Beware the Yule Cat
Hello,
I usually only post Christmas words in December but I wrote up the last word in my “Words Christmas Gave Us” book last Friday and I wanted to celebrate the milestone so here, despite the fact that it’s March, is the story of yule and the yule cat.
Extracts from “Words Christmas Gave Us” Copyright Grace Tierney, 2022
Yule isn’t a word used often in English but as the calendar creeps around to December you may stumble upon it describing the season as yuletide and wonder why. The answer lies with the Vikings.
Yule was originally an Old English word geol for Christmas Day or Christmastide. Tide was a synonym for time in the past. In a world with fewer clocks, a sailor waiting for the tide to float their boat was one way to measure time.
Yule, or geol, came from the Old Norse pagan festival of jol which was seized upon by Christianity and turned into Christmas, in much the same way that early Christians appropriated the festival of Eostre and associated with it Easter. Eostre was a Germanic pagan fertility goddess whose symbol was a rabbit. You can see the link to the Easter bunny easily.
Yule or jol was celebrated in mid January by the Vikings as a feast to drive away the darkness at that time of year. It wasn’t associated with any specific Viking god.
After conversion to Christianity the twelve day period from the 25th of December became the feast of the nativity. This gives us the “Twelve Days of Christmas” song, as you might expect, and the idea of Twelfth Night. That period of Christmas festivity was known as yule or yuletide until around 1100 when Christmas became the more used term. Yule persisted as the name for Christmas in northern areas of England where Danish settlers were more numerous.
Yule lay dormant until the 1800s when it was revived by writers to describe a particularly festive view of how to celebrate an English Christmas.
In Iceland from the 12th of December, 13 prank-loving troll-like characters come out to play. They are the Yule Lads (jólasveinarnir in Icelandic) and they visit children across the country every night until Christmas Day.
The Yule Lads date back to folktales written down in the 1600s, but if you’re visiting Iceland this December to spot them please beware of their fierce pet, the Yule Cat, who apparently lurks in the snowy countryside waiting to devour anybody who didn’t get new clothes to wear on Christmas Eve.
End of Extracts
The yule cat is just one example of the stories which have surprised me during research for the book. I already knew a fair bit about the history behind Christmas customs and words before putting pen to paper, but I’ve discovered some wonderful tales along the way which were completely new to me. I’m looking forward to sharing them when the book is ready.
Despite the milestone of finishing writing up my word list (151 words, in case you’re wondering – from Advent to Yule Cat), the book is far from finished. There will be multiple rounds of editing, work with my cover designer, proof copies, advance promotional work, and much more to be done before it’s ready to be seen by anybody. I’m hoping to release it later this year in paperback, ebook, and hardback editions. Hardback will be a new publishing adventure for me.
With the first draft behind me, I’m heading to the Wicklow hills for a few days as a break but until next time, happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,
Grace (@Wordfoolery)
