Each year around December 20-23, people around the world celebrate the longest night of the year. Scandinavians hold a traditional festival of lights for St. Lucia, one of the first Christian martyrs. In China, they celebrate Dong Zhi as being a day many people believe everyone grows one year older on. Iranians celebrate Shab-e Yalda, the Sun God’s victory over darkness. Similar to the Irnian holiday, Peri celebrates their Sun God on the holiday Inti Raymi. The Zuni, a tribe of Native American Pueblo peoples, celebrate Shalako to mark the beginning of the year. The Japanese celebrate Toji to start the year with good luck and health. A more commonly known celebration of the Winter Solstice, though, is Yule, a holiday originating from the ancient Norsemen of Scandinavia.
On the shortest day and longest night of the year, the ancient Norse people would burn large logs and feast until the logs burnt out, sometimes taking up to twelve days, to encourage the sun to move. They would also decorate outdoor evergreen trees with food and carvings to encourage the tree spirits to return in the spring, and children would leave their shoes outside the door filled with sugar and hay for Odin’s eight-legged horse, Sleipnir.
For Wiccans, a sub-group of Paganism, Yule is the day the Oak King, God of the Waxing Year, defeats his twin brother, the Holly King, God of the Waning Year. The Holly and Oak Kings are believed to be two aspects of the Horned God, the male companion of the Mother Goddess. Each Midsummer and Yule, the two brothers fight each other to win the love of the Goddess.
Druids celebrate Yule as the day the Divine Sun Child, referred to as Mabon, returns and gives back to the earth her warmth, light, and life. Mistletoe to Druids is a healer and protector plant, and so is always carefully cut and never touches the ground. The modern tradition of kissing beneath a mistletoe comes from its white berries representing life-giving male sperm. Holly, on the other hand, is another protective plant that is greatly revered by Druids because it protects from negative spirits. Holly represents the feminine blood and, together with mistletoe, symbolizes a marriage.
When Christianity became more widely spread in the fourth century, Pope Julius I declared December 25 as the day of the Christmas feast to be at the same time as the Roman pagan celebration of the “birthday of the invincible Sun.” English Christians also adopted a few pagan traditions, such as decorating evergreens and caroling, and changing that season of the year into the “Christmastide” instead of “Yuletide.”
Today, the holiday Yule is mainly celebrated by various kinds of Pagans, but the Winter Solstice is still celebrated by all cultures in one way or another.
SOURCES
What Is Yule? | Christmas Traditions
Winter Solstice – Alban Arthan | Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids
Yule | The Goddess and the Greenman