the coming year. I've got bear, wolf, fox, mink, seal, boar, horse, rabbit, cat, snake, deer, raven, falcon, and goat. And so it's just like a crafting day, essentially. We craft these little masks. But yeah, so we just do that. We build crafts together. I don't have a set-aside dinner for this day.
00:40:14
Speaker
Yeah, fine for yourself. I love that. That's fine. Which is something that Loki's very used to, of course. The 24th is the Wild Hunt, the night of the Wild Hunt. And I actually include a piece of Norse and a piece of Germanic traditions, which, of course, I got from Hethenhof and kind of tailored for my family. This day is for Odin and Frau Hulda. Okay.
00:40:43
Speaker
Tell us about Fra Hulda. OK, so everyone knows about Odin, right? But Fra Hulda is also regarded as one of the leaders of the Wild Hunt, as well as a goddess who ruled over the productivity of the household, winter, spinning yarn, and magic in old Germanic beliefs.
00:41:00
Speaker
dope. I love that. Yeah. So this is a day that we do some more crafts, we make some, some ornaments for our yule tree in honor of Oski. Oski is Odin's aspect as the granter of wishes. So we would create an ornament that kind of embodies what we'd like to see in the coming year. And then we would ask for Oski's blessings for each of our little ornaments, which could double as offerings. Cute. I love that. Yeah.
00:41:27
Speaker
And then I leave out carrots and lettuce for the horses of Odin and Frau Hulda.
00:41:33
Speaker
Sleipnir and Frauholda's horse, which I don't know the name of, but I leave out carrots, apples, lettuce as an offering to them to make sure that they still have energy to continue on with their wild hunts, which of course is, as we spoke about earlier, the ghostly parade of spirits who ride wildly through the night and snatch up any unlucky traveler who crosses their path. Odin and Frauholda and their people and ghosty things.
00:42:03
Speaker
They're parade of spookies. They're parade of spookies. They track down all of these errant spirits so that they don't harm anybody. The 1225 is for Baldur and his wife, which is Christmas Day for people who celebrate Christmas. This one is, it's kind of like a vigil for me, a vigil.
00:42:30
Speaker
I don't know. Yeah, vigil. That's a good word. There we go. Vigil. Look, I'll take it. So we like candles for Balder. And unfortunately, I also include a bit of levity in here where I, I ask for blessings on sprigs of mistletoe because I'm a dick. That is unfortunate.
00:42:49
Speaker
But I mean, I feel like people worship the item of their God's destruction all of the time. That's a very common practice. crucifixes. Do I say it? Do I say it? I have to. They know what they're doing. They don't have new information. Yeah. Also, Baldur's kind of, you know, he seems like a cool guy. So like, he probably forgave mistletoe.
00:43:13
Speaker
Of course he did. I bet he is a really cool guy. He's like, oh, that sweet little sprig of mistletoe. I didn't know. Just a baby. Just a baby. That's all I do on the 25th, aside from doing the general secular Christmas things, like opening presents and waking up way too early. God, I know. Listening to screaming children and mainlining coffee into my heart. Absolutely.
00:43:43
Speaker
1226 is the next day. This one is for a deity that I've had a hard time sourcing, but I have only heard about through conversation with German people, and that is Cowry and his kin. How do you spell that? K-A with an accent? R-I. Okay. Yeah. Tell me about it.
00:44:06
Speaker
So Kaori is a giant of the wind, the brother of Ejir, the sea god, and Logi, the god of fire. He's essentially the personification of the north wind. Kaori is the father of a son named, unfortunately, Frosty, which means frost. It's actually attested to in the Orkneyinga saga. And he's got a son named Yoko, which means glacier.
00:44:36
Speaker
in the Versi Nureger Bigdist. I can't... This is fine. This is great. Yeah, I can't pronounce these words. This son is in turn the father of Snare, which means snow, who is the father of Thori. Thori is the name of the father winter for which Thorablote is named. Right. And he then has three daughters, Mjöl, which means powered snow, Thrífa, which is snowfall, and Fon, which is snowdrift.
00:45:06
Speaker
Cute, that's adorable. Yeah. We do a little prayer to Cowry in his kin, and then we make a feast of lamb stew and leaf bread. I, of course, don't actually like lamb, so I will just most likely have like spaghetti or something easy. Keeping in the northern tradition there. Absolutely, absolutely. We make a, there's snowflake designs on these like little leaf breads. Cute.
