Lewis Stead

The Ravenbook

in the Neo-Pagan movement, we do not necessarily honor Gods in

male/female pairs. The boy/girl notion is one taken from the Pagan

fertility religion of Wicca and isnt necessarily appropriate to our

Gods, who often represent things other than fertility. So while a

Spring ritual held in honor of Freya and Frey as fertility deities

might wish to honor them together, there is no reason to include Frigg

in a ritual dedicated to Odin as the God of War.

Yule

Yule is the most important holiday of the year. Everyone is familiar

with the shortness of the deep winter days, but in the Scandinavian

countries this is of even greater importance. At the Yuletide there

is almost no sunlight at all, and the climate would have people bound

in their homes waiting for the return of Spring.

Yule is a long festival, traditionally held to be 12 days or more.

After Yule the days began to get longer and the festival represented

the breaking of the heart of winter and the beginning of the new year.

Yule was the holiday of either Thor or Frey, although there is no

reason not to honor both Gods in modern practice.

Frey is the God of fertility and farming and was honored at Yule in

the hopes that his time would soon return. Frey is also an important

God at this time as shown in the myth The Wooing of Gerd. Gerd is

Freys wife, and she was once a frost giant. Frey had seen her while

he was seated on Odins High Seat, and was utterly taken by her, but

she would not yield until Skirnir, Freys messenger or perhaps Frey in

disguise, threatened her with an eternity of cold. In this way, Frey

brings back the summer times by wooing a daughter of cold and frost.

His love for her brings warmth to her heart and to the land.

Thors position at Yule is a bit more savage. He is the sworn enemy

of the Frost Giants and Jotnar who rule the winter months, and as such

is honored as the God whos actions fight off these creatures and

bring back the spring.

Our kindred also honors Sunna, the Sun Goddess, at Yule. However, we

feel she is more important at Midsummer, when she is at her height.

The most important symbols of Yule are still with us today. Most of

the supposedly secular customs of Christmas are actually Pagan in

origin. Evergreen trees and holly which remained green throughout the

long nights and cold were a promise that spring would once again

return to the land. These symbols may also have been a connection to

the nature spirits who have sway over the return of the warm days. The

modern conception of Santa Claus as an elf, for whom offerings of milk

and cookies are left, is possibly a modern continuation of leaving

offerings for the Alvar and other nature spirits. The idea of

children staying up all night in the hopes of catching a glimpse of

Santa Claus may be a remnant of people staying awake to mark the long

night and remind the sun to return. (In the latter case its

considered an adequate substitution to leave a candle going all night

to light the way for the returning sun.)

Yule is a weeks long festival, not just a single holiday. The Yule

season begins on the solstice, which is the Mother Night of Yule, and

ends with Twelfth Night on January sixth. As a point of interest,

January seventh is St. Distaffs day, which Nigel Pennic has

suggested may have been a day sacred to Frigg, whose symbol is the

distaff.

While one might expect a rather dour theme to a holiday held in the

darkness and cold, Yule is a time of feasting and gladness.

The most important custom at Yule for modern Pagans is the swearing of

Yule oaths. Our kindred does this at Twelfth Night (aka New Years

Eve). We hold a sumbel and we keep the Yule wreath handy for anyone

who wishes to swear an oath for the coming year.

There are simply so many different Yule customs, both ancient and

modern, that one has almost limitless possibilities even when staying

within Scandanavian and Germanic customs. In modern practice one

might honor Sunna on the Mother Night, then hold a blot a few days

later to Thor, a feast for New Years day which is shared with the

house and land spirits, and then finish on Twelfth Night with a ritual

to Frey, whose time is then officially beginning.

Summer Finding

Summer Finding is also known to many groups as Ostara, the holiday