Jól - often Anglicized to "Yule" - is a January Mid-Winter Festival

 For many people, pagan and non-pagan alike, there is a widely-held belief that Jól (Yule) has something to with the winter solstice, or the 12 days of Christmas, or some other December event. It is an oft-repeated theme – but it is also historically wrong. The historic Norse celebration of Jól took place in mid to late January.  

When was Jól Historically Celebrated?

Dr. Andreas Nordberg, the world’s foremost scholar on Norse Holidays, makes clear in his book on the dating of Yule that

“The pre-Christian Yule feast occurs at the first full moon after the first new moon following the winter solstice…[Jul, disting och förkyrklig tideräkning Kalendrar och kalendariska riter i det förkristna Norden Uppsala 2006, P.4]

That would place Jól on January 6 in 2023.  It was on Jan 17 in 2022…not on winter solstice.

So how did this confused equating of Jól with the winter solstice happen?

The Norse, like the Celts, followed a lunisolar calendar.  In both societies, the year was primarily divided not into our traditional four seasons (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter), but two:  Winter and Summer.  For anyone living in a northern climate, this actually makes sense: Here where I live in the Green Mountains of Vermont, the snow first flies in October, and is often lingering on the ground during the first week of May.

According to the Ynglinga Saga, Ch. 8 (c. 1225 CE), “Odin established the same law in his land that had been in force in Asaland [Asgard]… On winter day (first day of winter) there should be blot for a good year, and in the middle of winter for a good crop; and the third blot should be on summer day, a Victory-blot.”

Read with modern eyes, it is easy to read “winter day” and immediately think of Dec 21, as that is when winter begins in our modern calendar.  But not so to the ancients: winter began in October, and, following a lunar calendar, it wasn’t a specific date, but at the full moon of October.  Summer began at the full moon of April…thus, a blót [sacrifice and celebration] that took place in “mid winter” would take place in January – not December.

This is confirmed in other historic writings.  For instance, referring to large periodic ‘urban’ celebrations of Jól, we read in the Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg Chapter 17 (c. 925 CE): "As I have heard odd stories concerning their ancient mid-winter blots, I will not allow this custom to be ignored….all the people gathered every nine years in January, that is after we have celebrated the birth of the Lord, and there they offered to their gods blots…” 

It should also be noted that Thietmar followed the old Eastern Orthodox calendar, placing “the birth of our Lord” (Christmas) not on Dec 25, but on modern Epiphany, January 6, placing Jól after that date.

So what was done during these Jól celebrations?  

It is perhaps summed up best by M. Lee Hollander, in his review of the Eddic story Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway. University of Texas Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-292-73061-8

“It was ancient custom that when sacrifice was to be made, all farmers were to come to the heathen temple and bring along with them the food they needed while the feast lasted. At this feast all were to take part of the drinking of ale. Also all kinds of livestock were killed in connection with it, horses also; and all the blood from them was called hlaut [sacrificial blood], and hlautbolli, the vessel holding the blood; and hlautteinar, the sacrificial twigs [‌aspergills‌]. These were fashioned like sprinklers, and with them were to be smeared all over with blood the pedestals of the idols and also the walls of the temple within and without; and likewise the men present were to be sprinkled with blood. But the meat of the animals was to be boiled and served as food at the banquet. Fires were to be lighted in the middle of the temple floor, and kettles hung over the fires. The sacrificial beaker was to be borne around the fire, and he who made the feast and was chieftain, was to bless the beaker as well as all the sacrificial meat.

The narrative continues that toasts were to be drunk. The first toast was to be drunk to Odin "for victory and power to the king", the second to the gods Njörðr and Freyr "for good harvests and for peace", and third, a beaker was to be drunk "to the king himself. In addition, toasts were drunk to the memory of departed kinsfolk”

 There is also some evidence that Oaths were made to the Gods (Saga of Haakon the Good) and gifts may have been exchanged. The Jarl Sigurd Haakonsson was remembered by everyone at the Yule feast for his generosity because he gave presents to everyone at his feast (Sigurdardrapa).

So how did Jól become associated with Christmas and December?  

Largely through a combination of a political shift, and popular modern (19^th C) romanticism.

The political influence happened under Haakon The Good, beginning in the 10^th Century.  In that Saga, Chapter 15, we read: 

 "King Haakon was a good Christian when he came to Norway; but as the whole country was heathen, with much heathen blot, and as many great people, as well as the favor of the common people, were to be conciliated, he resolved to practice his Christianity in private. But he kept Sundays, and the Friday fasts, and some token of the greatest holy-days. He made a law that the festival of Yule should begin at the same time as Christian people held it, and that every man, under penalty, should brew a meal of malt into ale, and therewith keep the Yule holy as long as it lasted. Before him, the first night of Yule was on hǫkunótt [The January Full Moon]

Over time, as Scandinavia embraced more of Christianity to the exclusion of pre-christian beliefs, Jól became synonymous with Christmas, as it is today.

A more recent invention was the invention of the “Wheel of the Year” by Robert Graves in his 1948 book, “The White Goddess,” which suggested an 8-spoke pagan holiday calendar.  The concept was embraced by Gerald Gardner and the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids by the late 1950s.  The Wheel claims ancient Celtic support for a winter solstice holiday, when in fact, the historic Celtic calendar included four fire festivals, none of which occurred on Yule or the winter solstice. Nonetheless, pagans and popular culture have been running with this idea ever since.  In a direct refutation, Dr. Andreas E. Zautner writes:

 “If we browse the internet for holidays of the Germanic people, we mainly find pages presenting an octopartite year circle, the so-called ‘eight-spoked wheel of the year’ based on the solstices, the equinoxes, and four moon feasts in between. This year circle has absolutely no historical basis. Although it is very popular in neopagan circles, especially within Wicca and eclectic Asatru, there is no verified evidence for such a year circle as basis for the seasonal festivities. The same is true for the Celtic feasts within the year circle, because the Gauls too, used a lunisolar calendar as we know for the examples of Coligny and Villards d’Heria (Olmstedt, 1992). If one has internalized such ideas, one should get rid of them immediately!” (Dr. Andreas E Zautner, “The Lunisolar Calendar of the Germanic Peoples”, P.83)

Historic Jól is in January based on a lunar cycle. For those choosing to following the ancient faith systems of the pre-christian Norse, this is not in question.  

As an interesting aside, the Up Helly Aa festival in the Shetlands islands – which predates the modern “wheel” calendar – celebrates its Viking heritage on the last Tuesday in January every year with residents dressed in Viking garb, or as Norse gods, much revelry, drinking, and feasting, and a ceremonial burning of a Viking Longship accompanied by Norse songs…and though it is a secular, community festival, it may be the one such festival that comes closest to the ancient Jól festivals in both spirit and timing.