Christmas Traditions: The Yule Log

The origins of the Yule log as part of the Christmas holiday stem from an Old Norse winter solstice custom which began well before the time of Christ. To the Norsemen, the sun was a spinning wheel of fire, known as hweol (which became “yule”), that approached during summertime and receded during the wintry months. From hweolor-tid, meaning the "turning time of the sun", came our word Yuletide. The ancient Norsemen created a wheel-like calendar of the four seasons from a round section of “wheel” or Yule log. The Yule log would be kept burning all day and all night during the darkest days of the winter solstice. A piece of the log was saved to ignite the Yule log of the following winter.

The burning of the Yule log spread throughout in the Middle Ages. In some places, the custom occurred with a log of freshly cut wood being carried into the house on Christmas Eve with great ceremony. The log was often embellished with greenery and sometimes sprinkled with oil, salt and mulled wine. It was said that the cinders of this log could protect the house from lightning and evil.

The tradition of burning a Yule log waned somewhat when the great hearths were gradually replaced by cast-iron stoves and furnaces. Today’s Yule log is usually a Christmas decoration placed in the center of the table with candles and greenery. The Yule log, or buche de Noel, is also a French pastry, a delicious cake roll, which is traditionally filled with chestnut cream and coated with marzipan. The pastry is sometimes covered with coffee or chocolate-flavored icing and decorated with sugared holly leaves and roses.