Twelfth Night and the Twelve Days of Yule - Benicia Magazine (2024)

FAQs

What are the 12 days of Yule pagan? ›

Gradually Yuletide was extended to span a full 12 days and nights, blending several other traditions. The 12 days between the winter solstice and the beginning of the next solar year were considered a sacred period, belonging neither to the old year nor the new year.

Wassailing is a Twelfth Night tradition with pagan roots and has been practised in Britain for centuries. Discover the celebration and its rituals, including sipping from a communal wassail bowl.

Celebrating Yule

Yule is a 12 day long celebration that starts on the eve of the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and ends with the new calendar year. This celebration was one of the most important of the year in ancient times, celebrated by Pagans across Europe.

Yule is twelve days long, starting with the winter solstice on December 21 and ending on January 1. I found it interesting that many of our Christmas traditions are actually based on Yuletide Traditions – The '12 days of Christmas' for example!

The modern word 'Yule' has a few possible etymological origins; in Old Norse Jól or Jul could refer to a feast to the sun, and formed part of one of the many names given to the chief god Odin who was often known as the Jólfadr or Yul-father due to his strong association with the sun.

In fact, many of our Christmas traditions (just like Halloween—learn more here) are rooted in Irish Pagan traditions. They just called it “Mean Geimhreadh” (Midwinter in Gaelic) or “Alban Arthan” (Yule) instead, and there's evidence to suggest the Irish have been celebrating it for at least 5,000 years.

1996: 'Twelfth Night' by William Shakespeare

That jolly cross-dressing and fake-same-sex romance was deemed in violation of the district's "prohibition of alternative lifestyle instruction," and copies of the play were pulled from schools.

The tradition that it is bad luck to keep decorations up after Twelfth Night and the Epiphany is a modern invention, although it may derive from the medieval notion that decorations left up after Candlemas eve would become possessed by goblins!

Answer and Explanation: The main message of Twelfth Night is about love. How different love can be, how it can be fickle, irrational and self-serving. Often the cause of love is physical beauty, Shakespeare uses disguises and mistaken identity to show how misleading physical beauty can be.

The compound noun Yuletide ('Yule-time') is first attested from around 1475. The word is conjectured in an explicitly pre-Christian context primarily in Old Norse, where it is associated with Old Norse deities.

What is the difference between winter solstice and Yule? ›

Some experts say it came from the Norse word Jul, which is a reference to their god Odin. “Yule” or “Yuletide” is a festival centered around the Winter Solstice, which marks the halfway point of the winter season.

Yule is a noun meaning “Christmas, or the Christmas season,” which is the Christian holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus. However, yule can also refer to the celebration of the winter solstice that's observed in some Pagan traditions.

Yule, festival observed historically by Germanic peoples and in modern times primarily by Neo-Pagans, coinciding with the winter solstice (December 21–22 in the Northern Hemisphere; June 20–21 in the Southern Hemisphere).

He goes on to explain that, “The word 'Yule' predates 'Christmas', but its meaning has been so vague in earlier times that it can confuse even the experts…

Yule was held on December 21, to celebrate the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. It was a celebration held in the pagan villages, among them the Vikings, where relatives, friends and acquaintances gathered to honor that night.

The Christmas practice calls for burning a portion of the log each evening until Twelfth Night (January 6). The log is subsequently placed beneath the bed for luck, and particularly for protection from the household threats of lightning and, with some irony, fire.

A simple Twelve Nights ritual involves consciously taking time for yourself during these days. You can reflect on the past year and formulate your wishes and plans for the new year. Maybe you simply relax, read the book you've been meaning to read, take long walks in the forest, or start knitting?

The Twelve Days are 25 December to 5 January, counting first and last. The Octave, or Eighth Day, is New Year's Day and the Feast of the Circumcision, the day Jesus was circumcised according to the faith. The evening of the last day is Twelfth Night or Epiphany Eve, the next morning being Epiphany.

The 12 days of Christmas is the period in Christian theology that marks the span between the birth of Christ and the coming of the Magi, the three wise men. It begins on December 25 (Christmas) and runs through January 6 (the Epiphany, sometimes also called Three Kings' Day).