Yule, Christmas or the Winter Solstice: Which is it?

In some ways, Yule is the easiest festival to write about because almost everybody celebrates it – to a greater or lesser extent. It’s also one of the hardest ones to have a clear image of. It feels like it’s hidden in plain sight. It is by far the most widely celebrated but it could also be described as the emptiest. Perhaps that’s harsh…it’s a wonderful time to celebrate with friends and family. People’s Christmas tree displays are beautiful and heartening. On the other hand, it’s also a riot of consumerism where many people feel obliged to spend money they don’t have on presents people don’t need. Many people find it unbelievably stressful.

Because of calendar variations, Christmas is not on the same day as the Winter Solstice. They have grown apart over the centuries, but are bound together in the word Yule, which is the name of the original Solstice festival but which as a word has also been co-opted into Christmas. There are several traditional aspects of Yule that are now part of Christmas, like the log or the decorated tree. Then there is Father Christmas himself, who some say wears red because of an association with fly agaric mushrooms and Nordic shamanic practices, but who is also connected to St Nicholas, an early Christian bishop based in Anatolia. We are entitled to wonder what is going on? Where are we supposed to start? Sometimes, it seems easier to separate them and treat them as two independent phenomena.

Yule is a time of the return of the light. It’s the pivotal point where the days start to get longer again, albeit painfully slowly. Ancient monuments like Newgrange and Stonehenge align to the sun on the solstice. It marks the return of the sun god. I think this is the big festival for those of us prone to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) who can start to track the light returning to dismiss the dominance of crippling darkness.

The pressure of Christmas can make people feel worse but, if we have the energy and support, it can help us feel better too. When I was a small child, I desperately wanted to see Father Christmas flying through the sky delivering presents. When I was a bit older, I wanted to summon in the energy of Jesus Christ across the cosmos on Christmas Eve. These are both a lot harder to realise now that I am older. My favourite Christmas song is ‘December Will Be Magic Again’ by Kate Bush, because it’s aware of that longing and nostalgia for old times when every second of the Christmas period seemed to be charged with joyful anticipation. Perhaps we can
reclaim that: we can still gather around the fire, cook nice meals, tell stories to each other (especially ghost stories!) and generally appreciate the humans and animals (and gods and guardian angels) who support us and entertain us during the darkest weeks of the year.

This blog was written by Adam Gordon, Cygnus Magazine Editor, Watkins Commissioning Editor and Watkins Media Office Manager.