CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. YULE-TIDE OF THE ANCIENTS
II. YULE-TIDE IN ENGLAND
III. YULE-TIDE IN GERMANY
IV. YULE-TIDE IN SCANDINAVIA
V. YULE-TIDE IN RUSSIA
VI. YULE-TIDE IN FRANCE
VII. YULE-TIDE IN ITALY
VIII. YULE-TIDE IN SPAIN
IX. YULE-TIDE IN AMERICA
YULE-TIDE OF THE ANCIENTS
"There in the Temple, carved in wood,
The image of great Odin stood,
And other gods, with Thor supreme among them."
As early as two thousand years before Christ Yule-tide was celebrated
by the Aryans. They were sun-worshipers and believed the sun was born
each morning, rode across the upper world, and sank into his grave at
night.
Day after day, as the sun's power diminished, these primitive people
feared that he would eventually be overcome by darkness and forced to
remain in the under world.
When, therefore, after many months, he apparently wheeled about and
grew stronger and stronger, they felt that he had been born again. So
it came about that at _Hweolor-tid_, "the turning-time,"[1] there was
great rejoicing at the annual re-birth of the sun.
In the myths and legends of these, our Indo-European ancestors, we
find the origin of many of the Yule-tide customs now in vogue.
[Footnote 1: Yule-tide]
According to the Younger Edda, Wodin or Odin, the pioneer of the
North, a descendant of Saturn, fled out of Asia. Going through Russia
to Saxland (Germany), he conquered that country and left one of his
sons as ruler. Then he visited Frankland, Jutland, Sweden, and Norway
and established each one of his many sons on a throne.
