Yes, Yule is traditionally a time for gift giving, celebrating and feasting, and why not! The greatest gift is the return of the midwinter sun and longer days. This year the solstice will be on December 21st at 4:21 am EST. This is the time when the sun will reach the Tropic of Capricorn. This would be a good morning to go out and watch the sunrise. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate! It is called the solstice because it appears that the sun will stand still and rise at the same place on the horizon for a few days. Very slowly at first, just a few seconds per day, the days will start to lengthen and the sun’s rays will become stronger. Close to the time of the vernal equinox the days will lengthen by minutes per day. How many minutes depends on your latitude. Yule is the season of the gift of the sun, and in many Pagan traditions, this is the time when the god is reborn. Stories are told about the Oak King defeating the Holly King in battle. Then the Oak King will reign for the next six months. Curiously the image of the Holly King looks a lot like Santa Claus. Having honored the end of the year at Samhain and having that in between time, some of us celebrate Yule as the beginning of the new year.
Gift giving on the winter solstice dates at least as far back as ancient Rome and probably further back in time. But the archeological evidence for gifting of the time before ancient Rome does not exist today. Presenting gifts, role reversals and celebrations were a part of the week long Roman festival of Saturnalia. The tradition of giving presents around the winter solstice continued in one form or another to our modern society. There is a Scandinavian story about the god Odin flying through the night dropping presents into children’s shoes. Over the days of Hanukkah small gifts are now given, but it is hard to tell how far back in Jewish history that goes. As I researched, I found various forms of celebration and feasting for the solstice. But other than what I described and the Christian tradition of giving presents, I found very little gift giving. This prompted a question. Did Christianity adopt gift giving from Pagans? Probably. The exchange of gifts is deeply ingrained in our contemporary culture. In the modern Pagan tradition gift giving can be a lovely way of sharing abundance, expressing love and making memories.
Do contemporary Pagans, Wiccans, Witches and people of Earth centered faiths engage in giving presents to loved ones at the winter solstice? Many do, but some do not. Many of us were brought up in other faith traditions in which seasonal gift giving is observed. I do engage in this Yuletide practice. I was brought up Christian, and my family valued the giving of presents on this time of year. I like to continue that custom. Whatever your faith, there is the question of gift giving being over-commercialized. There is some pushback with this issue and there are some things you can do. You can consider various types of presents. You can send homemade items, gift an experience, give to a charity in the recipient’s name and divest some of your possessions to loved ones who might appreciate them. If you are crafty, making gifts can be a very good option. You can choose to make anything from bath salts to quilts to baked goods. Don’t forget the price of materials, equipment, wrapping paper and if needed shipping. In addition to the costs consider the taste of the recipient, your skill set and your time involved. The gift of an experience may be anything from movie tickets to a cruise. Many charities will create a card you can give to the recipient which includes her/his name and the amount given. If you choose to divest some of your possessions should you tell the recipient? That depends. Yes, if the possession has a personal or family history. These ideas can help you avoid the shopping mall.
About 1.15 tons of commercial wrapping paper end up in the landfill each year. Please consider your options to keep gift wrap out of the landfill. Does your recipient like to make things out of fabric? The perfect thing to do is wrap his/her gift with cloth and tie it with fabric ribbon which can also be reused. Another Earth friendly idea is to make your own recyclable wrapping paper. Simply stamp pieces of newsprint or packing paper with fun shapes. To make the stamp cut a potato in half and carve out a shape like a tree, moon or star. Keep it simple. Pour some tempura paint on something flat like a plate. Dip the raised design of the potato into the paint. Then stamp your paper. Allow it to dry. If you want to involve children, stamping the paper is a wonderful activity. Secure your present with paper raffia, tuck in a sprig of greenery like rosemary, and you have a beautifully wrapped gift in recyclable materials. You can also stamp a paper bag to create a lovely gift bag. If you want to include glitter, please remember that commercial glitter is a microplastic and sadly is not biodegradable. There are alternatives. Try making glitter using coarse sea salt and food coloring. Hopefully these ideas will inspire you to create and use environmentally safe gift wrap.
Many other ways to celebrate Yule abound. Have you ever tried the very basic activity of staying up on the longest night of the year to greet the sunrise at Yule? I have and even though I packed a lot of activity into it, I discovered how long that night is! I recommend trying it just once to experience it. The solstice is a great time to set your intentions for the year in your Book of Shadows. You might light a candle or some incense to set the mood for introspection and writing. Another project you can enjoy is to decorate with evergreen, which helps to ensure life throughout winter. A wreath is one of those decorations. But why is the wreath a circle? One reason is that the Wheel of the Year is also a circle. Note that a wreath can be designed to fit with any season. The green of pine works for Yule, but autumn leaves work well for Mabon, and the theme of flowers and eggs are great for Ostara. Another act of honor is burning the Yule log. A great practice is to keep a small piece of the previous year’s Yule log with which to light the current Yule log. But what do you do if you have no fire pit or fireplace in which to burn a Yule log? I am now an urban Wiccan, and I do not have such a place. Take this opportunity to find a nice log that you really like. Especially if you want to use taper candles, drill some holes into the log in which to plant them. Adorn the Yule log with greenery. Be careful with candle placement that the decoration does not catch on fire when you burn the candles. Also think of your furry familiars when you bring some of these decorations indoors. I make a habit of checking the website the ASPCA publishes which lists toxic and non-toxic plants for cats online, when I bring a new plant or plant material into my home. There is a list for dogs as well. It turns out that holly is toxic to cats. I keep the Yule log festive but simple. By burning the candles instead of the log, you can reuse the Yule log and keep it from year to year. These are just a few things you can do to celebrate the turning of the Wheel of the Year during Yule.
If you would like to learn more about Yule from my previous blog post, please click Yule.
As the Wheel of the Year turns, have a blessed and joyous Yule! To all my friends in the Southern Hemisphere have a merry and blessed Litha!
Auburn Greene
Suggested Investigation:
Please note that you can Google all these resources.
aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants
Berman, Bob, “How Much Daylight Do We Gain After the Winter Solstice?” The Old Farmer’s Almanac, February 12, 2024.
Fox, Selena, “Good Yule!” Circle Sanctuary Network Podcasts, December 16, 2020. Planned rebroadcast December 18, 2024.
Gyeadmin, “10 Eco-Friendly Glitter Alternatives,” Green Your Everyday, June 3, 2021.
Wigington, Patti, “The Legend of the Holly King and the Oak King.” Learn Religions, February 13, 2019.
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