Yule log

The log is subsequently placed beneath the bed for luck, and particularly for protection from the household threats of lightning and, with some irony, fire.

Our most complete descriptions of the customs around the celebration of the festival of Yule come from the Icelandic saga writer Snorri Sturluson.

[4] Another early reference can be found in the text Liber statutorum civitatis Ragusii compositus anno, which was written in Dubrovnik in 1272 CE.

It records that shipmasters and the sailors brought the count of the city a large log on Christmas eve and place it on the fire, for which they are given as reward two gold coins and alcohol.

[6] Landowners often has contracts with their tenants that laid out exactly how much wood could be collected from the forest for their use for firewood, tools, and building materials, as well as the penalties if they were caught taking more.

[7] One section of the list can be translated as "To take notice of the Volcanes and of the Calends, to garnish to tables, to lay laurel, to enter with the right foot, to pour grain and wine over a log in the hearth, and to throw bread into the fountains, what is this if not Devil worship?

[10] It was recorded that on Christmas eve, a log, covered in fruits and foliage, especially juniper and laurel, was brought into the court at sunset, and was burned in the hearth for the enjoyment of all.

[10] Bishop Pirmin, in his book Dicta Abbatis Pirminii, de Singulis Libris Canonicis Scarapsus, which was written between 710-724 CE, quotes Martin of Braga when he is attempting to correct Christians who are still practicing pagan rituals.

[11] Yule log traditions in some parts of Croatia and Italy involve no fire or hearth, resembling Bishop Pirmin's fireless description as well.

B. Partridge recorded then-current (1914) Christmas customs in Yorkshire, Britain involving the Yule log as related by "Mrs. Day, Minchinhampton (Gloucestershire), a native of Swaledale".

For example, according to scholar Allen Cabaniss: Nata e Buzmit, "Yule log's night", is traditionally celebrated by Albanians between December 22 and January 6.

[20] The richest set of rites related to buzmi are found in northern Albania (Mirdita, Pukë, Dukagjin, Malësia e Madhe, Shkodër and Lezhë, as well as in Kosovo, Dibër and so on.

[19][20] Scholars have observed similarities between the Yule log and the folk custom of the ashen faggot, recorded solely in the West Country of England.

[24] In Germany, where it’s called Christklotz, Christbrand, Christblock, Julklotz or Julblock it was customary, especially in Hesse and Westphalia, to burn the log slowly and then remove it and throw it back on the fire as protection from lightning.

[citation needed] The custom of burning a Yule log for one or more nights starting on Christmas Eve was also formerly widespread in France, where the usual term is bûche de noël.

[28] In Portugal, the Madeiros de Natal are big bonfires that are lit in the center of the village, in the main square or in the churchyard on Christmas Eve.

[citation needed] In Asturias the Nataliegu burns from December 24 until the new year in the fireplace of many houses and leaves sweet buns for the children.

[citation needed] Catalan People have a similar tradition, where Tió de Nadal is a magic log "fed" before Christmas.

Alternate names include eguberri, gabon, gabonzuzi, gabon-subil, gabon-mukur, olentzero-enbor, onontzoro-mokor, suklaro-egur, sukubela or porrondoko.

[citation needed] In Occitania the “cachafuòc” or “soc de Nadal” it's also one of the traditional elements that accompany and cheer up Christmas.

[29] In Lombardy, the head of the family used to sprinkle juniper on the stump and place coins on it while reciting a prayer in the name of the Trinity.

Later, blindfolded children (rewarded with sweets and other gifts), had to hit the log with pincers, while the rest of the family sang a particular song, called "Ave Maria del Ceppo".

In eastern Sicily, especially in the Etna areas, the Christmas log (Zuccu in dialect) is customary to stack wood in a pyramidal way in the squares of the villages, tradition has it that it is lit on the evening of the 24th before the midnight mass after the blessing of the priest.

In addition to recalling the Christian symbolism of the "light source of life", it becomes a pleasant opportunity, after the celebration of the midnight vigil, to stop around the log and exchange Christmas greetings wrapped in the heat of the flames.In Val di Chiana, in Tuscany, it was customary for children, blindfolded, to hit the block with pincers, while the rest of the family sang the Ave Maria del Ceppo.

[citation needed] Baltic people also have a similar ritual called "log pulling" (Latvian: bluķa vilkšana; Lithuanian: blukio vilkimas) where people in a village would drag a log (Latvian: bluķis; Lithuanian: blukis) or a tree stump through the village at the winter solstice and then at the end burn it.

[citation needed] In the United States, a local New York television station first broadcast a six-minute loop of a yule log burning in a fireplace over the course of several hours.

The broadcast, called simply Yule Log, premiered in full color on Dec. 24, 1966, at 9:30 p.m. on WPIX (Channel 11 in New York City) and became a yearly tradition.