The 12th Night of Yule

The twelfth night of Yule is sacred to all of the Gods and Goddesses especially the Æsir & Dísir. It’s time to gather together and have a feast of pork or ham, and break out the mead or make wassail.

It’s a time of beginnings and endings. The kids read “The Creation of the World” from D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths and receive marzipan pigs for luck in the new year.

For those who are so inclined, it is a time for making oaths, swearing with one’s hand over a boar’s head, ceremonial hammer, or oath ring. This tradition is far from mandatory, and I mostly steer clear of making oaths myself. It is better to make no oaths, rather than ones you may not be able to keep. I find it better to simply reflect on the past year and think of what I might do in the next, and keep my own counsel.

Seldom do those who are silent make mistakes.
-Hávamál

This is the last night of burning candles on you Yule log. If you are lucky enough to have a traditional large Yule log in a wood burning fireplace, save a coal or small portion of this year’s log to light next year’s Yule log. If using candle, you can have a similar tradition of saving a short length of candle from this year to light the next.

We have a good feast, praise all the gods, and ring in the new year at midnight. The chiming of the bells clears away any negative and stagnant energies, making way for the new.

The 11th Night of Yule

The eleventh night of Yule is sacred to all the Goddesses and and the Valkyrie.

Favorite Valkyrie/goddess crafts are gathered or made to adorn the altar. If you’re not in the mood for crafts, bird ornaments and angel figurines can be used to represent the goddesses and Valkyrie, with beautiful results.

Our soundtrack for the night is Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen for it’s elegance and timelessness. For our ritual meal I like to include Himmel und Erde (heaven and earth), a German dish consisting of apples (from the heavens) and potatoes (from the earth).

Our simple dinner blót includes a Valkyrie invocation and a litany of goddess hails, along with praises of their blessings.

The 10th Night of Yule

The tenth night of Yule is sacred to Sunna and the Ancestors. By now, if you have done rituals for every night, you have celebrated fully indeed! If so, you could give yourself a break and just do a low-key “no-ritual” plan that follows the basic theme of the night, with altar decorating and a special meal. If however, you are up for a more elaborate ritual, check out the Sunna Ritual for Yule over on the Northern Tradition Paganism website.

“The sun, the sister
of the moon, from the south
Her right hand cast
over heaven’s rim;
No knowledge she had
where her home should be,
The moon knew not
what might was his,
The stars knew not
where their stations were.”
– The Poetic Edda, Völuspá.

Making paper sun crafts or sun plaque and sun candles are a pleasant way to entertain the kids on this evening. Also, get out the salt dough skulls or Ancestor yarn dolls made at Samhain to place upon the altar.

One of my favorite Yule songs, which is very appropriate for tonight’s theme, is Sun Queen by Silver on the Tree. The song Morning Glory, by the same artist is beautiful and follows the sun goddess theme as well. Might as well listen to the entire Celtic-themed Morning Glory album; there are certainly enough commonalities between the Celtic and Norse. Many of the songs have a lovely repetitive mantra quality.

And let us not forget the Ancestors! Raise a glass to them, offer them remembrances and prayers, sweets of the season, and put a few bright candles or holiday lights on the family Ancestor altar.

May Sunna light our path, and the Ancestors watch over us in the year ahead.

The 9th Night of Yule

The ninth night of Yule is sacred to Odin. A good way to commemorate the day is by reading and contemplating the Hávamál. Children can learn about the Allfather through books like D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths or Gods & Heroes from Viking Mythology by Brian Branston. One of the names of Odin is Jólfaðr – “Yule Father”. Many people believe that Odin was the prototype for the modern Santa.

Our small ritual feast includes Rinderrouladen and other favorites. Toasts and libations are made, poems read, and songs played. A great resource for the poems and songs, of course, is the Odin’s Gift website, but for just listening, or Odin’s night “ambiance”, there’s music by Hymir’s Kettle, Carved in Stone, and Wadruna.

This is an excellent night for studying the runes and divining omens for the year ahead. There’s a nice introduction to the runes for kids in How to Be a Viking by Ari Berk.

The 8th Night of Yule

The eighth night of Yule is sacred to Skaði and Ullr. Skaði is a jötunn goddess associated with winter, skiing, bow hunting, and mountains. Likewise, Ullr is a god of archery, hunting, and winter.

Now, if you’ve ever been to the Ozarks, you will have noticed that we don’t have much of a winter most years, so you may wonder why someone in this part of the world would want to honor these particular gods. Well, we do live in the mountains, which would put us under Skaði’s domain, and in recent years we have had a few fierce ice storms sneak up on us.

And let us not forget the hunting aspect of their powers; if you have any hunters or archers in the family, this may be a good time for them to do a blessing for their hunting equipment and/or archery gear. If you live on of near a mountain, that would be an ideal place to leave offerings and libations.

Quite a number of poems and invocations for Skaði and Ullr on the Odin’s Gift website. Choose your favorites to use in a simple blót or ritual dinner. For the kids, the night can take on a snow theme; have them make paper snowflakes to decorate the home and altar. If you do have enough snow outside, consider making some snow ice-cream. Our meal for the night is Hunter’s Stew, Pan Rolls, Snow Ice-Cream or Snowball Cookies.

