What is Yule: A reverend’s insights and unique celebrations

JACKSON, Tenn. – What is Yule? We spoke with Rev. Emily Guenther from The Fellowship of Avalon – ATC about the annual celebration.

She shared that, in this case, Yule serves as a catch-all term.

Wooden statue of Freya (left); Yule Goat (Center); statue of Frigg (right) (Photo Courtesy of Jad Davis)

“But it is really this phenomenon that our ancient ancestors celebrated and that cultures across the world still celebrate in some way. It is truly about, kind of, surviving the winter in a way,” Guenther said.

She says Yule, or Mid-Winter, was a time for members of the community to get together, eat food that had been preserved before it went bad, and help each other get through the darkest time of the year. It was originally a celebration by the Norse and Scandinavian peoples.

For the northern part of the world, the winter solstice typically falls on December 21 or December 22.

This brings the shortest days and typically colder weather.

“Which is probably true at some point in history, but you know, it’s 60 degrees in December. So we haven’t even had our winter here yet. So it feels weird to call it mid-winter,” Guenther said.

But many cultures use this time of year to look towards what comes next, bringing in their religious aspects.

“African tribes have a mid-winter, kind of winter solstice celebration. Ancient Middle Eastern culture, Greek, Roman, European. And it is all really about the return of the light, the return of the sun,” Guenther said.

Guenther mentioned the Roman and Greek Saturnalia, and Christianity’s Christmas.

“It is kind of this heartwarming opportunity for the community to get together and support each other and be together in these dark times. And kind of encourage each other to get through to the winter to the new year,” Guenther said.

For Guenther and The Fellowship of Avalon – ATC, this includes them too.

“We have a Wiccan church. I am a Wiccan. And so we celebrate Yule as the return of the sun. It’s coming back, the days are getting longer, you know, it is rising higher into the sky,” she said. “In our case, it is the return of the Lord, the God who has been reborn. His light is reborn to the world. And that is a pervasive theme in a few cultures and a few traditions.”

Guenther oversees the Fellowship of Yggdrasil group while also serving as a High Priestess in the Wiccan community.

Sunday night, the Norse group celebrated Yule early with the lighting of candles.

“Everyone got candles, and we all lit each other’s candles and said a little blessing,” she said.

Photo of the candles used to celebrate Yule (Photo Courtesy of Jad Davis)

She says it is a time for their groups to focus on remembering that light and being that light.

“That is one of the things we often talk about is, ‘We now need to be the light in the world to help to help others and to help ourselves,’” she said. And it is all to get through the darkest part of the year, she says.

She says her Wiccan group and her Norse group worship similarly, just with different deities.

She says in the Wiccan group, their celebration was last week. She says they talked about the God and Goddess – The Lord and The Lady – and the strength of The Lord’s rebirth.

For the Norse group, they worked with Odin, one of the many Norse gods, as the Yule Father or Jólfaðr.

She says they have a unique celebration she hasn’t seen elsewhere.

“The Norse also have a celebration that I haven’t seen elsewhere that kicks off their 12 Days of Christmas. And it is called Mother’s Night. So it is about honoring the women in our lives, our female ancestors,” Guenther said.

She says that the Wiccan and Norse beliefs we see in West Tennessee have evolved to be what is needed in the community today.

This includes being with family and friends not seen as often throughout the year, eating fancy foods, and taking a break from school or work.

“The idea is that religion is a living thing, and it grows and it changes based on the needs of the people in the community. And there are people who don’t like that, we should only do things the way that the ancients did based on what little information we have. And there are other people that are more okay with expanding and going, ‘We need to do something for our community. And our community doesn’t live in Greenland. We live in the south,’” Guenther said.

This year the winter solstice and Yule will be on Thursday, December 21.

Guenther says they will do things to ensure the community stays engaged, remains a community, keeps in touch, and continues to form relationships.

And Guenther says, for those interested in learning about Wiccan and Norse religion, the best place to learn more is in books. Another option could be to talk with local practitioners who are involved in their communities.

And though these recent Yule celebrations were in Memphis, she says they are working to bring more events to Jackson.

She says that social media can be used as a tool for finding events near you.

Guenther says the next holiday for the Wiccan group will be Imbolc, which will honor the goddess Brigid.

For followers in her Norse group, she says their next holiday is Disablót, held to honor female ancestors.

You can read more about The Fellowship of Avalon – ATC on their website or Facebook.

The Fellowship of Yggdrasil can be found on Facebook as well.

Guenther is also the co-founder of The Broom Closet, which has a location in Memphis and Jackson.

You can check them out on their website and Facebook.

Some symbols of Yule include the the decoration of a Yule Tree, mistletoe, holly, among much more. You can read about items we see every year that come from Yule here.

You can read more about Wicca from The History Channel here.

For more on Norse Heathenry, click here.

Find more local news here.