Yule and Mother's Night

Yule (Jul) is a midwinter festival that was celebrated by the indigenous Norse and Germanic peoples, and is still celebrated by pagans today. It begins on the night before the winter solstice.

Modern scholars believe that some kind of a winter solstice celebration was an important part of European traditions since at least 2400 BCE, and has been commonly recognized as Yule since before 1000 AD. 

Many of the customs associated with Christmas are borrowed from Yule rites and customs. Yule, as it is observed by neo-pagans, is the celebration of the rebirth of the Sun, and the beginning of the cycle of the year. The name Jul might mean “Wheel of Fire”.

Agenda:
1. Make little solar crosses
2. Have a bonfire and burn a yule log
3. Make a Mother's Night offering
4. Christmas Novena, day 5

1. Make little solar crosses:

The solar cross is an ancient symbol, and nearly universal: It's a cross within a circle, representing the four seasons of the year. In Scandinavia it's also called Odin's cross.

The solar cross was made as a charm to thank the sun for blessing the earth with fertility and abundance. At this darkest time of the year, especially in the northern areas of the world, this symbol might have been very important! It was made with evergreens and tree branches (like a wreath) and thrown onto the Yule fire, or built large enough to set on fire and roll down a hill.

The solar cross is still made now at Yule, covered with greens, like a wreath (the advent wreath, with it's four candles is a solar cross!), or smaller ones are made as decorations.

I make a large solar disk of grapevines at the summer solstice each year to hang in our apple tree. I made these small ones today to hang on our tree. I had these slices of fir branch left over from another project already drilled with holes. You can also use a circle of wire.

Supplies: Tree cookies or wire, cord, paint pens

1. Drill a hole in a circle of wood or form a ring from wire.

2. Tie cord around the tree cookie or wire ring to make a cross.

3. Decorate with paint pens.

2. Have a bonfire and burn a yule log:

The burning of a yule log is an ancient ritual; it was originally an entire tree that was carefully chosen and brought into the house with great ceremony. The largest end of the log was put into the hearth, and the rest of the tree stuck out into the room. The new yule log was lit with the charred remains of the previous year's log, which was kept to guard the house against lightning and fire.

The custom of the yule log spread all over Europe and different kids of wood are now used in different countries. In England, oak is traditional, in Scotland, it's birch; in France, it's cherry. 

We are having a terribly wet night tonight, so we plan to have our yule fire tomorrow night.

3. Make a Mother's Night offering

The Saxon's call this night Modraniht, or Mother's Night, in honor of the Mothers who give birth to the Midwinter sun. On this first night of Yule the early Germanic and Scandinavian tribes paid tribute to the ancestral mothers and female spirits who protected and watched over the family, helped with childbirth, and healed illnesses.

Some people set a place at their table for their ancestral mothers tonight. According to tradition, they like porridge with milk, fruit, smoked fish, and a mug of ale, cider or mead. You can leave the plate out for one night, and the next day give the leftover food to the family pets or the wild animals, and pour the drink at the roots of a tree.

Tonight I will light a candle and thank my mothers for giving birth to me, and ask them to stand by me during the coming year, that I may face the demands of the world with the strength and wisdom of my kin at my back.

4. Christmas Novena, day 5:

From WorldSSPS site:

In Communion with Prisoners:

God with us, Emmanuel, we bring to you all who are imprisoned in one way or another; Let them experience your love through the human care and respect they receive. 

Let them take responsibility for the hurts they caused and find healing from the hurts they suffered; Let them find support through friends who don‘t give up on them and experience reconciliation in broken relationships. 

Let them (us) find through you the strength to be freed from all that binds us.