00:45:34
Speaker
And they make a really good offering to Cowdery and the spirits of winter. Before we eat, of course, we leave some of our food as an offering to these deities and their family. And I also like to offer a little bit of vodka or peppermint schnapps because Cowdery is a trash mouth like you. No, listen, I don't drink peppermint schnapps. That was the first spirit that I ever tried at an age that was far too young. And now I will not. I will not. I can't.
00:46:04
Speaker
It's terrible. Full of the spirit there, huh? Oh, God. Absolutely horrifying. Fucking government schnapps. And then 10-27, 12-27. I jumped back to October for some reason. Skadi and Uller. I make edible ornaments out of like popcorn, dried fruit, and then sew it. And I put it on natural string, like jute twine. And then I decorate a tree outside, a living tree.
00:46:30
Speaker
I do the same thing on a different day. But I love that. I love that. Pleasure you can get your kids involved, which is super cute. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I love it. It's fantastic. It's wonderful. It's cold. Because it's in December. Yep. Yep. Yeah. It's the season. I would recommend to all of the
00:46:49
Speaker
maybe two or three listeners that we have right now that don't put anything outside that you can't leave outside if you're going to go into like the forest or something to decorate a living tree. Don't leave anything there that would upset the gods or yord or nature. Nothing that's not biodegradable or consumable by nature. Please do not leave those outside.
00:47:07
Speaker
Please. Good point. Thank you. 1228 is for Njord and Nerthus, who are siblings and unfortunately potentially the parents of their twin children. It was a different time. It was a different time. A different realm, a different time, yeah.
00:47:25
Speaker
Tonight, I do something pretty interesting. I make a pudding. Traditionally, we have plum pudding, but I do whatever kind of pudding there is that I want to feel like making, get my whole family involved in the making of that so that we're all stirring our energy into this pudding. Cute. And then we would drop a coin into the pudding, and then we'd dish it up, and then whoever got the coin in their pudding, they get a blessing of wealth in the coming year. That's really cute. I like that. Yeah.
00:47:53
Speaker
And we also leave out some of the pudding, of course, as an offering to Njord and Nerthus. 1229 is for Freya, specifically as a Sather practitioner, master, even. We do a little prayer and then we ask her for
00:48:13
Speaker
Her blessing, we ask her to help us with clarity for the coming year and to kind of see things as they are, give her little offerings of champagne, berries, chocolate, flowers, gold. Gold. I love that. I don't have any gold to offer. I don't either. That's why I just paint gold stuff. Sorry, babe. Here you go. Listen, we're on a college budget. This is the best I can do. Yeah. No offense. Chicken top ramen. The seasoning is kind of gold flavored.
00:48:43
Speaker
It is in the packet, the foil packet. It's shiny. Exactly. Exactly. I love that. Offerings on a budget. We're going to have to do an episode on that. Oh my god, that's a really good idea though. 1230. Idun and Bragi. This is when we make wasl. Wasl. Wasl is so good. That's the whole activity for the day. It's just making wasl. Excellent. I love that day for you. I'm going to have that day too.
00:49:10
Speaker
12, 31, Thor and Seef. This is Twelfth Night. This is the last night of Yule for me. This is the last day of December.
00:49:20
Speaker
And this is the day that we would make, we would do our spiritual cleansing, spiritual and physical cleansing of our house. We clean our house back to front and everything, top down the whole house, clean the whole house. As we're doing this, we're also fumigating with herbs that are local to my house and my property here. And that is specific to
00:49:41
Speaker
the land whites that we have living here on our property because they are the ones who are helping me to grow everything that I have in my yard here. So I use the herbs and the things that I have here to fumigate my land and my house.
00:49:54
Speaker
And this is also a day when we would take the ash from our yule log and we would sprinkle some across every entrance and window sill to help protect the inside of our house from the negativity of the outside of our house. I love that. Yeah. At midnight on the new year is when we would start banging pots and pans to create a cacophony so that we make all of the remaining negativity of the yule spirits that are around that didn't get picked up by the Wild Hunt to kind of
00:50:24
Speaker
Get the fuck out of here. Sound cleansing, baby. Heck yeah. I love me an audio cacophony. You are an audio cacophony. That's very true. I am an audio cacophony. My traditions, some of them are very similar to yours. We do the Mother's Night. My Mother's Night is more focused on my ancestors, which, I mean, the Dece, right? But I don't really do a lot for any deity that day.
