By Leesa Kern, originally Published in Oak Leaves #55

Modern Neo-Pagans often speak of ―The Twelve Days of Yule.  I can‘t find any lore to support that there was anything specifically done on each of the twelve days, nor any modern pagan or heathen customs that have taken that place. So, I did what all good Neo-Pagans do. I‘m inventing my own! Feel free to join in, if you like.

The cultural focus is, of course, from the Norse perspective, but I believe it could easily be adapted for other hearth cultures as well. Some other adjustments involve the actual dates of the festival. Because the date of the Winter Solstice travels from year to year, we would need to make adjustments for activities on each of the days, with a few being fairly fixed. If you‘re really observant, you will also note there are potentially thirteen days in our celebration. This takes into account what appears to be the modern customary start of the Yule on December 19. That‘s also the earliest possible date for the actual Solstice to occur. One could just shift the entire twelve days back and forth, but then you‘re potentially celebrating New Year‘s Eve a few days early, which might confuse your guests if you have them.

The inspiration for this comes mostly from John and Caitlin Matthews‘ book The Winter Solstice: The Sacred Traditions of Christmas. As suggested by the title, this book weaves together Christian and Pagan traditions. The Matthews are also known for much writing in the area of Celtic Paganism, but given the influence of Anglo-Saxons in the British Isles influencing both Pagan and Christian practices, it still gave me plenty with which to work. Their twelve (also really thirteen) days start on Christmas Day. So, I took the general themes they suggest for each day, took the Christian influence out of it, and then arranged around 2010‘s Solstice date (December 21).

We set up an altar with twelve candles surrounding a large solar candle in the middle. On each night, we light a different candle, and on Solstice Eve, we light the central solar candle as part of the vigil. Offerings of mead work for all days, obviously, but other things are suggested below. On each of the subsequent days, we add items to the altar until on the twelfth (or thirteenth) night, we have an altar full of things.

• December 19: Odin as the winter wanderer; the Wild Hunt. I have a story/meditation about a winter wanderer from the Matthews‘ book. Offerings could include mead, ale, and grain for Sleipnir. For the placement of Odin on the altar, I think the  woodland Santa‘ figures work really well.
• December 20: Mother‘s night, Holda. Honoring the female ancestors, the disir, and Holda. Place a female figure in white on the altar to represent Holda, and if you have representatives of your Disir, place them. Since the Solstice occurs tomorrow, one could begin their Solstice Eve vigil. Vigils are popular, but since many of us have to work the next day, they are often not practical. (In 2010 there was also a very rare lunar eclipse beginning at 1:33am (December 21), so it was worth setting an alarm to watch it. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy.) Some of our grove mates followed along with us at their hearth, and the night of the vigil they toasted a deity on every hour.
• December 21: Solstice Day: Honoring Sunna/Sol. The actual Solstice occurred on December 21, 2010 at 6:38 pm. Lighting of the solar candle, and placement of a solar figure on the altar.
• December 22: Nature Spirits. Offerings of food, placement of images of the Nature Spirits on the altar.
• December 23: Feast of Fools: Suggested by the Matthews. It might be fun for families with children, to put them in charge of something they‘re normally not in charge of, including, maybe, dinner and then the evening‘s ritual and candle lighting. The tradition is definitely one of switching roles and of ritualized disrespect (meaning it isn‘t real). Another possibility is to honor the outdwellers or more chaotic elements that we usually set apart, as they do have their place in the order of things.
• December 24: Honoring the Alfar and the Housewights. If you have children whose friends are sitting out milk and cookies for Santa, this would fit in well with that.
• December 25: The spirit of hospitality and gifting, and special blessings for children. This also fits well with the secular and mainstream day of gifting. Even if you do your home gifting on the Solstice, many of us visit family that day.
• December 26: Celebration of winter, snow. Honoring Skadhi and Ullr is appropriate at this time. Placement of snowy-like things on the altar.
• December 27: Celebration of the evergreen. Honoring and meditating (or even journeying) on the world tree, placing a sprig of real evergreen on the altar.
• December 28: Honoring Frigga. There‘s a tradition in Europe to honor St. Distaff, and I can‘t think of a Norse goddess other than Holda maybe, who would be better associated with this than Frigga. Placement of a distaff if you have one, or other household-related things on the altar.
• December 29: Bringing in the Boar. The boar‘s head would be used for swearing oaths, but most of us don‘t have access to one of those. So, a statue of a boar would be fine, and special honoring for Frey and Freya perhaps, given their associations with the animal. Offering of an apple for the Great Boar, in case it passes by your house.
• December 30: The Shining Ones. As the spirits of home and land and ancestors have received honor, a special night for the Shining Ones.
• December 31: Twelfth night. New Year‘s Eve! Traditional parties work well here, but a more spiritual aspect can be observed either quietly at home or as part of the party (like at our house!) Activities include divination (so placement of runes on the altar). There‘s also a suggestion I quite like from the Matthews‘ book of gathering juniper and letting it dry by the fire (or wherever that is in a modern home) for use to bless the home tomorrow. In addition, the burning of the Yule log, wreath, or whatever was used occurs. We have traditionally hosted a Twelfth Night party on New Year‘s Eve, and incorporated a small blot in with it. We hang the wreath on the inside of the door, and guests tie ribbons on to represent remembrances, gratitudes, or resolutions for the coming year, and then, as weather permits, we burn it in our outdoor fire bowl. Obviously, weather does not always permit, so we burn it at a later time (including a somewhat dramatic burning at a Spring Equinox one year). Because we have friends from a variety of faiths, our blots are fairly eclectic, and last year we had toasts from Pagans, Christians, Buddhists, Agnostics, and Atheists. It‘s about community, and it was truly beautiful.
• Jan 1: New Year‘s Day: No candles are lit here, but we do have some important work to do: getting ready for the New Year. Decorations should be taken down and the house returned to order, as the “time out of time” is over. The juniper sprigs gathered last night should be used to asperse the home with water (melted snow would be awesome here) and then smudge the home.

Enjoy! And have a blessed Yule season!