YULE

ALSO KNOWN AS: 
Winter Solstice

DATE: 
On the winter solstice,  near December 21st.
This year the Winter Solstice falls on  Dec 21 2004 7:42 AM EST 

This is the shortest day and the longest night  of the year.  It is a celebration of the birth of the sun (ie: the God) The Goddess gives birth to the God.  Fires and candles are lit to welcome back the sun's returning light. (as a form of sympathetic magick).  We celebrate to hurry the end of the winter and the bounty of the upcoming spring....still knowing that the harshest months are yet ahead of us.  Yule is a reminder that the ultimate product of death is, rebirth.

It is traditional to light the Yule log.  The largest log of oak or pine is lit with a figure of the sun or  the God on it.  As you watch it burn, you think of the upcoming warmer spring days.  A Yule tree is decorated with offerings of oranges, cinnamon sticks, dried rosebuds, popcorn, cranberries, spices, apples, whole nutmegs, and lemons.

TRADITIONAL  FOODS:
nuts, fruits (apples, pears), cakes of caraway soaked in cider, pork, wassail, ginger tea

HERBS:
holly, mistletoe, ivy, cedar, bay, rosemary, pine, juniper

Links - Be sure to bookmark before you go!