Yule Love the Ashen Faggot

Happy full moon lunar eclipse winter solstice!

Yule is the celebration of the winter solstice. First I read a rumor that the word derives from a word meaning "wheel" (wheels are associated with the sun), but then I read that the word "Yule" is not even of Indo-European origin. It's so old it actually predates the wheel. So as far as anyone knows, the word has always just meant "the winter solstice." In particular, it refers to the old Germanic and Scandinavian celebrations associated with solstice.

The winter solstice (in this hemisphere) is the longest night and shortest day of the year. Numerous civilizations have held festivals in its honor. Some think of it as the sun's birthday or reincarnation, when the sun overcomes death and the days once again begin to get longer. Because of the sun's ability to overcome death, there are sometimes rituals associated with spirits of the deceased. Because the sun was also so vital to agriculture, Yule celebrations often involve fertility rites. For many cultures, the solstice marked the beginning of the new year, so there are also rituals to invoke luck, love, prosperity, fertility, and general wishes for the coming year. Such is the nature of the Yule log.

The tradition of burning a special log is one of the oldest winter rituals, and the custom was prevalent in England, Scandinavia, Germany, France (where they now eat the Yule log confection instead), Greece, and all over Europe. There are many superstitions associated, such as that it should burn for at least 12 hours, although it was once supposed to have burned for 12 days. Some customs held that no work would be performed during its burning, so folks naturally wanted to find the biggest, greenest log they could to prolong the festival.

They would treat the log with various substances before or while burning: wine or cider (so it would burn longer methinks); various flowers, spices, or herbs that had magical or lucky properties; pine cones, holly, offerings of grains or other crops, etc. The hope was that with the log would burn personal limitations, faults, tragedies, etc., from the previous year and that glad tidings would replace them. Afterwards, the ashes would be used to fertilize crops or sweeten wells, and unburned pieces of the log would be saved in the house throughout the year to protect it from lightning, bad weather, or other tragedies. For additional luck, a remnant of the log from one year would be saved to use as kindling for the next year's log.

A variation on the theme was (and sometimes still is) practiced in the Devon and Somerset areas of England, where instead of a log, the tradition involves gathering sticks from an ash tree and binding them with green bands preferably of the same tree. The bundle of sticks is known as the Ashen Faggot. Sometimes the unmarried ladies would choose a particular band, and if hers was the first to crackle and break in the fire, then she would be the next to get married. Another custom is to share a drink of cider and toast any time one of the bands breaks.

I may be the last person who would discourage anyone from observing an old holiday tradition; however, it may be unwise outside of the West Country to boast of how you toasted the burning of an ashen faggot on Christmas Eve.