Day 23 – History of the Yule Log
“The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17
The custom of burning the Yule Log may go back to, and before, medieval times.
Although the first recorded burning of a ‘Christmas Log’ was in poetry in 1648. The term ‘Yule Log’ is first documented in 1686. It seems to have originally been a Nordic tradition. Yule is the name of the old Winter Solstice festivals in Scandinavia and other parts of northern Europe, such as Germany.
The Yule Log
Out of the mighty Yule log came
The crooning of the lithe wood-flame,
A single bar of music fraught
With cheerful yet half pensive thought,
A thought elusive: out of reach,
Yet trembling on the verge of speech.
-William Hamilton Hayne ((1856-1929)
Yule Logs could have started out an entire tree, or very large log, that was carefully chosen and brought into the house with great ceremony. The largest end of the log would be placed into the fire hearth while the rest of the tree stuck out into the room.
The log would be lit from the remains of the previous year’s log which had been carefully stored away and slowly fed into the fire through the Twelve Days of Christmas. A smaller log might have been lit each evening through the 12 Days of Christmas. It was considered important that the re-lighting process was carried out by someone with clean hands. Nowadays, of course, most people have central heating so it is very difficult to burn a tree.
The ashes of Yule logs were meant to be very good for plants. This is true, because the ash from burnt wood contains a lot of ‘potash’, which helps plant flowers. And if you don’t have a fireplace for a yule log, why not make your own in the form of a dessert? My mother-in-law used to always make a cake for Christmas that was a yule log.
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16