Yule

Yule is a winter festival historically observed by the <a href="/facts/Germanic_peoples/N16QoPA7">Germanic peoples</a> that was incorporated into <a href="/facts/Christmas/EsuI0Gds">Christmas</a> during the <a href="/facts/Christianisation_of_the_Germanic_peoples/TC9KqIuD">Christianisation of the Germanic peoples</a>. In present times adherents of some <a href="/facts/New_religious_movements/7Ttfr321">new religious movements</a> (such as <a href="/facts/Modern_Germanic_paganism/Q1Kwce9I">Modern Germanic paganism</a>) celebrate Yule independently of the Christian festival. Scholars have connected the original celebrations of Yule to the <a href="/facts/Wild_Hunt/3d30YHv0">Wild Hunt</a>, the god <a href="/facts/Odin/4XHsn2RF">Odin</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Heathen_Anglo-Saxon/da7PLuac">heathen Anglo-Saxon</a> <a href="/facts/M%25C5%258Ddraniht/gUSlAYxK">Mōdraniht</a> ("Mothers' Night"). The term Yule and cognates are still used in English and the <a href="/facts/Scandinavian_languages/zocYfWp8">Scandinavian languages</a> as well as in <a href="/facts/Finnish_language/lBuEIgs0">Finnish</a> and <a href="/facts/Estonian_language/ywCJos4e">Estonian</a> to describe Christmas and other festivals occurring during the <a href="/facts/Christmas_and_holiday_season/nJKoMB7I">winter holiday season</a>. Furthermore, some present-day Christmas customs and traditions such as the <a href="/facts/Yule_log/lDVsU0pT">Yule log</a>, <a href="/facts/Yule_goat/vpNuwSLq">Yule goat</a>, Yule boar, <a href="/facts/Wassailing/Q159LLoy">Yule singing</a>, and others may have connections to older pagan Yule traditions.

Yule open-in-new

Yule