Editing Yule (section)

==Germanic paganism==
===Attestations===
====Months, heiti and kennings====
[[File:Die Gartenlaube (1880) b 856.jpg|thumb|500px|Illustration of an ancient Nordic Yule festival (''[[Die Gartenlaube]]'', 1880)]]
Yule is attested early in the history of the Germanic peoples; in a [[Gothic language]] calendar of the 5–6th century CE it appears in the month name ''{{lang|got|fruma jiuleis}}'', and, in the 8th century, the English historian [[Bede]] wrote that the [[Anglo-Saxon]] calendar included the months {{lang|ang|geola}} or {{lang|ang|giuli}} corresponding to either modern December or December and January.<ref name="SIMEK379">{{harvcoltxt|Simek|2007|p=379}}.</ref>

While the Old Norse month name ''{{lang|non|ýlir}}'' is similarly attested, the Old Norse corpus also contains numerous references to an event by the Old Norse form of the name, ''{{lang|non|jól}}''. In chapter 55 of the ''[[Prose Edda]]'' book ''{{lang|non|[[Skáldskaparmál]]}}'', different names for the [[áss|gods]] are given; one is "Yule-beings" ({{langx|non|jólnar}}). A work by the [[skald]] [[Eyvindr skáldaspillir]] that uses the term is then quoted: "again we have produced Yule-being's feast [mead of poetry], our rulers' eulogy, like a bridge of masonry".<ref name="FAULKES133">{{harvcoltxt|Faulkes|1995|p=133}}.</ref> In addition, one of the numerous [[list of names of Odin|names of Odin]] is ''{{lang|non|Jólnir}}'', referring to the event.<ref name="SIMEK180-181">{{harvcoltxt|Simek|2007|pp=180–181}}.</ref>

====Heitstrenging====
Both [[Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar]] and [[Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks]] provide accounts of the custom of {{lang|non|[[heitstrenging]]}}. In these sources, the tradition takes place on Yule-evening and consists of people placing their hands on a pig referred to as a [[sonargöltr]] before swearing solemn oaths. In the latter text, some manuscripts explicitly refer to the pig as holy, that it was devoted to [[Freyr]] and that after the oath-swearing it was [[Blót|sacrificed]].<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Kovářová|2011|pp=195–196}}.</ref>

====Saga of Hákon the Good====
The ''[[Saga of Hákon the Good|Saga of {{lang|non|Hákon|nocat=y}} the Good]]'' credits [[Haakon the Good|King Haakon I of Norway]] who ruled from 934 to 961 with the [[Christianization]] of [[Norway]] as well as rescheduling Yule to coincide with Christian celebrations held at the time. The saga says that when Haakon arrived in Norway he was a confirmed Christian, but since the land was still altogether heathen and the people retained their pagan practices, Haakon hid his Christianity to receive the help of the "great chieftains". In time, Haakon had a law passed establishing that Yule celebrations were to take place at the same time as the Christians celebrated Christmas, "and at that time everyone was to have ale for the celebration with a measure of grain, or else pay fines, and had to keep the holiday while the ale lasted".<ref name="HOLLANDER106">{{harvcoltxt|Hollander|2007|p=106}}.</ref>

Haakon planned that when he had solidly established himself and held power over the whole country, he would then "have the gospel preached". According to the saga, the result was that his popularity caused many to allow themselves to be baptized, and some people stopped making sacrifices. Haakon spent most of this time in [[Trondheim]]. When Haakon believed that he wielded enough power, he requested a bishop and other priests from England, and they came to Norway. On their arrival, "Haakon made it known that he would have the gospel preached in the whole country." The saga continues, describing the different reactions of various regional [[thing (assembly)|things]].<ref name="HOLLANDER106"/>

A description of heathen Yule practices is provided (notes are Hollander's own):

