The Short Answer (TSA)
The “Moon before Yule” is
another way of saying the Full Moon before Christmas. The full moon before Christmas Day usually
happens in December, but may happen in late November. Although the word “Yule” is associated with
the Christmas season, few people know exactly what it is.
Yule was
the Scandinavian/North Germanic word for winter. “Yule tide” referred to the winter
season. Scandinavian warlords had a
special feast for their warriors sometime between early December and late
January. This feast was not set on a
fixed day. Different kings and warlords
would hold their “Yule feast” on different dates.
King Haakon
the Good of Norway was raised in England as a Christian. He became king of Norway, in 953, and converted the
country to Christianity. He moved the
“Yule Feast” to Christmas Day. When the
Vikings moved their Yule Feast to Christmas Day, Yule became another word for
Christmas.
There are
some modern revivals of the term Yule Feast to describe a celebration held on
the winter solstice. This is not a
revival of the actual pre- or post-Christian Northern European Yule Feast. These modern feasts use the word “Yule” to
simply mean "winter." So, a feast held on the
winter solstice, the official first day of the winter season, is sometimes called a “Yule
Feast.”
Mark Grossmann of Hazelwood, Missouri & Belleville, Illinois
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