Yule:
The light is at its lowest, and the night is at its zenith. However, it is also a very bright day, because it is from the winter solstice that the days stop shortening, it is at this time that the solar star is finally reborn.
During the night of the solstice, it is customary to keep a large fire lit until the morning, it should not go out because it symbolizes the return of the sun in the darkness of winter. So, one should not sleep at night to ensure that it does not go out, and to greet the sun of the new solar year when it rises.
It is common to practice sacrifices, to celebrate and to give gifts.
This feast is traditionally celebrated when the sun enters Capricorn, around December 21st.
The name of Yule comes from the Anglo-Saxon “Yula” which means wheel. This wheel of the year began the day after Samhain, in introspection, in the depths of the earth honoring those who have returned there.
The wheel is the symbol of the year among pagans who see time as an endless circle and not as something linear. The wheel of the year continues and emerges in Yule by the birth of the God Light, son of the Goddess and her consort, who died in Samhain. It is the victory of the God of Light over the God of Darkness, of King Oak (Life) over King Holly (Death).
The Goddess gives birth to a son, the God, who corresponds to the life that will develop within the seemingly dead Mother Earth nature at this time of the year. We celebrate the birth of the Sun God, who will promote growth and development of life.
We must not believe that this is a degraded copy of the birth of Christ. Rather, the reverse is what inspired this winter celebration. Indeed, the date close to December 25 (date of the solstice in the Julian calendar) was celebrated long before the leaders of Christianity chose it to mark the birth of Christ. In Yule, the pagans realize that even if the earth is still asleep under the snow, it will soon be reborn and bud again.
It is therefore an energy of rebirth and renewal that manifests itself and the tradition of making resolutions for the coming year takes root in this energy.
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