The 7th Night of Yule

The seventh night of Yule is sacred to Thor. We have a simple ritual feast in his honor and thank him for protecting us all year long. Prayers, readings or toasts my be spoken in his honor and libations made. I find my inspiration for this from the Odin’s Gift website, which has many songs about him as well.

Later, we may read stories about Thor from The Adventures of Thor the Thunder God by Lise Lunge-Larsen, and perhaps make a craft stick Mjölnir or try making a straw Yule goat, symbolic of the goats that pull Thor’s chariot.

This is the ideal time to bless a ceremonial hammer, if you have one, or bless family members’ Mjölnir pendants. Acorns are given to each family member to carry in their pockets for luck, for the mighty oak is Thor’s sacred tree. An acorn necklace makes an inconspicuous and inexpensive devotional pendant for a child to wear any time.

The 6th Night of Yule

The sixth night of Yule is sacred to Eir and Healing. For those of us who start our 12 night celebration on the 20th, this night falls on the 25th. In an alternative 12 Days of Yule I have come across, this day was called “Children’s Day”– I suspect to allow for the gift-giving customs and other merriment associated with Christmas. While we do observe these customs, they are mainly on the morning of the 25th. By the time evening arrives, the calming energy if Eir is a welcome respite.

The Pagan Book of Hours website has a beautiful Eir blót to use at this time. We place herbs and medicines on the altar for blessing, and our feast in Eir’s honor is Baked Chicken with Apricot Wild Rice. The leftover bones are saved for making healing chicken broth base for soups.

The 5th Night of Yule

The fifth night of Yule is sacred to community. If you have a Pagan group you gather with, you may want to organize a potluck, wassail, or other such get together and (even better) make it open to the public. (Community is not just your Pagan group.)

Hail, ye Givers! a guest is come;
say! where shall he sit within?
Much pressed is he who fain on the hearth
would seek for warmth and weal.
-Hávamál

If, however, you start your 12 Yule nights on the twentieth every year (like we do), the fifth night of Yule always falls on the 24th of December. Most Pagans I know still observe the customs of Christmas Eve with their extended families and may not be available for such a get-together.

However, depending on where you live, you may find some kind of liberal/interdenominational community celebration going on, similar to those ideas mentioned above… it doesn’t matter that you’re not celebrating the same thing. The point is reconnecting with community, whoever/wherever your larger community is.

Where we live, the town square is lit up and filled with people all December long, so this is a great night to go out in the center of the community and see the lights, listen to the live music, and get a hot chocolate and some kettle corn from the street vendors. It’s our go-to option for getting out into the community if we have no other plans.

Back home, we make gingerbread people and/or gingerbread houses. Our story for the kids is Some Friends to Feed: The Story of Stone Soup by Pete Seeger and Paul DuBois Jacobs.(A song is part of the story, and a CD is included in the back of the book.)

Our simple blessing:
May the Æsir and Vanir watch over this community.
May peace come to all who live here.

Our playlist:
Turn the World Around by Belafonte
I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing by The New Seekers
Everyday People by Sly & The Family Stone
Joy To The World by Three Dog Night
All Together Now by The Farm

The 4th Night of Yule

The fourth night of Yule is sacred to Ægir, Njörð & Freya. It would logically follow that this holiday would have an ocean theme, since both Ægir and Njörð are ocean gods. However, since we don’t live near the ocean, we’ve chosen this night to honor the Vanir race of gods in general, with an emphasis on those ones better known to us. A lovely Vanir blót found on Jordsvin’s Norse Heathen Pages that was written for the Equinox, can be adapted to the season of Yule.

Beautiful songs for Frey and Freya can be found on the Heathen Songbook Online. Also, an album that seems to capture the spirit of the Vanir for me, is Songs for the Strengthening Sun by Sharon Knight and T Thorn Coyle. Although it was clearly not made with this season in mind, I play selections from it anyway.

Wagons and wheels are closely associated with the Vanir gods and goddesses, as their images were carted around in wagons in special ceremonies and to bless the land. One way to celebrate them this night may be to decorate a straw wheel, tie in ribbons and prayer slips, and then burn it as an offering (or just light candles on it).

After a blót or simple hails and libations, our feast for this night is Barley Soup with Bacon  and sourdough bread.

We read about the Vanir gods in D’aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths and in How to Be a Viking by Ari Berk by the glow of our Frey and Freya nightlight.

The 3rd Night of Yule

The third night of our 12 night celebrations is the High Feast of Yule! This occasion is in honor of the gods Thor and Frey. Stories are told of them from either D’aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths, or Brian Branston’s Gods & Heroes from Viking Mythology. Beautiful poetry and songs for Lords Frey and Thor can be found on The Heathen Songbook Online.

For gods of power and fertility, it is fitting to serve foods both hearty and sumptuous. So for this feast, it is our custom to have Spiced Roast with Rutabagas and Carrots, Rotkohl, Solstice buns, and Black Forest Cake. We read about Viking feasts in the book How to Be a Viking by Ari Berk.

The night’s rite need not be a formal and defined ceremony (see my “No-ritual” plan). Feasting, toasting, offering, and libating are the central activities on this night of Yule. Later, little paper cornucopias full of goodies are exchanged.