Festival YULE

AT HUMAN BEINGS, WE ARE a diverse group of people. We come in many sizes, colors, and shape. We come from different cultures, speak different languages, and practice different religions. Event he food we like to eat varies. Yet, no matter who we are or where we live, one thing remains constant: We all look forward to the winter holidays. By some, they're called Yaldā Night (shab-e yalda) or Christmas. By others, Las Posadas or Ta Chiu. Still others call them Winter Solstice, Yule, and lots of others names most of us can't pronounce.

Each celebration is a little different, but the main ideas are the same. These holidays provide us with a time for reflection, resolution, and renewal. A time for gift-giving, good will, and kindness. Most important, though, they provide us with rituals to celebrate the balance of light and dark – rituals for welcoming the healing powers of warmth back into our world – and that gives us a common ground that draws us together as a people.

So where did they come from, these holidays that we all celebrate? Contrary to popular belief, they didn't begin with Christmas. Rather, they started over four thousand years ago in ancient Egypt. The occasion? An extravagant party to celebrate the rebirth of Horus – the god who appeared in the sky as a fiery orb each day – the same orb we know today as the Sun. Because the Egyptians honored Horus with a tewlve-month calendar, the festival lasted twelve days each day symbolizing one month.

Buildings were decorated with greenery of all sorts to honor the Sun. The most valued decorations, however, were palm branches with twelve fronds. The reason for their value was simple: Because palm branches pit out one shoot each month, a twelve-fronded branch fprmed a type of calendar. This made them a great representation of the entire birth, death, and rebirth cycle of the Sun; using them to honor the Sun was believed to speed His growth and strength, and encourage Him to sta yin the sky longer.

The Egyptians flourished, and word of their Sun-welcoming ceremonies quickly swept zhrough Mesopotamia. Believing that the rituals were at the heart of their neighbors' prosperity, the Babylonians took up the cause and got in on the act. However, they called it Zagmuk and incorporated their own Creator/Sun god, Marduk. The Babylonians believed that Marduk had created the world, and made it one of order, beauty, and peace. It hadn't been an easy task, however – first, he'd had to fight a grueling battle and defeat the monster of chaos.

Each year, everything went along splendidly until the cooler weather brought winter; then the monsters regained their strenght and once again challenged Marduk's reign. The battle was on and lasted for twelve days, but Marduk could no longer defeat the monsters by Himself. He needed the help of the people. It was their job to cheer Him on and help Him win the war. Only then could order be restored, and beauty and peace on Earth be renewed.

The Zagmuk festival began five days before Winter Solstice and lasted six days after, with the peak of the festival falling on the Solstice itself. On the seventh day, the Sun stayed in the sky longer – a sure sign that Marduk was well on his way to victory. This resulted in parades on land and river, good tidings, and the occasional exchange of gifts. The world was renewed for another year, and all was right with the Babylonian people.

Not long after, the Persians caught on and began to help Marduk, too. Called Sacaea, their festival was a little different and involved a temporary state of chaos. Slaves and masters changed places with each other, a mock king was crowned, and law and order flew right out the window. Grudges and debts were forgotten – if only temporarily. A good time was had by all. And why not? It was the one time of the year that folks could do exactly as they pleased without worry of consequence or retribution. As the Sun's light grew stronger, do did the party. During the last few days, things gradually wound down.

The Yule customs of the Celts are the one most well-known to Westerners today. The Celts drew their Yule practices both from the Norse invaders and from the Druids, the priestly class of their society. The Druids venerated evergreen trees as manifestations of deity and as symbols of the universe. To the Celts, these trees were sacred because they did not „die“ from year to year as did deciduous trees, therefore they represented the eternal aspect of the Goddess who also never dies. Their lush greenery was symbolic of the hope for the sun's return to green the earth once again, and their massive height associated them with eternity. Their intricate root systems which reflected this height associated them with the old magickal adage, „As Above, So Below“. This means that what is the macrocosm, or the world outside our own, is also in the microcosm, or our world, and can be made manifest by us as tools of the deities.

It was from these beliefs that the custom of decorating Yule trees (now popularly known as Christmas trees) evolved. The Celtic Druids decorated evergreen trees at Yule with all the images of the things they wished the waxing year to hold for them. Images of items to be used at future Sabbats, fruits for a successful harvest, love charms for happiness, nuts for fertility, and coins for wealth adorned the trees. Even on today's Christmas tree many of these images remain intact, thought their original meaning is long forgotten. Other decorations were candles, the forerunner of today's electric tree lights.

For Wiccans, the holiday is known as Yule and generally takes place on the solstice eve and day itself. A Wiccan Yule ritual typically involves casting a circle: calling the four quarters, directions, or watchtowers; raising energy; and doing focused work with a deity. A Yule log is often a central focus, and the ritual may emphasize workings for peace, goodwill, and a prosperous New Year. Appeals and offerings are made to mother goddesses, and ideas of rebirth and new light take center stage.