Yule

The Simple Facts

Yule: the Winter Solstice, Yuletide (Teutonic), Alban Arthan (Caledonii)
Yule coincides closely with the Christian Christmas celebration.

The Yule tree is perhaps the most common tradition still in existence from times of old. Garlands of popcorn, dried rosebuds and cinnamon sticks are traditional decorations for the tree.

Pagan families would bring a live tree into the home so the wood spirits would have a place to keep warm during the cold winter months. Bells were hung in the limbs so you could tell when a spirit was present.
Food and treats were hung on the branches for the spirits to eat and a five-pointed star, the pentagram, symbol of the five elements, was placed atop the tree.

The colors of the season, red and green, also are of Pagan origin, as is the custom of exchanging gifts.

A lesser known tradition is the burning of the Yule log. Magical symbols are carved into the log prior to it being set ablaze on the evening before Yule, to be burned until morning. A solar festival, Yule is celebrated by fire and the use of a Yule log. A piece of the log is saved and kept throughout the year to protect the home. That piece is used to light the next year's log.
Failing this, a Yule candle can be used. Choose the largest red candle you can find, and carve symbols into its side. Surround with holly, mistletoe, cedar or rosemary and light it to burn through the night to ensure a prosperous year of warmth and light.

Yule is a celebration of the rebirth of the sun.
The God who died at Samhain is born from the virgin Goddess. This is the time of the new year when the Goddess turns the Wheel of the Year to its beginning point. This is the shortest day of the year and it celebrates the return of the God as seen in the lengthening of daylight.
Here, on the longest night of the year, the Goddess gives birth to the Sun Child and hope for new light is reborn.

Yule is a time of awakening to new goals and leaving old regrets behind.
The Winter Solstice or Yule is one of the Lesser Wiccan Sabbats, and it is also the shortest day of the year, and hence - the longest night. This usually takes place on December 20th or 21st, although it does sometimes occur on the 22nd or 23rd (check your calendar as it changes from year to year). Other than the most common name of Yule, various other names for the Winter Solstice include Midwinter, Yuletide (the Teutonic version), Alban Arthan (Caledonii Tradition, or the Druids), Feill Fionnain (Pecti-Wita Tradition, which falls on December 22nd). Yuletide lasts from December 20th through December 31st. It begins on "Mother Night" and ends twelve days later, on "Yule Night", hence the "Twelve Days of Christmas" tradition. Alban Arthan, unlike all the others, is not considered a fire festival. (Images to the left and below are by Anthony Meadows and from 1998 and 1999 Witches' Calendars. Click on either image to go directly to Llewellyn's Web Site.)
Some other names for this Sabbat that are used less commonly are: Sun Return, Pagan New Year, Saturnalia (Roman), Great Day of the Cauldron, and Festival of Sol.

Yule is a time of the Goddess of the Cold Darkness and the birth of the Divine Child, the reborn Sun God. It is a time of renewal and rebirth during Winter, and the turning of the Earth force tides. A time when the waxing Sun overcomes the waning Sun. In some traditions, this is symbolized by the struggle between the Oak King and the Holly King.

The Holly King, represents the Death aspect of the God at this time of year; and the Oak King, represents the opposite aspect of Rebirth (these roles are reversed at Midsummer). This can be likened to the Divine Child's birth. The myth of the Holly King/Oak King probably originated from the Druids to whom these two trees were highly sacred. The Oak King (God of the Waxing Year) kills the Holly King (God of the Waning Year) at Yule (the Winter Solstice). The Oak King then reigns supreme until Litha (the Summer Solstice) when the two battle again, this time with the Holly King victorious. Examples of the Holly King's image can be seen in our modern Santa Claus. He dons a sprig of holly in his hat, wears red clothing, and drives a team of eight (total number of Solar Sabbats) reindeer, an animal sacred to the Celtic Gods (deer). Mistletoe and holly came into modern Christmas celebrations through the memorializing of this battle. The holly with berries are hung in honor of the Holly King and mistletoe in honor of the Oak King. Although the Holly King and Oak King are mortal enemies at the two Solstices - Yule and Litha - it should be remembered that they are actually two sides of one whole, and neither would exist without the other.