{| width="100%" style="padding-left: 2em; padding-right: 2em;"
! width="40%" | [[Old Norse]] text<ref>{{cite web |title=Saga Hákonar góða – heimskringla.no |url=https://heimskringla.no/wiki/Saga_H%C3%A1konar_g%C3%B3%C3%B0a |website=heimskringla.no |access-date=26 March 2023 |archive-date=16 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016192717/https://heimskringla.no/wiki/Saga_H%C3%A1konar_g%C3%B3%C3%B0a |url-status=live }}</ref>
! width="60%" | Hollander translation<ref name="HOLLANDER107">{{harvcoltxt|Hollander|2007|p=107}}.</ref>
|-
| style="vertical-align:top; padding:1em;" |{{lang|non|Þat var forn siðr, þá er blót skyldi vera, at allir bœndr skyldu þar koma sem hof var ok flytja þannug föng sín, þau er þeir skyldu hafa, meðan veizlan stóð. At veizlu þeirri skyldu allir menn öl eiga; þar var ok drepinn allskonar smali ok svá hross; en blóð þat alt, er þar kom af, þá var kallat hlaut, ok hlautbollar þat, er blóð þat stóð í, ok hlautteinar, þat var svá gert sem stöklar; með því skyldi rjóða stallana öllu saman, ok svá veggi hofsins utan ok innan, ok svá stökkva á mennina; en slátr skyldi sjóða til mannfagnaðar. Eldar skyldu vera á miðju gólfi í hofinu ok þar katlar yfir; ok skyldi full um eld bera. En sá er gerði veizluna ok höfðingi var, þá skyldi hann signa fullit ok allan blótmatinn.}}
| style="vertical-align:top; padding:1em;"  |It was ancient custom that when sacrifice was to be made, all farmers were to come to the [[heathen temple]] and bring along with them the food they needed while the feast lasted. At this feast all were to take part of the drinking of ale. Also all kinds of livestock were killed in connection with it, [[Horses in Germanic paganism|horses]] also; and all the blood from them was called ''{{lang|non|hlaut}}'' [sacrificial blood], and ''{{lang|non|hlautbolli}}'', the vessel holding the blood; and ''{{lang|non|hlautteinar}}'', the sacrificial twigs {{bracket|[[aspergillum|aspergills]]}}. These were fashioned like sprinklers, and with them were to be smeared all over with blood the pedestals of the idols and also the walls of the temple within and without; and likewise the men present were to be sprinkled with blood. But the meat of the animals was to be boiled and served as food at the banquet. Fires were to be lighted in the middle of the temple floor, and kettles hung over the fires. The sacrificial beaker was to be borne around the fire, and he who made the feast and was chieftain, was to bless the beaker as well as all the sacrificial meat.
|}

The narrative continues that toasts were to be drunk. The first toast was to be drunk to Odin "for victory and power to the king", the second to the gods {{lang|non|[[Njörðr]]}} and {{lang|non|[[Freyr]]}} "[[Til árs ok friðar|for good harvests and for peace]]", and third, a beaker was to be drunk to the king himself. In addition, toasts were drunk to the memory of departed kinsfolk. These were called ''{{lang|non|minni}}''.<ref name="HOLLANDER107"/>

===Academic reception===
====Significance and connection to other events====
Scholar [[Rudolf Simek]] says the pagan Yule feast "had a pronounced religious character" and 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 Age|Stone]] and [[Bronze Age]]s." The traditions of the [[Yule log]], [[Yule Goat|Yule goat]], Yule boar ''{{lang|non|[[Sonargöltr]]}},'' [[Wassailing|Yule singing]], and others possibly have connections to pre-Christian Yule customs, which Simek says "indicates the significance of the feast in pre-Christian times."''<ref name="SIMEK-379-380">{{harvcoltxt|Simek|2007|pp=379–380}}.</ref>''

Scholars have connected the month event and Yule period to the [[Wild Hunt]] (a ghostly procession in the winter sky), the god Odin (who is attested in Germanic areas as leading the Wild Hunt and bears the name ''{{lang|non|Jólnir}}''), and increased supernatural activity, such as the Wild Hunt and the increased activities of {{lang|non|[[draugr|draugar]]}}—undead beings who walk the earth.<ref name="SIMEK-AND-ORCHARD">{{harvcoltxt|Simek|2007|pp=180–181, 379–380}} and {{harvcoltxt|Orchard|1997|p=187}}.</ref>

{{lang|ang|[[Mōdraniht]]}}, an event focused on collective female beings attested by Bede as having occurred among the [[Anglo-Saxon paganism|heathen Anglo-Saxons]] when Christians celebrated Christmas Eve, has been seen as further evidence of a fertility event during the Yule period.<ref name="ORCHARD187">{{harvcoltxt|Orchard|1997|p=187}}.</ref>

====Date of observance====
The exact dating of the pre-Christian Yule celebrations is unclear and debated among scholars. Snorri in Hákonar saga góða describes how the three-day feast began on "Midwinter Night", however this is distinct from the [[winter solstice]], occurring approximately one month later. Andreas Nordberg proposes that Yule was celebrated on the full moon of the second Yule month in the [[Early Germanic calendar]] (the month that started on the first new moon after the winter solstice), which could range from 5 January to 2 February in the Gregorian calendar. Nordberg positions the Midwinter Nights from 19 to 21 January in the Gregorian calendar, falling roughly in the middle of Nordberg's range of Yule dates. In addition to Snorri's account, Nordberg's dating is also consistent with the account of the great blót at [[Lejre]] by [[Thietmar of Merseburg]].<ref name=Nordberg>{{cite journal |last1=Nordberg |first1=Andreas |title=Jul, disting och förkyrklig tideräkning |journal=Acta Academiae Regiae Gustavi Adolphi |date=2006 |volume=91 |pages=155–156 |url=https://www.academia.edu/1366945 |access-date=26 March 2023 |archive-date=14 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314211256/https://www.academia.edu/1366945/Jul_disting_och_f%C3%B6rkyrklig_tider%C3%A4kning |url-status=live }}</ref>