Deck the Hall with boughs of holly, falalalalalalala
‘Tis the season to be jolly, falalalalalalala
Some of us at Blogistan Polytech Institute used to believe this was a Christmas Carol...oh, not so, students. This was a song of the Yule, for the Solstice. The word is a variation of the Scandinavian word, Jul, meaning the first day of winter, the shortest day of the year. In the Celtic tradition, it is the battle between the aging Holly King, representing darkness of the old year, and the Oak king, which symbolizes the light of the new year.
In this MF, we will explore just some of the decorations we use and find out that they are not Christmas Decorations. I’ll pass around the eggnog, with or without the rum, the nutmeg, the Yule cakes and the Wassail. Perhaps we’ll continue to sing a song or two. And do a circle dance, unless you are just too tired to spring to your feet at this early hour.
When the Christians wanted to convert the Pagans over from their traditional celebrations, they decided to celebrate the birth of Christ and to make it their celebration. Hmmmm...so, Jesus is not the reason for the season?
First, the candles and the lights...Mind you that we in the Northern Hemisphere is now in the darkest time of the year. The ancients burned candles in their windows to ward off the evil spirits and encourage the sun to shine. Lights back then were not shaped into candy canes, Santa’s, flashing or colored. They were white, and they were real. They had a purpose. In ancient Romania, candles were given as gifts for Saturnalia.
Evergreens date back to the earliest winter festivals because the green never fades from their branches: to have power over death and destruction, defeat the winter demons and urge the coming of the sun.
We all know about Christmas trees? There was, originally, the Bird’s Yule Tree: "a sheaf of wheat, branches of milo maize, ears of corn, or some other grain attached to an outdoor pole or fence post", to share with the natural world. You can do this by decorating a tree outdoors with suet, rolling birdseed in peanut butter-coated pinecones, hanging up bits of yarn for future nests and such.
One of the earliest stories about the tree relating back to Germany is about Saint Boniface. In 722, he encountered some pagans who were about to sacrifice a child at the base of a huge oak tree. He cut down the tree to prevent the sacrifice and a Fir tree grew up at the base of the oak. He then told everyone that this lovely evergreen, with its branches pointing to heaven, was a holy tree - the tree of the Christ child, and a symbol of His promise of eternal life. Another story about the origin of the Christmas tree says that late in the Middle Ages, Germans and Scandinavians placed evergreen trees inside their homes or just outside their doors to show their hope that spring would soon come.
Wreaths go back to the ancients, signifying the pagan idea of the cycle of life: birth, death and rebirth. It is also the shape of the sun.
The Yule Log must either have been harvested from the householder's land, or given as a gift. Once dragged into the house and placed in the fireplace it was decorated in seasonal greenery, doused with cider or ale, and dusted with flour before set ablaze be a piece of last years log, (held onto for just this purpose). The log would burn throughout the night, then smolder for 12 days after before being ceremonially put out. We are more familiar with the log as a base to hold three candles. Find a smaller branch of oak or pine, and flatten one side so it sets upright. Drill three holes in the top side to hold red, green, and white (season), green, gold, and black (the Sun God), or white, red, and black (the Great Goddess). Continue to decorate with greenery, red and gold bows, rosebuds, cloves, and dust with flour.
The Wassail is the original name of an apple fertility ritual from the Anglo-Saxons and means "hail or salute". Its purpose was to salute the trees, "sprinkling them with a mixture of apples and eggs, adding some wine or ale, to increase the apple yield for the coming year. " For a more modern and palatable recipe, I offer the following:
3/4 cup sugar
2 quarts apple juice
1 pint cranberry juice
1 teaspoon aromatic bitters
1 cup rum
2 sticks cinnamon
1 teaspoon whole allspice
1 small orange -- studded with cloves
Dissolve sugar in juices in crock pot. Add remaining ingredients. Cook on high for 1 hour. Simmer on low for 4 to 8 hours.
Children were escorted from house to house with gifts of clove spiked apples and oranges which were laid in baskets of evergreen boughs and wheat stalks dusted with flour. The apples and oranges represented the sun, the boughs were symbolic of immortality, the wheat stalks portrayed the harvest, and the flour was accomplishment of triumph, light, and life. Holly, mistletoe, and ivy not only decorated the outside, but also the inside of homes. It was to extend invitation to Nature Sprites to come and join the celebration. A sprig of Holly was kept near the door all year long as a constant invitation for good fortune to pay visit to the residents.
The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper
And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!
When I began to think about the real origins of the decorations I love so dearly, I decorate with purpose now. It gives a real meaning of the season for me as it never had before.
So, as we celebrate the coldest, darkest time of the year, and I am reminded of the 6-day power outage I was experiencing last year, let us remember the real reason for this season. Deck your halls, wassail, sing, and dance! Celebrate the return of the sun, light your lights, light your candles, and kiss under the mistletoe.
Tell us what makes your Yule special. No Bah Humbugs here, please...and, that includes any mention of that evil senator from CT whose name I will not say.