Since this is a Solar Festival, it is celebrated by fire and the use of many candles orthe Yule Log. The colors of the season - red and green - are of original Pagan descent. Symbols representing Yule include an eight-spoked wheel symbol, evergreens, wreaths, holly, mistletoe, Yule Trees (very similar to the familiar "Christmas Trees"), or a small potted tree, and Yule Logs. There are a couple of different versions of Yule Logs:

1) Many enjoy the practice of lighting the Yule Log. If you choose to burn one, select a proper log of oak or pine. Carve (with your Bolline) or chalk upon it a figure of the Sun (a rayed disc) or the Horned God (a horned circle). Set it alight in the fireplace at dusk, on Yule. This is a graphic representation of the rebirth of the God within the sacred fire of the Mother Goddess. As the log burns, visualize the Sun shining within it and think of the coming warmer days. Traditionally, a portion of the Yule Log is saved to be used in lighting next year's log. This piece is kept throughout the year to protect the home.

2) The second type of Yule Log is not burned up, but rather holds three candles for burning. Find a suitable log of oak or pine and flatten one side of it so that it will lay flat. Drill three holes in the side that is up, the correct size for holding three taper candles. The candles should be red, green and white (to represent the season), or green, gold and black (to represent the Sun God), or white, red and black (to represent the Great Goddess). You can further decorate your Yule Log however you choose to - using holly, mistletoe, red ribbons and bows, or whatever you prefer.
The act of decorating the Yule Tree, wreaths of holly, and the exchange of gifts are also Pagan derivatives. The Yule Tree can be a living, potted tree which can later be planted in the ground, a cut one, or even an artificial one. The choice is yours. Appropriate Wiccan decorations range from strings of dried rosebuds, cinnamon sticks, popcorn or cranberries for garlands to bags of fragrant spices hung from boughs. Quartz crystals can be wrapped with shiny wire and suspended from sturdy branches to resemble icicles. Apples, oranges, lemons, nuts of all kinds and cookies hanging from boughs and branches are strikingly beautiful; and can be real or artificial, depending on your taste.

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All Hallows Eve

All Hallows Eve

Samhain Oct 31 Hallowe'en

All Hallows Samhain (SOW-en) is the one Sabbat that is also widely celebrated amongst non-Pagans. The God has died, and the Goddess mourns him until his rebirth at Yule. It's the last harvest festival, and the end of the Wiccan year.

Associations:Divination, honouring the dead, carving Jack o' Lanterns, pumpkins, apples, sage, mugwort .

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the cauldron boil and bake:

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,

Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Neopaganism

Samhain is observed by various Neopagans in various ways. As forms of Neopaganism can be quite different and have very different origins, these representations can vary considerably despite the shared name. Some Neopagans have elaborate rituals to honor the dead, and the deities who are associated with the dead in their particular culture or tradition. Some celebrate in a manner as close as possible to how the Ancient Celts and Living Celtic cultures have maintained the traditions, while others observe the holiday with rituals culled from numerous other unrelated sources, Celtic culture being only one of the sources used.

Celtic Reconstructionist Pagans tend to celebrate Samhain on the date of first frost, or when the last of the harvest is in and the ground is dry enough to have a bonfire. Like other Reconstructionist traditions, Celtic Reconstructionists place emphasis on historical accuracy, and base their celebrations and rituals on traditional lore from the living Celtic cultures, as well as research into the older beliefs of the polytheistic Celts. At bonfire rituals, some observe the old tradition of building two bonfires, which celebrants and livestock then walk or dance between as a ritual of purification.

