How to Create Your Own Yule Traditions
Yule is a celebration with Pagan roots that takes place at the winter solstice--Dec. 21. On this longest night of the year, the Earth's axis is tilted so that the northern hemisphere is at its greatest distance from the sun. Feasting and merry-making marks this time because this is when days start to get longer, and the promise of spring is renewed. If you want to incorporate Yule into your winter holidays, it's easy to create some meaningful traditions.
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Things You'll Need
- Birch, oak or cherry log
- Pine cones
- Mistletoe
- Ivy
- Holly
- Cinnamon sticks
- Red, green or white ribbon
- Yule log cake
- Small log or branch
- Three seasonal colored candles
- Small slips of paper
- Pens or pencils
- Sun decorations
- Cranberries
- Needle and thread
- Nuts in shells
- Sea shells
- Dried milkweed or other seed pods
- Dried flowers
- Dried fruits
Instructions
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Creating Yule Traditions
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Take time to think about Yule and the meaning this time of year holds for you. If you are Pagan or Wiccan, but with another religious background or history, you may want to incorporate some favorite traditions from your past with some more recent ones, such as meditation on things to be grateful for, or on the significance of darkness and light.
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Start your own Yule log tradition. A common tradition includes selecting a log of oak, birch or cherry to burn in your fireplace on the eve of the winter solstice. Yule logs are symbolic of the return of the sun, and play an important role in Yule traditions. You can decorate the log and display it for several days before Yule, if you like. Decorations can include pine cones, mistletoe, holly, ivy, and even some cinnamon sticks, all tied with red, green or white ribbons.
If you don't have a fireplace or fire pit to burn your Yule log, you can create or purchase a chocolate Yule log cake to be served at your winter solstice feast. Another option is to create a Yule log candleholder from a log or branch that has been flattened on one side so it will rest on a table, with three holes drilled into the topside for inserting seasonal colored candles. Burn the candles on solstice eve and solstice day.
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Now you can start your own Yule tradition of letting go of the past year's regrets. On Yule eve or Yule day, give small slips of paper to each family member and guest and have them write down the regrets they've carried with them over the past year. Each person can read the regrets silently to themselves and then toss the slips of paper into the fireplace or fire pit to burn up and turn to ashes, symbolically releasing the regrets and making way for an upcoming year of joy.
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You can start another Yule tradition by having your family create Yule tree decorations from natural items such as pine cones, dried milkweed or other seed pods, cranberries strung on thread, dried flowers, sea shells, nuts in the shell, holly and dried fruits, as suggested by the Penn State Cooperative Extension Service. Alternately, decorate your Yule tree with bright and sparkling decorations that are in the shape of the sun. These can be homemade or store-bought.
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