Hi, I’m Marc Franco,
and this is a special edition of Word of the Week with Snap Language.
yule... yuletide / jul / ... /ˈjulˌtaɪd /
“Yule” comes from Old English “geol,” meaning “Christmas Day.”
In Old Norse “jól” were pagan celebrations that started
on the winter solstice and lasted three nights.
In the Northern Hemisphere,
winter solstice falls on December 21 or 22 each year.
It’s the longest night of the year,
so it marks the time that the days start getting longer.
The Norse believed that the sun was a giant wheel of fire
that rolled away from earth and started rolling back
on winter solstice so,
essentially, jól celebrated the return of the sun.
Today we live in well insulated homes with central heating;
however, you can imagine how important the return or the sun was
for the Norse over 1,000 years ago.
There was more to jól (or yule) than just celebrating the winter solstice, so
you’ll find other ideas about its meaning.
But, I like this winter solstice connection, so let’s not ruin it with
controversial information, shall we?
Let’s keep it “yule-ful”... em... that’s not a word...
“joli” [French “pretty, nice”]...
Jolly!
Let’s keep it jolly.
The word “yule” is a cognate of “jól” in English.
With the conversion to Christianity, “yule” became known as
“the 12-day feast of Nativity,” and later it took on the form of Christmas.
In Norwegian, they kept pretty close to the original word.
In Norwegian, “Merry Christmas” is “god jul.”
[♫ Singing ‘God Jul’ or ‘Merry Christmas in Norwegian ♫]
So, when you talk about a “yule log,” you’re talking about a Christmas log.
Yum!
My mother bakes a killer yule log.
Well... at least she used to when I was a kid.
Now she says it’s just too much work.
Yule logs come from a tradition in parts of Europe.
They burned parts of a log for the 12 days of Christmas.
Then they placed what was left of the log under their beds to keep the household
protected from bad things... like, storms and... housefires?
Another tradition was to burn Christmas candles and
put a yule log (or a Christmas log) in the fire.
Of course, all these yule celebrations had variations from region to region,
and they changed over the centuries.
Yet, you can see how they all have to do with bringing light
and warmth into the household.
What about “yuletide?”
Does it have anything to do w ith the tides in the ocean?
Well, yes and no.
In Old English, “tid” was a portion in time,
a season... or a time of celebration.
Tide, meaning “the rise and fall of water,”
comes from “tid” meaning “high tide...”
that is... the specific point in time of... high tide.
Today we use “tide” for both high and low tides.
So, when you say “yuletide,” you’re talking about a specific time, too,
but it’s the period of time we celebrate yule ... yuletide... or Christmas time.
In the comments, could you write your language and what you say in it
around this time?
Like, “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” in English...
If you don’t celebrate Christmas, is there something else you celebrate?
And what do you say to people?
I’d love to see what people say around the world.
And Snap Language wishes you a great winter solstice celebration,
yuletide... or Christmas time...
Whatever and however you celebrate, thank you for being there this year,
and...
Merry Christmas!
Thank you!