According to Celtic lore, Samhain is a time when the boundaries between the world of the living and the world of the dead become thinner, at times even fading away completely, allowing spirits and other supernatural entities to pass between the worlds to socialize with humans. It is the time of the year when ancestors and other departed souls are especially honored. Though Celtic Reconstructionists make offerings to the spirits at all times of the year, Samhain in particular is a time when more elaborate offerings are made to specific ancestors. Often a meal will be prepared of favorite foods of the family's and community's beloved dead, a place set for them at the table, and traditional songs, poetry and dances performed to entertain them. A door or window may be opened to the west and the beloved dead specifically invited to attend. Many leave a candle or other light burning in a western window to guide the dead home. Divination for the coming year is often done, whether in all solemnity or as games for the children. The more mystically inclined may also see this as a time for deeply communing with the deities, especially those whom the lore mentions as being particularly connected with this festival.

Wicca

Samhain is one of the eight annual holidays, often referred to as 'Sabbats', observed as part of the Wiccan Wheel Ot The Year. It is considered by most Wiccans to be the most important of the four 'greater Sabbats'. It is generally observed on October 31st in the Northern Hemisphere, starting at sundown. Samhain is considered by most Wiccans as a celebration of death and of the dead, and it often involves paying respect to ancestors, family members, elders of the faith, friends, pets and other loved ones who have died. In some rituals the spirits of the departed are invited to attend the festivities. It is seen as a festival of darkness and death, which is balanced at the opposite point of the wheel by the spring festival of Beltane, which Wiccans celebrate as a festival of life and fertility.
While the Wiccan version of Samhain is not a form of reconstruction, and is largely mixed with other traditions in a form of universalism, it is influenced by the Celtic holiday from which the name was taken.
Halloween originated under the name of Samhain as a Pagan festival among the Celts of Ireland and Greatr Britian. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century.
The term Halloween (and its older rendering Hallowe'en) is shortened from All-hallow-even, as it is the evening of/before "All Hallow's Day", also known as "All Saints Day' Day". It was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions, until Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the old Christian feast of All Saints' Day from May 13th to November 1st. In the ninth century, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although we now consider All Saints' (or Hallows') Day to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were, at that time, celebrated on the same day. Liturgically, the Church traditionally celebrated that day as the Vigil of All Saints, and, until 1970, a day of fasting as well. Like other vigils, it was celebrated on the previous day if it fell on a Sunday, although secular celebrations of the holiday remained on the 31st. The Vigil was suppressed in 1955, but was later restored in the post-Vatican II calendar.

In Ireland, the name of the holiday was All Hallows' Eve (often shortened to Hallow Eve), and though seldom used today, the name is still well-accepted, albeit somewhat esoteric. In Irish, the festival is known as Oíche Shamhna (Night of Samhain), or simply Samhain; in Scottish Gaelic it is Samhainn or Samhain; in Welsh, Calan Gaeaf to the Welsh; "Allantide" to the Cornish and "Hop-tu-Naa" to the Manx. Halloween is also called Pooky Night in parts of Ireland, presumably named after the púca, a mischievous spirit.
Many European cultural traditions hold that Halloween is one of the liminal times of the year when spirits can make contact with the physical world, and when magic is most potent (according to, for example, Catalan mythology about witches and Irish tales of the Sídhe).

Color associations Color Symbolism

Black death, night, witches, black cats, bats, vampires
Orange pumpkins, jack o' lanterns, Autumn, the turning leaves, fire
Purple night, the supernatural, mysticism
Green goblins, monsters, zombies, aliens
White Ghosts, mummies, a full moon
Red blood, fire, demons, Satan

Elements of the autumn season, such as Pumpkins and scarecrows, are also reflected in symbols of Halloween

Levitating spell
By Adriana, 13,
for levitation:
wait till the midnight hourfill a caldron with boiling oil and 12 bats and say:bring me off the ground! force of air empower me!with this spell, i call the winds of the north and southoh spirit of ground release me.then add 30 toads and a dead mans thumbnailthen say:i am no longer slave to gravityair, surround mewater, always flow,fire, burn within me,air, empower me!then, add 3 hairs from a witchs noseand say:let me off the ground,for i shall arise!and the force of air will lift me!

variation: for a spell to make your broom fly, add 6dead fingernails.

