What is a yule log?

Answer 1

Got this from wikipedia. Its associated with the Christmas season but it has a long pagan tradition in Europe. I always associate yule logs with chocolate cake rolls with cream inside.


*from wikipedia
A Yule log is a large log which is burned in the hearth as a part of traditional Yule or Christmas celebrations in some cultures.

In Northern Europe, winter festivities were once considered to be a Feast of the Dead, complete with ceremonies full of spirits, devils, and the haunting presence of the Norse god, Odin, and his night riders. One particularly durable Solstice festival was "Jol" (also known as "Jule" and pronounced "Yule"), a feast celebrated throughout Northern Europe and particularly in Scandinavia to honor Jolnir, another name for Odin. Since Odin was the god of intoxicating drink and ecstasy, as well as the god of death, Yule customs varied greatly from region to region. Odin's sacrificial beer became the specially blessed Christmas ale mentioned in medieval lore, and fresh food and drink were left on tables after Christmas feasts to feed the roaming Yuletide ghosts. Even the bonfires of former ancient times survived in the tradition of the Yule Log, perhaps the most universal of all Christmas symbols.

The origins of the Yule Log can be traced back to the Midwinter festivals in which the Norsemen indulged...nights filled with feasting, "drinking Yule" and watching the fire leap around the log burning in the home hearth. The ceremonies and beliefs associated with the Yule Log's sacred origins are closely linked to representations of health, fruitfulness and productivity. In England, the Yule was cut and dragged home by oxen or horses as the people walked alongside and sang merry songs. It was often decorated with evergreens and sometimes sprinkled with grain or cider before it was finally set alight.

In Yugoslavia, the Yule Log was cut just before dawn on Christmas Eve and carried into the house at twilight. The wood itself was decorated with flowers, colored silks and gold, and then doused with wine and an offering of grain. In the area of France known as Provence, families would go together to cut the Yule Log, singing as they went along. These songs asked for blessings to be bestowed upon their crops and their flocks. The people of Provence called their Yule Log the tréfoire and, with great ceremony, carried the log around the house three times and christened it with wine before it was set ablaze.

To all Europeans, the Yule Log was believed to bring beneficial magic and was kept burning for at least twelve hours and sometimes as long as twelve days, warming both the house and those who resided within. When the fire of the Yule Log was finally quenched, a small fragment of the wood would be saved and used to light the next year's log. It was also believed that as long as the Yule Log burned, the house would be protected from witchcraft. The ashes that remained from the sacred Yule Log were scattered over fields to bring fertility, or cast into wells to purify and sweeten the water. Sometimes, the ashes were used in the creation of various charms...to free cattle from vermin, for example, or to ward off hailstorms.

Some sources state that the origin of Yule is often associated with an ancient Scandinavian fertility god and that the large, single Log is representative of a phallic idol. Tradition states that this Log was required to burn for twelve days and a different sacrifice to the fertility god had to be offered in the fire on each of those twelve days.

Televising burning yule logs has become a Christmas tradition for some television stations in the United States, such as The Yule Log on New York City's WPIX-TV.

The expression "Yule log" has also come to refer to log-shaped Christmas cakes, also known as "chocolate logs" or "Bûche de Noël".

Answer 2

To me, it's a specific log you burn during Yule and you are supposed to save part of it for the following year. I think birch is customary but it depends where you live.

Answer 3

A rolled,jelly filled cake. Or a log put in the fire place and burned during the holidays.

Answer 4

i don't. in accordance to the historian Professor Hislop, the Christmas tree party truthfully harks back to the time of Nimrod some 4,000 years in the past: “Now the yule Log is the lifeless inventory of Nimrod, deified because of the fact the sunlight-god, yet shrink down by ability of his enemies; the Christmas-tree is Nimrod redivivus—the slain god come to existence back.”—the two Babylons, pages ninety seven, ninety 8. by ability of burning the pagan yule log, Nimrod’s death grew to become into anciently stated on December 24. Then on the twenty 5th, the presence of an evergreen tree depicted the perception of his worshipers that “god Nimrod” have been replaced into divine or to immortality. apart from, at a similar time as Christendom is crammed to overflowing with such heathen lip service to its professed chief, that's empty of each and every of the virtues he required of his authentic followers. The yule log grew to become into each and each year burned on the December pageant by ability of the Scandinavians.sunlight worshipers believed that the unburned timber of a yule log had magic powers, that bonfires would desire to grant the sunlight-god capability and positioned across him back to existence, that properties embellished with evergreens could scare away demons, that holly grew to become into to be worshiped as a promise of the sunlight’s return, and that sprigs of mistletoe would desire to hold solid success if worn as charms. concerning the call of December 25 because of the fact the date for celebrating Christmas, the above-quoted encyclopedia says: “This grew to become into the day that have been committed in pagan Rome to the feast of the sunlight god and have been stated as Birthday of the Unconquered sunlight.” In connection with Christmas customs, we examine: “present-giving, the yule log, and mistletoe, are Christianized variations of historical Roman, Germanic, and Celtic lore.” they are rooted in paganism.

Answer 5

a cake that is rolled with a filling like a jelly roll and then iced to look like a log that you would toss on the fire.

Answer 6

some sort of cake with jelly type of stuff in it.
similar to a hoho or a little Debbies snack cake, but larger

Answer 7

Thanks! Now I'm thinking that some Little Debbie treats might make their way into my cart later this afternoon. So bad . . . but YUM!

Answer 8

it's what Santa Claus leaves in the toilet after his b.m.