Yule log

An illustration of people collecting a Yule log from Chambers Book of Days (1832)

The Yule log, Yule clog, or Christmas block is a specially selected log burnt on a hearth as a Christmas tradition in a number of countries in Europe. The origin of the folk custom is unclear. Numerous scholars have observed that, like other traditions associated with Yule (such as the Yule boar), the custom may ultimately derive from Germanic paganism.

Origins

According to the Encyclopedia of English Folklore, the first "clear" references to the tradition appear in the 17th century, and thus it is unclear where or when the custom extends.^[1]

However, it has long been observed that the custom may have much earlier origins, possibly extending from or echoing customs observed in Germanic paganism. As early as 1725, Henry Bourne sought an origin for the Yule log in Anglo-Saxon paganism:

Our Fore-Fathers, when the common Devious of Eve were over, and Night was come on, were wont to light up Candles of an uncommon Size, which were called Christmas-Candles, and to lay a Log of Wood upon the Fire, which they termed a Yule-Clog, or Christmas-Block. These were to Illuminate the House, aud [sic] turn the Night into Day; which custom, in some Measure, is still kept up in the Northern Parts. It hath, in all probability, been derived from the Saxons. For Bede tells us, That [sic] this very Night was observed in this Land before, by the Heathen Saxons. They began, says he, their Year on the Eight of the Calenders of January, which is now our Christmas Party: And the very Night before, which is now Holy to us, was by them called Mædrenack, or the Night of the Mothers … The Yule-Clog therefore hath probably been a Part of those Ceremonies which were perform'd that Night's Ceremonies. It seems to have been used, as an Emblem of the return of the Sun, and the lengthening of the Days. For as both December and January were called Guili or Yule, upon Account of the Sun's Returning, and the Increase of the Days; so, I am apt to believe, the Log has had the Name of the Yule-Log, from its being burnt as an Emblem of the returning Sun, and the Increase of its Light and Heat. This was probably the Reason of the custom among the Heathen Saxons; but I cannot think the Observation of it was continued for the same Reason, after Christianity was embraced. …"^[2]

More recently, G. R. Willey (1983) says:

Communal bon-bons with feasting and jollification have a pagan root—ritual bonfires at the beginning of November once signaled the start of another year and the onset of winter. Their subsequent incorporation into the Christian calendar, to become part and parcel of the festival of Christmas, and, later, their association with the New Year (January 1st) is an intriguing story. Many, if not all, of the various customs and traditions at one time extensively witnessed at Christmas and the 'old' New Year stem from this common source, e.g. Twelfth Night bonfires, including 'Old Meg' from Worcestershire and burning the bush from Herefordshire, first footing, etc. … Any traces of primitive ritual such as scattering of burnt ashes or embers as an omen of fertilisation or purification have long since disappeared.^[3]

The events of Yule are generally held to have centred on Midwinter (although specific dating is a matter of debate), and feasting, drinking, and sacrifice (blót) were involved. Scholar Rudolf Simek comments that the pagan Yule feast "had a pronounced religious character" and comments that "it is uncertain whether the Germanic Yule feast still had a function in the cult of the dead and in the veneration of the ancestors, a function which the mid-winter sacrifice certainly held for the West European Stone and Bronze Ages." The traditions of the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar (Sonargöltr) still reflected in the Christmas ham, Yule singing, and others stem from Yule customs, and customs which Simek takes as "indicat[ing] the significance of the feast in pre-Christian times."^[4]

Modern practices

The Yule log is recorded in the folklore archives of much of England, but particularly in collections covering the West Country and the North Country.^[1] For example, in his section regarding "Christmas Observances", J. B. Partridge recorded then-current (1914) Christmas customs in Yorkshire, Britain involving the Yule log as related by "Mrs. Day, Minchinhampton, a native of Swaledale". The custom is as follows:

The Yule log is generally given, and is at once put on the hearth. It is unlucky to have to light it again after it has once been started, and it ought not go out until it has burned away.

To sit around the Yule log and tell ghost stories is a great thing to do on this night, also card-playing.

To large colored candles are a Christmas present from the grocery. Just before supper on Christmas Eve (where furmety is eaten), while the Yule log is burning, all other lights are put out, and the candles are lighted from the Yule log by the youngest person present. While they are being lighted, all are silent and wish. The wish must not be told, but you see if you get it during the year. As soon as the candles are on the table, silence may be broken. They must be allowed to burn themselves out, and no other lights may be lighted that night.^[5]

H. J. Rose records a similar folk belief from Killinghall, Yorkshire in 1923: "In the last generation the Yule log was still burned, and a piece of it saved to light the next year's log. On Christmas morning something green, a leaf or the like, was brought into the house before anything was taken out."^[6]

The Yule log is also attested as a custom present elsewhere in the English-speaking world, such as the United States. Robert Meyer, Jr. records in 1947 that a "Yule-Log Ceremony" in Palmer Lake, Colorado had occurred since 1934. He describes the custom: "It starts with the yule log [sic] hunt and is climaxed by drinking of wassail around the fire."^[7]

