Yule: Fertility and Ghosts

At the winter solstice, Scandinavians worshipped Frey, god of
fertility; further south, the Angli celebrated December 24 as New
Year's Eve, called Modranecht(mother night), a vigil also connected
with fertility rites. In general, the traditional Yule(from the Norse
Iul, meaning wheel)was a feast devoted to fertility and the
ancestors, which passed on to Christmas fecund and ghostly
traditions. The Christmas roast pig is kissing cousin to julgalti,
the pig offered to Frey for fertility in the coming year, according
to Funk and Wagnall's. Hence the apple in its mouth. Similarly, Yule
was a time to charm grain and fruit to grow thick. Traditional Scots
kept the Corn Maiden from harvest till Yule and then distributed her
to the cattle, according to the Farrars. The Germans scattered the
ashes of the Yule log on the fields for fertility, or kept its last
charred pieces to bind in the last sheaf of the coming harvest. The
French retained apiece of Yule log through the year to protect the
house against fire and lightning, to ensure bountiful crops and the
easy birth of calves. The solstice was also a weather predictor,
according to Funk and Wagnall's. In more recent tradition, a white
Christmas is said to mean a prosperous New Year, while a green,
cloudy or hot Christmas fills the churchyard.

Yule is a time for spirits. European tradition, transferred to the
Christian holiday, held that each house should be clean and prepared
for Christmas before the household went to church, so the spirits
could inspect it. Spirits likewise stayed for Christmas dinner. In
Sweden, householders set a special table for them. European folk
beliefs say that someone who sits under a pine tree on Christmas Eve
can hear the sound of angels -- but death will soon follow. Death
also awaits one who hears farm animals converse in the barn that
night. A person born on Christmas can see spirits. Dreams on the
Northern Modranecht were believed to foretell the coming year,
according to Nigel Pennick in The Pagan Book of Days.

Excerpted From Reclaiming the Winter Solstice by Melanie Fire
Salamander