Dec 15, 2024
This is a tradition at my house, and I encourage anyone who feels inspired to take up this tradition, especially if you have young children and you're able to do so because I think it greatly encapsulates our ethics of the season.
On the night of the 20th the family gathers around the Yule log. The Yule log is a sacred symbol; the symbol of light a, symbol of returning, but it's something else...it's also a beacon, a signal. When the family lights the Yule log, its light awakens the Yule Alf.
Every family has their own Yule Alf, in some families he is old and others, especially new families that are taking up the tradition of calling him, he may look young. Some say that he lives in the inglenook near the fireplace and in the hearths or wood piles. He uses the Ash and the smoke from the Yule log to make the Yule goat. (My children call him Old Billybock.)
He goes then from Mother's Night, and he takes his goat down into the shadowland—the place where the ancestors live beyond the veil. And he takes from them gifts that are specifically given to their descendants.
He then returns; it is a three-day journey, so on the morning of the 24th (Ancestors Night). He places under the Yule tree the packages usually wrapped in brown paper and twine, and written sometimes in runes are the names of the ancestors that gave those gifts. e also places his own little gifts in the stockings and shoes of the children and eats the offering that the children leave him.
He then wiggles his nose and says a magical spell and he and the Yule goat dissipate back into the smoke and light of the Yule log that summoned them until next year.
When the children wake up in the morning, they see the ancestors' gifts have arrived, and generally they run straight for the stockings to see what little fun gifts they got. But they can't open the ancestors' gifts until after sundown.
In the morning instead what they do is go to their rooms and grab the gifts that they bought for their siblings.
The reason for this is because they must have a giving heart to their family and kinfolk because the Yule Alf despises greedy children, and if they do not make a gift or get a gift (it doesn't have to be bought from a store...it can be made with love, to the best of the child's ability) for their siblings. If the children are miserly, the Alf will bring them a burnt piece of stick to place inside their stocking next year.
They take their gifts that they got for each other and place them under the tree, oftentimes colorfully wrapped. At sundown, the Blót is conducted, and a meal is eaten. And then after the meal, pictures from the ancestors are taken and placed on the table and the children then can go to the ancestors' gifts and open those first, but before they do, they have to learn from which ancestor it came from and a little bit about their life.
The ancestors primarily care about their descendants being warm, smart, and strong. So, the ancestors' gifts generally are clothing, hats, shoes, books etc. and the children understand that the ancestors always give you the gifts that you need and your kinfolk give you the gifts you want. So then after the ancestors' gifts are open, they can then open up the gifts given to them by their family members—generally, it's just one gift per family member. And this is what we call the gift exchange. The Yule Alf is truly the spirit of giving and gifting to your family. And every year my children immediately start thinking about what ways they can make or give things to their siblings that will make them happy around this time of year. It's truly magical and they take great joy in it.
Witan Svan Herul
~ Most recently published in The Runestone, December 2024 ~
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