Regional names

The term "Yule log" is not the only term used to refer to the custom. It was commonly called a "Yule Clog" in north-east England, and it was also called the "Yule Block" in the Midlands and West Country and "Gule Block" in Lincolnshire. In Cornwall, the term "Stock of the Mock" was found.^[8]

Non-English names in the British Isles include Y Bloccyn Gwylian (the Festival Block) in Wales, Yeel Carline (the Christmas Old Wife) in Scotland and Bloc na Nollaig (the Christmas Block) in Ireland.^[9]

The custom of burning a Yule log for one or more nights starting on Christmas Eve was also formerly widespread in France, where the usual term is bûche de noël. This may derive from a custom requiring peasants to bring a log to their lord. In Burgundy, gifts would be hidden under the log. Prayers were offered as the log was lighted in Brittany and in Provence, where the custom is still widely observed and called cacho fio (blessing of the log): the log, or branch from a fruit-bearing tree, is first paraded three times around the house by the grandfather of the family, then blessed with wine; it is often lighted together with the saved ashes of the previous year's log.^[10][11] Other regional names include cosse de Nau in Berry, mouchon de Nau in Angoumois, chuquet in Normandy, souche in the Île de France, and tréfouiau in the Vendée.^[12] The custom has now long been replaced by the eating of a log-shaped cake, also named Bûche de Noël.

Ashen faggot

Similarities have been observed with the custom of the ashen faggot, recorded solely in the West Country of England. First recorded at the beginning of the 19th century and occurring up until at least 2003 in some areas, the ashen faggot is burnt on Christmas Eve, is associated with a variety of folk beliefs, and is "made of smaller ash sticks bound into a faggot with strips of hazel, withy, or bramble".^[13] G. R. Wiley observes that the ashen faggot may have developed out of the Yule log.^[3]

Analogues

As early as Jacob Grimm in the early 18th century, scholars have observed parallels between the South Slavic custom of the Badnjak and the Yule log tradition.^[14] As observed by M. E. Durham (1940), the Badnjak is a sapling that is placed on the hearth on Christmas Eve. Varying customs involving the Badnjak may be performed, such as smearing it with fowl blood or goat blood and the ashes may be "strewn on the fields or garden to promote fertility on New Year's Eve".^[15]

Notes

1. Simpson and Roud (2003:402–403).
2. Bourne (1740:155–162).
3. Wiley (1983:42).
4. Simek (2007:379–380).
5. Partridge (1914:375–376).
6. Rose (1923:157).
7. Meyer (1947:370).
8. Hutton (1996:38–39).
9. Hutton (1996:39).
10. Christmas in France, Chicago: World Book, 1996, ISBN 9780716608769, p. 55.
11. Arnold van Gennep, Manuel de folklore français contemporain Part 1: Les cérémonies familiales à la tombe Volume 7 Part 1: Cycle des douze jours: tournées et chansons de quète – personnification du cycle, feux, bûchers et brandons mobiles, la bûche et le tison de Noël, Paris: Picard, (1958) 1987, ISBN 9782708400740, pp. 2118–60 (French)
12. Roger Dévigne, Le légendaire des provinces françaises à travers notre folklore, Paris: Horizons de France, 1950, OCLC 4351361, repr. Pygmalion, 1978, p. 204, (French).
13. Simpson and Roud (2003:11).
14. Grimm (1882:52).
15. Durham (1940:83–89).

References

• Durham, M. E. "Some Balkan Festivals" in Folklore, Vol. 51, No. 2 (Jun., 1940), pp. 84–89). Taylor and Francis.
• Grimm, Jacob (James Steven Stallybrass Trans.) (1882). Teutonic Mythology: Translated from the Fourth Edition with Notes and Appendix Vol. I. London: George Bell and Sons.
• Bourne, Henry. 1777 [1725]. Observations on Popular Antiquities. T. Saint.
• Hutton, Ronald (1996). The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford University Press ISBN 9780198205708
• Meyer Jr., Robert (1947). "Calendar of Western Folk Events" in Western Folklore, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Oct. 1947), pp. 367–370. Western States Folklore Society.
• Partridge, J. B. (1914). "Folklore from Yorkshire (North Riding)" in Folklore, Vol. 25, No. 3 (Sep. 30, 1914), pp. 375–377. Taylor & Francis.
• Rose, H. J (1923). "Folklore Scraps" in Folklore, Vol. 34, No. 2 (Jun. 30, 1923), pp. 154–158. Taylor & Francis.
• Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. D.S. Brewer ISBN 0-85991-513-1
• Simpson, Jacqueline and Steve Roud (2003). A Dictionary of English Folklore. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-860766-3
• Wiley, J. R. "Burning the Ashen Faggot: A Surviving Somerset Custom". Folklore, Vol. 94, No. 1 (1983), pp. 40–43. Taylor & Francis.

External links