How was Yule celebrated in the Viking Age? 🎄

[@xJadeWolfxx]

God Jul! ❄❄ Sometimes I feel like Heathens get a little too focused on historical accuracy (its me, I'm Heathens). Holidays, celebrations and traditions evolve with the people that celebrate them. I celebrate on the Solstice or Christmas for convenience sake since I have it off. I may do a smaller offering/blót around traditional Midwinter. Who says we can't celebrate multiple times?

[@TheNorseWitch]

That’s true! Maybe if I find the time I’ll also celebrate on the solstice AND sometime in January ☺️ and I agree. I’m considering myself to be more of an intuitive heathen. Although I do a lot of research, I believe people in pre Christian Scandinavia also didn’t do everything like it’s now said in the Sagas and there’s definitely ways to personalize practices 🥰 I think that makes it special!

[@jiliciar.1423]

​@@TheNorseWitch Hi, I love your channel, thank you for making videos. Also, you're a beautiful person. Happy Holidays. 😊

[@zbraal]

So funny (sometimes not funny) how “facts” on the internet take on a life of their own. Thank you for all the great ideas for Yule and Midwinter! 💙❄️

[@TheNorseWitch]

Oh yes agreed! Especially in the spiritual community there are a lot of those „facts“ because before the 2000s witchy books didn’t really take historical research too seriously 😅 the things you’ll read in 80s and 90s witchcraft books is grotesque 🤣

[@hunterjanellwinchester172]

We start Yule on the 21st of December. We have crafts we do for each of the 12 days. We also have a Yule small log that we decorate and have candles in that we light each night and leave some offerings to Odin, Freyr and Freya and Skadi and Ulr that It's fun for the kids. On "Christmas eve we do have Odin (instead of Santa) come and bring gifts.

[@ladyann5778]

Blessed yule everyone❤

[@zebulonswearingen4607]

I came here after the Cozy Winter Chat with The Witch of Wonderlust. I enjoy ed that chat so much that I had to check out your channel. I’m glad I did. I learned a lot from you from both vids. I subscribed!

[@TheNorseWitch]

Oh Yeay welcome 🥰🥰

[@ret9843]

Great video as usual! Would love to see a video on Skaði herself in the future :)

[@TheNorseWitch]

Then you’ll like next weeks video 🤣❤️

[@lilykatmoon4508]

YES! I second that!

[@Dolly_the_Witch]

Thank you for this video! I’ve been seeing so much misinformation being spread around how and what Yule was celebrated like on the reality is we just don’t really know all that much but that’s OK I hope everyone can celebrate Yule all the way that’s best for them and have a happy new year ❤

[@PrynnePrue]

It's a shame we cannot go back in time and visit pre-christian or even pre-viking Scandinavia to know for sure how and exactly when they celebrated. I think I'm just gonna celebrate Yule for a whole month! together with Midwinter😁😉✌️as much as I can with a lot of light, feasting and all kinds of pagan traditions and bringing nature inside😊 So interesting to learn about these facts :) I always love a history lesson. Happy Yul!❤💖

[@TheNorseWitch]

Oh agreed! I always say if I could go somewhere back in time or meet someone from the past it’d be the Viking age or someone from the Viking age to learn more about their actual practice!

[@PrynnePrue]

@@TheNorseWitch yeah definitely :) so much is still shrouded in mystery there!

[@baronghede2365]

Happy yule everyone, Blessed Be.

[@ladyann5778]

Thank you for the explanation much appreciated

[@guelkaratas5164]

GOD JUL❤❄️🕯

[@ventusheart5733]

I swear you are fresh air ❤️ so many people go on the easy road of "EvErYtHinG aBouT ChRisTmaS is StOleN FrOm YuLe", glad to see people like you having a more evidence based approach ❤️

[@TheNorseWitch]

I‘m so over all of the Christianity bashing. Its fine people come to paganism after having a bad experience with Christianity but that doesn’t mean it’s all bad and all Christian’s are evil.

[@ventusheart5733]

@@TheNorseWitch plus as you highlight the yule log and the yule goat, while not being pre christian, are still folk like. Which means people could have rituals that didnt necessary embodied aspects of Christianity but other beliefs

[@TheNorseWitch]

Totally true ☺️ I mean in my opinion it’s also totally fine to include a Christmas tree or Santa into your Yule celebrations, who the heck cares 😅 if you grew up with it and you like it because it makes you feel warm and cozy - you do you! ☺️ the only thing I don’t like is when people just state as a fact that the Yule log and the Yule goat definitely come from pre-Christian Scandinavia because that’s simply not something we can prove

[@cassyburney2924]

❤ thank you for another video Bente ❤

[@Bjorn_Algiz]

Oh yes! Yippee 😁 loved the video sister and the deep dive! ❤️ happy yule!

[@TheNorseWitch]

Thank you 🥰

[@elysethefloralninja]

Thank you. This helps. I have lots of traditions in winter and feel much better about spreading them out to give them my full time and energy. I will be doing my first Norse ritual this Yule, and I am both really excited and a bit nervous. I've been doing lots of reading and looking at how others choose to celebrate yule. I appreciate your willingness to share how you personally celebrate. It's valuable to hear from every day practioners. I don't know why, but the Blat intimidates me. Perhaps it is, because it is so different than anything Christianity practices. It was more ingrained in their way of being, whereas our holidays to me seem seperate from daily life. Much of the meaning in them is forgotten, except in religious cdivotional contexts. I guess that's why we drink. lol

[@TheNorseWitch]

I totally know what you mean by Blóts being intimidating. It’s a lot of work and a lot of energy that goes into it. But let me tell you, the energy during a Blót is insanely special! You’ll love it!

