First off: oh my dear sweet goodness Star Wars!!!! SO. GOOD.
(If you're interested, you can check out two posts I've done in the past about the mythology behind Star Wars here and here.)
Now that I've got my fangirling out of the way, let's take a look at today's post!
I have a tradition of looking at different holidays in this blog - you can check out my Christmas post from last year here. Due to that, I want to move away from Jewish folk tales to look at some of the ancient traditions and celebrations that have influenced the modern holiday of Christmas. The holidays I've chosen to discuss today primarily come from Celtic, Norse, and Roman traditions, but if you're curious and go looking you might find that the mythologies of a lot of different cultures have influenced the current celebration of Christmas. Should you do so, please shoot me a message - I'd be interested in seeing what you find!
Let us begin with the celebration of Yule.
Mention of Yule appears frequently in the celebration of Christmas. A certain song immediately comes to my mind:
If, like me, you've sung this song while caroling, the words Yuletide carols being sung by a choir might have made you question their meaning. After years of cheerfully singing along I began to wonder...just what is Yule? The mention of a Yule log in several older books also piqued my curiosity, and so I began to research.
Yule is an old Norse holiday celebrating the end of the cold season. Many cultures have festivities to celebrate the turning of the seasons (we'll talk more about another in a minute), and the Norse were no exception. Yule was marked by feasting (particularly upon boar, which was hunted during the season), drinking, and praising Odin (called the Yule father at times) for victories and Freyr and his father Niord for successful harvests.
(Of course there was drinking at the feasts!)
Perhaps the most important aspect of Yule was the burning of the Yule log. Yule is celebrated from November to January, which are the darkest and coldest parts of the year (in the region in which it is celebrated, at least). Many cultures from around the world have celebrations during those months that revolve around light and fire. A few older examples come to mind - the Egyptians praying for Ra, god of the sun, to rise again - but there are a considerable number of modernly celebrated festivals as well. We talked about Hanukkah last week, which celebrates the miracle of light. Kwanzaa begins later this week, and also revolves around the lighting of candles. The Yule log, still commonly used in some parts of the modern world, is lit and then allowed to smolder for 12 days. Should the fire go out, bad luck is signified. The remnants of the log are then saved for a year and used to light the Yule log the following year.
(Modern versions of the Yule log tend to include the burning of candles instead of the actual log. As such, they can be very beautifully decorated!)
Certain aspects of Yule can be seen in modern Christmas celebrations. I know that ham is one of my favorite holiday foods, and while I don't pray to Odin, Freyr, or Niord I do tend to give thanks around Christmas. My heater is currently broken, so fires in the fireplace have been a huge blessing this year...though I tend to look forward to a blazing fire every Christmas season. What about you guys? Do any of the practices of Yule show up in your own celebrations?
Lastly, we have the tradition of mistletoe. While not specifically tied to Yule, mistletoe nonetheless has strong ties to both Norse and Celtic mythology. When Loki goes full-on Dark Side and arranges the death of Baldr, it is mistletoe that ends the god. As such, it was regarded as a very powerful plant.
(Death by mistletoe...gotta be an embarrassing way to go!)
I'm not sure how we went from that to kissing under the mistletoe, but hey. Whatever works?
If you're interested in learning more about Yule, I found this quick guide quite interesting, especially since it focuses more on the modern celebration of the holiday and some of its Celtic influences. For a truly fantastic in-depth look at the Norse origins of Yule, check out this article.
We'll move now to a Roman holiday called Saturnalia.
Saturnalia is celebrated towards the middle/end of December - another solstice festival. It is named for the Roman god Saturn, god of the harvest. Candles were commonly used as both home decorations and gifts during this time - for it was a time of gift giving. Sweets and goodies were exchanged, and both holly and ivy were used as decorations given their being sacred plants to Saturn. All of these things show up in modern Christmas celebrations.
What I find most interesting about Saturnalia is the common reversal of roles, including the election of a Mock King. During Saturnalia slaves and masters swapped places for a time, allowing the slaves to give the commands to their masters. Of course, to quote Terry Pratchett: "We suspect that the slaves were magnanimous in office, though; tomorrow the masters would be the masters again." After all, it isn't wise to antagonize the person who will soon rule over your life once again!
This custom of swapping roles is still alive in some places of the world. It was adapted into Christianity in the form of the Boy Bishop. Around the feast of Saint Nicholas (the patron saint of children), a church would elect a boy to be temporary bishop. He would then elect many of his fellows to aid him in his duties. The boy was allowed to give the sermons and lead the church for a time, before the actual bishop resumed his duties. This practice is still held, primarily in Europe.
I hope you found this post interesting! I was very intrigued to see just how much of what I celebrate has been influenced by past holidays. If you're interested in learning more I recommend checking out a book on holidays symbols (if your library has one) - the one I flipped through is called Holiday Symbols and Customs.
If you haven't read anything by Terry Pratchett, I highly recommend all of his works. I usually reread Hogfather during this time of year, which blends all of the traditions mentioned above with many others to create an entirely unique take on holidays - plus, Death is Santa!
I hope you all have a very merry Christmas, and whatever other holidays you might celebrate. I'll leave you with a cheerfully burning Yule log of sorts, and I'll see you next week!
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