00:50:54
Speaker
I will make recipes that belong to my grandmother. And it's usually me and Johnny, my oldest kid, that are doing the baking and the mixing. And as we are doing those things, I'm telling stories about them and memories that I have of them and the way that we used to spend time together. This year, I've got a couple new additions, unfortunately, to the ancestors that I get to honor. But that's the thing, like, it's so healing and it's so
00:51:23
Speaker
beautiful and I've actually invited my mother and my sisters to come over and share in that with me this year so I hope that they do if they don't it's a whatever but it's not like it's a super heatheny heathen practice like I'm not going to be like banging on a drum and growling into the night like it's just getting together and sharing memories and honoring the women of our line you know and so it's something that anybody can take part of it's honestly like I find it to be a
00:51:53
Speaker
secular friendly practice. See, I see that as being incredibly heatheny. It's incredibly heatheny, but it's not going to spook the normies. Right. You know, like it's super heathen. Yeah. So yeah, we'll do that. The solstice is when I usually will light a fire or a candle. Honestly, it's usually a candle because my own personal tradition, and I don't know if anybody else does this, I just keep a fire lit for 12 days.
00:52:22
Speaker
So I've got emergency candles that I always keep going for the full 12 days. I also have a yule log, but it's usually a decorating the yule log on that day and then burning it on New Year's Eve.
00:52:39
Speaker
Yeah. The third day, I usually will do something cute for the house spirits, which we call in my house the Tomto, which is the Swedish name for them. That's the little gnome dudes that you see everywhere, like all the basic bitches they're putting up as their Christmas decor now.
00:52:57
Speaker
Oh, I've got Tumtah all over my house. Yeah, yeah. OK, OK. So you know what I'm talking about. Like, I have them around just because we have them around. But there's Christmas-specific ones, which has made it kind of cute, because then I have access to things that are, like, culturally part of our tradition for cheap, which is great. But I have a book on the Tumtah that's really cute that I'll read to the kids. And that's essentially all we do that day. I'll usually, like, clean, put an offering out.
00:53:26
Speaker
the next day is one of my favorite days because we do the land spirits one. And this is when we make the popcorn string like you were talking about. So this is when we'll go hang that. We also make these really cute pine cone bird feeders. So we'll take a pine cone and we'll roll it in peanut butter and then roll it in bird seed and go hang out in the tree. That's cool.
00:53:47
Speaker
they love it and it's really cute and the kids love making it like they love getting involved with that one they don't really love the stringing of the popcorn and that's fine but the messy bird food disaster pine cones they are all about it i bet i bet um and yeah so and all of this is accompanied with me telling them why we're doing it
00:54:06
Speaker
right? Because I believe everything should have a Y. I don't do anything by rote. And then Christmas Eve is the next day, which I will do my fray feast on Christmas Eve, because that has kind of always been our family tradition, is we get together with my parents on Christmas Eve. We have ham, we have cheesy potatoes, and then it's a really like special
00:54:30
Speaker
tradition for us where we all get together and talk about how we're like what we're thankful for for the year before and then we also share one of our favorite family memories around Christmas time. And like we stay up and the kids get all excited for Santa coming because we still do the Santa tradition in my family at least. Did I tell you I'm gonna go up on an aside? Did I tell you how I almost ruined Santa for my child?
00:54:58
Speaker
You did, but I want the listeners to hear it. Okay, so I have this Santa that I bought from a store. It's like one of those decor Santas that's like the porcelain doll looking Santa that has like the big furry jacket and the big white fluffy beard and the hat and all that shit. And it was a very foresty looking Santa. So I brought him home and I painted over one of his eyes and like made it so it looks like a scar. And so he looks like Odin. So now I've got my Odin Santa up in my house.
00:55:26
Speaker
And I was getting all my old decorations out this year, and I pull out the Odin Santa. And to my son, I was like, did you know that the story of Santa has its origins in Odin? And he's like, what do you mean, the Santa story? And I was like, oh, shit.
00:55:47
Speaker
And I was like, oh, oh, I just mean that some people think that Santa is Odin. And he's like, really? And so I covered it, but I literally almost ruined Santa for my child. He's only seven years old. I would have felt so bad. If you're listening, Johnny, please stop listening. Johnny, turn this podcast off. No, if you are a child, don't listen to this podcast. You know how many times we've sworn and things? Yeah. Like we've kept it pretty PC, I think, compared to like how we normally talk, but still. You should write a primer on your yield practices because I want to adopt some of yours.
