Christmas or the winter solstice has been celebrated for thousands of years. In this blog, we'll take you on a journey to pre-Christian Yule as celebrated by Germanic peoples, Vikings, and Balto-Slavs in Northern Europe. Along the way, we've put together a fitting luxury outfit that will keep you warm during the winter days and festivals.
The winter solstice in early societies
As far back as 15,000 years ago, the winter solstice played an important role in the lives of early societies. Food gatherers, hunters, and fishermen in Europe feared the night, which was associated with death and danger from predators like bears and wolves. The transition when the days after the winter solstice grew longer and the nights shorter was a turning point for them that likely was celebrated in their shamanic nature religion.
Neolithic winter solstice
Around 8000 BCE, the first farmers from Anatolia arrived in Europe, responsible for monuments like Stonehenge. For these neolithic communities, the winter solstice marked the most important moment of the year, a transition from long nights associated with death to shorter nights heralding the coming spring. Many neolithic burial monuments in Great Britain and Ireland were designed so that sunlight during the winter solstice illuminated the burial chambers, emphasizing the symbolic connection between the dead and their rebirth. It was the transition period when the dead earth would soon yield grain again. By this point, people had survived the winter and that was reason to celebrate!
The Indo-European sun cult
From 3000 BCE, semi-nomadic herders from the Pontic-Caspian steppes migrated to Europe. They became the ancestors of many modern European peoples and spoke proto-Indo-European: the language from which most European languages stem.
Cosmic order was the foundation of their religion. Darkness was a symbol for death and chaos, and light represented cosmic order, fertility, and life. There were various gods associated with heavenly bodies and light, such as *Seh₂ul (Old Norse Sól), god of the sun, *Meh₁not (Old Norse Máni), god of the moon, and *H₂éwsōs (West Germanic Eostre) goddess of the dawn.
The winter solstice, which falls between December 21 and 23, was celebrated by many Indo-European peoples. The Romans celebrated around the Saturnalia, in honor of the god Saturn, and Emperor Aurelianus made this period into the festival Dies Natalis Solis Invicti in 274 CE, the birthday of Sol Invictus or the 'unconquered sun'. The Vedic peoples of India celebrated the Mahavrata festival, preceded by the rituals of Pitryajna, Traiyambakahoma, and Ekastaka; and the Persians celebrated Yalda Night, while the Gallic Coligny calendar mentions the month of Equos, which likely was related to fertility.
The date of Yule
A fragment of a Gothic calendar from the 6th century CE mentions frumajiuleis, although it is uncertain whether this refers to the month of December. This would be the earliest mention of a Yule month.
The Anglo-Saxon historian Bede confirms that both the months of December and January were called Giuli. In the Icelandic calendar, used among others by Snorri Sturluson, the second month of winter, beginning in late November, is called ýlir.
It is uncertain exactly when the Yule feast was celebrated, but it did not coincide with the later Christian Christmas. Hákonar saga góða from Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla (12th/13th century) tells that Yule was celebrated during the Midwinter Nights and that King Haakon the Good ensured the date was moved to coincide with Christian Christmas.
The Midwinter Nights fell after the winter solstice, according to Andreas Nordberg during the full moon of the second Yule month, thus January. This corresponds with the account of Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg, who tells that the Vikings gathered every nine years in January at Lejre for a blót, where they sacrificed to the gods.
The Anglo-Saxon Yule time: ġēol
In the Old English period, Yule, ġēol or ġēohol, was a 12-day festival, which later became the Twelve Days of Christmas. Here, ǣrra ġēola (before-Yule) referred to the period before the Yule feast (December) and æftera ġēola (after-Yule) referred to the period after (January). This means the Yule season lasted approximately two months.
Mōdraniht ("Mother's Night")
Mōdraniht (night of the mothers), was a pagan ritual celebrated by the Anglo-Saxons on the evening now known as Christmas Eve.
This event is mentioned exclusively by the 8th-century English monk and historian Bede in his work De Temporum Ratione. He describes that the pagan Anglo-Saxons began their year on the eighth day before the Kalends of January (December 25), and that the night before, which is holy to Christians, was called "Mōdraniht" by the heathens, meaning "Night of the Mothers".
Although Bede provides no detailed description of the rituals performed during Mōdraniht, some scholars, including Rudolf Simek, suggest the festival may have involved offerings in honor of female deities or ancestral mothers.
They draw connections between Mōdraniht and the Germanic Matres and Matronae, female beings often depicted in trios and venerated in parts of Germania. Additionally, parallels have been drawn to Scandinavian traditions, such as the norns and dísablót, a sacrificial festival honoring the dísir, female guardian spirits or ancestral spirits.
Information about Mōdraniht is limited to Bede's mention, and many interpretations are based on comparisons with other Germanic and Scandinavian traditions. Nevertheless, Mōdraniht is considered an important example of pre-Christian rituals aimed at honoring women, goddesses, and ancestors during the midwinter period. Although Yule fell during the season of the dead, it was also a celebration where one could ask for fertility in the coming year. As such, it stands in the broader context of Germanic winter celebrations around Yule.
Wassail
The tradition of wassail started as the greeting "was hál" or "waes haeil", with which the Anglo-Saxons proposed a toast to each other's good health. Eventually, this greeting became synonymous with what was drunk during the toast: a warm, spiced drink, usually beer or wine.
In any case, from the 15th century onward, on the twelfth night of Christmas (January 5 or 6), farmers would go to the door of their lord or wealthier neighbors with a wassail bowl. The visitors would sing songs in exchange for food and drink. The lord would give them food and drink in return for his blessing. If the lord refused, he would be cursed.
In the late 16th century, Apple-Wassailing also emerged in South England. Groups of young men traveled through apple orchards and performed rituals in exchange for a reward. They sang songs or made as much noise as possible. The goal was to "wake up" cider apple trees and drive away evil spirits so the harvest would be successful. The ceremony was led by a wassail king and queen, with toast dipped in wassail being hung in the trees as an offering.
These Wassail rituals only emerged in the late Middle Ages, but likely have a much older pagan origin. It served as a symbol of reciprocity, an important Indo-European principle. The farmers sang for (praised) their lord in exchange for food. Through this, they confirmed their patron-client relationship.
The Scandinavian Yule
The Hákonar saga góða tells that during the Yule feast, three toasts were made for King Haakon: the first cup was for Odin "for victory and power", the second cup for Njörðr and Freyr "for good harvests and peace", and the third cup, the bragarfull, in honor of the king himself.
The Orkneyinga saga tells that midwinter is indeed connected with Thor, also a god associated with weather and fertility.
Odin and the Wild Hunt
The period between Halloween (álfablót) and Yule was the season of the dead. This was the time of the Wild Hunt, a ghostly procession led by Odin, and heightened supernatural activity, including the presence of draugar - undead beings wandering the earth.
The god Odin had many names, including Jólnir ('the Yule-god'). According to the Ágrip from the 12th century, the word jól derives from this epithet and refers to a celebration in general. The gods themselves were
