Yule log


The Yule log, Yule clog, or Christmas block is a specially selected log burnt on a hearth as a Christmas tradition in regions of Europe, particularly the United Kingdom, and subsequently the Americas. The origin of the folk custom is unclear. Like other traditions associated with Yule, the custom may ultimately derive from Germanic paganism.
American folklorist Linda Watts provides the following overview of the custom:

The familiar custom of burning the Yule log dates back to earlier solstice celebrations and the tradition of bonfires. The Christmas practice calls for burning a portion of the log each evening until Twelfth Night. The log is subsequently placed beneath the bed for luck, and particularly for protection from the household threats of lighting and, with some irony, fire. Many have beliefs based on the yule log as it burns, and by counting the sparks and such, they seek to discern their fortunes for the new year and beyond.

Watts notes that the Yule log is one of various "emblem of divine light" that feature in winter holiday customs.

Origins

According to the Dictionary of English Folklore, although the concept of Yule extends far into the ancient Germanic record long before Christianization, the first "clear" references to the tradition appear in the 17th century, and thus it is unclear from where or when exactly the custom extends. However, it has long been observed that the custom may have much earlier origins, extending from customs observed in Germanic paganism. As early as 1725, Henry Bourne sought an origin for the Yule log in Anglo-Saxon paganism:


More recently, G. R. Willey says:


The events of Yule were generally held to have centred on Midwinter, and feasting, drinking, and sacrifice were involved. Scholar Rudolf Simek comments that the pagan Yule feast "had a pronounced religious character" and that "it is uncertain whether the Germanic Yule feast still had a function in the cult of the dead and in the veneration of the ancestors, a function which the mid-winter sacrifice certainly held for the West European Stone and Bronze Ages." Yule customs and the traditions of the Yule log, Yule goat, and Yule boar are still reflected in the Christmas ham, Yule singing, and others, which Simek takes as "indicat the significance of the feast in pre-Christian times."

Diffusion and modern practices

The Yule log is recorded in the folklore archives of much of England, but particularly in collections covering the West Country and the North Country. For example, in his section regarding "Christmas Observances", J. B. Partridge recorded then-current Christmas customs in Yorkshire, Britain involving the Yule log as related by "Mrs. Day, Minchinhampton, a native of Swaledale". The custom is as follows:
H. J. Rose records a similar folk belief from Killinghall, Yorkshire in 1923: "In the last generation the Yule log was still burned, and a piece of it saved to light the next year's log. On Christmas morning something green, a leaf or the like, was brought into the house before anything was taken out."
The Yule log is also attested as a custom present elsewhere in the English-speaking world, such as the United States. Robert Meyer, Jr. records in 1947 that a "Yule-Log Ceremony" in Palmer Lake, Colorado had occurred since 1934. He describes the custom: "It starts with the yule log hunt and is climaxed by drinking of wassail around the fire." In the Southern United States before the end of the American Civil War, the Yule log was also maintained as a tradition. For example, according to scholar Allen Cabaniss:

Regional variations and analogues

Scholars have observed similarities between the Yule log and the folk custom of the ashen faggot, recorded solely in the West Country of England. First recorded at the beginning of the 19th century and occurring up until at least 2003 in some areas, the ashen faggot is burnt on Christmas Eve, is associated with a variety of folk beliefs, and is "made of smaller ash sticks bound into a faggot with strips of hazel, withy, or bramble". G. R. Wiley observes that the ashen faggot may have developed out of the Yule log.
The term "Yule log" is not the only term used to refer to the custom. It was commonly called a "Yule Clog" in north-east England, and it was also called the "Yule Block" in the Midlands and West Country and "Gule Block" in Lincolnshire. In Cornwall, the term "Stock of the Mock" was found.
Non-English indigenous names in the British Isles include ”Boncyff Nadolig “ or “Blocyn y Gwyliau” in Wales, Yeel Carline in Scotland and Bloc na Nollaig in Ireland.
The custom of burning a Yule log for one or more nights starting on Christmas Eve was also formerly widespread in France, where the usual term is bûche de noël. This may derive from a custom requiring peasants to bring a log to their lord. In Burgundy, gifts would be hidden under the log. Prayers were offered as the log was lighted in Brittany and in Provence, where the custom is still widely observed and called cacho fio : the log, or branch from a fruit-bearing tree, is first paraded three times around the house by the grandfather of the family, then blessed with wine; it is often lighted together with the saved ashes of the previous year's log. Other regional names include cosse de Nau in Berry, mouchon de Nau in Angoumois, chuquet in Normandy, souche in the Île de France, and tréfouiau in the Vendée. The custom has now long been replaced by the eating of a log-shaped cake, also named Bûche de Noël.
Baltic people also have a similar ritual called "log pulling" where people in a village would drag a log or a tree stump through the village at the winter solstice and then at the end burn it.
As early as Jacob Grimm in the early 18th century, scholars have observed parallels between the South Slavic custom of the Badnjak and the Yule log tradition. As observed by M. E. Durham, the Badnjak is a sapling that is placed on the hearth on Christmas Eve. Varying customs involving the Badnjak may be performed, such as smearing it with fowl blood or goat blood and the ashes may be "strewn on the fields or garden to promote fertility on New Year's Eve".
Catalan People have a similar tradition, where "Tió", a magic log with a smiling face that lives in the forest, is brought home, and "fed" before Christmas. Singing children beat Tió with sticks and cover him with a blanket to make Tió defecate nougat candy and small gifts.