The Yule Log 🎄

 

                                          

                       🎄The Yule Log🔥

 

 

Norway is the birthplace of the Yule log. 

  The ancient Norse used the Yule log in their celebration of the return of the sun at winter solstice. “Yule” came from the Norse word hweol, meaning wheel. 

The Norse believed that the sun was a great wheel of fire that rolled towards and then away from the earth.

 

The Yule log was a long oak tree carved with runes (early norse/germanic letters) to wish for the protection of the gods and burned for the duration of the celebration. To let it go out was said to be a dark omen and a sign of bad luck to come.  

The Vikings would save a piece of the log for next year's fire.

 

 

The UK Tradition.

 

The Yule log, Yule clog, or Christmas block is a specially selected log burnt on a hearth as a winter tradition in regions of Europe, particularly the United Kingdom, and subsequently North America. 

The origin of the folk custom is unclear. Like other traditions associated with Yule (such as the Yule boar.

 

                                 

 The Christmas practice calls for burning a portion of the log each evening until Twelfth Night (January 6th. 

 

The log is subsequently placed beneath the bed for luck, and particularly for protection from the household threats of lightning and, with some irony, fire. Many have beliefs based on the yule log as it burns, and by counting the sparks and such, they seek to discern their fortunes for the new year and beyond

 

 the Yule log, Yule goat, and Yule boar (Sonargöltr) are still reflected in the Christmas ham, Yule singing, and others, which Simek takes as "indicat[ing] the significance of the feast in pre-Christian times.