The Haunted PalaceBy Edgar Allen Poe

In the greenest of our valleys

By good angels tenanted,

Once a fair and stately palace--Radiant palace--reared its head.

In the monarch Thought's dominion--It stood there!

Never seraph spread a pinion Over fabric half so fair!

Banners yellow, glorious, golden,On its roof did float and flow,

(This--all this--was in the oldenTime long ago,)

And every gentle air that dallied,In that sweet day,

Along the ramparts plumed and pallid,

A wingèd odor went away.

Wanderers in that happy valley,

Through two luminous windows, sawSpirits moving musically,

To a lute's well-tunèd law,Round about a throne where, sitting(Porphyrogene!)In state his glory well befitting,

The ruler of the realm was seen.

And all with pearl and ruby glowing

Was the fair palace-door,Through which came flowing,

flowing, flowing,And sparkling evermore,

A troop of Echoes, whose sweet duty

Was but to sing,

In voices of surpassing beauty,

The wit and wisdom of their king.

But evil things, in robes of sorrow,

Assailed the monarch's high estate.(Ah, let us mourn!--for never morrowShall dawn upon him desolate!)

And round about his home, the glory

That blushed and bloomedIs but dim-remembered story

Of the old time entombed.

And travellers now, within that valley,

Through the red-litten windows see

Vast forms, that move fantastically

To a discordant melody,While, like a ghastly rapid river,

Through the pale door

A hideous throng rush out forever

And laugh--but smile no more.

Origin: Celtic observation of Samhain

According to what can be reconstructed of the beliefs of the ancient Celts, the bright half of the year ended around November 1 or on a moon-phase near that date, or at the time of first frost. The day is referred to in modern Gaelic as Samhain ("Sow-in" or alternatively "Sa-ven", meaning: End of the Summer). After the adoption of the Roman calendar with its fixed months, the date began to be celebrated independently of the Moon's phases.
As October 31 is the last day of the bright half of the year, the next day also marked the beginning of winter, which the Celts often associated with death, and with the slaughter of livestock to provide meat for the coming winter. The Celts believed that on October 31, the boundary separating the dead from the living became blurred. There is a rich and unusual myth system at work here; the spirit world, the residence of the "Sídhe", as well as of the dead, was accessible through burial mounds. These mounds were opened twice during the year, on Samhain and Beltane, making the beginning and end of summer spiritually resonant.

The Celts' survival during the harsh winters depended on the prophecies of their priests and priestesses (druids), and the accurate prediction of how much food would be needed to sustain the populace before the next harvest. They believed that spirits would aid in making accurate predictions about the coming year.
The exact customs observed in each Celtic region differ, but generally involved the lighting of bonfires and the reinforcement of boundaries, across which malicious spirits might be prevented from threatening the community.
Like most observances around this season, warmth and comfort were emphasised, while indulgence was not. Stores of preserved food were needed to last through the winter, and were not intended for parties.

Samhain possibly mistaken as New Year

Popular literature over the last century has given birth to the near universal assumption that Samhain/Hallowe'en was the "Celtic New Year". However, recent research by historians has begun to scrutinize the assertion. Historian Ronald Hutton, in his study of the folk calendar of the British Isles writes that there are no references which attest to this usage earlier than the 18th century, neither in church nor civic records. Although it may be correct to refer to Samhain as "Summer's End", this point of descent into the year's darkness may require better proof for us to cite this "end" as a "beginning" as well. Whether or not the ancient Celts considered Samhain to be the beginning of the new year, or just one point in the cycle of the seasons, the living traditions in the Celtic lands and the diaspora regard it as the "Celtic New Year" and it continues to be celebrated as such. For instance, the calendars produced by the Celtic League begin and end at Samhain/Halloween.

