Word Stories: Yule

February 16, 2015 10:00

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Steve Taylore-Knowles looks at the stories behind the English language.

The grate had been removed from the wide overwhelming fireplace, to make way for a fire of wood, in the midst of which was an enormous log glowing and blazing, and sending forth a vast volume of light and heat: this I understood was the Yule clog, which the squire was particular in having brought in and illumined on a Christmas eve, according to an ancient custom.

Washington Irving, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon (1819)

At Christmas, I suppose it’s still possible to find the occasional Englishman, or Englishwoman and Englishchild for that matter, contentedly warming themselves by a burning Yule log (or ‘clog’). It’s more likely though, these days, that if you ask to see a Yule log, you’ll be presented with a large Swiss roll (a type of cylindrical chocolate cake) with a dusting of icing sugar and a small plastic robin stuck into it. The word Yule has a long history, and was part of the reason why Christmas was banned in the 17th century.

Yule is derived from the Old English geol or geola (Christmas Day, Christmas time), which in turn has its roots in the Old Norse jól, a pagan mid-winter feast that lasted twelve days. In 601 AD, Pope Gregory wrote a letter instructing Saint Augustine to convert pagan buildings and festivals for Christian use, rather than attempting to destroy them. So the pagan festival of Yule became Christmas (Cristes maesse in Old English, ‘the religious service of Christ’), retaining much of its symbolism, such as holly and mistletoe. They also, of course, kept some of the more enjoyable celebratory aspects, such as yule-games and yule-songs.

In the 17th century, along came the Puritans. Now, they were not generally renowned for their love of games and songs, particularly when they represented the pagan yule roots of Christmas. So, Oliver Cromwell in England and the Puritan governors in New England banned the sinful bits of Christmas, like singing, drinking, dancing, and not saying ‘thank you’ when your gran gets you the same pullover she got you last year. In some places, any observance of the festival was completely banned. Christmas didn’t really recover until the mid-nineteenth century, when Charles Dickens got the Victorians hanging out their stockings. In fact, the main use of the terms yule and yuletide now is probably in Christmas songs to create a nostalgic longing for a Victorian Christmas when the whole family gathered around a roaring log. Of course, that was before we invented central heating and all forgot about the real meaning of Yule.

If there are any aspects of English words you've always wondered about, drop me a line at [email protected] and I'll see if I can come up with an answer.

Тема: Grammar & Vocabulary Теги: Wordstory, Etymology

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