Christmas is one of the most popularly celebrated holidays in December. Everyone looks forward to it but did you know it isn’t the only holiday celebrated? December 21 through January 1st is a holiday known as Yule. Yule is a festival observed by Pagans celebrating the Winter Solstice. This festival is a way of celebrating new beginnings. The most popular celebration throughout Yule is the lighting of the yule log. The Yule log is a large wooden log decorated with different herbs kind of like a cake and is burned on the first day of winter solstice to welcome new beginnings.

My family and I celebrate Yule every year. We decorate our Yule log a few days before it starts. We decorate with orange slices, pinecones, burr pieces, and other different herbs. One thing we do that most people don’t do is we write our wishes and hopes for the new year on bay leaves and put the leaves in a pinecone to burn with the Yule log. We also make a simmer pot with different herbs such as orange slices, cinnamon, thyme and others, we also write wishes on bay leaves and let it simmer throughout the day.

A merry Yule to you all!