With Winter Solstice right around the corner, we approach the longest night of the year. But while it is dark and cold outside, we can enjoy bright candles and cozy fires with Yule, the ancient Winter Solstice holiday. Whether you solely celebrate Yule or whether you celebrate it in conjunction with Christmas, it is a beautiful tradition to embrace as we begin winter. Surrounding ourselves with Winter Solstice decor is a soothing and meaningful way to embrace this season. It transforms the darkest night into a magical space and connects us to the cycles of nature. Most of us are familiar with the term Yule from classic Christmas carols. For instance, we sing ‘troll the ancient Yuletide carol’ in Deck the Halls. But what is Yule?
Yule: the Pre-Christmas Winter Celebration
Yule was the original festival from which Christmas evolved when Christianity took root in central and northern Europe. The Winter Solstice, which is celebrated across the world (such as Persian Yalda Night), marks its beginning. This year, Yule begins on December 21st and ends on January 1st. Many of its festivities are familiar to us because we already celebrate them for Christmas. For instance, caroling was a Yule tradition – traditionally called ‘wassailing’ because people went singing from door to door and drank wassail, or hot mulled wine/ale (what fun it would be if that was still a thing!). Sitting around a cozy fire on Christmas began with the tradition of lighting a Yule log. The Christmas tree originates from the Yule tree (which stays outside, alive in the ground).
Winter Solstice decor is a peaceful and gentle way to segue from Christmas, with all its bright lights and merry festivities, through the rest of the month and into January. Because it is wintry and nature-oriented, you can keep it up longer than Christmas decorations. Of course, how long you keep your Christmas decorations up is entirely to you! But if you prefer to take them down shortly after the holiday, you can rest assured that your Winter Solstice decor will keep a festive and seasonal spirit alive in your home. Below are seven Yule staples that will spread the warmth and magic of this tradition throughout your home.
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1. Evergreens
Evergreen wreaths (as well as evergreen garlands or boughs) make beautiful Winter Solstice decor. Evergreens traditionally symbolize eternal life. Yule wreaths symbolize nature and the promise of spring as the days gradually begin to get lighter after the solstice. Anything living outside at this time of year brings life, beauty, and refreshing fragrance into the home.
Holly berries and pine cones are traditional wreath decorations. You can find gorgeous fallen evergreen branches in wooded areas, or you can purchase evergreens from a grocery store. Even if you don’t craft or buy a wreath, you can simply place them on your mantel, windowsills, or on the table as a centerpiece. You really can’t go overboard with natural decor! It looks gorgeous anywhere inside or outside of your home.
2. Yule Log
A Yule log was originally an entire tree that was felled and burned in the fireplace throughout the twelve days of Yule. Over the years it has understandably reduced to just a log, but even if you don’t have a wood burning fireplace, you can make a smaller symbolic Yule log out of a piece of wood placed on your mantel or table with candles or other embellishments.
People also bake edible Yule logs as sweet treats.
3. Yule Tree
The most prominent Winter Solstice decor is, as with Christmas, the Yule tree. This is typically a living tree outside that you decorate with natural or edible items for the birds and animals such as seed strands and berries. For those of us who already have a Christmas tree inside, we could simply decorate with holly bunches, pine cones, dried fruit slices, and other natural ornaments. Or, if you have a Christmas tree and still want to use your traditional Christmas ornaments, you could get another tree (or a smaller one) that is solely for Yule, or simply use the one tree and incorporate natural Yule decor in addition to your traditional Christmas ornaments to make a Christmas/Yule fusion tree (why not!).
4. Light the Night with Candles
Candles are a beautiful and traditional way to counteract the darkening days with the light of fire to symbolize the promise of increasing sun. Safely-placed natural candles around the home create ancient and reverent Winter Solstice decor.
5. Tinkle Bells
The jingly bells of Santa’s sleigh were originally used at Yule to scare away demons and to welcome the light. Tinkling bells are a pleasant and festive sound of the season. It’s easy to find bells anywhere you can find Christmas decorations. Single jingle bells are inexpensive and easy to string across a doorway or chair. The sound of bells jingling is a cheerful and festive way to ring in the solstice in your home!
6. Yule Colours (Easy if You Already Have Traditional Christmas Colours)
Yule colours are the same as Christmas colours: green, red, white, and gold. Embracing those hues around your home is a festive way to incorporate Winter Solstice decor. Consider a cozy green throw with red pillows on the couch, and gold candlesticks with white beeswax candles on the mantel.
7. Wassail Station
Create a wassail station! Of course, making, sharing and drinking wassail together is a Yule activity, not decoration. But you can incorporate this fun tradition into your Winter Solstice decor much the same way that people dress up a liquor stand with fancy bottles and specialty glasses. And if you don’t partake in alcohol, soft wassail (similar to hot apple cider) is naturally just as delicious.
Designate an area, preferably nearby the stove where you will prepare your wassail. But, of course, you can just as easily craft this spot anywhere else in your house and simply relocate the needed items toward the stove when you brew it. Collect anything you’ll use in your wassail: oranges, apples, lemons, honey, spices, cloves, cinnamon sticks, an unopened bottle of apple cider, and a bottle of whichever alcoholic beverage you’ll use if applicable. Group these things together at the chosen spot, and perhaps surround them with some evergreen branches. You may also include decorative mugs. All you need now is to collect friends and family to make it and share! In the meantime, you’ll have a visual ‘wassail shrine’ for the Yule spirit.
Celebrate Winter Solstice with Yule’s Traditional Staples
Yule is a great way to embrace the roots of Christmas and to connect with the ancient ways people honored the earth’s seasons. While Christmas is filled with fun activities and celebrating birth of Christ, Yule is its quieter grandmother that is less known but deeply rooted in our modern holiday traditions and alive as ever. With a home decked out in Winter Solstice decor, you’ll be hard pressed to stay too busy and will rather curl up by the Yule log (or a crackling fireplace video) with a good book, nuts, and a hot bevvy. You may enjoy wassailing with friends. Or you may enlist your children to help decorate a beautiful evergreen Yule tree outside with birdseed. You may sit by candlelight for quiet reflection and meditation, a beautiful way to wrap up the season. However you choose to spend Winter Solstice, surround yourself with its beauty!