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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 11722
[Pagan]
Date Posted:
12/9/2004
8:05:31 am EST
Wvox Stats
Views: 16,693
RSS: 3,979
Comments: 12
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Yule See Christmas In A Different Light
Author: Brendan Burke Source: The Casper Star Tribune (WY)
Title: YULE SEE CHRISTMAS IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT
  Ever wonder how the whole tradition of decorating evergreen trees around Christmas got started? Or have you ever thought about who started the tradition of hanging mistletoe this time of the year? Or have you ever mulled over how the whole Santa Claus thing got started?
These and other holiday traditions did not get their start, as some may suspect, with people who celebrated the birth of Jesus of Nazareth every Dec. 25. In fact, these traditions were being practiced well before Jesus was born by the people of Europe, who honored the winter solstice with the celebration known as Yule.
Decorating evergreen trees during Yuletide began as a way to honor Yggdrasil, the cosmic tree, said Casper resident and Yule celebrant Steve Ford.
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Community Thoughts: There are 12 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Actually... | Dec 10th. at 7:13:31 am EST |
by Gary Penzler (Toronto) - wc_xemail
The tree thing comes from long before it was ever brought inside.
WAAAY back, it was customary as part of the seasonal celebrations of the Germanic tribes to hang small breads and cookies in the shapes of horses, cows, bigs, ships and so on in trees *outside* as gifts to the spirits of those trees and the land, in hopes of a prosperous season to come.
The wreath thing *was* done inside.
Eventually, the two sort of merged.
~Gary
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| The Evergreen... | Dec 9th. at 8:24:33 pm EST |
by Garan du (Columbus, OH USA) - wc_xemail
is sacred to Attis, if I am not mistaken.
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| Someone Help Me With The Tree... | Dec 9th. at 5:36:00 pm EST |
by Okiah (Hampton Roads) - wc_xemail
I am a little confused by the tree origin explanation. I read a few years ago that the tradition of bringing in a tree was symbolic of bringing in the "Tree God" (don't remember the name) from the harshness of winter into the warmth of the home. This doesn't mesh with the article. I would like to know if anyone out there has any more information on the origins of the indoor tree and any academic evidence that may back it up.
I just hate finding out that I am ignorant on a matter once I thought I got to the bottom of it.
I am a semi-practicing pagan so I am not always as up on this stuff as y'all.
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| Don't Forget The Yule Cat! | Dec 9th. at 1:17:34 pm EST |
by Ravyn, Lady Heresy (Bedford, Virginia) - wc_xemail
The YuleCat or JolaKottur!
[Web LINK]
In Iceland it was imperative to finish the Autumn wool before the Solstice set in and for all the hard work of gathering, washing, carding and spinning the wool there was a new piece of wool clothing for the hard-working participants. If you didn't work you didn't get a new scarf! And for those lazy children freezing at Yuletime was not enough, the Yule Cat waited outside the window on Solstice Night and watched to see who got new clothes and tried them on and for those who did not the Cat would come in and scratch them to death! Children were terrified of the Yule Cat! And undoubtably the Yule Cat looked like some monstrous version of their family Norwegian Forest Cat. I happen to have a huge black one named Magick and he loves his role as the Yule Cat every year. In fact he starts getting into charatcer around Halloween when he sits in the cage in the yard with the candy-filled cauldron on top and he reaches for all the kiddies thru the bars as they try to get some candy treats! He is harmless, but he does not look harmless.
Ravyn, Lady Heresy Find More info -- HERE
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| Turning Over In Their Graves | Dec 9th. at 12:08:05 pm EST |
by Finn (New Braunfels, Texas) - wc_xemail
Here is an additional bit of interesting trivia that involves Yule/Christmas celebrations and the Pilgrims. They didn't celebrate Christmas. The Puritans were well aware that the holiday was Pagan and that the Catholic Church had merely taken over management. The fact that Christmas has become the most important holdiay in the Christian calendar, eclipsing Easter, would make them turn over in their graves.
As another person commented, the Christmas Tree had roots in several European cultures, not just those of the Norse persuasion. The Norse areas of Northern Europe shared the world tree icon with the Celts. This is not at all surprising since the Norse are descended from the same group of Celtic peoples who left the area around the Danube. The end result is that most of what we think of as "Christmas" is merely Yule, passed down to us by the widely varied Celtic tribes.
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| I'm Waiting For The Fundies | Dec 9th. at 11:29:27 am EST |
by celticgirl (Oregon, USA) - wc_xemail
to declare an all-out ban against christmas trees because of their evil pagan symbolism (tee hee!)
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| Nice Article | Dec 9th. at 9:18:34 am EST |
by peaceseeker09 (Maryland) - wc_xemail
As someone who is a newbie to paganism, I found this article quite interesting. We are going to celebrate Yule this year, for the second year in a row. I love hearing about the origins of holidays I previously thought were christian in nature only.
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| About Odhin.. | Dec 9th. at 9:04:37 am EST |
by Jarnsaxa (Midgard) - wc_xemail
In the old stories of Denmark, they describe 'St.Nicholas' as a large bearded man in a long cloak, large brimmed hat, and he rides a horse to the children's homes to leave candy and goodies for the good, or birch switches for the bad ones. This is just a cursory description, but the mainpart of it all is that it does describe Odhin very well. It was said also that the night was one where the wild hunt was held by a Primary God, and the people of Denmark would leave their doors open in hopes that the wild hunt would run through their homes and bless them. It is also said in lore the possibility of Holda being the one on Sliepner delivering gifts.. 'St.Nicholas' is a throwback from those times and describes Odhin well though. The Danish word for the night on December 6th also translates to 'wish night'. It is the night the people make thier wishes to Odhin. One of his kinder aspects in the giving season.
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| WOW! | Dec 9th. at 8:49:19 am EST |
by White Raven (Shefford, England) - wc_xemail
A newspaper article about paganism with no sense of *point giggle* or mentions of devil worship! Nice one.
One small point (probably just my ignorance showing) , I have held All-Father Woden to be chief of my gods for over 25 years, but I've never seen him linked to Father Christmas before. If anyone out there could explain this link to me I'd be ever so grateful.
Bright Blessings to all
White Raven
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| Nice Article, But A Bit Spare On Details. | Dec 9th. at 8:25:38 am EST |
by Phenyx Darkstar (Raleigh, NC) - wc_xemail
It's a good "here are the Pagan roots of Christmas" starting point though.
The thing I really liked though was at the bottom of teh page, where it gives you the option to "print article" it also give you the option to print a Braille version. I've never seen that before. I found it to be very cool. It's also damned inclusive of the paper. *big happy with the world smile*
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| Like The Story | Dec 9th. at 8:19:01 am EST |
by Rowan Foxfyre (Indianapolis, In) - wc_xemail
there are more "roots" to Christmas than told here, but this one is a nice one.
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