Norse Elven Blót

In the old Norse religion, an event believed to occur around the same time of the year as Halloween was the álfablót (elven blót), which involved sacrifices to the elves and the blessing of food. The elves were powers connected to the ancestors, and it can be assumed that the blót related to a cult of the ancestors. The álfablót is also celebrated in the modern revival of Norse religion, Ásatrú.

Religious perspectives

In Ireland, Halloween is far more traditional an event than in North America, with more cultural and historical significance, as opposed to the commercialized importance on the other side of the Atlantic. Therefore even amongst most Christians it is a far more accepted holiday with hardly any moral objections, in particular amongst Roman Catholics. However some people do find an Americanization occurring towards Halloween, which in turn could affect some traditions, notably the Samhain origins of the festival. It should also be noted that Guy Fawkes night is not celebrated in the Republic of Ireland at all. (In fact it is prohibited as it is a British protestant celebration of Catholic failure to overthrow the Monarchy in the 1605 Gunpowder Plot. In the past, it was used in Britain as a celebration of Protestant Ascendancy). Therefore Halloween replaces the celebrations that are experienced in the UK on November 5, whereas in Britain Guy Fawkes Night is culturally more important.

In North America, Christian attitudes towards Halloween are quite diverse. The fact that All Saints Day and Halloween occur on two consecutive days has left some Christians uncertain of how they should treat this holiday. In the Anglican Church, some dioceses have chosen to emphasize the Christian traditions of All Saints Day, while some Protestants celebrate the holiday as Reformation Day, a day of remembrance and prayers for unity. Celtic Christians may have Samhain services that focus on the cultural aspects of the holiday, in the belief that many ancient Celtic customs are "compatible with the new Christian religion. Christianity embraced the Celtic notions of family, community, the bond among all people, and respect for the dead. Throughout the centuries, pagan and Christian beliefs intertwine in a gallimaufry (hodgepodge) of celebrations from October 31 through November 5, all of which appear both to challenge the ascendancy of the dark and to revel in its mystery."

Some Christian churches commonly offer a fall festival or harvest-themed alternative to Halloween. Most Christians ascribe no significance to Halloween, treating it as a purely secular entity devoted to celebrating “imaginary spooks” and handing out candy. Halloween celebrations are common among Roman Catholic parochial schools throughout North America, and in Ireland, the Roman Catholic Church sees it as a “harmless ancient custom”. Father Gabriele Amorth, a Vatican-appointed exorcist in Rome, has said, "[I]f English and American children like to dress up as witches and devils on one night of the year that is not a problem. If it is just a game, there is no harm in that." Most Christians hold the view that the tradition is far from being "satanic" in origin or practice and that it holds no threat to the spiritual lives of children: being taught about death and mortality, and the ways of the Celtic ancestors actually being a valuable life lesson and a part of many of their parishioners' heritage. A response among some fundamentalists in recent years has been the use of Hell Houses or themed pamphlets (such as those of Jack T. Chick) which attempt to make use of Halloween as an opportunity for evangelism. Some consider Halloween to be completely incompatible with the Christian faith due to its origin as a Pagan "festival of the dead." In more recent years, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has organised a "Saint Fest" on the holiday. People of diverse religions (or no religion at all) may naturally be concerned about the vandalism that can occur on the holiday.

Objections to celebrating Halloween are not always limited to those of the Abrahamic religions. Some Wiccans feel that the tradition is offensive to "real witches" for promoting stereotypical caricatures of "wicked witches". Some Neopagans and Wiccans also object to Halloween because they perceive it to be a "vulgarised, commercialised mockery" of the original Samhain rituals. However, other Neopagans, perhaps most of them, see it as a harmless holiday in which some of the old traditions are celebrated by the mainstream culture, albeit in a different manner.