Making a Traditional Yule Log
As a family that loves old-fashioned traditions, this year we decided to add in the celebratory burning of a yule log. Have you participated this ancient holiday tradition before?
The idea of burning a yule log during the winter solstice is believed to date all the way back to early Germanic or Scandinavian paganism. The log was burned on the winter solstice, the shortest and darkest day the year, when ancient peoples would worry that the light may cease to exist. This day has been observed by early humans as far back as the Neolithic period!
I always find is fascinating how these stories and traditions can become twisted over time, and how we lose sight of witnessing and watching the natural world around us. I suppose that is simply how modernization works. However, it is nice to step back from the business of life and the excitement of the technology around us and simply observe the changing of the seasons. Soon we will welcome the true beginning of winter!
the tradition of the yule log:
The tradition of Yule or Yuletide was a celebration of feasting, wassailing, drinking, and dancing. This ancient holiday celebrated the victory of the Oak King over the Holly King, who symbolize summer and winter, respectively. Kind of a fun tale!
The yule log was, in fact, a full tree brought into the house and either burned from the bottom with the entirety of the tree sticking out into the room, or cut into sections and burned for 12 days. The ashes were saved and used to fertilize their crops in the spring (this is still a great idea, as long as there is only wood ash in your fire), and if there was any Yule log leftover, then it could be saved for good luck in the next year.
The Yule log was also stored underneath a person’s bed for good luck and as a superstitious practice to keep lightning away from the home!
how to decorate a yule log:
There are many ways to decorate a modern Yule log. You may choose to actually burn it in your fireplace or an outdoor fire pit. Another option would be to light candles on the log or near it, as we have pictured. Whatever you choose, make sure that you are very careful. Of course, dried flowers, herbs, greens, fruits, etc are highly flammable. We do not want the entire house to go up in flames!
If you would like to decorate a similar Yule log to ours, you would need a few simple natural items. These can easily be found around your home, and everything that we used we either foraged or grew, except for the oranges and cinnamon sticks. The beeswax candles are the same that we dipped on the Autumn Equinox and saved for our log!
what you will need:
Large log
Drill
Candles
Floral wire
Hot glue gun
Greenery (pine, spruce, cedar, arborvitae, boxwood, etc)
Dried orange slices
Dried cranberries
Cinnamon sticks
Lavender
Pinecones
instructions:
With a drill, drill holes into the log for the candles.
Gather the greenery into clusters and wrap the ends with floral wire. You may choose to attach these bundles of greenery in many ways, but we simply attached them with hot glue.
Arrange the greenery in your preferred style. Insert other elements such as orange slices, cinnamon stick bundles, lavender bunches, pinecones, etc.
Light the candles or burn your entire log on the Winter Solstice!
ideas for celebrating the winter solstice:
There are many ways that people celebrate the Winter Solstice, which happens to fall on December 21, 2022. On this night, it can be lovely shut off all of the lights and light candles instead. If you haver a fireplace, you may choose to light a fire and read books all evening.
We are going to try this tradition again this year, where we read books all evening and put our phones away and hide the television remotes. We will probably eat home baked treats and have a nice a candlelit supper. Our family loves to play Uno or put together jigsaw puzzles. It is a wonderful way to enjoy the longest night!
Whichever holiday traditions you love or whatever you believe in, we hope that you have a lovely Winter Solstice coming up and have fun making your own Yule log!
xoxo Kayla
