Ancient Egyptian sun god Ra Vladimir Zadvinskii Shutterstock com forward to the long warm days of spring and summer Thousands of years ago when winter could be a time of fear discomfort and starvation the promise of the sun’s eventual return was certainly worth celebrating In the northern hemisphere the shortest day of the year is December 21 or 22 winter solstice after which each day gets a little longer until June 21 or 22 summer solstice the day each year with the most hours of daylight In the northernmost towns people must endure nearly twenty four hours of darkness on that shortest darkest day Midwinter celebrations were common throughout the northern hemisphere long before Christian leaders adopted December 25 as a special holy day And yes that’s the origin of the word holiday 10
season of darkness season of light Many ancient peoples like the Egyptians worshipped the sun or had sun gods Ancient structures such as the Egyptian pyramids were sometimes built to align with the sun’s position on certain special days The solstice was just one of the things that was celebrated along with birthdays and key planting and harvest dates The Norse word for a midwinter season of celebra tion is Jul Jól in Iceland The English word yule may come from these Nordic roots In Old Norse poetry the word was sometimes used to mean feast Today the word generally refers to the Christmas holiday season Time to Feast Midwinter was a good time for feasting because livestock like lambs born in spring had often reached a good size for slaughter With food being hard to find at that time of year it made sense to feast on meat rather than to keep feeding livestock when hay and grain were more expen sive Fermented ales and fruit wines were also ready to drink about then and alcohol was often part of the partying that took place during solstice festivals Yule Logs and the Yule Goat The yule log is a large piece of wood that people put in their fireplaces at Christmas Sometimes yule logs were burned until there was nothing left but ashes The ashes were collected after the log was gone and were spread in gardens and fields Adding ash to the soil provides some nutrients and can help certain plants grow better Christmas Unwrapped High-Tech Yule Logs Today it’s possible to enjoy the tradition of the yule log even if you don’t have a fireplace as long as you have a television or computer In 1966 the television station wpix broadcast footage of a burning log for three hours on Christmas Eve for New Yorkers who didn’t have a fireplace The original film was shot at Gracie Mansion where the mayor of New York City lives Filming was a little more exciting than anyone expected To get a clear shot of the burning fire the film crew removed the safety screen A spark flew out of the fireplace and set an expensive antique rug on fire The original yule log film lasted only 17 seconds and was looped over and over while it was aired Because the program was so popular it was refilmed a few years later in California and was then rebroadcast for 23 years The new version was 6 minutes long and was a little less jerky Many imitations have since been created and shown on various television stations and over the Internet and recorded on dvds including one that stars various cast members from the animated film Shrek 11
nikki tate and dani tate-stratton The French made sure to keep some yule log ashes for tucking under beds as the ashes were thought to keep nasty storms away over the year ahead In Scandinavia there were many beliefs and traditions relating to the autumn harvest One was that the last sheaf of straw of the harvest had magical properties and it was saved and kept for the Yule celebrations One of the impor tant gods of the harvest feasts was Thor who was believed to control weather and storms One theory is that the straw bundles were shaped into a goat because Thor was said to have two goats Although these straw goats were originally related to harvest festivals today the yule goat julebok in Swedish julebukk in Norwegian and joulupukki in Finnish has become a symbol of Christmas In Nordic countries yule goats made of straw are associated with the Christmas season cenglanddesigns iStock com
season of darkness season of light Ancient Rome Farther south the pre-Christian Romans were very good at partying especially at midwinter As far back as 217 bce before the Common Era there are records of ancient Romans celebrating Saturnalia a festival honoring Saturn the god of seeds and prosperity There was feasting drinking gambling and general rowdiness for seven days from December 17 to 23 during which only people who prepared food were allowed to work Schools and courts were closed wars halted and disagreements between citizens put on hold Slaves and their masters briefly exchanged roles Homes were decorated with greenery and people exchanged gifts of candles and clay dolls Fruit was meant to bring good luck and encourage fertility Dolls were not toys to be played with as they are today but symbols of human sacrifice Ancient Greece Ancient Greeks celebrated an important midwinter festival of their own this one the birth of Dionysus in December Said to be the divine son of Zeus the king of the ancient Greek gods and a human woman named Semele Dionysus was the youngest god to be welcomed to Olympus home of the Greek gods Carols songs that were once tied closely to dances were sung to honor the rebirth of Dionysus It was believed that Dionysus was born twice once by his human mother and once after he emerged from where he had been sewn into his father’s leg Children sang these songs while visiting rich people’s homes The Roman Forum and ruins of the Septimius Severus Arch and the Saturn Temple in Rome Italy melis Shutterstock com December 26 the day after Christmas is a holiday in many places It is known as Boxing Day in Canada and other Commonwealth countries and St Stephen’s Day in most European countries One theory is that the boxes may refer to a Middle Ages tradition of workers asking for tips in a box for good service 13