[@elysethefloralninja]

@@TheNorseWitch thank you ❤️ merry blessings ❄️

[@Acesaa]

Such a great video; thank you!

[@TheNorseWitch]

I‘m glad you liked it 🥰

[@mariaroman8726]

what do your parents do in Egypt? Sounds like a nice trip. Happy Holidays to you.

[@TheNorseWitch]

My sister! She lives and works there ☺️

[@thecryingcryptid]

in my house we usually start celebrations on the 21st and have our big dinner and toast on the 25th just because it's the easiest. we broadly honor all the gods and ancestors on that day and throughout the season i end up doing a little mini sort of dísablót as that's sort of the focus for me year round while my partner focuses more on odin.

[@101gamelord]

As much as I love the detailed dissection of the Practice, Which I absolutely love, nothing is better than the Holy Pig 😊😂. SWEAR ON THE HOLY PIGGINS

[@TheNorseWitch]

Yup 🤣❤️

[@bricktea3645]

I have heard from a magician(on KZbin)that deity and angel magic is just a projection of your pysche and you have to project a personality to it and really meditate on those given attributes so its actually communicating to your higher self,this theory seem more interesting. Also do you know what egregores are? Its definitely a topic worth while looking similar to the theory of stuff originating from humans.

[@DouglasHinz]

Thank you for the great information. The goat thing goes back to Paleolithic. He is the dying and resurrecting consort of Great Mother represented by the Sun. (She is Freya and he is Frey) The Sun has died at Winter Solstice and after 3 days is resurrected and life is saved, so celebrations occur DEC 25, when the Sun, represented by the goat, begins to move again. The holiday evolved differently as the various tribes separated and started doing their own thing. The similarities are because of common origin. Predates Scandinavia Spain etc

[@TheNorseWitch]

That sounds interesting, do you have a source on that? I’d like to do some further reading.

[@DouglasHinz]

Lots of books on ancient mythology. Study this stuff enough and eventually the pieces of the puzzle come together. Great sources are Joseph Campbell, Maria Gambutas, Eliade's book in Shamanism, anything comparing ancient mythologies and religion, Hinduism, Sumerian etc. The Norse Tradition is just the northern version of a Spiritual Tradition that spanned the entire world over tens of thousands of years, until it was interrupted by Christianity. We need to get back to that original tradition. People need to put the pieces back together again. Until that occurs life on Earth is going to be torment for everyone. Mother Nature is alive. She wants people to know Her. Some of our ancestors called Her Nerthus. My ancestors called Her Frau Goda. She is also Freya, the Lady. She is the Doe. She is the Cow. Her dying and resurrecting Son Lover is the Stag, the Bull, the Goat. She is the Earth and He is the Sun. She is the Eternal Whole of Nature. He is dying and resurrecting Consciousness represented by the Sun. He dies at the Winter Solstice, spends 3 days in the Underworld, and is reborn on the 25th, when the Sun begins moving again. He then grows up, and at the Spring Equinox, He and Great Mother, Mother Earth, unite in Sacred Marriage and the world springs back to life. In the ancient pre-christian world the 3rd day after the Solstice was a celebration of the return of the Savior/Hero - the Sun.

[@TheNorseWitch]

@DouglasHinz okay i thought there were some actual scholars writing about exactly what you said. But then we disagree 😅 I don’t think we can smush all of those religions together that easily…

[@Folkira-rk3juF]

Thank you so much for this video! It's very interesting. I'm half-Finnish and in Finland we say 'Joulu' which comes from the word 'Jul'. It's very interesting to see a clear difference about what is really pre-Christian and what is modern. One thing that I hear constantly is that the Christmas- tree is actually also pre-Christian. Even though I heard resources saying that it is actually from the 19th century, but some say that decorating ever green trees outside was part of pre-Christian paganism to favor the old Gods/spirits of nature. I'm really confused if any of that is really true or also just a modern tradition. Is it maybe interesting in the future to make a video about it? Anyway have a blessed Yule! ❄

[@TheNorseWitch]

That is a good idea! There are definitely more Yule myths, just like whether Odin is Santa xD maybe I’ll make an entire Yule myths video 🤣

[@andreatonz6078]

Liebe Bente ich wünsche dich ein fröhliches Yule fest und ich wünsche dir eine schöne Zeit und bis ins neue Jahr danke für die tollen Videos mach weiter so deine Themen sind sehr interessant und Ps ich feiere auch Yule liebe Grüsse aus der Schweiz von Andrea❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤😊😊😊😊😊😊🎉😊

[@TheNorseWitch]

Oh danke dir 🥰 ich hoffe du hast auch ein wunderbares Yule! ❤️

[@KierstenMB]

Hej 😊 Loved the video. I'm a danish witch living in England and I have a language question. I've celebrated Jule since childhood because thats what we call Christmas in Danmark. I have pagan friends here in England who celebrate Yule but for them the word doesn't have Christian connotations. Thats not the case for me. When I hear the word Yule I think of Jule and the Julemanden. I don't have Danish friends that I can ask but I'm hoping you might be able to tell me how Danish pagans/witches navigate the language.

[@TheNorseWitch]

Unfortunately I can’t because in German we have an entirely different word altogether „Weihnachten“ that doesn’t have similarities to neither Christmas nor Yule 😅 but in my opinion the fact that Scandinavians still call Christmas Jul/Jule/Jól is really cool! That simply shows the history of how they were put on the same date ☺️

[@KierstenMB]

I think you're right and I agree that it's cool. I really enjoyed your video on Trolldom so thank you for that video as well x

[@KierstenMB]

I think you're right and I agree that it's cool. I really enjoyed your video on Trolldom so thank you for that video as well x