00:56:17
Speaker
Okay, I will. I've thought about it. It's just a lot of work. I think about it every UL. And then by the time UL's over, I never do it. We'll put it out of this. We'll put on lists of long-term goals, stretch goals. Okay, fantastic. Fantastic. And maybe I'll remember to take pictures of all the activities this year. And then that can be like a
00:56:37
Speaker
like a little ebook or something. That'd be cute. Totally. Yeah. Okay. Um, anyway, so we do phrase feast on Christmas Eve, Christmas day is Christmas day. And so we do the gift exchange and it's all about family time. And I'm sorry, family time is heathen shit. The connection, the gift giving, gable, all of that is heathen as fuck. And so that's all I worry about on that day. We feast, we enjoy each other. Oh, it's so good. Um,
00:57:05
Speaker
And then the day after Christmas is when we talk about the wild hunt and we do our offering to Odin. And I honestly like kind of curb it a little bit and I tell it like it's a legend. So my kids aren't like weird and worried about it. Cause it is, it's a cool story, but my kids are little, you know? And so I'm just like, oh, it's the wild hunt and the, you know, and sometimes the clouds are spooky and that's great.
00:57:34
Speaker
But I will usually make an offering to Odin begrudgingly. You guys, when you listen to this podcast, will understand that I'm not a big huge fan of Odin. But that's just for me. Okay, and then the day after the wild hunt, we go out on a nature walk. And that can just be around the block or whatever, but we get out, we breathe some fresh air. We sometimes if I'm super mom, it depends, we'll have hot cocoa.
00:58:03
Speaker
So that's something that you can involve your kids in, hot cocoa. If you're going hiking, you can take a little snacky, you can take a little trail mix, you can take a little whatever beef jerky, maybe I can get involved in that. But then leave offerings as you're out and talk about the nature spirits. Nature appropriate offerings. Nature appropriate offerings, correct. And then the day after that is cozy day. Cozy day, I love that. Because I firmly believe that
00:58:33
Speaker
enjoying your home is kind of a form of veneration. I will often give an offering to frig on this day. Usually, most of my days are associated with one god or goddess that kind of fits with the theme of the day. But hearth and home, I sit and I enjoy it. And that's a granny day, baby. I am doing puzzles. We have a fire going. Like, it's so nice to just, we're playing cards. We're hanging out as a family. Like, it's cozy day.
00:59:01
Speaker
you know, and it's like really embracing the how it's cold outside and cozy inside and how they would have just spent time together and like, you know what I mean? I love the cozy day. It's very evening. I think so. But also, I have cozy day because it precedes the end of the year celebrations, which are a lot of work. And I've just spent a lot of work previously. Because the next day before New Year's Eve, I am
00:59:30
Speaker
doing my cleaning and cleansing of the house like you've talked about. And I love that day. I call it the purge actually because I'm like literally going through and just shoving all of the old stuff. Then the next day is the New Year's Eve and we burn the Yule Log and then oh and then New Year's Day is or maybe I'm gonna get mixed up. Anyway New Year's Day I will also do like
00:59:58
Speaker
the New Year's resolution thing, or it's like new year, new me, goals, visions. New year, same me. New year, same me. I'm not going to change, but you know, I have, I have dreams. But yeah, and that day honestly is usually a day that I will do divination for the year to come and honor Freya on that day as well. But that's just me.
01:00:24
Speaker
That's you. That's you. I think I will make a ebook or something. I think that'd be pretty great. Totally. We can do it together. Okay. I love that. Fantastic. That means you're gonna have to take pictures of all the cute things you do too. Maybe. Yeah. Hard maybe. I'll take it. It's better than I know.
01:00:46
Speaker
All right, I hope you guys found this informative and fun, and I encourage you all to create your own Yule traditions, and I want to hear about them. I want to hear about them. Wherever you're seeing this podcast or hearing this podcast, leave a comment. Like, subscribe, share, get it out there. We have so many things we're gonna cover, you guys. We have an entire year of podcast episodes planned out. We're gonna get into, again, lore.
01:01:12
Speaker
and practice, like how to actually heave it and not just covering historical things. We're going to talk about the deities. We're going to talk about traditions. We're really fucking stoked, actually. We're going to have guest speakers. I mean, I feel like maybe I would hope so. I think they will probably get sick of each other's voices by episode two. Probably. Hasn't happened yet. It probably won't ever happen.
01:01:38
Speaker
All right, well, thank you guys so much for listening and we will see you next time. Bye.